>>18171202 (OP)
Sometime before every wrestler had a podcast.

For me it was the Montreal screwjob documentary. Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels had that backstage conversation and that was the point where I could no longer deny that wrestling was fake. Before that, I had convinced myself that it was at least semi-real.

Sometime in the 70's
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MAJ-m1IgqU
Either way, the Baby Boomers killed it

>>18171202 (OP)
the 30s when news papers started revealing that the gold dust trio were rigging thing whole thing

>>18171202 (OP)
the 30s when newspapers started revealing that the gold dust trio were rigging the whole thing

>>18171230
nah not really, because there was no proof. a lot of people still believed it to be real well into the 1980s. I think everyone always knew that some of the more theatrical aspects were fake, but people still thought the matches were legit until at least the late 80s.

>>18171202 (OP)
When smarks became the only fans left that were continuously following the show.

for me kayfabe died with foley's fall from hell in the cell, or shortly after

>>18171202 (OP)
When I turned 12

>>18171917
but that one was at least kind of real, at least in the sense of being unplanned.

Kayfabe is so funny to me. It's like the only way wrestling fans could actually enjoy it at all is making themselves believe that it's 100% real and not at all planned to some degree and that any inkling that it isn't real makes them mad. Like if you watched a movie then met one of the actors and got mad that they weren't actually that character.

>>18172051
Wrestling fans are totally retarded and like to complain about everything

>>18171202 (OP)
I'm sure there's something older, but the first thing that came to mind was Hacksaw and Iron Shiek getting arrested together with cocaine.

>>18172085
good ol sheiky baby loved his cocaine. I'm just imagining Hacksaw lifting his head up from the table with powder all over his nose like
>HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

>>18171202 (OP)
When Ken Shamrock and Dan Severn came in and they didn't just obliterate everyone.

>>18171202 (OP)
People knew about the matches were rigged back in the late XIXth century.
Kids, housewives and dullards thought it was real up to the 80s and it completely died in the 90s.

>>18171202 (OP)
curtain call

>>18172163
Ken Shamrock got his shit kicked in by Jerry Sags.
Dan is legit

>>18172325
That was a house show and no one talked about it until the shoot dvd era.
Check my captcha shits cash

unironically sometime around 1995 when wcw and wwf started doing worked shoots

>>18171202 (OP)
The official death of kayfabe was Vince in 1997 announcing the future of wrestling was tweeners on the Raw after Survivor Series '97. Before then, everyone knew it was rigged since the late 1860s. They used to call it hippodrome wrestling. That's why Gotch and Hackenschmidt got big, they used to be like "All wrestling is fake except our matches." Then they had a match that was so phoney, it killed wrestling as a legit sport forever. Hackenschmidt can tell any lie he wants, he didn't want to do the job so he tapped out really fast in a pout.

the official end was Survivor Series 1997 and more specifically Hitman Hart: Wrestling With Shadows which aired on TV in 1998
even tho it was obviously interesting, the inner workings of the screwjob and wrestling itself should've been kept hush-hush. although apparently the documentary was already going to break kayfabe anyway even before the screwjob happened.
and the other movies that were released not long after all exposed wrestling as well, Beyond the Mat and Ready to Rumble.
it was only a matter of time with more people being on the internet and getting exposed to dirtsheets.
and by exposed, i just mean to the normies and mainstream. obviously there was always smart fans going back to the 1930s or even earlier

WWE and Russo in particular did the most to kill kayfabe
Russo writing kayfabe breaking articles in the RAW magazine and later booking those godawful worked shoot angles in WCW, which I think destroyed WCW's business more than anything (more than the fingerpoke, more than Arquette)
WWE didn't help with those incessant don't try this at home ads with "YES this is entertainment". and WWE Confidential and WWE DVDs with kayfabe breaking docs

>>18171202 (OP)
When Vince came out in 1990 saying its all entertainment to get out of the state sports commission fees

>>18171917
>foley's fall from hell in the cell
What

>>18171202 (OP)
niggers here and everywhere else just got massively worked by r-truth of all people so i don't think it's completely dead

