How to maintain Kayfabe?

So as a person who is somewhat new to wrestling rp, one thing I have had took me a while to learn is Kayfabe. This topic feels that is a bit more behind the scenes and I feel it is not discussed often enough when it comes for the newer RPers here. I feel one reason for this is because the wrestling here is supposed to be real, meaning Kayfabe might be ignored by rookies altogether (I made this mistake when joining). Even now I still feel I am very inexperienced when it comes to this. So I ask, what advice can you give and what word should be used and which ones should be avoided to maintain Kayfabe (for example we should not use the term jobber in a match).

I don't think AFW has any actual Kayfabe in the story.

In character, the matches are supposed to be real, so there really isn't any "insider terms" or anything like that here. We'll use them outside the RP, just to generally describe a character or something,

"Yeah, my Gallium's a face. Total jobber too, your heels could wail on her."


but actually in character and in the story, you wouldn't really use any of those kind of terms or buzzwords.

So that is my question, which terms and buzzwords do we avoid?

Kayfabe

Face/Heel

Jobber

Heat/Cheap Heat

Booker (This one I'd say is debatable. I mean, SOMEBODY backstage has to be deciding what matches get put together, right?)


Go Over/Put Over

Mark/Smark

Selling/Sell/No Sell


There's probably others, but those are probably the major buzzwords to avoid in character.

Generally any term you wouldn't expect a WWE wrestler to come out and say over the microphone. Most of the ones Tai has said...

I personally think a rare few of them terms could potentially be used... but the scenarios for such being used are extremely limited and specific. Usually best just to avoid them.

The problem is that it's just different for AFW.

A jobber in AFW is not someone whose "job" it is to lose and make someone else look good. In AFW a jobber is someone who loses often and usually pathetically so. The people who come to play subs and just want their girls to get mangled in the ring because that's their fetish would make those girls "jobbers" where as someone who has a string of losses but is still competitive and has a chance to win each match would not be a jobber. (Even though that is closer to the wrestling definition)

Someone who sticks to a gimmick even behind scenes DO exist, but it's really not a kayfabe thing in the traditional sense.

Trying to insert actual wrestling vocabulary into something that is supposed to be portrayed as a real thing is going to be jarring unless done right, so I would generally advise against it.

Kayfabe exists to suspend people's disbelief to make them THINK what they are watching is real. Kayfabe is Santa Clause. AFW has no belief to suspend because it IS real. No one ever told the AFW universe there was a Santa Clause so for him to suddenly show up would be off putting.

Silver Ace: "WAIT!? SANTA ISN'T REAL!?"


*Runs off crying*

Please don't ICly refer to characters as 'face' or 'heel'. It never sounds right and always comes out awkwardly.

Whenever we mention a booker I just say something like the higher ups or the GM, the last one makes more sense because we do have an established GM

Mystery Dragon wrote:Whenever we mention a booker I just say something like the higher ups or the GM, the last one makes more sense because we do have an established GM

This is true. Somebody has to be making matches in the back after all.