7 Ways WWE Recently Blurred The Lines Between Reality And Storyline

WWE.comPro wrestling relies on kayfabe for its very survival. The €œsuspension of disbelief€ that often carries over into real life is something that goes back generations and is woven into the fabric of wrestling as we know it. For example, when you meet Sylvester Stallone on the street, you don€™t refer to him as Rocky Balboa or Rambo, but if you meet Terry Bollea, you call him Hulk Hogan. But as wrestling has moved more into the mainstream, with communication and media becoming nearly omnipresent, kayfabe has reached limitations. Sites like TMZ and social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter bring reality right to WWE€™s doorstep. Today, we sometimes see an acknowledgement of reality in pro wrestling, even in the context of stories/angles. (For sake of argument, let€™s exclude the self-promotional stuff such as the Be A STAR campaign or WWE€™s work with Special Olympics and Make-A-Wish.) What makes it odd is how reality is being incorporated in certain ways but not in others. It€™s a strange blurring that is inconsistent and done when convenient. Two superstars might have the same reality-based situation, and one gets incorporated into a storyline, while the other doesn't. In other situations, social media and other venues are blended into storylines, while others are ignored. Here are seven recent examples of WWE blurring lines between reality and storyline.