Sometimes it takes longer than we may want to truly understand who we are as people. For Amber Roze McCormick, known to many in pro wrestling DangerKid, it took 30 years to reach that destination. The celebration isn’t to be compromised.
McCormick came out as a trans woman Saturday in an emotional Instagram post in which she detailed the last year that led to this moment.
“I can confidently say I’m living my best life and am growing into the best version of myself,” McCormick said. “I am able to sit here and be proud of the growth I’ve managed to achieve and continue to.”
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The multi-time tag team champion explained that transitioning genders had been a goal she set for herself one year prior during a period of great personal and professional change.
McCormick, who previously came out as nonbinary genderfluid in 2021, began undergoing HRT treatment last September and never looked back.
“On this day, I can’t help but be moved to tears, realizing that I wrote down ‘transition’ under a list of goals and thinking back to how I was feeling on this day one year ago,” McCromick said. “I am not even close to where I want to be, but the progress I’ve made I didn’t think was possible.”
The post came three months after the last time pro wrestling fans saw McCormick in the ring. Her final match as DangerKid (for the foreseeable future) saw her and longtime tag team partner, close friend and fellow out pro wrestler Aiden Aggro clash in a 49-minute match at Maine-based Limitless Wrestling’s Jan. 20 event.
The match itself was framed as the end of the 10-year partnership between the team collectively known as MSP. She detailed how her and Aggro “spilled our hearts out to each other” and worked together to build the angle that would see their paths diverge.
That night brought an end to a furious run for MSP, including tag team title reigns in Chaotic Wrestling, New South Pro Wrestling and Blitzkrieg Pro Wrestling among other promotions along the east coast. The duo was also a staple of “EFFY’s Big Gay Brunch” and Pro Wrestling VIBE events that highlighted LGBTQ pro wrestlers in recent years.
McCormick explained that she needed to get out of wrestling for reasons associated with her transition and otherwise. “The mental and physical anguish that ten years of being in wrestling does to a person was too much for me with everything else I had going on,” she said. “I don’t know if my days in wrestling are officially over, but for now the time away has been exactly what I needed.”
Putting aside whether fans ever see her in the ring again, the expressions of love, confidence and affirmation that inundate McCormick’s declaration point to a higher achievement than a championship: finding happiness and comfort within one’s self.
Outsports congratulates Amber Roze McCormick for showing the power to live out and proud a second time over and continuing to show that Courage is Contagious.
