Five superstars in Pro-wrestling who never broke kayfabe
Back in the old days, professional wrestling was anything but flashy attires and male cheer leaders. The business used to be a lot tougher, and a lot harder to get into. The industry was referred to as a “circus”, with big men travelling from one town to the other within their territory and fighting their opponents. Sometimes, just to prove how tough they were, they used to issue an open challenge to the fans and beat up their opponents. Keeping professional wrestling “real” was everything to these old school wrestlers, as none of the fans had even the slightest idea about “kayfabe” and the industry being scripted. It was during these times that the business garnered respect and attention from the entire North American audience.
The old school mentality has been keeping the image of professional wrestling being as real as possible. The wrestlers used to keep their gimmicks everywhere, and never used to go out of character. They didn’t want the fans to even have the slightest of doubt about the industry being scripted and thought out, and hence, wore the same dresses, spoke the same language and acted the same way outside the ring. In this article, I take a look at five such old school wrestlers who never broke kayfabe. Before I get to that, let me explain what “kayfabe” means. It is usually the gimmicky part of pro wrestling; the characters, gimmicks, anything and everything that is “scripted” in professional wrestling. It doesn’t have to do with any accidents, but with the superstars breaking character and being anything but their gimmick. Without further ado, let us get down to the list.
5. Story of Nikita Koloff
Nikita Koloff
Remember the tough Russian who used to go by the name of Nikita Koloff? The same guy who had a screaming partner in Ivan Koloff? Nikita was at a time the biggest heel in professional wrestling. Why? Due to the problems between the United States and Russia, people in the US started to hate the Russians. What better way to capitalize on this than to introduce a Russian performer? The only difference was, Nikita was as American as you could get.
Nelson Scott Simpson was told that he’d be playing the “Russian nightmare” character, and he decided to completely immerse himself into the character. Scott legally changed his name to Nikita, took lessons in Russian and would only communicate in Russian language till he retired! He would speak to people only in Russian, even while renting an apartment! He went so far as to list his birth place as Lithuania on his son’s birth certificate! Talk about being obsessed.