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There was a time when kayfabe was the be all to end all in pro wrestling - you didn't break it even if it meant you received delayed treatment after a plane crash. That poo poo was sacrosanct. But there comes a time when everyone has their first true and official break in the sense of how 'real' it all is. Mine came through an issue of 'The Wrestler'. It was a pictorial of the Four Horsemen - Ole, Arn, Tully and Ric - hanging around a pool with a bunch of chicks like the rich SOBs they are. And the following page was a pic of Magnum T.A. lounging on a pool chair with a couple girls at was absolutely beyond obvious the same pool at the same time. I do believe one of the girls was the same as well. MIND BLOWN. As is well known now, Ric and Terry and Nikita were best of friends and road buddies, especially when they had their string of title matches all over the eastern seaboard. Then Magnum had his car accident. Which led to the most ridiculously awesome moment I have ever seen in pro graps: Dusty Rhodes didn't have a partner for this match against the Four Horsemen. So they send in Dillon and Ole because who cares they will beat up Dusty. Then Dusty heads to the ring and OHHHH NOOOOO.... Nikita Koloff was THE top heel in the org outside of the Horsemen at this point. Faces either fought the 4H or they fought the Russians, of which Nikita was their beast. Magnum and Nikita had just had a 'best-of-seven' for the U.S. title. Nikita won... Yeah everyone thought at first Dusty didn't know Nikita was behind him and it was going to get him mauled and oh no and UYAHAHDHDHHHGhglkwhrglrnenetn! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmO-U7atifQ kayfabe-breaking friendships lead to a stunning cool moment, which is pretty drat cool in my book. acejackson42 fucked around with this message at 19:38 on Jul 12, 2014 |
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Jul 12, 2014 19:05
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Even with all the explanation I dont understand what happened here
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Jul 12, 2014 20:44
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Lord Waffle Beard posted:Even with all the explanation I dont understand what happened here Yeah I don't get it either. For me kayfabe was broken during WWE TV highlights of the 1992 Royal Rumble ending where they rerecorded the commentary and the audience reaction to make Sid Justice come off as a heel for eliminating Hulk Hogan and subsequently getting eliminated by Hogan's heelish poor sportsmanship. I don't care how the WWF tried to rewrite history, I knew even as little kid and huge Hulkamaniac that Hogan was in the wrong and it was his fault that jerk Ric Flair won the championship. That is when kayfabe and Hulkamania died for a young Bartok.
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Jul 12, 2014 21:23
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I think it's weird to hear that people ever thought wrestling was real. I can never remember a time where I thought it was real.
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Jul 12, 2014 21:29
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When Eddie died  The wound healed for a while, but when Benoit died there was no going back.
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Jul 12, 2014 21:42
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Burt Buckle posted:I think it's weird to hear that people ever thought wrestling was real. I can never remember a time where I thought it was real. Did you start watching during the Attitude Era? Or were you teenager when you started watching? I was fairly young when I started to watch which was about several months before Wrestlemania 6 and kayfabe was live and well.
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Jul 12, 2014 21:50
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bartok posted:Did you start watching during the Attitude Era? Or were you teenager when you started watching? Pro wrestling was widely known to be fake for a loooong time before that. As a dumb little kid in the 80s I knew the WWF was fake as gently caress. If nothing else the punching they were doing was always unconvincing as hell.
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Jul 12, 2014 22:06
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bartok posted:Did you start watching during the Attitude Era? Or were you teenager when you started watching? The first time I saw wrestling I would've been about five in roughly 1987. As I said in the other wrestling memories thread, the very first thing my dad said to me was "you know this is fake, right"? I only really got into it a couple years later in late 1989 though after I went to my first house show. My mistake was taking things too far in the other direction. Since I knew wrestling was fake I had no idea how physically demanding it really was on the wrestlers and didn't think people regularly suffered genuine injuries doing it. I even thought Brutus Beefcake's parasailing injury was a work at first.
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Jul 12, 2014 22:08
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Thauros posted:The first time I saw wrestling I would've been about five in roughly 1987. As I said in the other wrestling memories thread, the very first thing my dad said to me was "you know this is fake, right"? My parents knew it was fake but they played along. It also didn't help that my grandpa and my source for wrestling PPV videos believed it was real until the day he died. Gramps always hated Hulk Hogan with a passion and could get really worked up. I remember watching Wrestlemania 9 with him and him just swearing up a storm over Hogan beating Yokozuna for the title. He also went off about how Hogan hosed over Bret Hart like he hosed over Bob Backlund back in the day because there is no way that chicken poo poo would put the title up against a guy who could wrestle circles around him.
