Rob Van Dam believes that maintaining kayfabe would be an impossible task in the modern era of pro wrestling.
On a recent edition of his “1 Of A Kind” podcast, the WWE Hall of Famer discussed the concept of kayfabe and how it is relevant in today’s scenario.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On why overt kayfabe wouldn’t work today: “Now that we have MMA, we have something to compare it to, and because of those reasons and just evolution, people evolving, fans, we can never go back in time and we couldn’t still be passing off the same agenda necessarily… There is still a lot of hidden kayfabe where the fans think they know stuff but they really don’t. Let’s just say, somebody’s reputation came in question recently in the media and the news. How many people were shocked about it, how many people weren’t? That kind of stuff.”
On the lack of kayfabe in the ring: “I just wish people could be in the mindset when they’re in the ring. Because they’re not, it takes away from it, it takes away from the moment, it takes away from the misdirection, which takes away from people involving their emotion into it… I want someone to think that I’m actually going to get you then I wait until the very last second, that’s exciting. It’s different now because of the lack of kayfabe.”