Kayfabe

Kayfabe is the portrayal of staged elements within professional wrestling (such as characters, rivalries, and storylines) as legitimate or real. Although initially a wrestling term, Kayfabe has also been used to describe any suspension of disbelief or pretense of reality that deliberately blurs the lines between fact and fiction. Kayfabe is essential to creating and maintaining the non-wrestling aspects of the industry, similar to other fictional entertainment; a wrestler breaking kayfabe is analogous to an actor breaking character. Since wrestling is performed in front of a live audience, kayfabe can be compared to the fourth wall in acting, as little to no conventional fourth wall exists in wrestling to begin with. Kayfabe was fiercely maintained for decades with the intent to deceive fans, and the lack of a conventional fourth wall often led to wrestlers being expected to maintain their characters even when living their everyday lives. With the advent of the Internet and the sports entertainment movement, the wrestling industry has become less concerned with protecting its secrets and typically maintains kayfabe only during live events and the filming of television shows. Kayfabe is even broken during shows on occasion, usually when paying tribute to deceased and retired wrestlers or when a serious injury genuinely occurs during a match.