Permission to Jeer

June 11, 2024 5:01 PM

'Professional wrestling’s profitable use of kayfabe... offers a prism for understanding the trajectory of conservative politics today'.
posted by Fiasco da Gama (20 comments total)

I remain convinced that “covfefe” was TFG’s attempt to spell “keyfabe”. He is a WWE alum after all.
posted by gauche at 5:08 PM on June 11, 2024 [5 favorites]

I'm surprised that the article doesn't mention that prior to Donald Trump's entry into politics, he was involved in WWE wrestling, and at one point shaved Vince McMahon's head in-ring during the "Battle of the Billionaires". He is the only US president to have an entry in the WWE Hall of Fame and I've often wondered if wrestling's kayfabe and Trump's essentially playing an extreme, exaggerated version of himself during his time with WWE was something he carried forward into politics.
posted by zombiedance at 5:31 PM on June 11, 2024 [6 favorites]

Previously.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 5:32 PM on June 11, 2024

I'm not convinced Trump understand kayfabe.
posted by Reyturner at 6:15 PM on June 11, 2024 [1 favorite]

He can't sell a Stone Cold Stunner, that's for sure.
posted by charred husk at 6:20 PM on June 11, 2024 [4 favorites]

46% of the people in this photo have received Stone Cold Stunners
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 6:51 PM on June 11, 2024 [3 favorites]

I feel like Abraham Riesman’s Ringmaster was discussed on this site earlier this year (late last year?) but can't locate it right now.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 7:15 PM on June 11, 2024 [2 favorites]

Thank you yes it was! Previously.
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 7:18 PM on June 11, 2024

46% of the people in this photo have received Stone Cold Stunners

This photo really sells how small TFG’s hands really are. Linda McMahon has him beat for sure. I wonder if her hand size is due to training it on Vince’s face for all the crap he’s put her through.
posted by JakeEXTREME at 7:20 PM on June 11, 2024 [1 favorite]

Ghostride the whip called it in 2011
posted by lalochezia at 7:24 PM on June 11, 2024 [10 favorites]

I don't know if this says anything Pierre Falardeau didn't say in his short Continuons le Combat in 1968. (CW: use of anthropological footage of goat sacrifice in an ironic way). Ethnic stereotypes were commonplace in wrestling long before McMahon the younger took control of the WWF, often portrayed by people of another ethnicity, like Fritz von Erich, Abdullah the Butcher or Ivan Koloff.
posted by Monday, stony Monday at 12:15 AM on June 12, 2024 [1 favorite]

I remain convinced that “covfefe” was TFG’s attempt to spell “keyfabe”.

You know, I've never understood the confusion about "Covfefe". The context of the original tweet ("Despite the constant negative press covfefe") seems kind of obvious that he was trying to say "coverage" but just REALLY botched the typing.

About TFA: it feels like when it comes to the audience, the lines between reality and fantasy started to blur a bit after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Yeah, Vince MacMahon was using politics to create his kayfabe characters back in the 80s, but it wasn't until the 90s and beyond that audiences started to kind of "believe" it and behave accordingly. It feels like some people collectively needed a target for their two-minutes' hate, and now that the Soviets weren't that target....they became kayfabe.

I wonder what would have happened if instead of overseas political figures, MacMahon had developed class-based kayfabe targets, like the Rich Wall Street Yuppie Dude or something.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 3:08 AM on June 12, 2024 [2 favorites]

I wonder what would have happened...MacMahon had developed class-based kayfabe targets, like the Rich Wall Street Yuppie Dude or something.

You could play to find out.
posted by otherchaz at 4:40 AM on June 12, 2024 [1 favorite]

I wonder what would have happened if instead of overseas political figures, MacMahon had developed class-based kayfabe targets, like the Rich Wall Street Yuppie Dude or something.

Everybody's got a price
Everybody's gonna pay
Because the Million Dollar Man
Always get his way
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 6:02 AM on June 12, 2024 [3 favorites]

When professional wrestling becomes a metaphor for politics in this country, I think that we are in deeper shit than we imagine.
posted by njohnson23 at 7:43 AM on June 12, 2024 [2 favorites]

A friend reminded me that aside from the Million Dollar Man, there was a period in 2005 when Chavo Guerrero Jr. was constantly getting attacked by "The Mexicools", so he had a kind of breakdown and re-emerged as "Kerwin White":

a stereotypical, middle-class, white, conservative, Anglo-American man. He dyed his hair blond and often drove a golf cart to the ring which held his golf clubs. Soon after his debut, White started making suggestive remarks towards African Americans, Hispanics, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and other non-White people, specifically directed towards Shelton Benjamin. [...] White then hired Nick Nemeth [aka the future Dolph Ziggler] on the September 26 episode of Raw as his new "caddie" to help him in his matches. Reflecting on the Kerwin White character during an interview with Chris Van Vliet in 2020, Guerrero recalled how he pitched being dressed as a member of the Ku Klux Klan on TV to get maximum heat

Apparently the only reason that Vince didn't go further with this angle was because Eddie Guerrero died in November of that year, and so Chavo turned back into a face as the last surviving member of the Guerrero family.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 11:02 AM on June 12, 2024 [4 favorites]

You know, I've never understood the confusion about "Covfefe".

The tweet was pretty obviously just a typo accidently sent a little after midnight. But it was May 2017, when everyone was pretty new to the idea of a president that constantly tweets random crap at all hours. People were joking on twitter overnight about it, so in the morning Trump tweeted "Who can figure out the true meaning of "covfefe"???" because he's a giant troll. Sean Spicer's statement about it was absurd even for him: "The president and a small group of people know exactly what he meant." So covfefe became a thing becuase they made it one, in the spirit of "flood the zone with shit."

I'd like kayfabe and buffoonery to stay well away from the White House. I guess we'll find out how many agree soon enough.
posted by netowl at 6:44 PM on June 12, 2024 [1 favorite]

I fucking hate professional wrestling. Like, say, American rubes, what if you tried telling a story without violence? Or is that the only lens on human agency that you possess? Morons.
posted by DeepSeaHaggis at 7:13 PM on June 12, 2024

I fucking hate Broadway musicals. Like, say, American rubes, what if you tried telling a story without singing and dancing? Or is that the only lens on human agency that you possess? Morons.

I fucking hate romantic comedies. Like, say, American rubes, what if you tried telling a story without sexual relationships? Or is that the only lens on human agency that you possess? Morons.

I fucking hate bildungsroman. Like, say, American rubes, what if you tried telling a story without focusing on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from childhood to adulthood? Or is that the only lens on human agency that you possess? Morons.

I fucking hate the Hero's Journey. Like, say, American rubes, what if you tried telling a story without rising conflict in the first act, with a second-act threshold guardian, then return and resolution? Or is that the only lens on human agency that you possess? Morons.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 6:14 AM on June 13, 2024 [9 favorites]

I fucking hate professional wrestling. Like, say, American rubes, what if you tried telling a story without violence?

The "rubes" are not the ones telling the story, bub. And professional wrestling is far from the only entity that uses violence in its stories - seen any movies lately? Or television? Read any books?
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:23 AM on June 13, 2024