The Kayfabe
<p><p> The Official Substack Of Brandon Richey is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></p><p><strong><em>“The worst sound in our business is silence. That means they don't care.”</em></strong></p><p><strong><em>–Vince McMahon</em></strong></p><p>Over the past week I took the time to watch the Netflix limited series <em>Mr. McMahon</em>. Now I must confess that professional wrestling, or more specifically wrestling entertainment, was a huge part of my childhood growing up. </p><p>In the early years of my childhood it wasn’t unusual for me to be visiting a friend for a sleepover, or to have a friend visiting me, only to wake up on Saturday mornings to click on the TV to watch Pro Wrestling, or as they used to say here in the South…<em>Wrassling</em>. </p><p>Being a GenXer looking back now I’m convinced that the era of Pro Wrestling served to be a real cultural spearhead that engaged the kids of my generation in a way that not many other forms of entertainment could manage to do. </p><p>Why do I say this? </p><p>I say this because the thing that made Pro Wrestling so effective was the storylines. I mean aside from the amazing athleticism and competition that was involved with the sport, it was the development of the characters, the connection those characters had with their audience, and the stories that they told that captivated the audiences which consisted of kids like myself, my brother, and most all of my friends. </p><p>Within those storylines my generation got to witness many superstars in Pro Wrestling that appealed to the age old narrative of the good guy versus the bad guy with guys such as Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair that became these larger than life figures that made the entertainment from the sport of Pro Wrestling most impactful. </p><p>Now if you’re in any way familiar with this then you know exactly what I’m talking about. However, it’s also a known fact that as my generation got older the sport of Pro Wrestling also changed in order to appeal to different age demographics and as a result there were times when those storylines were both entertaining and controversial. </p><p>It’s safe to say that there were times when the storylines were no longer aimed towards appealing to the same age demographic of kids, but rather aimed to appeal to teenage and college aged men as the sport progressed through its storylines from the 1980s and into the late 1990s. </p><p>Now I want to be clear about something here because I don’t want this message to get lost in my analysis of why I am choosing to discuss this sport in this episode, or the controversial personalities involved in it, especially concerning Vince McMahon himself. </p><p>I am aware that Vince McMahon is a controversial figure and currently had to step away from the sport due to certain sexual allegations coming from people that are supposedly attached to the sport. I’m not here to pass judgment on Vince, or to act like I know what it is exactly that he did or didn’t do in terms of any potential crime that may, or may have not been committed. </p><p>However, I will credit Vince McMahon for having at one time created one of the greatest forms of entertainment that I’ve ever experienced as a kid growing up in the 1980s and I’m sure there’s a lot of you in my audience that would agree. </p><p>On that note, there’s another more significant reason I chose to watch this Netflix special to begin with. I was recently doing some thinking and for some strange reason there were some things that I had remembered seeing in Pro Wrestling that I felt drew some stark parallels between that sport and all the craziness we’re currently seeing in the world right now.</p><p><strong>Blurring The Lines of Reality</strong></p><p>Out of respect for you just in case you do have an interest in seeing the Mr. McMahon limited series I don’t want to give away too much as I really just want to take the opportunity here in this episode to focus on how the entertainment side of the WWE, as well as their competitor in WCW (founded by Ted Turner), were able to utilize narratives in their storylines to captivate their audiences. </p><p>Now when I discuss these storylines I’m more specifically referring to that era in the late 1990s when the storylines were geared more towards an older audience of young men. Granted it was during this time when there was a lot of controversy involved in these storylines and this was an era that I would say would not have been a good time for younger kids to watch the sport because of this very reason. </p><p>The new Mr. McMahon series touches on all of this and I would say that there were a lot of things that the sport covered that wouldn’t be considered family friendly, or perhaps too tasteful at times. However, it’s not necessarily my judgment of the details, or the nature of the content of the stories that I want to make the central focus here, but rather I am more interested in sharing with you how Vince McMahon managed to take the controversy in real life and leverage it for his own benefit. </p><p>So how did Vince McMahon, or Mr. McMahon manage to do this? </p><p>He did this through a unique practice involving the concept known in the industry as the <strong><em>kayfabe</em></strong>. The <em>kayfabe</em> involves the portrayal of staged events within the industry as being “real” or “true.” This particularly involves the way in which certain relationships involving rivalries, competitors, and different participants are portrayed within certain storylines that even crossover into the real world. Because