The Travesty of being an Apostrophe # 2: Kayfabe

['Manyu]

The Travesty of being an Apostrophe # 2
By 'Manyu


Foreword-

Kayfabe: The portrayal of events within the wrestling industry as 'real', that is, the portrayal of professional wrestling as being genuine. ~ Wikipedia



Hello and welcome to the 2nd edition of ‘The Travesty of being an Apostrophe’ series! I am your gracious host ‘Manyu (also known as Apostrophe’), who'd pull a chair so far back, that you'd miss it completely and break your a$$! Kidding aside, as this is only my second attempt at writing a wrestling column, I must re-instate that I’m looking for criticism and appreciation (if my column warrants it) in equal measure.

So, let’s get down to business, shall we? In today’s column, I’m going to talk about a stage that all of us have been through at some point of time and yet, we don’t relate to it even remotely anymore. As a matter of fact, it is something we slightly frown and look down upon at times. No, I’m not talking about being a Back Street Boys fan; I’m referring to the phenomenon known as Kayfabe, and the state of being a Kayfabe Fan; and in the next 2000 words or so, (Yes sir, I’m working on the length!) I will aim to discuss the key differences between a Kayfabe Fan and an Internet Wrestling Community Fan; and more importantly, their different points of view. Here goes-


The Travesty of being a Kayfabe Fan

Now, like I stated earlier, unless we got our pro wrestling fandom in heritage from our father or elder brother who told us everything about Pro-wrestling being staged and the turn of events being pre-planned even before we watched our first bout; we naturally began watching under the impression that wrestling is legit and is just as unpredictable as any other form of sport. Of course, somewhere along the line we made that transition into reality and realized that there’s lot more to the game than meets the eye, and that there is a whole world of rehearsing, planning, and careful maneuvering that goes into giving us the end product on our television screens than what we originally thought it to be.

Gradually, we realized that if Hulk Hogan won every match he wrestled in, then it was not because he was the best wrestler in the whole universe, but because someone pulling the strings decided that it happens that way. So what changed our perception? Was it the emergence and rise of more and more over-the-top and less believable characters like The Undertaker, who was basically a dead man but was also alive, and The Ultimate Warrior who was a slightly mental person from another planet? Or was is the fact that we started noticing that no matter how hard or from how high a person fell from, he would invariably kick out just at around the 2 ½ count every time unless his opponent hit him with a signature move which was bound to get the 3-count even if it sometimes barely connected? Or did we just grow up and had a brain wave that told us “Dude! This can’t be real!”?

Well, a bit of all that really, and some other things too; but most importantly, it was the fact that we were serious, die hard wrestling fans! We just loved it too damn much! So much so, that with the emergence of the Internet, it wasn’t enough to watch the weekly two-hour TV program and order the quarterly PPV event. We wanted more, and so we jumped online to find out more about our favorite wrestlers, the history of our most liked titles and the dates when our favorite promotion would be coming to the neighboring arena for a show; and while looking for all this info, we unknowingly bumped onto something we didn’t anticipate, but something that once found, we couldn’t ignore! We found a whole new world with a universe-full of news, information and reality bytes! We learned that Faces and Heels were created and Ric Flair wasn’t really a bad guy who cheated on his wife all the time. We found that while The Ultimate Warrior was actually called The Warrior in real life; The Undertaker had a name as normal as Mark, and he required transport just like us instead of magically aparating to his destination. We also learned the meaning of Angles, the difference between Gimmicks and the wrestlers playing them, and of course, the meaning and the downright absurdity of the strange-sounding term Kayfabe.

Now, while we were undergoing this transition of turning into Smarks from Marks; which by the way, were also terms that we learned on the World Wide Web- there was the next door kid, who grew up watching wrestling just like us but somewhere along the line drifted away to other stuff like say, the Gymnastic class, or umm… The Science club, and that occupied most of his attention. Therefore, as a follower this person stayed at a level of seriousness that could at best be termed as casual. He still watched WWE and WCW on his TV regularly and even ordered a PPV once in a while; especially if it had the ‘Potentially Earth-shattering’ Undertaker vs. Giant Gonzales bout on the card. However, such a fan never joined a wrestling forum to discuss the backstage on-goings and as a result, he never realized that Sid wasn’t supposed to kick out to the Leg Drop of Doom causing the False finish at WrestleMania VIII. Heck, he didn’t even know what a false finish was! So, while it’s debatable whether the causal or Kayfabe fan was deprived of some very important information due to his apparent limited knowledge; there’s a definitely a case in point that he stood to enjoy the product much more than the smart fan; who sometimes, knew too much for his own good. Let’s see how-


