Dave Meltzer has a note in the Wrestling Observer newsletter about an idea in 2002 to have a tough guy who would out himself as being gay. The idea was not to portray any gay stereotypes and just have him be a straight up kick ass main eventer. Well, the person that was pitched for that was Brock Lesnar.
The idea came from Brian Solomon and was pitched directly to Stephanie McMahon. The pitch was that pushing a top babyface that was seen as a kick ass main eventer that just happened to be gay would blow away the fan base. Also, the idea was that they would not do anything that would make fans uncomfortable and the heels would say anti-gay things and then get their asses kicked.
Also, the thinking behind this was that they would get huge support from the gay community and the media. The idea made it into the writers room but some of the older agents thought it was a terrible idea so it was dropped. They did end up doing the Billy and Chuck angle.
