Kayfabe
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In professional wrestling, kayfabe (pronounced KAY-fayb; IPA: ['keɪfeɪb]) refers to the portrayal of events within the industry as real, that is, the portrayal of professional wrestling as unstaged or worked. Referring to events or interviews as being a "work" means that the event/interview has been "kayfabed" or staged, and/or is part of a wrestling storyline while being passed off as legitimate. In relative terms, a wrestler breaking kayfabe during a show would be likened to an actor breaking character on camera.
Kayfabe is often seen as the suspension of disbelief that is used to create the non-wrestling aspects of promotions, such as feuds, storylines, and gimmicks, in a similar manner with other forms of entertainment such as soap opera or film. In the past, virtually all wrestlers adhered to kayfabe in public, even when outside the ring and off-camera, in order to preserve the illusion that the competition in pro wrestling was not staged. With the advent of the Internet Wrestling Community and the sports entertainment movement in pro wrestling, the maintenance of pro wrestling's backstage secrets are more difficult to keep than they were in earlier decades. Today, kayfabe is sometimes broken to advance storylines, to explain prolonged absences due to legitimate injury, as a tribute to a wrestler, or even for comedic effect[citation needed].
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[edit] Origins of the term
Pro wrestling can trace some of its stylistic origins back to carnivals and Catch wrestling, where the term "kayfabe" is thought to have originated as carny slang for "protecting the secrets of the business." The term "kayfabe" itself may ultimately originate from the Pig Latin form of "fake" ("ake-fay"), the phrase "be fake," or the letters in the first syllables of "character fabrication."
Kayfabe may also derive from another trick used by traveling carnival workers. With money tight, a carny would call home collect, telling the operator their name was "Kay Fabian." This was code letting the people at home know they had made it safely to the next town. The family would then deny the call. This was a method of communicating without paying for the cost of a phone call or telegram.
The term "kayfabe" has been adopted (and arguably misused by most) by those outside the industry (i.e. fans and some members of the press) with the popularization of, first, insider newsletters, and later, insider information available via the Internet. In modern, popular usage "kayfabe" can refer rather broadly to narrative conventions—like not "breaking character"—which are common in theater. Originally, however, within the wrestling business, maintaining "kayfabe" referred rather narrowly to the socially-enforced demand not to reveal the predetermined nature of wrestling matches and the cooperative aspects of the performances. In practice, this imperative meant that wrestlers, promoters, their families and others close to the business, were socially forbidden from talking frankly about the nature of their work to fans or the press.
[edit] Uses
[edit] Relationships
Many storylines make use of kayfabe romantic relationships between two performers. Very often, both participants have other real-life relationships, and the "relationship" between the two is simply a storyline. However, more than once, kayfabe romantic relationships have resulted either from a real-life relationship, such as between Matt Hardy and Lita, or ultimately developed into a real-life marriage (e.g., Triple H and Stephanie McMahon, who married in 2003, more than a year after their kayfabe marriage ended).[1]
For years, the World Wrestling Federation presented real-life spouses "Macho Man" Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth as a wrestler-valet relationship, with no mention that they were actually married. In 1991, the two began a kayfabe romantic relationship, which culminated in a wedding ceremony at that August's SummerSlam 1991. The storyline ended a year later with the couple's real-life divorce (and Miss Elizabeth's departure from the WWE).
Tag teams of wrestlers, who may or may not look alike, are often presented as relatives, though they are not actually related. Examples include the Brothers of Destruction (The Undertaker and his half-brother Kane), The Holly Cousins (Hardcore Holly, Crash Holly and Molly Holly), The Dudley family, etc.
Moreover, the Von Erichs, despite being a real life family, had a number of peripheral kayfabe relatives, most notably Waldo and his "son," Lance. Additionally, the "Von Erich" name itself was kayfabed; their real family name was Adkisson.
[edit] "You're fired!" and "I quit!"
