While Will Ospreay agrees that pro wrestling has moved beyond the need for kayfabe, some things should still be protected.
In the modern era, the idea of kayfabe and wrestlers presenting themselves as their characters at all times has mostly become a thing of the past. There have even been many reality TV series going behind the scenes. Most recently, WWE Unreal went further than ever before, showing the WWE writers’ room at work and even Triple H helping wrestlers with their entrances.
In a new interview with Real Radio Monsters, Will Ospreay gave his thoughts on the subject, saying that while maintaining the illusion is still possible, it’s not needed.
“It can still be done to this day and age, for sure it can be. I just think, you don’t go into a cinema… I like the Avengers and I like Spider-Man and, I like Batman. I don’t go into those things and instantly just go, ‘Well, they’re not protecting the business.’ I go into them knowing that I’m going to be sucked into the story and sucked into that universe. It’s the same thing with wrestling. Whenever you walk into any arena that we do, we’re all characters and we’re all there to perform a show.
“Sometimes, it gets dictated onto social media, where people act as their characters from there, and they can cut promos there, and it can promote over to different sources and different places.”
“I feel like wrestling’s evolved from that standpoint. Once upon a time it needed to be protected, and I still feel like aspects of it do need to be protected. That’s why I’m not the biggest fan of the backstage stuff that’s being shown.
“There Are Some Things Fans Don’t Need To See” – Will Ospreay
Will Ospreay went on to explain that he doesn’t think fans need to see all of the details like time cues and the lead-in to commercial breaks, arguing that showing that kind of thing is “one big ego fest.”
“I just think there are some things that fans need to see and some things that fans don’t need to see, and I don’t think fans need to know what time cues are. I don’t think they need to know when the commercial break’s coming up. I don’t think they need to be… It just seems like one big ego fest. Look how amazing we are, the guys behind the camera. It’s like, shut up.”
In another recent interview, Will Ospreay spoke about his desire to bring a “sports atmosphere” to AEW, saying he’s one of the best sports-based wrestlers today.
