Top 10 Moments WWE Broke Kayfabe

By Jake Landmesser December 29th, 2018

Professional Wrestling is predetermined. If I ruined that for you, I’m sorry. Take a second to look out into the ocean with a blank face and question everything you think is real. Then come back after realizing that Professional Wrestling is even better once you know it’s predetermined and finish this list. The art of Professional Wrestling was held in secret by making it believable. The performers do this by keeping up with something called Kayfabe. This is the act of sticking to your character no matter the circumstances. In recent years Kayfabe has become a bit of a joke. The longer Professional Wrestling history grows the harder it is to keep Kayfabe alive. With outlets like Social Media and the WWE Network we see who the performers are outside of the ring. There’s a split between fans who want Kayfabe to be as unbreakable as a 90s Nokia phone, and those who enjoy seeing Kayfabe being about as durable as a soggy cookie. This business is always changing so it’s hard to do the same thing repeatedly. This list shows the times where WWE purposefully or in some cases accidently broke Kayfabe. Sit back, relax, and read this Classic.

10. Sid Vicious – “Well it’s live pal”

This one is just funny. The astonishing part about Monday Night Raw is that it has been running Live for 25 years straight. As we all know, anything can happen on live television. Here we see Sid Vicious with Ted DeBiase being interviewed by Jim Ross. When JR turns the mic to Sid, he fumbles his words and asks for a do over. He completely breaks out of his character breaking Kayfabe. Prior to being asked the question the camera is focused heavy on him looking like a man determined to win the WWF championship. After messing up he just backs away and asks to just do it again. Jim Ross replies with a “Well it’s live pal”, and Sid goes back to finishing. After the promo is finished, he breaks away from the camera obviously upset with himself. This is from the days were Kayfabe was still attempted to be kept under wraps, so this was a bit of shocker if you were watching at home. Nonetheless, it’s still funny seeing Sid thinking he has the chance to get the shot again, but JR informs him that he’s got to keep going.

9. Mean Gene – “F*ck it”

This was another accidental Kayfabe breaker. Mean Gene Okerlund has always been a bit of a character on and off screen. This showed at SummerSlam 1989 as he was about to interview Intercontinental Champion Ravishing Rick Rude. Not even four words into his lines and the backdrop falls leading him to blurt out “F*ck it”. They quickly cut away and move on with the show. Now a bit of behind the scenes information from Mean Gene on Eric Bischoff’s podcast reveals that this shot was pre-taped. So, whoever decided to piece that together and give it the green light is the one to blame, or I guess thank for this memorable moment. There is also an extended part of the clip where he continues and says “Dammit, who put that up? Is that 200 hundred dollars an hour?”. This was very unlike Mean Gene on screen because he was as professional as it came, but it’s not his fault because whoever aired it didn’t take the time to listen to it. Whatever the case may be this still broke Kayfabe because Mean Gene Okerlund the interviewer would never do such a thing.

8. The True Meanie versus The Blue Meanie

This instance of breaking Kayfabe was a dangerous one. It shines a little light on how personal problems between wrestlers can negatively impact the business. This one comes at ECW One Night Stand in 2005. The combination of an extremely hostile crowd and a drunken JBL proved to be the holy grail of breaking Kayfabe. Through out the night JBL and other WWE superstars were watching the PPV from a private balcony in the Hammerstein Ballroom. Layfield even got the chance to speak on the mic berating the crowd and the ECW roster. Some of these words would be directed towards The Blue Meanie, and I won’t repeat them here. Eventually at the end of the night the ECW roster and the WWE roster met in the ring and have a full-on brawl. However, JBL took his personal grudge a little too seriously and started throwing hard shots at The Blue Meanie. It’s pretty covered up due to the scrum in the ring, but there’s a shot of The Blue Meanie busted wide open due to JBL. This moment of breaking Kayfabe wasn’t discovered until it broke on the internet. Just because someone bleeding in Professional Wrestling doesn’t mean that it was with malice intent. However, seeing The Blue Meanie bloodied up like that certainly raised some red-I mean blue flags – sorry. There are many sides to this story and you can believe what you want, but JBL has a track record of being a bully. This was a very unfortunate instance of breaking Kayfabe. Whatever the case may be this is not how talent should treat each other in this business.

