10 Wrestlers Who Never Let Kayfabe Die
Stories of wrestlers going above and beyond in staying true to their character in real life.
In 1975, after the aircraft he was flying on crashed in Wilmington, North Carolina, Tim Woods seemed more concerned with maintaining kayfabe than worrying about his own well-being.
Woods had shared the flight with a cast of fellow wrestlers including a young Ric Flair and the US Heavyweight Champion Johnny Valentine—the same Johnny Valentine who was supposedly Woods’ rival at the time. And so the story goes that upon being admitted to the hospital, rather than admitting to being a wrestler, Woods gave his real name George Woodin and claimed to be a promoter, lest anyone know he and Valentine had been traveling together.
Then, when rumours started swirling that the two had indeed been on the same plane, he returned to the ring, still in pain, just two weeks later in a bid to avoid exposing the business.
Today, it may sound somewhat extreme, but in years gone by there’ve been plenty others who’ve shared Woods’ commitment to protecting kayfabe, so much so that they’d even incorporate parts of their gimmick into their real lives outside of the ring.
Here, we take a look at ten such examples of guys could be said to have really lived the gimmick.
10. Jake Roberts
Known on television as the soft-talking, snake-wielding bag guy, Jake Roberts’ pet pythons were apparently much more than a mere on-screen prop, because he also had to look after things outside of the ring.
Shortly after arriving in the WWF in March of 1986, the Jake 'the Snake' Roberts moniker was born, and while his employers were the ones to supply the reptiles, it was Roberts himself who had to travel with them and take them from town to town. He was even carrying one around as recently as 2003, some 17 years after introducing the gimmick, when a snake of his was seized by the RSPCA in Hertfordshire, England after Roberts had been accused—and later found guilty—of causing it unnecessary suffering.
On a brighter note, Roberts’ protégé Diamond Dallas Page has since told tales from the intervening years of Roberts coming to stay at his house and inadvertently letting the snake loose. And the ultimate irony of it all? Roberts was—and is still to this day—a self-professed ophiophobe.
In case, like me, you need to look that word up, it means he’s terrified of snakes. Perhaps it wasn't the best of gimmicks to have chosen to live out, then.