9 Wrestlers That Refused To Break Kayfabe
The oldest of the old school: the men who wouldn't let it go.
Old school. As much as the 21st century WWE prides itself on its technological advancement and cultural significance as much as modern professional wrestling is a hodge-podge of disciplines and styles from all over the world, one thing remains resolutely old-fashioned. If you're old school, you're a step above the rest.
It's not just about age, either. Mark 'The Undertaker' Calaway debuted in 1984 and started with WWF under the gimmick that made him famous in 1990, but if he was a stick of rock he'd have old school written right the way through him. For the even younger generation, CM Punk is resolutely old school, as is Dean Ambrose.
Old school means you don't just respect the business: you live and breathe the business. It's in your blood and your soul. Having respect for veterans, displaying an encyclopedic knowledge of history, standing by wrestlers court, living the gimmick, protecting your finish - any one of a hundred details can promote an old school mentality, but the biggest and most important of those details, even today when it's supposed to be dead, is kayfabe.
Now, in this day and age you'll get out of character interviews from wrestling's best and brightest all the time, but back in the day, before professional wrestling was properly exposed to the world, that would never happen in a million years. Protecting the business was everything. Today, even that man of mystery Mark Calaway is known to have appeared out of character.
This article is dedicated to those bastions of the old school who (to our knowledge) never broke kayfabe and probably never will.