Citations:kayfabe

English citations of kayfabe

Noun: "professional wrestling fakery"

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• 1988, Wrestling Observer Newsletter 1988 Yearbook, p. 81:

  The heels were told to stay away because of kayfabe violations, but few listened to the order.

• 1995 August 6, Jerry Camarillo Dunn Jr., "L.A. Speak: Grapplers' Gab", Los Angeles Times, p. 10:

  kayfabe n. - pro wrestling's code of secrecy in never revealing that pro wrestling is scripted. Origin unclear.

• 2010 June 12, [www.fayobserver.com The Fayetteville Observer:

  World Wrestling Entertainment has been peddling the line that The Undertaker was left in a ‘vegetative state’... but this is apparently kayfabe.

• 2016, Pat Patterson & al., Accepted, →ISBN, pp. 76–7:

  I always enjoyed Portland [in the early 1960s]... I remember the guy who would bring our jackets back to the dressing room. Every time he did, someone would yell "Kayfabe." It was common practice each time an outsider entered the sanctuary that was our dressing room to yell that code word. It simply meant we should not be talking about business... Then one night, the guy decided to stand up for himself and told the whole dressing room: "I don't mind the yelling, but I want to let you know that my name is not Kayfabe. It's Mark." We all burst out laughing and told him we'd call him Mark from then on with tears in our eyes. What he didn't know is that wrestlers called people outside of the business "marks"—that's why we were yelling kayfabe in the first place.

• 2002, Jerry Lawler & al., It's Good to Be the King... Sometimes, →ISBN, p. 81:

  A while back, many of the things we talk about in this book would have been kayfabe. But I think it's been a good thing for wrestling that this isn't the case anymore. […] If wrestling people had kept trying to convince fans that everything was absolutely real, then it would have been an insult to the fans' intelligence.

• 2006, Eldridge Wayne Coleman & al., Tangles Ropes, →ISBN, p. 143:

  The guy was completely paranoid—a total kayfabe maniac.

Verb: "to maintain kayfabe"

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• 2011, Chris Bateman, Imaginary Games, →ISBN, p. 235:

  Pro Wrestling has traditionally been presented as if it were factual. In the United States, this pretense even has its own name: ‘kayfabe’. An interview that has been staged is said to be ‘kayfabed’.

• 2012, Billy C. Wirtz, Red Headed Geek, →ISBN, p. 60:

  ...Stossel took it upon himself to confront another wrestler to verify some of Mansfield's allegations. At first, Vince McMahon was cooperative, but upon realizing what was up, he kayfabed Stossel.

• 2015, James Dixon & al., The Complete WWE Guide, Vol. 6, →ISBN, p. 79:

  ...I do think he is a very underrated talent, remembered more for the cast he wore on his arm for eighteen months than his ability. Like every old school vet, he kayfabes his gimmick, claiming his arm healed slowly because he was pounding it into people every night.