7. Randy Orton’s Incredible Display

Oh Randal. How could we not put you on this list? Randy Orton is perhaps one of the most notorious Kayfabe breakers ever. In all honesty I could probably make a list of top 10 times Randy Orton broke Kayfabe, but maybe for another time. The guy just doesn’t care. It’s quite hilarious to watch him do some ridiculous things, but the most out of the ordinary one is his Toe Touch Jumping Split. After delivering his patented RKO to Mark Henry the Viper jumps up and does a split in midair touching both toes. The execution of this move would make the Spirit Squad proud. We all know Randy Orton as being one of the most sadistic wrestlers of all time, so for him to do this was way out of left field. The guy that once punted the head of every member of the McMahon family would never do such a thing. This is one of those moments where you just ask what he was thinking and have a laugh about it. Some people claim that the Apex Predator is a bit stale, but on the contrary I think he’s done enough random things in his career to show he’s always able to entertain.

6. Paul Heyman’s One Night Stand Up

Back to ECW One Night Stand where we got the father of ECW Paul Heyman in the ring being merciless with the mic. He basks in the glory of his home turf at the Hammerstein Ballroom, and goes on a kayfabe breaking tirade involving real life also known as a shoot promo. He touches on Eric Bichoff and WCW, then moves on to Edge referencing the love triangle involving himself, Matt Hardy and Lita. And then the best of them all. He moves on to JBL. My favorite shoot insult ever, Paul Heyman tells JBL the only reason why he was WWE Champion for a year is because Triple H didn’t want to work Tuesdays. Many were confused as to why a specialized tag team wrestler changed his gimmick and went on to hold the company’s most prestigious belt for nearly a year. But boy did Pauly give us the scoop. Triple H just didn’t want to change brands, so they gave the belt to JBL. Thanks a lot Hunter.

5. Roman Reigns & John Cena’s Contract Signing

This promo was a complete shocker. WWE pulled the trigger early on Reigns versus Cena, and they let the two go at it during their contract signing. The promo pretty much dominated by Cena took the work-shoot approach where they’re breaking Kayfabe, but still keeping character. John mentions the fans wanting him to turn heel which is a behind the scenes term that shouldn’t be said on camera. Roman loses his words for a second and Cena pesters him by saying “It’s called a promo kid and if you wanna be the big dog you’re gonna have to learn how to do it”. This was followed up with announcer Michael Cole chuckling and then Cena saying “see ya fourth wall!”. Sheesh, see ya fourth wall indeed. Roman then talks about how Cena buries young talent. This is something that Cena has been guilty of in the past by holding back young talent, so he can stay at the top of the mountain. And to close it all out Cena tells Roman that he’s still here because he can’t do his job. This was an intense and entertaining battle that consistently walked the tightrope of breaking Kayfabe.

4. Usos and The New Day Rap Battle

Any segment involving these two teams is bound to be entertaining, but no one expected things to get that real. Both teams loaded their guns and were ready to shoot. With Big E starting and mentioning that before they came along all The Usos got were dark matches and pre-shows. The Usos followed up with the interesting question of Kofi Kingston’s missing accent. This completely broke Kayfabe by shining the light on the fact that Kofi Kingston used to be a Jamaican man with a heavy accent, but once joining The New Day that all went away. And in perhaps the most devastating moment of this battle, The Usos tell Big E to keep it PG, and not to get all Rated R like Xavier Woods. If you don’t know why this is one of the craziest things ever said on WWE television, then look it up. This even made Guest Referee Wale crumble to his knees. This was a fun and playful joust of words that broke a lot of Kayfabe. The New Day are a bit notorious for slipping some Kayfabe breaking comments in their promos, but this stage was stolen by The Usos.

