Toronto is getting its very own lesbian oil wrestling event

Grease your loins: a lesbian oil wrestling event is coming to the Opera House in Toronto on November 21.

Lez Get Physical was founded by Toronto-based content creator and community builder Zhané Stimpson, who noticed that lesbian oil wrestling events were gaining popularity online—they even participated in and won one in Montreal.

But, when that event’s organizers went on hiatus, Stimpson, who is drawn to the sport’s theatricality and campiness, decided that “lesbian oil wrestling needed to live on” and resolved to organize her own event.

“I realized that there aren’t a lot of spaces centred around lesbians, and I wanted to share the love and excitement and joy I had being in a lesbian-centred space and event,” she says.

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Stimpson organized her first lesbian oil wrestling competition, called Slippery When Wet, in New York in May.  Afterward, their Toronto-based followers kept begging for a local iteration, and while Stimpson worried that buttoned-up Toronto wasn’t ready for this kind of raunchy event, they decided to host one in August as a litmus test.

It turned out that Toronto was “a little too ready,” Stimpson says, with 300 tickets selling out in two and a half days. Stimpson, a self-proclaimed people pleaser and “service top,” felt obligated to rent out the venue’s second floor for a viewing party. In the end, 650 people attended.

Now she’s back with a second iteration of the Toronto event, happening tonight at the Opera House, which promises to be a wet and oily romp. “The event lets people know lesbians are here. We’re not a myth. We have buying power, and we like sexy things,” says Stimpson.

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In order to compete, wrestlers must identify as sapphic women or gender-expansive folk, which includes trans and non-binary people. Participants are chosen from hundreds of applicants based on what Stimpson calls “the DYKE scale”: dominance, yearning, kink and entertainment.

That last aspect is best exemplified by the wrestlers’ tongue-in-cheek stage names. Competitors in the upcoming Toronto show include Carmen Climax, Demonatrix and John She-Na—a riff on WWE wrestler John Cena.

There are four rounds of competition: qualifiers, quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals. Each fight lasts three minutes, and the winner is whoever can pin their opponent more times. If there’s a draw, bonus points get awarded based on style, performance and whom the crowd liked more. The last one standing receives bragging rights and a custom heavyweight championship belt.

Lez Get Physical’s impact has already extended past the ring. Stimpson says people from as far as Japan and Brazil have messaged them with words of support or questions about hosting their own events. They have also received an outpouring of appreciation from people who say the event helped affirm their gender and sexual identity. Some participants from the Toronto show even expressed interest in starting their own wrestling league.

Stimpson also hosts other leasbian-focused events, like an annual Queersgiving dinner and a singles night with live jazz. These are typically paid for out of pocket, with any profits reinvested into the next ones. Especially in today’s political climate, they find these queer gatherings more important than ever.

As Lez Get Physical continues to gain traction, Stimpson has their sights set on securing more sponsorships for a Canadian tour and shows in London and Paris.

Tickets for the November 21 show in Toronto have already sold out, but if you were lucky enough to snag one, Stimpson promises that “you’ll scream, you’ll sweat and you might fall in love. But, most of all, you’ll be severely entertained.”

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