[ksaj]

Derren Brown (and surely quite a few others) love pointing out that this is an industry where you tell your audience you are going to lie to them, then lie to them.

It's entertainment.

Uri was flat out lying, and refused to break character, basically turning him into a charlatan.

[cwillu]

This is approximately what (yes, somewhat irrationally) irritates me about kayefabe.

[ksaj]

That's the first time I've seen this word, yet it definitely distinguishes against real (Olympic) wrestling.

I never watched WWF, now WWE, because I couldn't see any use for rooting for any one of them, since the matches are far more about the super-human "stunts" than about anyone in particular winning. Given how manufactured the fights were, whoever the winner was, was a moot point anyway.

There is a similarity here for sure. Imagine if Hulk Hogan claimed all his moves were genuine hard core painful moves, and not carefully rehearsed to merely look painful.

[dkbrk]

You might find this video interesting: Why there will never ever be another show like Monday Night Raw [0].

I have no knowledge of wrestling except for vague cultural osmosis, but I found this video makes a very compelling case that it is a modern form of live theater, and regardless of its low-brow connotations should be understood and respected as such. Essentially: WWE is modern day Shakespeare, not a sport.

[0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnvSs3HEz2o

[FatalLogic]

I also don't watch WWF for the same reason, that it obviously is completely fake. As a dramatic performance, it's terrible acting as well. It's worse than a daytime soap

But you could appreciate it as a skilled live stunt act. Because it is genuinely dangerous. The moves must have been rehearsed, but the performers do get seriously hurt if they don't execute the act precisely in front of the audience

[zimpenfish]

In conjunction with the video from 'dkbrk below, I'd recommend "The Unreality of Pro Wrestling"[1] as an excellent introduction into the ongoing storylines, etc., that WWE has on top of the 'super-human "stunts"'. Certainly opened my eyes and definitely shows that the winner isn't a "moot point" but plotted and planned well in advance to keep the soap opera going (and indeed, that storyline continued right up to a couple of weeks ago when they did Money In The Bank in London.)

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaDAzXVycR4

[listenallyall]

> Imagine if Hulk Hogan claimed all his moves were genuine hard core painful moves

Since you mentioned him specifically, I'd suggest you Google "Hulk Hogan Richard Belzer"