of this the <em>kayfabe</em> is a highly effective technique that can absolutely be used to blur the lines between fiction and reality. </p><p>To give you an example of this, according to the Mr. McMahon series one of the iconic wrestlers known as the <em>Undertaker</em> was talking about how the <em>kayfabe</em> would work within the industry among all the wrestlers. </p><p>In the Undertaker’s explanation the <em>kayfabe</em> was traditionally about staying in the role of the character and never intermingling with guys that were his competitors whenever they would be out in public. Granted, Mark Calaway (aka The Undertaker) was a long time major superstar in the industry and because he was more a part of that traditional old guard of the business he communicated how serious he took honoring the <em>kayfabe</em> in order to protect the brand of the wrestling entertainment business. </p><p>In a segment in the series Mark talked about how even though he may at times have been seen out in public outside of the venue of the wrestling ring alongside a character rival that he would always still give his opposition a disapproving stare, or even go so far as to engage in some unfriendly dialogue with his opponent out in public. He explained how he, along with everyone else, would do this on a consistent basis to maintain a level of doubt in the minds of the public whenever fans would encounter himself, or any of the other superstars outside of the squared circle. </p><p>This doubt I’m referring to here involves how the superstars such as Mark and many others would shape and maintain influence on the perception of the public as they may presume and possess preconceived notions regarding the feuds among the wrestling superstars as all being staged. </p><p>However, by Mark and the other superstars maintaining and staying in their respective character roles and acting some of that out in public it would cast a shadow of doubt in order to maintain the mystery and suggest that the rivalry between certain wrestling superstars was actually genuine. </p><p>What made this so fascinating to me was how Vince McMahon managed to utilize the kayfabe whenever he was right in the middle of some major controversy in real life. One example that I can recall involved the very popular female WWE superstar Sable (Rena Lesnar) when she sued the WWE back in 1999 for $110 million citing sexual harassment and unsafe working conditions. McMahon and Sable eventually settled this out of court.</p><p>Now that may not seem like anything new when it comes to the normal controversial headlines of the entertainment world, however Mr. McMahon would demonstrate how this would be used as quite a test of the kayfabe by turning this controversial headline into a storyline when Sable returned to the WWE in 2003. </p><p>Upon her return her character was a villainess that would end up portraying a role within her storyline where she would feud with Vince McMahon’s daughter Stephanie McMahon. To make matters worse in this story Vince had appointed Sable as Stephanie's personal assistant along with playing the role of Vince McMahon’s mistress. </p><p>That’s right, the same Sable that had sued the company for $110 million for sexual harassment and unsafe working conditions would return to the WWE in a character portraying McMahon’s mistress. Now that’s what I’m talking about in regards to the kayfabe and how the lines of fiction and reality can be blurred even in a more extreme circumstance such as this. </p><p>Here McMahon took the kayfabe to a whole new level and what’s even more incredible is that in his interview in the series he said that he didn’t remember much about the Sable lawsuit, but that the only thing he did remember was that she did come back to work. </p><p>So why did I go to all the trouble to highlight how the founder of the WWE Vince McMahon mastered the art of blending fiction with reality? </p><p>Well McMahon is certainly a master of keeping his audience guessing in terms of what is real and what isn’t. He was, and still is a master at producing narratives that drive storylines. </p><p>Before I forget he was so good at it that it pushed his biggest competitor in WCW (founded by Ted Turner) to also produce some hard hitting storylines along with some very interesting narratives. Turner’s WCW managed to do this with a masterful show producer at the time named Eric Bischoff. </p><p>Bischoff was the one storyteller that almost destroyed WWE and Vince McMahon as he was successfully able to draw away much of the WWE talent to fuel the character development and storylines of the WCW. </p><p>I don’t want to spend too much time on the WCW here, but the one storyline that had a big splash here was when he managed to pull the biggest star and hero of the WWE over into the WCW. This major wrestling superstar was the one and only Hulk Hogan. </p><p>However, Bischoff created a storyline with Hulk Hogan that was so shocking and made such a splash that it kicked off a streak of them pounding the WWE in the television ratings for 83 straight weeks. </p><p>You’re probably wondering <em>Brandon, what storyline was that?