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So, is WWE Fake?<\/span><\/h2>\nThe answer is a bit complex. Some brand the WWE as a \u201cmacho soap opera\u201d as much of the entertainment comes from the absolutely outrageous and even controversial storylines.<\/p>\n
Like many of the long-running soap operas that continue to be on TV today, WWE’s storylines can be traced all the way back to January 1953, when Capitol Wrestling Corporation Ltd. (CWC) was founded.<\/p>\n
WWE is fake due to the fact that the competition-based aspect is certainly fixed. The matches are choreographed and the winners are predetermined.<\/strong><\/p>\nHell, the WWE even brands itself repeatedly in seemingly every episode as \u201csports entertainment”, a term Vince McMahon coined following legal proceedings in the late-1980s.<\/p>\n
While the brand and the athletes no longer continuously try to convince viewers that what they\u2019re watching is a real product, they certainly used to do so to the extreme during the \u201cneo-kayfabe era.”<\/p>\n
Though the internet and the growth of WWE pretty much put a halt to kayfabe altogether, there are many extremely real aspects of WWE that have resulted in carnage both inside and outside the squared circle.<\/p>\n
What is Kayfabe?<\/strong><\/h3>\nAccording to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, kayfabe is \u201cthe tacit agreement between professional wrestlers and their fans to pretend that overtly staged wrestling events, stories, characters, etc., are genuine.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prior to the internet and social media, kayfabe was believed to be paramount to the success of the wrestling industry.<\/p>\n
To the surprise of the McMahons and everyone else involved at the top, the WWE has continued to enjoy enormous growth even after it was made abundantly clear that the sport is purely entertainment.<\/p>\n
The secrets of professional wrestling were kept under wraps and misguided much of the public, especially the young viewers, to believe that the feuds, the rivalries, and the drama were all real.<\/p>\n
It went so far that wrestlers were told to not break character in public and not be seen out with their rivals, even when simply eating or traveling together.<\/p>\n
On occasion, kayfabe was accidentally broken and was headline news around the wrestling community.<\/p>\n
Arguably, the biggest such example was back in 1987, when The Iron Sheik and Hacksaw Jim Duggan were set to take part in an important match at Madison Square Garden.<\/p>\n
At the time, Hacksaw was involved in a long-standing patriotic storyline with the Sheik and tag-team partner Nikolai Volkoff, pitting the USA against Iran and Russia.<\/p>\n
However, they were arrested on the Garden State Parkway riding together in possession of marijuana and open alcohol containers, with the Iron Sheik in possession of three grams of cocaine.<\/p>\n
Hacksaw was let go for three months and the Iron Sheik was released by the company for a year, only to be eventually hired back.<\/p>\n
Hell, the WWE even brands itself repeatedly in seemingly every episode as \u201csports entertainment”, a term Vince McMahon coined following legal proceedings in the late-1980s.<\/p>\n
While the brand and the athletes no longer continuously try to convince viewers that what they\u2019re watching is a real product, they certainly used to do so to the extreme during the \u201cneo-kayfabe era.”<\/p>\n
Though the internet and the growth of WWE pretty much put a halt to kayfabe altogether, there are many extremely real aspects of WWE that have resulted in carnage both inside and outside the squared circle.<\/p>\n