when did you learn it was all a work and how did you cope with it ?

I recorded an episode of Raw and paused it as a guy got hit with a chair (I think it was Austin hitting Rock) and noticed his hand was up blocking the impact. Also, every time there was a PPV whoever stood tall the week before seemed to lose so yeah I figured it out through that.

Repeated spots and through John Cena. He killed the business with his fake manners.

>>18070587 (OP)
My mom had to tell me because I was shoot scared of Kane when I was 5 and would have night terrors of him showing up to our house and taking me to hell.

It was during one of those backstage segments they used to do on Smackdown where the camera would follow a guy backstage into the locker room and they'd start brawling and one guy would end up taking a bump through glass or whatever
It just all it hit me that it was bullshit right then and there

My dad was a truck driver and rest stops always had the rasslin on because it was the AE. It was around '99 when dad told me he overheard a couple of truckers pointing out how everything was fake and how they did it while a rasslin show was on. He came home and immediately told me. I just accepted it because I loved all the wrestlers and there was a little part of me that still thought it was real.

>>18070587 (OP)
When I was 15 and I saw a wrestling channel call it fake

My brother told me to ruin my 30th birthday.

>>18070689
>30th birthday

>>18070612
>I recorded an episode of Raw and paused it as a guy got hit with a chair (I think it was Austin hitting Rock) and noticed his hand was up blocking the impact.
Why would this tip you off to it being fake though? If someone were to swing a chair at your head would you not try any block it? If anything standing there with your arms down is the faker reaction between the two

>>18070587 (OP)
I always knew it was fake from when I started watching as a kid. I just never understood all that entailed or the ways it was if that makes sense. Like I knew they weren't trying to actually hurt each other from the start but obviously didn't know about spot calling until way later. I knew they didn't actually hate each other but the concept of booking never even crossed my mind. There were some kayfabe things I bought into but I remember inadvertently breaking the news to another kid who thought Austin actually died when Rock threw him over the bridge kek. Would love to watch a show with that level of innocence/ignorance again. I can only imagine what it'd be like for people who thought it was entirely real

Admitting it was all a work is the ultimate kayfabe. Wrestling is and has always been a shoot.

I found out before I even watched wrestling. My older cousin was a fan but I wasn't allowed to watch with him. Family kept saying it was fake anyway so I assumed it was all stunt wires and special effects. When I started watching, I was more surprised that it wasn't as fake as I imagined and my interest grew as I kept watching to find out how they could possibly fake each move/spot

>>18070708
If you blocked it you wouldn’t go down, dumbass

>>18070587 (OP)
I was 10. I cried for 4 days. When my dad died, 2 years later, I only really cried for one day.

>>18070587 (OP)
I was told at the offset before I started watching. So I was never under the presumption it was "real." Didn't keep me from being a mark though. Hated all the heels and loved the babyfaces.

>>18070587 (OP)
What the hell are you talking about?

>>18070587 (OP)
Always somewhat knew because there was always the odd kid that would say wrestling was fake, so it just kinda happened gradually between that and me noticing things. I probably fully accepted it and didn't care by the time I was probably 11.

>>18070862
I mostly watched taped & edited matches on Saturday. I also thought it was way faker than it was.