Did Kayfabe Matter to you ?

[Stu Hart]

Growing up as a kid I'm sure you believed wrestling was real - even though questionable things happened , or didn't happen (why is that guy still standing after taking a punch to the head?)

A magic trick loses all effectiveness once you know the secret. For a lot of us it is the perfect analogy to wrestling. Just as youtube has ruined so many great magic tricks, social media(and wrestling itself) has stripped the mystique away.
Nowadays, you would be hard-pressed to find someone who thinks wrestling is real. Indeed, a lot of it is hokey at shit. So this begs a few questions

1. How long did it take you to truly see wrestling for what it is?

2. Is it less enjoyable now that you know how scripted/ pre-determined it is?

3. Can you suspend disbelief while watching or is your "insider knowledge" evaluating everything presented?

4. Can the "toothpaste ever be put back into the tube ?"

[Mr. Nerfect]

I never thought wrestling was real, but I miss not having everything boiled into my brain. I have kind of gone in reverse though. I started off not caring how fake it was at all and have grown to learn that credibility is the most important thing.

1. I think I only really solidified my current stance on wrestling in maybe…2015 or so? Maybe Bryan’s rise and Roman being in the spot sort of helped. But I think I appreciated kayfabe more than I actively realized. I thought of an example the other day, but it’s slipping my mind right now.

2. It’s not less enioyable that I know, but it’s less enjoyable that it isn’t performed by people trying to suspend my disbelief. I hate saying that, because it’s such a cliche, but it’s the truth. I guess I would say that I don’t need my disbelief to be suspended — I just want to be wowed by the execution of the work.

3. My insider voice always screams “This sucks, this would be better.” And it wants to fantasy book things forward because I’m not actively enjoying what is going on (usually) and I don’t have faith in it to go anywhere. I would love to not be so analytical and just let everything wash over me as if I were genuinely enjoying it.

4. I don’t think the toothpaste can be put back in the tube, but I think the industry can tidy itself up. I think fans can hold wrestling to a higher standard. And I think good quality stuff will disappear from sight long enough that it will become fresh to people again one day and will once again be en vogue. I don’t think it can ever be the same, but I think it can be better.

[Sepholio]

I don't think wrestling being fake ever bothered me because I've always viewed it as a soap opera for guys.

What does bother me now though is the additional influence of the internet on the whole industry. It was fine knowing that the fighting was fake and everything was scripted. It's not fine knowing that and having things ruined by people on the web.

Beating a dead horse here, but even though the CM Punk/Elite drama is real, think about how much more interesting that would all be if we didn't have all the reporting on it and were actually left wondering if it was real or not.

[Bad News Gertner]

1. Probably when my dad told me it wasn't when I was 7-8. I imagine it was from trying to put wrestling moves on my younger sister.

2. Not really. It is what it is.

3. I watch only old stuff so yes 100%. Most of the stuff I watch is completely new to me, aside from my late 70s-mid 80s WWF staples

4. I've never met a person who started believe in Santa again. So no.

2.

[LibSuperstar]

1. Was about 8-9 when I learned it wasn't real.
2. No. I look at wrestling like I look at action movies.
3. Yes
4. Nope

[ron the dial]

1. i probably found it was scripted and understood what that meant (as much as i could) around 10 or 11? so '95 or '96? i don't think had any real conception of how that actually played out until in reality for another decade or so? i dunno, when i think back on it, it feels like i always knew (which i know isn't true) so it's hard to really answer this.

2. nah i don't think knowing how the sausage is made ruins that sausage for me. it'll still be good if it's good, and bad if it's bad whether i know how they got there or not. i'd argue when i first found out it made me like what i was seeing even more, like i was getting a peek behind a door i wasn't supposed to know even existed.

3. no issue suspending disbelief 99.9% of the time. i know what i'm getting into, and it's not hard to adjust my expectations to match that. that doesn't mean i like all of that 99.9%, but i can keep myself in the mix.

4. nah but i think the industry as a whole could do a better job of just acting like kayfabe still matters, especially via social media. it sucks because the actual wrestling companies will be at odds with wrestling "journalists" trying to keep things grounded in "reality", but that shouldn't mean you just give up on trying to create a fictional reality we can all live within for a few hours a week.

[Seanny One Ball]

1. How long did it take you to truly see wrestling for what it is?

2. Is it less enjoyable now that you know how scripted/ pre-determined it is?

3. Can you suspend disbelief while watching or is your "insider knowledge" evaluating everything presented?

4. Can the "toothpaste ever be put back into the tube ?"


1. I knew it was pre-determined when I was a kid because I remember my dad making a point of telling me they weren’t really hurting each other but you could badly hurt someone by copying them. However, I was one of the fans who stood up for wrestling at every mention of “fake” because I knew it had to as least hurt a bit. After years of sticking up for the reality of it I suppose I convinced myself it was pretty much real only the winners were chosen before the match. It wasn’t until I was about 13 that I got on a wrestling site and started to learn the ins and outs of it. I also learned a lot from Beyond The Mat, Wrestling With Shadows and Have A Nice Day!
2. Yes with regards to caring who wins but no overall because my enjoyment has migrated from the contest to the industry as a whole.
3. No, I now only watch old matches or shows and I do so in order to improve my knowledge of the history as well as the technical aspects. I’m far more interested in wrestling history than I ever was in wondering what would happen next.
4. No and I tried. I got into MMA for years after I gave up on wrestling but I just ended up migrating towards MMA history anyway. The events are second to the stories so I ended up stopping watching MMA and got back into wrestling.