Kayfabe (professional wrestling)
In professional wrestling, kayfabe (pronounced kuh-fay-bee) refers to the portrayal that events within the industry are real, that is, that professional wrestling is not staged or worked. Referring to events as kayfabe means that they are worked events, part of a wrestling storyline or angle. In relative terms, a wrestler "breaking" kayfabe during a show would be likened to an actor breaking character on camera.
A wrestler who breaks kayfabe often sees his career suffer for it--one of the most notable cases being that of Paul Levesque, whose rise to professional wrestling stardom in the WWE was stunted for some time after he embraced his soon-to-be departing on-screen rivals at the end of a show in Madison Square Garden (for more information on this incident, see the Clique (professional wrestling).
In recent years kayfabe has referred more to the suspension of disbelief used to create interesting stories, in a similar manner with other forms of entertainment, such as soap operas and movies. With the advent of the Internet, professional wrestling's backstage secrets have become more difficult to keep than they were in earlier decades, making kayfabe seem much less sacred in terms of its importance to the industry.
Examples of Kayfabe
- Wrestlers having 'stage names' like Justin Credible or The Undertaker, often with exaggerated personality traits like being 'evil' or having a gimmick.
- Feuds between wrestlers which are highly implausible and would never happen in real life
- Suppression of 'internal events', such as when a wrestler is hired or gets fired; he simply appears or disappears without explanation.
- Heel and Face wrestlers not fraternizing in public.
- Commentators referring to healthy wrestlers as "injured", either as the result of an "injury" suffered during a show, or to explain an absence. Some recent examples:
- In the summer of 2004, Shawn Michaels took time off to be with his pregnant wife with WWE approval. He was written out of storylines as a victim of an attack by Kane that left him with a "crushed larynx."
- Later in the same year, Kane was the victim of a "neck injury" inflicted by Gene Snitsky. This was used to allow him to film Goodnight, a WWE-produced movie.
- At the same time, WWE used an injury angle to allow John Cena to film another WWE-produced movie, The Marine. In Cena's case, he was the victim of a "nightclub stabbing" by Jesús, the "bodyguard" of Carlito Caribbean Cool, that left him with an injured kidney.
Origins of Kayfabe
Professional 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."