The Death of Kayfabe and The Rise of Kayfabe Post-Modernism
In the most recent episode of Marks Anonymous, Mickey “killed” Jim Cornette for his criticism of the The Elite and All Elite Wrestling. In criticizing AEW and the Elite, Cornette has been critical of their less than traditional storytelling devices and what it has done for “traditional” wrestling. But Cornette’s criticism is not reserved for a few under the AEW banner. Rather, a cursory search of YouTube for Jim Cornette can yield a myriad of clips where he bemoans the current performers for their lack of understanding of the basic elements of professional wrestling and ring psychology leading to death of “the business”. But what Jim would call the death of professional wrestling as he knows and loves it could be seen as something very different, the birth of Postmodern Kayfabe.
The great American philosopher Chuck Klosterman in his book “Sex, Drugs and Coco Puffs” defines post-modernism as art that is aware of the fact it is indeed it is art. Per Wikipedia, Kayfabe was originally defined as the portrayal of staged events as real or true and has evolved to represent the maintenance of a wrestling “reality” to the general public. Looking at the current wrestling landscape, I would argue that Kayfabe is having its postmodern moment as the question isn’t whether performers keep Kayfabe but rather how and when they choose to break it. In a world with Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter, keeping Kayfabe like Jim Crockett isn’t feasible. If anything the question is less about whether to keep Kayfabe and more about when and where to break it for maximum effect.
While Jim Cornette may bemoan this practice, it could be argued that Cornette is one of its godfathers. If the current product is the golden age of the Postmodern Kayfabe, Cornette was one of its founding fathers. Cornette was one of the principal creative minds behind the WWE (nee WWF) at the time of the Montreal Screwjob. Per Vice’s Dark Side of the Ring, Cornette claims to have laid out the idea for the screwjob and was a focal point of creative at that time. For all the railing that Cornette does against this kind of fourth wall destroying narrative, the Montreal Screwjob just as easily close All Out as it did that Survivor Series.
It is with those thoughts in mind that we begin our first reoccurring project on this blog. Each week, we will be diving deep into a new piece of Kayfabe busting content and ripping it apart like Cornette rips apart a double cheeseburger for its impact and just how angry it would get him. In his honor, we will be evaluating each entry on a scale of 1 to 5 tennis rackets to gauge impact and 1 to 5 flaming Cornettes to evaluate how angry it would make him. And for our first entry, we are taking a look at perhaps Jim Cornette’s white whale, Being The Elite.
Impact:
There has been enough ink spilled on the impact that Being the Elite has had on the wrestling landscape and I certainly don’t intend for this to be an all encompassing article on its importance. However, in both the Micro and Macro sense, Being the Elite may be the best example of Post-Modern Kayfabe that we have. On a Micro level, Being the Elite claims to bring you behind the scenes but just as often serves to further onscreen storylines and push new talent. This supposed behind the scenes look has led directly to the rise of talents such as Flip Gordon and SCU. It has also served as a key device for storyline advance such as the removal of Adam Cole from Bullet Club and the ascension of Marty Scuril. On a more macro level, Being the Elite is ground zero for All Elite Wrestling. Without the support for that endeavor, I doubt that there would have ever been an All In. Without the proof of concept that All In provided, I doubt AEW would exist. 5 Tennis Rackets
Anger Levels:
For all the clear positives that Being the Elite has provided, there is plenty to upset wrestling purists. The mere concept of allowing fans to see “behind the curtain” of the wrestling world would in and of itself earn you a couple flaming Cornettes. Doing that and thumbing your nose wrestling convention the way that the Elite has, that makes you a Cornette Trolling All-Star. Discussing only the phallic-centric storylines alone, there is enough to invoke the full wrath of Cornette. In the Battle of the Adam Page and Joey Ryan, we had piss drinking, murder, anthropomorphic cowboy boots and dick druids. That’s five flaming Cornettes.
With that I wanted to thank you all for taking this pseudo-intellectual journey with me and until we do this again, please remember to order your burger of life with double cheese, double onion, double mayo, motherfuckers.
Big Show, Esq.