</em> </p><p>The storyline that I’m referring to was the introduction of <em>Hollywood Hulk Hogan</em>. You see, to understand the significance of this you have to understand Hogan’s traditional character role and what made him a superstar in the first place. </p><p>You see Hulk Hogan became the iconic superstar in the WWE by being the ultimate<em> face</em>, or good guy. He is, and always has been, the red blooded American hero inside the squared circle. He won over the hearts of kids like myself at a very young age and then when he came to the WCW many years later many of the same kids like myself were now young men in that high school to college age demographic. </p><p>In his introduction to the WCW he made a surprise appearance and would shock the wrestling world as he came in adopting the role of being the <em>heel</em> instead of the <em>face</em>. For some added context the <em>heel </em>is a term used in wrestling that is basically the antagonist, or <em>villain</em>, whereas the <em>face</em> is the term associated with being the <em>good guy</em>. </p><p>In the WCW Hulk Hogan would become the <em>heel</em> known as <em>Hollywood Hulk Hogan</em>. </p><p>Now it’s this particular storyline that was born out of the immense competitive spirit between WCW and WWE that I wanted to address here in this episode because this once again highlights some cultural and societal realities that we see existing in the real world now like never before. </p><p>For instance, Hulk Hogan’s new stage name as the villain became <em>Hollywood Hulk Hogan</em>. The thing I find interesting about this is that they inserted the word <em>Hollywood</em> into the name which is both flashy, but it’s also associated with being antagonistic. </p><p>Additionally Hulk Hogan had already been the ultimate <em>face</em> of Pro Wrestling and with this new role as <em>Hollywood Hulk Hogan</em> he would end up becoming the ultimate <em>heel</em> as well. His character didn’t stand alone in this role either. Culturally speaking there’s another very intriguing point to highlight here concerning the central narrative around his character and the group he would be associated with in his new role. The crazy thing was that in his new role as the villain he would end up being the leader of a gang of other <em>heels</em> that referred to themselves as the New World Order (NWO). </p><p>Yes, this new group of villains actually referred to themselves with the longstanding and antagonistic moniker associated with the evil global governance we’re seeing today. The thing that is so crazy about this is that this theme of globalism has been highlighted throughout our history and culture for many years and people have often joked about it. </p><p>I just find it interesting that this theme was certainly center stage in the wrestling entertainment industry here in a big way back in 1996 with this storyline being the central driver for WCW to go to all out war with the WWE involving their former superstar who was newly recognized as Hollywood Hulk Hogan along with his gang the NWO. </p><p><strong>Fiction Mirroring Reality</strong></p><p>So you’re probably wondering <em>Brandon, where are you going with all of this? </em></p><p>The thing that stands out with the storytelling and the creative production of Pro Wrestling over the years is that it has mirrored a lot of reality that’s taking place in the real world, particularly with what we’re seeing play out today. </p><p>I mean it’s obvious now given the collapse of our country how useless many career politicians are in reality as they’re all bought in on the grift that they can achieve through the corrupt lobbying and deal making that takes place in Washington D.C.</p><p>Because of this the overwhelming majority of them offer absolutely nothing in terms of service to the American people that voted for them and funded their campaigns in order for them to be there as representatives. </p><p>They are simply engaging in their own version of the <em>kayfabe</em> playing the role of a figurehead and a talking suit that stands in front of the TV cameras to make a bunch of promises without ever following through to take any real action to benefit the American Republic. </p><p>In fact, the only actions that ever get taken are the actions of the communist Democrats that continue to fund a woke and weaponized government which is directly contributing to dangerous geo-political instability in the world, the destruction of our currency, the dissolving of our sovereignty through globalism, and ongoing calamity and violent attacks on our homeland. </p><p>The thing is that Hulk Hogan's iconic role as an American Hero and <em>face</em> of the WWE was exactly what skyrocketed him to stardom in the 1980s. Looking back now it’s obvious how much his career along with the trend of the WWE mirrored the United States itself as the country was on top of the world economically, culturally, and was the symbol for the world of <a target="_blank" href="https://brandonrichey.substack.com/p/a-cultural-metamorphosis"><em>opportunity and strength. </em></a></p><p>However, the trajectory of Hulk Hogan’s career involved a shift in character with his departure from the WWE involving him switching over to being the infamous villain of WCW as Hollywood Hulk Hogan and leader of the NWO which eerily looks like the same path of the United States. </p><p>After all, as I previously stated the United States was on top of the world throughout the 1980s, but ended up shifting fast in the 1990s and the 2000s to ushering in globalism (aka the real life version of the NWO) which is currently eroding the sovereignty of the Republic just as the wrestling characters of the NWO were successful in doing the same with eroding the talent of the WWE. </p><p>Wrestling entertainment might seem like the most unassuming place where one could get a lesson on the destructive nature of globalism, but the fact remains that the way the storylines and narratives have played out it has certainly demonstrated a lot of accuracy in terms of