Years after fans nicknamed her faction "The Lesbian Shield," wrestler Zoey Serrano is still fielding questions about her sexuality. Her answer hasn't changed. Neither, apparently, has the fandom asking.
Wrestler Zoey Serrano says she's used to getting asked whether she's a lesbian — and used to answering the same way every time. The speculation traces back to Pure Fusion Collective, a faction Serrano was part of alongside Shayna Baszler and Sonya Deville, two out members of the LGBTQ+ community. Fans nicknamed the group "The Lesbian Shield," and Serrano's proximity to it seems to have been enough to keep the rumor going years after the faction itself broke up.
Speaking with DS Shin on the Ring The Belle podcast, Serrano addressed it directly rather than letting it sit. "I love my gays. I love you all. I am straight, though. I am going to put that out there," she said, adding that the questions haven't slowed down: she still gets "she's straight?" in the comments whenever she posts with her husband. Her framing was affectionate rather than defensive — she called herself an ally to the community asking, not an annoyed target of it.
It's a small moment, but not an unfamiliar one. Queer fandoms have a long history of claiming performers, characters, and public figures based on vibes, on-screen chemistry, or simple proximity to other out people — sometimes correctly reading a story nobody's told yet, sometimes just wanting representation badly enough to will it into existence. Serrano's response threads that needle without treating the speculation as an insult: the fans get acknowledged and thanked, and the record gets set straight (so to speak) in the same breath.
Serrano has also been open lately about the more physical side of her career — she said in a separate interview that she's cut springboard moves from her moveset following a 2025 knee injury, a decision that speaks to the same plainspoken approach: name the thing, adjust, move on.
Source: Corey Brennan, Fightful
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