It’s been public knowledge for years now that WWE and pro wrestling, in general, is a scripted sport. It’s all about the entertainment factor and matches have predetermined outcomes. That’s perfectly fine in itself, and we all enjoy it for the art form that it is. It’s really like no other form of entertainment.
With larger-than-life characters and in-ring skills of the highest caliber, not many people realize just how difficult it is to make it in the WWE. Not only do you have to be a phenomenal athlete, but you need to have a solid character that can connect with millions across the globe (which is by far the most important part), and then you need to have the in-ring talent to hang with the very best.
On top of it all, you’re constantly on the road throughout the year, driving from town to town and wrestling a couple of times a week. To add to that, WWE superstars need to keep their body in tip-top shape by working out daily and eating healthy. The media obligations and other appearances are just an add-on at one point.
While many people love to criticize WWE for being “fake”, they truly don’t realize the amount that a superstar has to sacrifice. But you already knew all this. Fans watching already know all this and appreciate what they do to entertain us. However, what’s been quite surprising over the last few weeks is that WWE themselves have been going into the whole “it’s not real” realm of things and constantly seem to be reminding fans of the fact.
It really started with Ronda Rousey and Becky Lynch‘s twitter banter. They’ve been going at it for months now, but it began to escalate the closer we got to WrestleMania. Ronda Rousey started calling Becky Lynch’s armbar “fake” and used words like “Rebecca Quinn, I don’t care what the script says”. She was breaking the holy rule of wrestling – not to publicly break kayfabe in such manner.
While WWE certainly promotes social media to enhance feuds, this was something that was surprisingly approved, if not word-for-word. Even on her YouTube Vlog, Rousey openly called wrestling “fake” and talked down about it, but all of that was weirdly in character. You must be wondering, how can it be possible that she was in character while acknowledging that it isn’t real?
We know that Rousey is a lifelong fan of pro wrestling, and wouldn’t intentionally disrespect it like that. But it seems to be something that WWE is trying. Another example happens to be on the 4th March episode of RAW, where Colin Jost asked Braun Strowman “Is it even real?”.
Earlier in the same episode, Triple H was talking about Batista attacking Ric Flair, and acknowledged him as “Richard Fliehr”, and even used the words “It’s not the character talking”.
What’s crystal clear from all of this is that none of it is accidental. Any time recently that WWE has openly broken kayfabe on-screen or otherwise, it’s a very conscious effort in attempting a different direction. Perhaps they feel that by acknowledging it, they can also bring about a sense of reality, where fans are confused as to what is real and what isn’t.
The only problem with all of this? It’s not necessary at all. In fact, breaking kayfabe constantly and forcefully reminding fans that they’re watching a scripted show is only detrimental to themselves and the audience. Some might feel like they are insulting the audience’s intelligence by doing so.
As it is, for some odd reason, WWE is the only show that gets flak for “not being real”, despite the term “Sports Entertainment” and “Entertainment” being emphasized on for a long time. Either way, to draw a parallel and give an example, it’s the equivalent of a TV show like Game of Thrones openly acknowledging during the show that it’s all just fiction and none of it is real. The drama, the bloodshed, the sex, the emotions, the medieval story and all of it. Sounds bizarre, doesn’t it?
It’s not like WWE haven’t acknowledged breaking kayfabe themselves. A lot of the programming on the WWE Network is out of character, and that’s perfectly fine. However, what isn’t fine is trying to draw the line between fiction and reality by openly acknowledging the scripted nature of the programming.
We get that trial and error is the way of learning, but hopefully, WWE picks up fast that it’s not a direction that they need to go in.
