"U-Foooooooooooooooooo! Welcome one and all to my TV Tropes page! HOOOOOOO~!"
"The wrestling persona of comedian Masaki Sumitani, Hard Gay is the embodiment of every offensive gay stereotype you've ever heard, wearing an S&M fetish outfit meant to make him every heterosexual's worst nightmare."
—Elsa Moriarty on a certain Cracked article mentioning Hard Gay.
Hard Gay, or Razor Ramon Hard Gay, is the stage name of a Japanese comedian and professional wrestler, Masaki Sumitani (born December 18, 1975). To grossly simplify his act, his main gimmick was dressing in leather gear and pelvic-thrusting in the name of attempting to help people in need... whether they want it or not. He's fairly well-known in many parts of the world, though he dropped the Razor Ramon stage name a while back, some time after being outed as straight while being caught on a date.note
Not to be confused with the tropes concerning muscular, homosexual men. For that, see either Manly Gay, Macho Camp or Leatherman if you're thinking of burly men of leather.
Not to be confused with the American pro wrestler Razor Ramon, real name Scott Hall nor with Rick "Big Titan" Bogner's lame knockoff version.
This gay man demonstrates the following tropes:
- Alternate Company Equivalent:
- To Dramatic Dream Team's Danshoku Dino, naturally. They even faced in a match after the fall of HUSTLE, with HG (and RG, as it was a handicap match, if barely) coming short.
- Jaider Lee of Bolvia's New Xtreme Order is Mr. Fanservice rather than an exótico (not that the two are mutually exclusive) but he and Razor Ramon HG dance and dress similarly and are both very popular.
- Ass Kicks You: He uses hip attacks in his matches.
- Ass Shove: On occasion, will pull things out of his pants, looking as if he literally did an
Ass Pull. Or his crotch. - Attention Whore: He was jealous of the attention received by Alan Kuroki, who had replaced him in a match due to HG's mysterious illness. They became friends after teaming up together for the first time, but only for him to think of replacing RG with Kuroki. It was caused by his slow brainwashing, which was turning him violent and antagonistic.
- Boke and Tsukkomi Routine: With Real Gay, which is logic given that they used to be a manzai duo.
- Breakout Character: Was brought to Fighting Opera HUSTLE by "Captain HUSTLE" Naoya Ogawa as a new member of the HUSTLE Army. Eventually, Hard Gay surpassed Ogawa in popularity and become the new main figure of the stable.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Goes around helping people in the gayest way possible (when not in the most bizarre and improbable way), and yet he's successful quite often. In the wrestling field, despite (or due to) his outlandish antics, he is a very effective wrestler, able to stand against much more powerful adversaries.
- Catchphrase: Hello! I'm Hard Gay!, Sei sei sei sei, and HOOOOO!
- Cool Shades: Cool enough to wrestle with 'em.
- Couch Gag: Every show has Hard Gay introducing himself in a different way.
- Cowardly Sidekick: Had one in the form of friend Real Gay, real name Makoto Izubuchi.
- Double Entendre: Everything that comes (tee hee) out of his mouth.
- Dressed All in Rubber: His outfit is more PVC than it is leather.
- Evil Counterpart: Fake HG/Nise HG, his evil clone in HUSTLE.
- Face: The top one in HUSTLE at his time.
- Face–Monster Turn: A long story. HG was kidnapped and subject to experiments by the Takada Monster Army in HUSTLE, but he could escape before they remodeled his brain. As the process had left him unfit to wrestle, he asked the HUSTLE Army to remodel him again, and they dicovered he could now turn into his super mode "Super HG" when angered, which they used to fight the Monster Army. However, it was revealed that it was all a Xanatos Gambit by Generalissimo Takada, as every time HG got in his super mode he was brainwashed a bit. At the end, he was turned into Monster HG, a Brainwashed and Crazy version of himself.
- Faux Yay: The actual story, mainly Played for Laughs.
- Finishing Move: 69 Driver (Tombstone Piledriver with crotch thrusts against the opponent's face - yeah, seriously), Death Drop (crotch-first diving seated senton to the face of a standing opponent), Hard Guillotine (diving leg drop with a chair) and several funny pinning maneuvers. He also debuted with a pelvic-thrusting triangle choke, as MMA was still big in Japan around the time.
