8 Most Insane Things Happening In Wrestling Right Now (Jan 27)
2. Kayfabe Has Been Restored
Back on February 10, 1989, Vince McMahon announced to the New Jersey Senate, in an attempt to rid the WWF of the regulatory burden enforced on athletics, that professional wrestling should be defined 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."
Kayfabe had been terminal for years. McMahon simply switched off life support.
In the years since, WWE, in particular, embraced this new unreal reality in its ongoing attempts to rebrand itself as sports entertainment. Knowing that the jig was up, Vince's "superstars" would enter the ring, unscheduled, with their entrance music announcing their presence. Clandestine backstage plots were filmed openly, even though the subject could easily just watch the footage back and foil the scheme. Closely-guarded secrets were leaked constantly because, really, what did it matter? There were no sacred concepts to protect.
Kenny Omega, in the aftermath of his failed IWGP Heavyweight Championship chase at January 4'sNJPW Wrestle Kingdom XI event, restored the secrecy wrestling had for years no longer concerned itself with by implying that his future with the company was in doubt. Would he stay with New Japan, or would he follow his Bullet Club leader predecessors to the monied big time of WWE? Was he leveraging for a better deal? Did he even have any intention of leaving in the first place?
Omega asked questions nobody bothers to answer anymore. If, as your writer suspects, he was always going to remain in the east, then he's a better worker than even his ****** classic opposite Kazuchika Okada suggested.