Through kayfabe, wrestlers often quit or get fired, or are said to have been booked to lose a match where their jobs are on the line (e.g., a "loser leaves town match"), only to return at a future time.
However, such "departures" may also be used to advance a feud between two wrestlers. A classic example is the "masked man", where the wrestler (usually a face) who has supposedly lost his job makes appearances at subsequent events while wearing a mask, and then interferes in his heel opponent's matches; eventually, the masked wrestler's identity is exposed by his foe and the feud intensifies. This storyline was used for the Dusty Rhodes/Kevin Sullivan feud during the 1980s and also for the feud between Vince McMahon and Hulk Hogan in 2003.
The "you're fired" gimmick has also been used to re-package a wrestler with a new gimmick.
On the August 22, 2005 edition of RAW, WWE Champion John Cena successfully defended his title by defeating Chris Jericho in a "You're Fired!" match. Though the match had been conceived to cover for Jericho's departure from the company, Jericho was not truly "fired", as his release was a mutual arrangement, and he eventually returned to the WWE on the November 19 2007 edition of Raw.
Another recent example is the May 2006 match between Rey Mysterio and John "Bradshaw" Layfield in which JBL said if he didn't win the match for the World Heavyweight Championship he would quit the SmackDown! brand. When he lost the match, he said he quit. However, he returned to SmackDown! as its color commentator, replacing Tazz after he went to the ECW Brand. In actuality, JBL was forced to retire from active competition due to a serious back injury.
[edit] Real life issues
[edit] Breaking kayfabe
The most popular example is the Montreal Screwjob (also called the Montreal Incident) in which Bret Hart (WWF Champion at the time) was going to wrestle Shawn Michaels for the championship. The agreed finish was to have Hart walk away with the title that night and come on Raw the next night to give up the championship. Hart had already signed a deal with World Championship Wrestling and was rumored to leave Survivor Series 1997 and go directly to WCW Monday Nitro. Vince McMahon, fearing that his championship would appear on his rival's TV show, felt that he needed to change the agreed finish without telling Hart. Vince went out and told the ring crew to ring the bell and say Michaels won the championship. Hart, very upset, spat on Vince (later punching him in the dressing room) and wreaked havoc on equipment around the ring. It was long thought that Michaels had nothing to do with the change, but it was later found out he was in on it as well. The incident was recreated as a storyline to screw Mankind. The same finish was recreated on the March 18, 2006 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event, where McMahon screwed Shawn Michaels in a match with his son Shane in order to build up the feud between the two leading up to their match at WrestleMania 22.
In 1996, the MSG Incident occurred, in which real-life friends Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Diesel (Kevin Nash), and Razor Ramon (Scott Hall) broke kayfabe by embracing in the ring at the end of a match between Michaels and Nash. Nash and Hall were on their way to rival promotion WCW, and the incident was a farewell from Michaels and Triple H. As punishment for breaking kayfabe, Triple H was relegated to working lower card matches and was booked to lose to Jake "The Snake" Roberts in the King of the Ring 1996 tournament, having previously been booked to win it. The event had a profound impact on the company overall in later years, in that Stone Cold Steve Austin was booked in Triple H's place to win the tournament overall, thus setting the stage for Austin's meteoric rise to prominence in the late '90s.
[edit] Real life issues and their influence on storylines
Sometimes a real life issue that a wrestler is involved in outside of kayfabe will be used as a storyline.
The end of The Mega Powers, the alliance between Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage, was inspired by real-life tension between the two men over Randy's valet (and real-life wife) Miss Elizabeth.
In October 1990, WWF president Jack Tunney placed Ravishing Rick Rude on "indefinite suspension" following crude remarks Rude made about the Big Boss Man's mother. The real life reason for this was because Rude's contract with the WWF was about to expire and they couldn't come to terms on a new contract. Rude eventually signed with World Championship Wrestling in late 1991.
