ANTHONY BOWENS
Anthony Bowens is a professional wrestler with All Elite Wrestling and the reigning title holder — along with Max Caster and Billy Gunn — of the AEW World Trios Championship. It’s his proudest accomplishment of 2023.
“I have the honor of being AEW’s first gay champion when I won the tag-team title last year. But we got the gold back around our waist and I’m super excited about it,” Bowens says of his championship belt, just days after his win at London’s Wembley Stadium.
The New Jersey native, who has been active in professional wrestling since 2013, came out as a member of the LGBTQ+ community in 2017. He’s excelled in an arena with few out figures, which makes being part of the Out100 particularly impactful.
“There’s a time where I wasn’t out, I was in the closet, and I didn’t know how that would affect my career,” Bowens shares. “And part of wanting to come out was to help people who were in my shoes and to do that through my love of professional wrestling.”
Memorably in June, an arena of adoring fans cheered, “He’s gay!” in support of Bowens when a female reporter suggested he was hitting on her. Bowens is also the self-proclaimed “Scissor King.” His signature move is forming an A formation with his fingers and sometimes performing a scissor-shake with others in a sign of friendship, sparking a trend in wrestling and beyond.
Recently, Bowens cleared another remarkable hurdle: becoming a homeowner. The process was “the worst experience I’ve ever had in my entire life. I’m so glad it’s over with,” he says. But the reward of the American Dream was worth the struggle. “My boyfriend and I [are] very, very happy to be living here in Los Angeles now.” @bowens_official
CHAD MATTHEWS
As president, ABC Owned Television Stations, Chad Matthews oversees the number 1 station in the country, New York City’s WABC, as well as stations in Los Angeles, Chicago, and other huge markets. He also supervises ancillary programs like Localish, Live With Kelly and Mark, and On the Red Carpet.
All that responsibility may sound stressful, but as Matthews recounts, it’s a blast. He describes his practical endeavors as reaching audiences hungry for local news and utilizing streaming platforms like Hulu and Amazon Fire TV. His more creative pursuits of the job include encouraging his stations to cover cultural events like Juneteenth, Lunar New Year, the Puerto Rican Day Parade, and various Pride festivals. Matthews’s data journalism team has also launched initiatives resonating with audiences, like the Neighborhood Safety Tracker and the Equity Report, a concise repository of information on housing, health, education, policing, and the environment.
In his position, Matthews is witness to a lot of
