Former UFC star Alistair Overeem uses homophobic slur in attack on pro wrestling as he reacts to CM Punk’s AEW debut and Brock Lesnar’s WWE return

Alistair Overeem is in hot water for branding professional wrestling 'gay'.

The homophobic outburst came after the pro wrestling world had new life breathed into it with the returns of Brock Lesnar, CM Punk and Becky Lynch.

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While plenty of wrestling fans were happy to see them return, former UFC star Overeem shocked many with his words on the MMA hour.

Both CM Punk and Lesnar have had careers in mixed martial arts but their decision to re-enter the world of sports entertainment led to Overeem's disgusting rant as he promoted a fight with Rico Verhoeven on October 23 under the GLORY banner. 

Lesnar was a former UFC heavyweight champion - even though he did lose to Overeem - but Punk was winless in two attempts within the company.

“The thing is with that whole wrestling thing, I watched it when I was eight, nine, 10 years old,” Overeem said.

“Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, huge fan of those guys. Honky Tonk Man. Great, funny. Andre The Giant. I stopped watching after that, so I’m not watching since [then].

“And just recently, I started looking again on YouTube, and oh my God, this stuff is lame. It’s just lame what these guys are doing. It’s fake. It’s lame. It’s stupid. It’s gay. It doesn’t make any sense.”

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Pro wrestling isn’t for everybody, but Overeem’s ‘gay’ slur is homophobic.

Overeem was interested in wrestling as a child, but he admitted to never having seen Punk or Lesnar at the apex of their powers in the sport.

“It’s lame,” he continued. “It’s not even a sport. It’s just lame. It’s bad acting. It’s just lame. Sorry for all the fans of WWE, but I’m just being honest. I’m just giving my opinion. Free country, right? 

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“I think it’s lame, and because I hadn’t seen it for 20 years. I never watched Brock fight. I never watched CM Punk fight. I knew they were from WWE.”

Punk has had an immediate effect on AEW business. He helped their ratings soar to over 1.129 million for Rampage on Friday and has the fastest selling T-shirt in Pro Wrestling Tees history.

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Meanwhile, Lesnar, the Beast Incarnate has always been regarded as a top draw in WWE and his return at SummerSlam signalled an immediate top angle with Roman Reigns.

Lesnar at least had some success in UFC, but Overeem couldn't understand how Punk made it to UFC at all.

“Listen, why did nobody warn CM Punk what he was getting into? Of course, he can’t fight in the UFC,” he added.

“You should have been more honest. You should have warned that guy of what he was getting himself into.

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“That man got mentally destroyed in the octagon. And if you look at his WWE stuff...I never watched his WWE stuff, but if you look at it, you can already predict it beforehand — this man is going to have a bad, bad experience in the UFC. 

“He’s going to win, and he’s going to get somebody tougher, or he’s going to lose, and he’s not going to lose once — it’s always two or three times, and he could get hurt. That’s the even worse thing. He could have gotten really hurt.”

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