3. Punks Pipebomb

The infamous pipebomb. This was a moment in Professional Wrestling that will never be forgotten. CM Punk was handed the mic and given the green light to speak freely and did he ever. Sitting at the top of the ramp directing his message to John Cena, Punk sounds off. He mentions how he’s the best in the world, but Cena is better at one thing and that’s kissing Vince McMahon’s ass. He says he’s better at it than Hulk Hogan was, but maybe not as good as Dwayne (using The Rock’s real name). He then looks into the camera and brings up the fact that he’s breaking the fourth wall. He talks about backstage politics and being a Paul Heyman guy. He talks about how he’s not promoted correctly. He talks about how he might take the WWE Championship and defend it at other companies, and even gives a shout out to his friend Colt Cabana. All these things break kayfabe. CM Punk isn’t breaking character, but he’s explaining what happens behind the curtain. And the biggest line of all is when he talks about the douchebag yes man John Laurinaitis, and how the company won’t be better off when Vince is dead because his idiot daughter and doofus son in law are going to take over. He finally gets cut off when he’s about to tell a personal story about Vince. This got Punk over like no one else in the business. The combination of breaking Kayfabe, but also telling the truth was respected by so many.  

2. The Curtain Call

The first ever instance of intentionally breaking Kayfabe in WWE history. The four members of the infamous moment include Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Diesel (Kevin Nash) and Razor Ramon (Scott Hall). This group known off camera as the Kliq were embracing in their final moments together. Hall and Nash had just signed contracts to WCW, so this was the last time they would all be together. Michaels and Nash worked a steel cage match at a house show in Madison Square Garden. After the match was over, Triple H and Hall went out to the ring. This was approved by Vince McMahon at the time, but Vince wasn’t aware of exactly what would be done in the ring. The four superstars embraced in a hug and shared hands raising them to the crowd. This was a problem because due to Kayfabe they were supposed to hate each other. They had just wrestled in a steel cage match and now they were hugging. This wouldn’t have been the biggest deal in the world if it hadn’t been for a fan attending video taping the whole thing. This infamous moment blew up the wrestling world. Heels and Babyfaces joining together was unheard of. Hall and Nash went to WCW with no punishment, HBK the current WWE champion was untouchable which lead to everything falling on Triple H. That was not Too Sweet.

1.Vince Doesn’t Want to Insult Our Intelligence

After the Montreal Screwjob things started to unravel about what is real and fake in Professional Wrestling. Amidst heavy fire from that incident Vince McMahon decided to take Professional Wrestling in a new direction. A month after the Screwjob, Vince opened Monday Night Raw on December 15^th, 1997 ushering in a new era, the Attitude era. He tells the fans that Wrestling is more of Soap Opera and like other scripted television shows. He explains how Professional Wrestling is called Sports Entertainment, but it’s more about the Entertainment aspect. He says that the WWF (at the time) believes that the fans are tired of having their intelligence insulted. He explains how it should be more than good guys versus bad guys. This turned out to be the best decision Vince McMahon ever made, but it went against everything that Professional Wrestling stood for. A lot of people were upset about the blatant disrespect for Kayfabe, but it had to be done. The world of Professional Wrestling would never be the same.

Kayfabe is something that should always remain pertinent in Professional Wrestling. But it doesn’t have to be followed all the time. In today’s age the wrestling fan understands the product and just wants to be entertained. Breaking Kayfabe isn’t a taboo anymore. When done sparingly it can be extremely entertaining. Some people don’t like breaking Kayfabe, and that’s understandable. Keeping Kayfabe alive is needed. But it doesn’t need to be as stressed as much as it once was. There were times when heels and babyfaces had separate locker rooms. Masked Luchadores could never be seen without their masks. Heels couldn’t sign autographs and had to stay in character outside of the ring. Nowadays, things are a lot easier for the performers themselves. The world is different now, and it’s a lot of fun. It will be interesting to see how Kayfabe holds up in the coming years. Got any more Kayfabe breaking incidents? Tell us in the comments and we’d be happy to discuss!