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Jul 12, 2014 22:27
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My dad kept up kayfabe with me but I knew it was fake when I got made fun of by another kid in 3rd grade for thinking it was real  bartok posted:My parents knew it was fake but they played along. It also didn't help that my grandpa and my source for wrestling PPV videos believed it was real until the day he died. I never talked to him about wrestling but my dad said grandpa was the same way. Every week at the same time in the living room screaming and cursing at the Sheik. Didn't care if it was fake, gently caress that motherfucker. Luigi Thirty fucked around with this message at 22:37 on Jul 12, 2014 |
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Jul 12, 2014 22:30
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I'm curious when did the industry come around on recognizing wrestling as fake? Like I know the most cited is Vince telling the NJ Athletic Commission that yeah it's fake quit treating us like we're real, but was there any real industry acknowledgement before that? Didn't Vince always kinda play the "it's a TV show" kind of stuff - never call it fake, but never pretend it's really real either?
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Jul 12, 2014 22:31
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bartok posted:My parents knew it was fake but they played along. It also didn't help that my grandpa and my source for wrestling PPV videos believed it was real until the day he died. Your grandpa sounds pretty cool.
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Jul 12, 2014 22:35
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Another one here for "Gramps thought it was a shoot". Mick McManus could have called my great-grandmother a whore and my grandpa couldn't have hated him more. Anyway, I grew up in the mid-late 90s, so obviously wrestling was huge in the playground. Except we were poor as poo poo, so all my dad could afford to buy me was old VHS copies of Hogan-era PPVs. So while other kids were freaking out about Stone Cold, the Rock and Mick Foley, I was freaking out about Hogan, Savage and, in particular, Jake Roberts. Then the kids at school maintained that the old stuff I watched was fake and the NEW stuff was real. Then my dad dropped the bombshell of "Don't be stupid, none of it's real!" Gyro Zeppeli fucked around with this message at 23:11 on Jul 12, 2014 |
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Jul 12, 2014 23:03
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I remember when kayfabe died. HHH came out and declared that it was The Reality Era.
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Jul 12, 2014 23:12
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I was sitting in church going no way this poo poo can be real.
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Jul 12, 2014 23:24
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That pop for Nikita Koloff when he comes to Dusty's aid, holy poo poo  My Grandpa loved wrestling and got fully into it, while my Dad was entertained by it but in a very bemused "this is obviously fake" way. In the latter years of his life when I'd visit my Grandpa we'd always talk about whatever was going on in wrestling at the time, and he'd end every conversation with,"Ahhh I know it's all bullshit but I don't even care." Good for you, Grandpa 
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Jul 12, 2014 23:28
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When The Undertaker texted "lol" to Punk
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Jul 12, 2014 23:29
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My dad and I watched wrestling and talked about it like we would any other show. It was always fake.
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Jul 12, 2014 23:37
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Ninja PD posted:I was sitting in church going no way this poo poo can be real. You watched wrestling in church? I want to join this denomination.
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Jul 12, 2014 23:58
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Jerusalem posted:That pop for Nikita Koloff when he comes to Dusty's aid, holy poo poo I think my favorite part is how confused Koloff looks at everything, like "Hey, you boo me when I beat people up, what's wrong with all of you tonight?  "
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Jul 13, 2014 00:21
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Burt Buckle posted:You watched wrestling in church? I want to join this denomination. He was saying his prayers, brother!
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Jul 13, 2014 00:29
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acejackson42 posted:But there comes a time when everyone has their first true and official break in the sense of how 'real' it all is. Wh...what?
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Jul 13, 2014 01:22
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I went into a wcw.com chatroom and asked everyone how they thought Lex Luger got Sting to join the Wolfpac The responses forever ruined young 21 Hoot Salute
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Jul 13, 2014 01:42
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21 Hoot Salute posted:I went into a wcw.com chatroom and asked everyone how they thought Lex Luger got Sting to join the Wolfpac The saddest Nitro Party 
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Jul 13, 2014 01:44
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That one expose in the 90s was the final nail in the coffin for me. Like I knew matches were fixed but I didnt realize the level of cooperation for all parties involved. It actually made me love wrestling more.
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Jul 13, 2014 01:53
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I was totally convinced that Jake The Snake Roberts had Damien bite Ultimate Warrior, and nothing, not even my dad pointing out that devenomizing was a thing could convince me that Warrior wasn't in terrible danger. What finally broke kayfabe for me was my step-dad pointing out if the Ultimate Warrior was in the "airtight" casket for as long as he supposedly was, he'd be braindead.
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Jul 13, 2014 02:12
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80's Hulkamaniac kid here. I borrowed two books from my elementary school's library that were about Hogan's career. The first one I read was all in kayfabe and was probably sanctioned by the WWF, the second one exposed the business and really confused me at the time.
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Jul 13, 2014 02:17
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I remember back in the mid 80s the NWA did a show in my hometown at the high school football stadium. When I went to get some popcorn, I saw Nikita Koloff and Magnum TA behind the fieldhouse throwing a football around. They would come out to the ring and beat the poo poo out of each other about an hour later.
