12 Days That Completely Killed Kayfabe

1. February 10, 1989 - Vince McMahon Admits Wrestling Is Fake

Though kayfabe was strictly maintained, rumors of wrestling's predetermined nature had dogged the sport for decades - and when Vince McMahon took over leadership of WWE from his father, he did nothing to dissuade such talk, preferring to classify his business as "entertainment" rather than "wrestling." Moreover, the younger McMahon's over-the-top characters and storylines continued to raise fan speculation. When Vince McMahon appeared in front of the New Jersey State Senate in 1989, speculation was replaced by cold, hard fact. McMahon and company sought to have wrestling removed from a list of commission-regulated sports, as no longer having to comply with the regulations would save the company hundreds of thousands of dollars. In defense of his position that wrestling should not be regulated like other sports, McMahon defined his own product as "an activity in which participants struggle hand-in-hand primarily for the purpose of providing entertainment to spectators rather than conducting a bona fide athletic contest." Needless to say, there was furious reaction to McMahon's admission, and many thought that wrestling itself had been killed. Ten years later, WWE reached its highest peak ever, and McMahon proved those critics wrong. Was the crumbling of kayfabe necessary for such success? For McMahon, maybe. As for the rest of us, it's not like we had a choice - we could only watch wrestling as its relationship with reality continued to evolve, and we still do it today.