Who here remembers kayfabe? Anybody? The younger generation of wrestling viewers probably have no clue. Kayfabe was an art, it was protecting everything sacred in the business of wrestling. I really miss kayfabe, it kept everything a surprise, you had good guys and bad guys. Heels were legit heels, babyfaces were legit babyfaces. Without kayfabe, Hulk Hogan wouldn't have been the success he became, The Iron Sheikh wouldn't have been one of the best bad guys in the business. There was a time when wrestling felt real, you sympathized your hero's, you booed the dastardly heel. That's very limited now.
Life started to change in the way of kayfabe when The Sheikh and Hacksaw Jim Duggan got pulled over and arrested riding to the next town with each other, at the time people were wondering why they were in the same car, two guys that hate each other shouldn't be in the same car, it later led to Hacksaw being terminated from the WWE. The nail in the coffin, even if you aren't old enough to remember, the infamous curtain call at Madison Square Garden.
For those that may not be familiar, the curtain call happened on May 19, 1996, and it was the day that kayfabe died. Scott Hall and Kevin Nash were on their way to WCW, and Triple H and Shawn Michaels came out to say goodbye. It was the first time the audience saw faces and heels interacting in such a manner. It was unheard of, never seen and somebody got it on tape. It was a PR nightmare for the WWE, and punishment was handed out for the way that played out, but it didn't stop what fans around the world eventually saw. Since that night, things have grown so far out of control.
The internet is great for so many things, you can do and find anything that you could ever want to. For wrestling fans, it is a blessing and a curse. I don't know about you, but I love being absolutely surprised with a wrestling show. These days you can find any rumor, dirtsheet, any news through Google. Kayfabe might better have a 6 foot hole and a headstone at this point, right? I do my very best to stay away from the rumors and dirtsheets all over the internet. Now though, we have social media and the WWE network, that contains wrestlers behind the scenes, their real lives, you feel close to your favorite stars. Part of that is absolutely amazing, the other part of it absolutely sucks. It sucks because its not real anymore, the sense of reality isn't 100% there anymore. We know it's all a work, and that is ok, but we also want the realism with it.
With technology being what it is, and "smarks" knowing its a work, wrestlers and writers have to get creative with creating their own kayfabe. I think most of us can agree, we are living in a wonderful time of professional wrestling, great athletes, that know how to work, and know how to tell a story in the ring, fans want to see a story outside the ring tho too, enter the ever growing world of independent wrestling. The indies right now are bringing back a sense of realism to the industry and the WWE is slowly following suit. You don't have to go very far to see kayfabe working. Go to YouTube and watch an episode of Being the Elite, their sense of storytelling is amazing for being just a 15 minute video, but because of those 15 minute videos, Cody Rhodes is the best heel on wrestling, The Young Bucks are the most over tag team in wrestling, Marty Scurll is so overly popular and his sense of not belonging endears to a whole generation of people not knowing our place.
I'm not saying WWE doesn't do this, they just don't do it as well. The best WWE has currently are Kevin Owens, Thomasso Ciampa, and Matt Hardy. Neither of them break character, really ever.They are the same person at TGI Fridays as they are on your tv screen and Twitter account. That is a very rare thing to see in the world of big time professional wrestling. Me on a personal level, I want my heels to tweet like heels, tell people to get away from them when asking for an autograph, I want my faces to be like John Cena, just good, all the time.
Wrestling is finally starting to get back to a time with the curtain being out back up, where fantasy and reality is a little bit blurry, we think our bad guys are bad and our faces good. Wrestling needs to stay on this path, its for the betterment of the business and will keep it running long after I'm gone. Thanks for reading along with this. Until next time wrestling fans.
Matt
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