5 times WWE blurred the line between Kayfabe and reality
I hate to be the one to break this to all of you but, WWE? Totally fake. It's a scripted form of entertainment that simulates a type of athletic competition that couldn't really take place in "real life". Also, if this is news to you, you are - no offense - a dumb dummy. Also, I'm just joking with you guys - you already know this.
However, one of the reasons that pro wrestling has thrived over the years is its self-awareness. WWE, Impact, AEW and all other wrestling companies that uphold the "kayfabe illusion" do so because it's part of the show. In fact, if you're reading this, I'm pretty sure this doesn't need to be explained to you. So, you know... sorry for explaining it to you.
Rather than being a hindrance, however, WWE - and pro wrestling in general - has used this tip-toeing around the tightrope of reality as a way to mess with expectations, tell interesting stories, and just have fun.
For the unitiated, "kayfabe" is old carny slang for "fake" (a sort of Pig Latin-style rewording) that's meant to represent the illusion of authenticity of pro wrestling being an actual competitive sport. In the early days of the industry up until *looks at watch* - oh, maybe a couple of decades ago? - maintaining this illusion was of the utmost importance.
Nowadays, not so much. Even before Vince McMahon went before the New York State Athletic Commission and spilled the beans on wrestling's authenticity, the majority of fans pretty much knew the jig was up.
However, keeping Kayfabe going was an integral part of the show. Otherwise, it would be like an episode of The Walking Dead taking a break to explain to you that those zombies are just people pretending.
So, here are 5 different times pro wrestling companies have taken the unusual circumstances they find themselves in and created some amazing stories.
And yes, some of these entries involve ECW and WCW, but those promotions are currently owned by WWE so they still count so shut up.
#5. CM Punk drops a pipebomb on WWE
Considering how often it's either written about or, at the very least, referenced by nitwit pro wrestling writers like myself, CM Punk's "pipebomb" is as important a moment in the history of the business as the Montreal Screwjob.
In fact, there hadn't been a promo by a single wrestler that affected the trajectory of the career of a wrestler more since Steve Austin's "Austin 3:16" speech. Well, unless you count this one:
The main event for the 2011 edition of the Money in the Bank PPV was scheduled to be WWE Champion John Cena defending his title against CM Punk. Adding a further wrinkle to the match was the fact that Punk's WWE contract expired the next day. Punk had been unhappy - and vocally so - with his status in the company and word was that he had no intention of signing a new deal.
So, WWE gave Punk a microphone and told him to go out to the ring, have a seat, and air any grievance he wanted to. And, boy howdy, did he.
The line-blurring didn't end there, however. That match, which was held in Punk's hometown of Chicago, was won by the challenger and, true to his word, Punk skedaddled out of the arena with the title.
Punk would eventually return a couple of weeks later with a new WWE deal (which was pretty much signed the night of the pay-per-view). After a storyline detour involving Kevin Nash and Triple H, he eventually held on to the WWE Championship for an astounding 434 days.
I wonder whatever happened to that guy...