Editing Professional wrestling (section)

=== Kayfabe ===
{{more citations needed section|date=September 2018}}
{{main|Kayfabe|Shoot (professional wrestling)}}
''Kayfabe'' is the practice of pretending that professional wrestling is a true sport.<ref name=":12">{{Cite web |last=Antony |first=Kebin |date=2022-05-01 |title=10 Times Wrestlers Were Punished For Breaking Kayfabe |url=https://www.thesportster.com/times-wrestlers-punished-breaking-kayfabe-wwe/ |access-date=2025-01-06 |website=TheSportster |language=en}}</ref>  Wrestlers would at all times flatly deny allegations that they fixed their matches, and they often remained in-character in public even when not performing.<ref name=":11" /> When in public, wrestlers would sometimes say "kayfabe" to each other as a coded signal that there were fans present for whom they needed to be in character. Professional wrestlers in the past strongly believed that if they admitted the truth, their audiences would desert them; accordingly, promotions have often disciplined or punished performers for breaking kayfabe.<ref name=":12" />

{{blockquote|Today's performers don't "protect" the industry like we did, but that's primarily because they've already exposed it by relying on silly or downright ludicrous characters and gimmicks to gain popularity with the fans. It was different in my day, when our product was presented as an authentic, competitive sport. We protected it because we believed it would collapse if we ever so much as implied publicly that it was something other than what it appeared to be. I'm not sure now the fear was ever justified given the fact that the industry is still in existence today, but the point is no one questioned the need then. "Protecting the business" in the face of criticism and skepticism was the first and most important rule a pro wrestler learned. No matter how aggressive or informed the questioner, you never admitted the industry was anything but a competitive sport.|[[Lou Thesz]], ''Hooker''}}

The first wrestling promoter to publicly admit to routinely fixing matches was [[Jack Pfefer]]. In 1933, he started talking about the industry's inner workings to the ''New York Daily Mirror'', resulting in a huge exposé. The exposé neither surprised nor alienated most wrestling fans, although some promoters like Jack Curley were furious and tried to restore the facade of kayfabe as best as they could. In 1989, Vince McMahon testified before the New Jersey government that professional wrestling was not a true sport and therefore should be exempted from sports-related taxes. Many wrestlers and fans resented McMahon for this, but [[Lou Thesz]] accepted it as the smart move as it gave the industry more freedom to do as it pleased, and because by that point professional wrestling no longer attempted to appear real.<ref>Thesz (2011). ''Hooker'': "However, I cannot condemn the WWF for announcing to the world that pro wrestling is an entertainment, which it did in New Jersey in 1987 when it was trying to escape from the scrutiny of that state's athletic commission. It was a shrewd move for someone in that situation, and it succeeded."</ref>

The demise of WCW in 2001 provided some evidence that ''kayfabe'' still mattered to a degree. Vince Russo, the boss of WCW in 2000, completely disregarded ''kayfabe'' by routinely discussing business matters and office politics in public, which alienated fans.<ref name="Beekman 2006 p. 138"/>