Effy will be in the fights of his life this weekend as he has two matches on the docket as part of PRODUCE Wrestling’s back-to-back showcase in New York.
The 6-foot-2 superstar will face off against Slade in a bounty match in what will likely be a bloody affair for PRODUCE Wrestling’s Assembly event in Kingston on Saturday night. Then, in Brooklyn, Effy will take on Lucha Libre legend Dr. Wagner Jr. at Lucha Fresca.
Slade is someone who is going to bring the fight with him in every match he competes in and the two have wrestled before. He’s one of the toughest guys on the independent wrestling scene and isn’t someone to take lightly. But Effy knows that. The two have a long and storied history in which, according to Effy, led to Slade taking a hiatus from the ring for two years after one of their matches.
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He lamented having to take Slade off of his “chart” of pro wrestlers he’s faced and retired in an interview with OutKick Dropkick.
“I had to take it off my chart because there’s been a list of people that have wrestled me and retired, and I don’t think it’s because the match was bad, I don’t think it’s because I ruined their thought of wrestling. I think they got in the ring, and there’s a lot of perception about Effy, you know, you may have just learned a little bit about me, but there’s 10 years of Effy you can go find where I’ve wrestled your Jeff Jarretts, I’ve wrestled your JBLs, I’ve wrestled your (Jon) Moxleys, I’ve wrestled your Jinder Mahals, all your favorites have come, through Effy and it’s all there and, to now sort stand in this position where I can make or break a guy’s life ‘cause they look in my eyes and they decide, ‘I don’t know if I’m all the way committed to pro wrestling the way Effy is, I don’t know if I’m ready to live this s— all the time.’ I have people come talk to me and they go, ‘This isn’t a character, you’re Effy, you’re committed to pro wrestling, you’re in this.’
“Slade came back, and so I had to take him off my list to fight Slade again. And knowing what Slade puts up on the table … Here’s the thing I learned, you can talk to Slade all you want, he’s gonna do whatever he wants. It’s crazy. But now, I have history with Slade. I’ve been in there with Slade, I’ve felt him when he has the advantage of numbers, and now, if it’s just me and him, I’ve got things to get out of my system, and for him to return to wrestling and for him to knowingly know, the last time or one of the times he wrestled me, he disappeared from this business for two years, they can say what they want about, ‘Oh, is Effy scared of Slade?’ But historically, I have made or break careers along the way.”
Effy made clear there was no way he was going to miss Lucha Fresca in Brooklyn.
He detailed the list of historic Lucha Libre wrestlers he’s already put away in his career, including Pimpanella Escarletta and Psycho Clown. He was very much looking forward to beating Dr. Wagner Jr., especially in front of the legend’s sons.
“I thought he would have left after we found out he was a hot silver daddy when he unmasked and everybody could see him. I thought he would have gone into telenovelas, I thought he would’ve left wrestling, I thought he would’ve gotten the f— out of taking bumps, but it’s because of his stupid hot sons that he now wants to do more. We got El Hijo del Dr Wagner Jr., who is so hot. I got to see him in Tokyo, and I’m like, Jesus, this is before I’ve ever met Dr. Wagner. And then Galeno Del Mal, who is, I didn’t realize how much I was into bears until I saw Galeno Del Mal, and he is just a thick muscle daddy, and so now you’re letting me fight your dad?
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“I am going to make these boys think about things they have never thought about. I’m gonna make Dr. Wagner Jr. understand that Effy is a real-life Lucha Libre legend, whether anyone wants to admit it or not, and I will put him into a situation where he’s going to have to decide how hard he’s willing to get hit to get through Effy, and his boys are gonna watch me beat his dad up, and they’re gonna come over and they’re gonna have realizations about their life, and I’m gonna say, ‘No. Effy’s busy, you need to stay with your wives, you need to stay with them and stay away from Effy, ‘cause I’m only bad news, but I beat up your dad and I want you to know I would dominate you. I would dominate you in a way where I would make you my housewife and it would be beautiful, but I want you to see what I’m doing to your dad here and that I still give him mercy, because he is a legend, and I’m honored to be in the ring with him, but I want those hot sons to see what I’m gonna do to Dr. Wagner Jr. … Entering this match, maybe there’s a little underestimation, but I think deep in his heart, Dr. Wagner Jr. knows the reputation of Effy, that if he doesn’t put up the fight of a lifetime, I’m gonna embarrass him in front of his boys and his boys are gonna wanna sit on my lap.”
It’s tough talk but that’s who Effy is. He’s one of the top independent pro wrestlers on the scene today as he was ranked No. 72 on Pro Wrestling Illustrated’s Top 500 for 2026.
Effy, whose real name is Taylor Gibson, opened up to OutKick Dropkick about being a gay man in a predominantly straight male sport. He enjoyed having the freedom to showcase who he truly is and putting himself out in there in pro wrestling in what he described as “an improvisational art form where I’m able to get with people and create almost a, a one-act play of a fight, a choreography of a fight scene that day and then perform it in one single take to a crowd with the goal being just to get them excited” without being restricted to a certain set of rules.
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He leaned into being himself and if the crowd reacted negatively to a gay man being in the ring, it was something he could lean into – yes, he’s a gay man, but also over 6 feet tall who could probably beat up almost anyone. He saw just existing in the ring may have been a beacon of light for others.
“I saw that me existing was sort of this little light in the corner of these people being able to come to shows. And so, as I kept traveling around, the word was spreading through the internet, through word of mouth of this wild gay wrestler, and people were coming to see it, not to try to attack it, but because they hadn’t necessarily thought wrestling could look like that,” he explained.
The success and the overwhelmingly positive feedback have allowed Effy to keep experimenting in the ring, pushing the boundaries of what a traditional pro wrestler is – even if it means spitting eggs into a competitor’s mouth.
“But that’s so much fun that I get to go out here and see how that reaction goes, see what kind of press that gets, see what kind of internet breaking stuff you can do when you’re given free rein to do it, and obviously, there’s times where you don’t do great, but the people that stick with you that go, ‘This is the kind of wrestling I’m attached to,’ and this is the kind of wrestling these fans are getting attached to, which is, it’s a little dangerous, it’s a little wild, it’s a little over the top, it’s a little extreme, and it’s one of the few art forms where that’s left.
“I’m excited that people have stuck with me this long and been excited because I’ve been able to just be myself unfiltered, and the more I’ve done that, the more I’ve trusted my gut, the more these people have found me or found wrestling in very strange ways, where there are things I’ve done where they get a million views and you go, that’s something that I was just casually doing as myself and they’re seeing it as, this is, ‘I had no idea this even exists. This is the craziest thing I’ve ever seen.’ And just being yourself and still getting those things to happen is, it’s rewarding every time because I just feel fulfilled as an artist and those people continuing, they’ve kept me on this path to making it a career and making it viable and making it a living.”