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Jul 13, 2014 02:45
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I recognized a gimmick repackage. Demolition was my favorite tag team for a while, and then they quietly disappeared. I had seen Repo Man on TV, but he was always doing this whole sneaky laughing thing in-character. Then at a house show I heard him yell "I'm gonna kick yer stinkin' teeth in!" at an opponent, which was a staple of his Smash persona, and I realized it was the same guy. But what's he doing out of his weird bondage gear and face paint? Why is he repossessing cars now? He was just a dude straight out of Thunderdome and now he's got a day job. Barry Darsow ruined MY IMMERSION. 
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Jul 13, 2014 03:02
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I don't think there was ever a clear moment that broke it for me. Can't really remember ever thinking clearly one way or another that it was worked or not back in my heyday of watching it in the late 90s at 10-13 years old. I just read Bret's book, and this thread made me remember the story of Duggan/Shiek getting arrested with massive amounts of drugs while driving to a show together. Apparently they were in a feud at the time. It'd be pretty hard to explain that one away. http://brocouncil.com/Sports/wwe-flashback-iron-sheik-and-hacksaw-jim-duggan-s-arrest quote:During a traffic stop in 1987, Duggan and his passenger the Sheik were arrested for marijuana and cocaine possession. Both Duggan and Sheik were fired which led to Duggan blaming the incident for never being able to rise to the top of WWE:
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Jul 13, 2014 04:58
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coconono posted:That one expose in the 90s was the final nail in the coffin for me. Like I knew matches were fixed but I didnt realize the level of cooperation for all parties involved. It actually made me love wrestling more. god that show ruled so much
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Jul 13, 2014 05:15
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I don't remember the year but as a kid I loved watching wrestling. It never occurred to me it wasn't real. One Christmas my uncle told me it was fake and started bringing up all these points I never thought of before. I was crushed.
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Jul 13, 2014 05:23
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Nick Lovin' being an "audience member" in a 2013 NWA Hollywood taping.
Golden Bee fucked around with this message at 06:40 on Jul 13, 2014 |
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Jul 13, 2014 05:25
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I remember being really young and asking my dad why, when wrestlers did a run-in, they got their music played even if they weren't supposed to be there. Dad protected the business and said that there was a special computer in the entryway that recognized when a wrestler was passing through it and played their music, but the seed had been planted. The real turning point was when I was 9 and one of my friends had found a website about 'the secrets of wrestling' and printed it out, and we'd been reading it at school. One of the most important parts was that there was a guy called the booker who wrote out how everything was going to go, and the site listed some of the booking team for the current federation. The idea of Kevin Sullivan being behind everything in WCW (which was the only stuff I watched at the time) seemed ridiculous and I was pretty sure the whole site was a hoax. Two weeks later, Superbrawl VI happened, and I had to face some apparent realities. 
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Jul 13, 2014 05:39
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mkay0 posted:god that show ruled so much It's a... stunt Granny.
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Jul 13, 2014 05:44
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I am ashamed to admit I thought it was real for a long-rear end time. I was born in '85, but I thought that Brian Pillman was ACTUALLY GOING TO SHOOT AND KILL STONE COLD STEVE AUSTIN WITH A GUN in that home invasion segment (I was rooting for Pillman. Austin seemed like a legit psycho to me). Like, seriously, I was convinced that the Undertaker was actually a supernatural entity for an embarrassingly long time. Then I just sort of...started thinking logically about things? It's hard to pinpoint. I think I saw some guy botch a dropkick really bad to where it looked like he was force-pushing his opponent with his feet and there was just no way to salvage my innocence from that point on.
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Jul 13, 2014 05:55
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I don't remember when I caught on--I think it was pretty early, and definitely before I went to a Smackdown taping with my dad and said "eh let's grab a popcorn now, this is only a stupid divas arm wrestling match"-- but I remember that I used to think that it would be super neat if each wrestler had a key card they put in a slot before they came out and that triggered their music, and whenever someone's music played by surprise someone had taken their key card. I was, like, nine. Everything is so much more simple and so much more complex when you're nine.
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Jul 13, 2014 06:00
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Teddybear posted:I don't remember when I caught on--I think it was pretty early, and definitely before I went to a Smackdown taping with my dad and said "eh let's grab a popcorn now, this is only a stupid divas arm wrestling match"-- but I remember that I used to think that it would be super neat if each wrestler had a key card they put in a slot before they came out and that triggered their music, and whenever someone's music played by surprise someone had taken their key card. Everyone knows wrestlers have RFID chips implanted in them that so their music hits as soon as they walk through gorilla.
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Jul 13, 2014 06:16
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The segment where Hulk Hogan and Undertaker were trying to kill each other in their respective monster trucks
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Jul 13, 2014 09:02
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When I was a kid I read a little paragraph in some newspaper about how all the good guy wrestlers would go out drinking with the bad guy wrestlers after shows (Jim Cornette must have had a heart attack) and remember feeling this sinking sense of,"Oh so it's all fake?" but then I read the list of wrestlers they mentioned in the article and noticed that Ted Dibiase wasn't included in the list. Aha! I decided, so yeah sure some of it is faked but everybody really DOES hate The Million Dollar Man and THAT is real!
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Jul 13, 2014 10:16
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