"Kayfabe" is listed in Merriam-Webster as "the tacit agreement between professional wrestlers and their fans to pretend that overtly staged wrestling events, stories, characters, etc., are genuine."
Throughout wrestling history, "Kayfabe" was heavily protected by the wrestlers, who would take their on-screen persona and keep it up in real life as much as possible.
Speaking on "Mr. McMahon," Bret Hart, The Undertaker, and Triple H explained "Kayfabe."
Triple H: There's a thing called kayfabe. Kayfabe is basically keeping the illusion that it's real.
Bret Hart: You say 'Kayfabe' and you know that you gotta be in character and pretend everything is real.
Undertaker: Good guys stayed with good guys and bad guys stayed with bad guys and never should the two intermingle. For years and years, we tried to work off the premise that wrestling was not predetermined and that when you had a feud with somebody, it was a blood feud and it carried on outside of the ring. The way I came up and the time period I came up, I lived that and I believed in that mindset. Even though I knew that they knew that I'm a real person, I always wanted to cast that doubt like, 'That dude is legit not right. He thinks he is that guy.' I protected the business and character so much. I always wanted to keep people intrigued.
All six episodes of "Mr. McMahon" are now streaming on Netflix.
Janel Grant, a former WWE employee, filed a lawsuit in January against Vince McMahon, WWE, and John Laurinaitis. The lawsuit accuses McMahon of sexual assault and sex trafficking. On May 30, Grant agreed to pause the lawsuit for six months while the federal investigation continued against McMahon, who resigned from TKO/WWE following the lawsuit being filed.
Victim Resources:
National Sexual Assault Hotline
Hours: Available 24 hours
1-800-656-4673