art imitating life. </p><p><strong>The Wrap Up</strong></p><p>Now there’s no doubt that the WWE was on its back foot for a while and things had been looking grim thanks to Eric Bischoff and his creation of Hollywood Hulk Hogan and the NWO. </p><p>After all, the NWO had managed to pick off one talented wrestler after the next from the WWE and the WCW had a powerful storyline as the NWO continued the beating of the WWE for those 83 straight weeks in the ratings. </p><p>However, as much as this war of the two iconic businesses had heated up with the WCW really putting the hurt on the WWE this left the WWE in a weakened, yet unique position. </p><p>In other words, the talent that remained at the WWE at that time realized that their company was hurting, but they also realized that because of the position they were in that they really had a clean slate and a prime opportunity for them to step up and become a star. </p><p>It was in this moment, along with the competitive fueled nature of the business, that certain wrestlers such as Shawn Michaels, Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, and Triple H stepped into the breach by embracing some creative and edgy attitude within the styles of their newly formed characters. By each of these wrestlers being bold and stepping into a leadership role with their newly created personas this resulted in the birth of what is now recognized in the wrestling industry as the <em>Attitude Era</em> of WWE. </p><p>Once this creative process happened the shift in the TV ratings started to change and this eventually led to the WWE surging its way past the WCW and back to the top of the TV ratings and never looking back. In fact, the WWE would ultimately end up buying out the WCW and Hulk Hogan himself would eventually make his iconic return to the WWE in his traditional role as the <em>face. </em>This<em> </em>is where he went head to head with the WWE superstar the Rock at the WWE’s own Super Bowl level event known as Wrestlemania. </p><p>Now that I look at the current position of the United States along with its broken institutions that have been captured by the Globalists and the CCP I have to ask, <em>Is art still imitating real life? After all, when drawing the comparative narratives in having observed the path of the WWE up against the WCW and with the current trajectory our country up against the globalist and the CCP one can’t help but notice a similar real world storyline narrative. </em> </p><p>I ask this because looking at how the WWE was on top of the world it all changed as the business found its talent being captured by its competitor in WCW. Not only was its competitor using the name of what we’d consider to be a globalist gang in the NWO, but they were behaving like the globalists as the WCW would pick off one star talent after the next from the WWE in much the same way as the globalist and the CCP have captured many of our major American corporations over the years. </p><p>Like the WCW, the globalist and the CCP have captured many of our country’s corporate institutions and have managed to play out a dominant narrative on the global stage now for the past thirty years. That narrative has been that <em>globalism </em>was a better economic model and that the failure of the United States was simply inevitable. No, I’m not making this up and this absurd narrative is what is known as the Thucydides Trap. </p><p>Of course, as far as the WWE this would all continue to happen until the WWE had its own version of a <strong><em>Great Awakening. </em></strong></p><p>Looking at the competitive history of these organizations I see a similar comparison in terms of the path of the WWE journey up against the WCW compared with the path that the country has been on for the past thirty years up against the forces of globalism and the CCP. </p><p>When the remaining stars of the WWE had their backs up against the wall they stepped into the chaos and were able to set fire to an entirely new beginning with their company by leading the WWE back to the path of victory. </p><p>With the United States currently finding itself in a similar dire situation will enough of our bold unknowns step into the chaos in the same way to become the superstars our country needs to lead us to a victory over the global communists? I believe that is already happening now. </p><p>The important thing for each of us to remember is that we must ensure that those who are saying that they are stepping into that breach are in fact doing so because they have proven themselves by standing firm on their actions and principles. </p><p>In short, we need to pay close attention and exercise <a target="_blank" href="https://brandonrichey.substack.com/p/discernment"><em>discernment</em></a> to make sure they’re the real thing and not just another establishment politician that is engaged in the D.C. Swamp Theater’s version of <em>The Kayfabe</em>. </p><p>With the United States having its back up against the ropes do you see the unexpected heroes trying to step into the breach to save the Republic? </p><p>Do you see the old corrupt institutions that have been infiltrated with too much rot starting to fade while the fresh new ecosystem of talent in business, entertainment, and media are starting to ascend? </p><p>Post up and share a comment here below as I know both myself and many audience members would like to hear your feedback. </p><p>I hope you enjoyed today’s article/podcast.</p><p>If so I hope you would choose to support this platform as part of the patriot economy as well. 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