Kayfabe is Bliss: Don’t get me wrong, I’m pretty sure that only about 10%, and maybe even lesser; population of all the people around the world that regularly watch wrestling truly believe that it’s real. That is to say, people realize that wrestlers are trained not to hurt and injure each other seriously when they wrestle in the ring. Most people also know that the ring is canvas and the floor and announce tables are heavily padded. However, there is still a large majority of people out there who think the matches are not scripted and that John Cena is indeed the best wrestler in the game which is why he never loses. The question is; are these people really losing out on anything, and more importantly, is an ‘aware’ fan superior to a casual fan? Well, my answer to both questions is a straight 'No'- simply because the oft repeated line- ‘To each his own’ still holds true; especially in this case. We, as the Internet Wrestling Community know so much about the inside-scoop of pro wrestling because we choose to. We make it our business to spend hours every day reading articles, posting in forums and discussing the latest news related to the world of Sports Entertainment. The casual fan on the other hand, watches the program every week, chooses the guy he wants to cheer for, roots for him and goes home happy when that wrestler wins. It-is-that-simple!


Talent does matter, or does it?: True, one could argue here that it’s unfair for a person to claim to be a genuine wrestling fan when they support a lesser talented wrestler over a wrestler of high work-rate out of pure ignorance simply because that popular guy is more marketable. What we completely over look though, is that a person supporting say, The Great Khali over Kurt Angle isn’t looking for in-ring technicality when he watches wrestling, but for sheer strength and power. His idea of freestyle wrestling is of one guy beating the hell out of the other by any means necessary and for him; Khali is realistically that guy- problem solved. Similarly, most John Cena fans are not his fans for his in ring work; which dare I say is not as horrible as it’s made out to be at times- but for his charisma and comic promos. Young people relate to the Gangster-rapper hero who takes any challenge that comes his way and they cheer him. They don’t care if he has a limited move-set as compared to that of Shelton Benjamin, because he provides them with what they look for when they watch wrestling- entertainment, and an outlet to relax and be bashfully childish for a few hours.


Good guy, Bad guy: Another very common point of disconnect between us and them is that of 'Whom to cheer?'. While a Kayfabe fan would generally cheer for a Face and boo a Heel as a rule, the smart fans cheer the wrestlers they like irrespective of how the promotion portrays their characters to be. So, while an IWC fan might argue that the marks just lap up whatever is fed to them; it is one line that has constantly blurred over a period of time as we see more and more casual fans supporting heelish wrestlers if they really like them. We all know that it truly emerged with the rise and rise of Stone Cold Steve Austin, and since then there have been numerous occasions of fans; irrespective of their awareness of the business- cheering for a guy whom they relate with, even if he wasn’t necessarily put out to be Goody-two-shoes. However, it was never really a rock solid rule to begin with. In fact, there’s something that I should share with you guys here- when I was still a causal fan around 15 years ago, I remember watching WrestleMania X and wishing Shawn Michaels would win his Ladder match against Razor Ramon; even though he was the heel- simply because I found his cocky character more intriguing and it didn’t matter to me if he was somewhat of a bad guy. It could’ve also been because he had the whole ‘Sexy boy’ thing going on and maybe on some level I wanted to be, well, a sexy boy myself; and therefore, I was immediately drawn to his character (I really should have kept that to myself, shouldn’t I?). Well, for those who are still reading this despite that disturbing bit of info; what I’m really saying here is that contrary to popular IWC belief, even Kayfabe followers are generally smart enough to choose and pick what and whom they really like.


The Element of Surprise: I sometimes marvel at the wonder that the human psyche is. I’m sure that if we were given a crystal ball that told us the future, almost each one of us would jump at it with our hands, feet, and a tooth or two! Funnily enough though, we also love to be surprised and more often that not, we’d end up wishing we hadn’t gazed the ball as soon as we’ve seen what lies ahead!