- For the Funnyz: In 2012, he and Real Gay appeared in a Dragon Gate event as guest commentators and attacked Genki Horiguchi just because. They also helped Genki's opponents to do the Dragon Gate rubber band spot.
- Heel–Face Turn: After several events, Monster HG was brought back to the good side thanks to Real Gay and The Power of Friendship.
- Hell-Bent for Leather: The fact that he leaves his thighs bare shows the getup is more for titillation, or intimidation, than for any kind of work or protection.
- Hurricane of Puns: Have you seen his Gayke? Or perhaps his lemons with Looots of Vitamin G!?
- Ignore the Fanservice: When he faced Yinlig the Erotic Terrorist in his debut match, her intents to entice him were logically useless. Ironically, his own intents to creep out Yinling's daughter Newling with his gay antics failed for the same reason, as she was a female (and quite psycho).
- Instant Expert: Even if the concept of a tarento taking the mantle of a wrestling promotion was understandably offensive for the traditionalist puroresu business, everybody was forced to admit that HG was a natural wrestler, and that he had worked his debut as if he had been wrestling for his entire life. He won the Tokyo Sport' Best Newcomer Award, a prize notoriously tough to get, and was personally praised by many of the pro wrestling legends who worked for HUSTLE at the time. In reality, Sumitani had been a prolific backyard wrestler in his youth, but it doesn't make it any less impressive.
- Lampshade Hanging: Every time he used the Super HG mode, the Monster Army symbol appeared on his back for a moment. It became even more suspicious after HG fell ill and announced he would have to skip a HUSTLE tour.
- Large Ham: "DOOOMOOOO HADO GEI DEEEESUUUUU! OKEEEEEEI"
- Leatherman: His getup is based on the WWII servicemen who became biker gangs after the conflict was over, since he specifically based his gimmick on American gay stereotypes and found there was an association in his research.
- Leitmotif:
- "Livin' La Vida Loca"
- Also known as, according to him, "that song I used without permission".
- Lightning Bruiser: Able to do Tombstone Piledrivers on his opponents and to fly around the ring with aerial attacks.
- Murderous Thighs: Used a neckscissors followed by hurricanrana in his wrestling matches, and his first finishing move was a triangle choke.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: His attempts to help people sometimes backfire due to the crotch-thrusting stuff (at one point, he scares a bunch of kids).
- Painful Transformation: When he turned into Super HG.
- Refuge in Audacity: Though he specifically avoided any stereotypes he thought could be associated with any Japanese sexual minorities, the end result is still a wrestler who attacking primarily with his crotch.
- Self-Deprecation: One of his exploits has a ramen shop owner needing to drum up business...and HG answered the call.Hard Gay: For some reason I have been sent an SOS. The world's done for! HOOOOO~!
- Shout-Out: According to the HUSTLE website, Super HG's strength was enough to kill an elephant with a single elbow strike. Where have we heard something in the line?
- Signature Move: The PW or Penish Wash (like Shinjiro Otani's facewash, but using the crotch instead of the boot), an elbow drop saying "Sei!", and a diving splash shouting "¡Finish! ¡Hoooooo!" followed by a seated pin.
- Sunglasses at Night: He still wears his sunglasses at night, like when treasure hunting in the Aokigahara Forest, and even sleeps with them on. It was actually pointed out, but he shrugged it off with the saying his shades are a part of him.
- Superpowered Evil Side: His aggresive Super HG mode, gained as a side effect of the experiments done to him by the Takada Monster Army.
- Super-Power Meltdown: Invoked/exploited. The Takada Monster Army had been slowly brainwashing HG everytime he turned into Super HG, turning him into Monster HG.
- The Worf Effect: To establish Bob Sapp's threat at HUSTLE Mania, as if his appearance wasn't enough.
- Those Two Guys: He and Real Gay were real life colleagues in high school.
- True Companions: With Real Gay, Karate Girl and the rest of the HUSTLE Army.
- Verbal Tic: HOOOOO!
