The first thing you need to understand about wrestling is that it's fake. We hope we're not ruining anyone's fun here, but those pro wrestlers are all just a bunch of big actors. What we mean by "fake" is that the outcome of each match is predetermined, the wrestlers cooperate with each other rather than compete, and the wrestlers are acting out characters, not their real personalities. Both the behind-the-scenes action and in-the-ring action are planned out and written ahead of time (though the wrestlers do some improvising of their own), and the wrestlers develop the characters they portray with the help of writers and executives. To make everything more interesting, however, the characters the wrestlers portray are constantly involved in elaborate storylines (backstories that involve feuds and personal vendettas).

Kay Fabe is the label used when talking about the secret that wrestling is fake (note that this is also sometimes spelled "kayfabe"). Of course, this is not a secret to anyone older than four years of age, but the wrestlers and promoters still talk about it as if it were real. This is because they are keeping Kay Fabe, the myth around the wrestling business, alive. Keeping Kay Fabe also requires that the secrets of the business be kept from the public. To break Kay Fabe means to reveal the fact that the wrestling business is scripted and fake. You won't hear this term on a wrestling TV show, but you could hear it in a conversation with other wrestling fans or read it in a magazine or web site about wrestling.

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