>>18171202 (OP)
When Stef got in control of creative

>>18171202 (OP)
around the late 90s is when it started
just got progressively worse as time went on

they didn't have to break kayfabe on RAW when a wrestler died (the tribute shows for Owen Hart, Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit come to mind).
wrestlers had been dying all along and they didn't go on TV and break kayfabe when it happened.
they really jump at the chance to expose the business whenever they can.
the last company that never broke kayfabe was Verne Gagne's AWA which folded in 1990

This storyline showed that keyfabe was still alive and well, and then a certain someone ruined it

there were definitely plenty of fans who knew wrestling was more of a show than a pure sport long before wrestling was ever even on television

When the fans became wrestlers.

>>18172816
So like, 50 years ago?

>>18172837
Sorry. When the wrestlers started to look like the fans.

>>18172528
WCW died because of Ted being ousted by other execs who went on the pull the plug.

>>18173383
So like 60 years ago?

I am putting SAGE In all fields, because I'm pissed that I have to actually talk to you fucking racists. There is a book called "The Barnums of Bounce" that exposed pro wrestling back in the 1920s. There was also an incident where Stanislaus Zybysko lost to Karl Gotch in 6 seconds and Zybysko exposed the whole business. Or something like that. You are a bunch of dumb, racist assholes on a website that used to be fun until Stormfront convinced you that the reason that you can't have sex with women is because of everything but your actual repugnant personalities.

>>18173590
Congrats, you managed to get the book title, the year of the book and which Gotch it was all wrong. stupidest post I've read here in some time.

>>18172482
nah Gotch cheated. he oiled himself up so Hack couldn't get a good grip on him.

>>18171202 (OP)
When dirtsheets spoiled Austin joining the Invasion for me

Zoomer thread

>>18171202 (OP)
Basically every decade in the 20th century saw kayfabe decline. Late 90's and early 2000's are when it mega-died and it was explicitly known by everyone what wrestling was and that it was fake. There was a bit of a resurgence in the 2000's because of the shift to being a kid's show, but this ended up killing kayfabe even further because kids realized it was fake and started telling each other it was fake. Adults also had to constantly tell everyone that wrestling is fake because the only people who believed it were kids, and they didn't want to look slow.

Smark culture exploding in the early to mid 2010's killed kayfabe so much that most wrestlers didn't even bother with gimmicks. The closest to kayfabe we have now is meta stories and promos that blur the line between real beefs and wrestling. I think the latter is why Punk remains so strong no matter what he does. He has a lot of shoot beefs and he's god-tier at worked shoots.

When people noticed that the guy rising to meet the promoter's challenge at the carnival sideshow ("who can beat this wrestler? anyone? maybe you? maybe you sir?") was the same guy selling tickets and pop.

>>18171202 (OP)
Multiple Vince lawsuits and criminal suits

>>18171212
Pretty much this, the shoot video era. People like Nash that fans looked up to using the word mark like it was the n word and driving fans away from supporting the product because they want to be cool like the wrestlers. Only stupid marks buy the shirts, only stupid marks enjoy the storylines, only stupid marks get worked by surprises, etc. But I'm cool because I know all the carny terms like the boys and I judge matches by work rate as if I'm a worker.

>>18171243
Who were these people? They were up to Wrestlemania V in 89. You think there were people in the audience that thought Hulk and Macho Man were really having a knock down drag’em out fight over Miss Elizabeth? The only real marks are the ones that parrot the idea that there ever any real marks. People would let wrestlers believe they were “working” them, just like people let magicians and hypnotists believe it. Why they laugh at stand up comedians who aren’t funny. It’s just playing along with the show and it’s rude to point it out during. Same as Freemasons meeting at a lodge in Buttfuck, Idaho that say “guys I promise we really don’t rule the world”. Yes, we know jabronie. We’re trying not to hurt your feelings for being in a gay little club.

>>18172460
Footage of it was shown on TV by DX in like 1997 zoomzoom

>>18173418
you are getting near sir.