While there is (thankfully) no such device in the real world yet, the Internet is the proverbial crystal ball for us IWC members. We speculate, guess, second guess and third guess what’s going to happen next on our favorite wrestling program- assuming, anticipating, predicting and even criticizing the turn of events before they have happened! In the process, we spoil all the fun for ourselves as somewhere along the way, we forget to let the product stimulate and entertain us- something it is designed to do more than anything else. Eventually, we end up terming most of the stuff we watch as ‘Predictable’ only after we have made it a point to gaze into our crystal ball and foresee what we were actually supposed to discover in due course of time.

Don't agree with me? Consider this- on the last episode of RAW before a major PPV, World Champion Chris Jericho demolishes challenger Triple H as the show draws to a close. The very next moment, we all jump to the fore drawn conclusion that Triple H will be victorious come the PPV night because that is the unspoken rule. On the other hand, when CM Punk loses his IC title to JBL a few weeks before Mania, we shake our heads in disappointment saying he has no chance of winning the Money in the Bank Ladder match because he has no momentum going into the big event! Now, is that confusing or what? However, a regular Kayfabe fan tunes in every week with an open mind and takes in everything that happens without any presumption; because he truly believes that ‘Anything can happen in the WWE!’ Sure, every once in a while he's disappointed that his favorite wrestler didn’t win a big match; but that disappointment is similar to how he feels when his favorite college team doesn’t win the figure skating finals…Uh… Obviously, I mean something about favorite Football team and NFL.. But you get the point, hey?


In conclusion, I’d like to say is that this isn’t really a story with a moral; especially when we see more and more storylines on WWE (and even TNA) programming that border on mixing reel with the real and an increasing number of wrestlers cutting promos that openly break kayfabe at times- but maybe there’s a lesson or two in it somewhere for us smart fans- that if only we would scrutinize, speculate and spoil a little less, then we’d have a lot better chance of enjoying the professional wrestling product and possibly of even avoiding cancellation of great storylines which get canned due to the one-upmanship of a ‘bloke with a keyboard’; like it has sometimes happened in the recent past. Keeping that in mind, I leave you with these famous last words-

‘Don’t analyze, don’t analyze. Don’t live that way, don’t be that way- That will paralyze your evolution.’ ~ Dolores O’ Riordan.

Well folks, that does it for Column # 2 in the ‘Travesty..’ series! I have tried my best to incorporate all the feedback I received from you guys on my first column; ensuring at the same time that I didn’t lose sight of the positives you cited! Please don’t waste any time in hitting me with your valuable thoughts, suggestions and criticism for this one just like you did for the last one.

Till the next time, this is me; your column writer host, telling you to take care and Stay Awesome!

~ Mr. Apostrophe’

[Martin Riggs]

Alright, let's get to it!

Your first column was the tri-WM column, and this is a step in the right direction as far as improvement goes, i think this column was far better than your first (not that i'm slighting it in any way) and you've taken what feedback was given to you and really worked at it.

I like your style, you stick with one topic (a major plus) and you analysed in a way that showcased both sides, presenting a fair argument for each case. And your whole 'sexy boy' thing was excellent, as well. I laughed! Your column length was fine, i believe it was around the 2,500 mark, which is perfectly acceptable.

I would've liked to maybe see you explore some middle ground on this topic, like for example, people who know it's fake, but don't read spoilers, are not part of the IWC. The grey areas in between the two POV's.

Sorry there's not a lot of criticism in this column (wierd sentence) but i really rather enjoyed this! I shall see you on your next outing, sir!

[cicero]

I preffered your first outing, this had seemed have more syntax errors and just frankly was not as interesting. Indeed I must admit I found myself wanting to skim at points because just didn't give a shit about the topic. Now you may say, "to each their own", but a quality writer makes a reader care no matter what.

Arbitrary rating, 7.8/11

['Manyu]

Point Taken, Cicero.

I'd appreciate it if you could PM me some of the syntax errors. In fact, even post them here if you wish (my only fear is bumping the thread again and again pushing more recent columns down the line).

J-Boom, I've already told you how thankful I am for your kind words, but thanks again!