Is kayfabe still relevant in modern WWE? I know – this is a cliche topic that wrestling forum types can debate for hours on end. But after the year we just went through, we need to ask the question: Where does reality and fiction begin and end in Triple H’s WWE.
Obviously, the basic laws of kayfabe will never change. Professional wrestling is still an arena product that requires viewers to suspend disbelief — whether that’s pretending that matches are truly confrontational, or echoing fringe crazier stuff (like the idea of ​​”SmackDown” tag team champions possessing supernatural powers).
advertise
The more difficult question is figuring out where exactly the boundaries of kayfabe lie, at least under the current leadership of WWE. This year we’ve seen some pretty infamous examples that stretched the concept to its limits, covering things previously considered off-limits: namely Seth Rollins’ fake injury and the entire R-Truth “fake” shot.
While WWE has pushed the limits of fair game cheating, this administration is also more open than before in terms of talking about how things are scripted. Remember when Triple H boasted after “Money in the Bank” that R-Truth’s firing was “part of the show”? Or Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson openly talking about his WWE “character” like it’s just another superhero role?
On their own, these things may seem like isolated quirks. But when you look at what we’ve seen over the past year, including WWE Unreal, a consistent theme starts to emerge. The scripted nature of wrestling has become one of Triple H’s creative obsessions, and it’s drawing in audiences.
advertise
We saw this in the second half of Unreal, which basically served as a victory lap for John Cena’s entire heel turn. The gist of the WWE Tower argument is essentially: “Isn’t it great that no one saw this coming?” — and it all adds up until you remember how they failed to live up to the expectations of that initial shocking turn.
Likewise, when you have a big surprise like Rollins’ bank-deposit heist, it relies on the kind of twist that most of us would have considered off-limits before – namely, pretending that a wrestler has suffered a real injury to the point where his locker room colleagues are tricked into thinking he’s undergoing real surgery.
When this twist relies on such a departure from the usual rules, does it really catch the audience off guard? For example, when you read an Agatha Christie murder mystery novel, you usually assume that the twists are related to something in the existing narrative. You wouldn’t think it was actually caused by aliens or vampire squids or something like that.
Another problem with pull twists like this is that they only really work once. When you introduce the precedent that things like injuries or personnel decisions are fair game, you quickly have fans second-guessing every legitimate news story looking for the next twist.
When news broke that Scarlett and Karrion Kross were quitting WWE, no one seemed to believe the news. Can you blame us?
(WWE via Getty Images)
We saw this with Karrion Kross’s post-SummerSlam release. Two wrestlers (Cross and Scarlett) parted ways with the company, having spent much of their adult lives trying to join and presumably feeling devastated by it. But instead we have people focusing on whether the whole thing is a work – and not without reason.
advertise
Obviously, there’s a place for speculation in wrestling. But wouldn’t it be better to have viewers swap fan theories about actual storylines (like what’s really going on with Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar), rather than encourage them to start digging into personnel decisions or digging up behind-the-scenes gossip?
What’s even more frustrating is that WWE seems proud of its new creative strategy, even speaking out about the decisions after they’re made – upending decades of professional wrestling wisdom. For example, take a look at the recent Saturday Night Main Event post-show, where Triple H openly talked about why he gave John Cena the loss as if he were the showrunner explaining the season finale.
TKO board member The Rock has taken a similar approach. Remember when he appeared on “The Pat McAfee Show” less than 48 hours after WrestleMania 41 to give us a post-mortem of the main event? Not only did he openly talk about wrestling being a scripted product, but he also told us exactly how they scripted it. (Though if you criticize it, he’ll tell you to “enjoy the show.”)
Where is all the kafabe stuff? After all the twists and turns of 2025, it’s certainly in a much different position than it was a year ago. Who knows – maybe this will all prove to be an improvement in the long run. Although what we’ve seen so far doesn’t give us much reason for optimism.