In the build up to Hulk Hogan's match with Vince McMahon at WrestleMania XIX, real life tension between the two men following McMahon's steroid trial was added to the storyline to generate interest in their match.
Shoot comments were a popular tactic of Vince Russo, who would often blur the line between kayfabe and reality. WCW, in its declining years of the Monday Night Wars (a term used to describe the time when the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling were in direct competition), would use real life incidents the wrestlers had as material for storylines, even though they could be seen as tasteless at times. A prime example of this is when Sid Vicious suffered a severe leg break in a match against Scott Steiner from a botched 2nd turnbuckle kick. In subsequent weeks, Steiner claimed responsibility for the injury and went around "breaking" the legs of backstage crew members saying, "Say hi to Sid for me!"
In 2005, Matt Hardy and Edge feuded after Hardy's real life girlfriend Lita cheated on him with Edge. Though Edge and Lita were not an item on-screen, fans who knew about the real-life events reacted by booing both at WWE events. The two were eventually paired up on-screen and references were made to Hardy. Hardy was eventually rehired and returned to feud with Edge.[1]
Ric Flair and Mick Foley's real life issues were also built into a storyline, which used the real criticisms of each man against the other in their respective books as fuel for the storyline.
Kayfabe and real life came into serious conflict on June 25, 2007, when the actual death of Chris Benoit necessitated an appearance by WWE chairman Vince McMahon on his WWE Raw program which aired that same day, even though the character of Mr. McMahon had been "killed" in an automobile explosion on a previous episode. The actual deaths of Benoit and his family lead McMahon to appear in person on the episode to establish that he, the person, was alive, although his character was apparently dead, a rare on-screen acknowledgement of kayfabe. He also stated that Benoit actually was dead, and that the episode that was scheduled for that night, which was intended to be a memorial to the Mr. McMahon character would instead be dedicated to Benoit. The remainder of the episode consisted of WWE wrestlers and commentators making non-kayfabe comments about Benoit's life. This tribute was broadcast hours before police announced the circumstances of Benoit's death. As a result, the next WWE episode opened once again with McMahon, this time stating that no further tributes to Benoit would be made, and that the episode would feature regular wrestling matches in honor of the WWE itself. The breaking of kayfabe necessitated by the Benoit murder-suicide forced the Mr. McMahon assassination storyline to be abandoned and it was not until the August 6, 2007 edition of Raw that McMahon revived his "Mr. McMahon" character, beginning a new storyline with himself as the central character. He modestly referenced and showed footage of his limo exploding and admitted it was fake.
[edit] Storylines becoming real life
Some efforts to promote kayfabe have resulted in real-life consequences.
While working as a booker for WCW, Kevin Sullivan was involved in a wrestling feud with Chris Benoit. He booked Nancy, his wife both on-screen and off, to leave his character for Benoit's. Sullivan insisted that the two should travel together to preserve kayfabe for the general public. This resulted in Sullivan's wife legitimately leaving him for Benoit when the two developed a real-life romantic relationship during their time together. Nancy Sullivan married Chris Benoit in 2000.
Brian Pillman developed the "Loose Cannon" persona for himself while in WCW in 1996, conspiring with Vice President Eric Bischoff and booker Kevin Sullivan. Pillman's gimmick was based entirely on straddling the fine line of kayfabe. He would engage in on-camera actions that seemed to be unscripted, even to the other performers, and even breached kayfabe protocol when he addressed Sullivan on air as "bookerman". In the ultimate act of turning fiction into fact, Pillman convinced Sullivan and Bischoff that their storyline "firing" of him would seem more legitimate with the physical evidence of a release form. They faxed an actual WCW contract termination notice to him, complete with his name and the proper signatures, in order to preserve kayfabe. As this was a binding legal document, Pillman used it to leave the company for real for a more lucrative contract with the World Wrestling Federation.
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b Lilsboys (The Sun) (February 2006). Matt: I still will not die. Retrieved on April 12, 2007.
