I’m trying to wrap my head around the Break Kayfabe move.
Is it only meant to be used as a way to bring legit issues to the ring? (“Archdemon wrecked my car. And for that, I’m going to wreck HIS FACE”)
Can it be used to override Creative’s booking, or can that only be done by moves that explicitly say “This move overrides booking”?
Break Kayfabe can be used to override Creative’s booking. Any time an on camera character brings up the secret happens of backstage, that is breaking Kayfabe.
Your car example is good. Recently Randy Orton made a comment about Kevin Owens gaining weight. To those ‘in the know’ that was breaking Kayfabe, as there is legit backstage beef between upper management and KO regarding his physique.
How could the move be used to override booking? Could a wrestler just go “Mmmh. No, I’m winning this bout” and override the booking with Break Kayfabe?
Would she have to go “Management would have me throw my match against this weak piece of crap Archdemon. Well management, I’m done taking orders from you!”?
Yes. Breaking Kayfabe almost always leads to an off camera confrontation with Management or someone equally pissed off/on
There doesn’t have to be a verbal element, but breaking kayfabe is generally visible to the audience. Where a heel might normally cheat to win a match for 2 momentum (and the crowd accepts it), a babyface countering would look odd. Unless they get a 10+, in which case they’re a badass and the crowd digs it!
Break Kayfabe can (and should) absolutely be used to change the booking. It’s definitional – that is, the term itself means that you are not doing what you’re supposed to do. Maybe I didn’t do a good job of spelling that out in the text!
Anything that shatters the illusion of wrestling is breaking Kayfabe. In a game situation, consider this: Babyface and Heel are booked in a match where Babyface is set to lose to Heel, someone they legit do not like. The Babyface doesn’t have a mechanical move that allows them to override Creative’s booking like the Heel does. So, in the middle of the match, the Babyface could Break Kayfabe and refuse to lose to the Heel on principle, thus overriding the booking.
Would it need an explicit break, for the viewing audience, to be valid. Like in Chris Wood’s example, would the Face need to at least no-sell the finisher or something?
Yes, Breaking Kayfabe should almost always be visible to the audience in some way. There should be some kind of cue to the audience that “that’s not supposed to happen”.
Which makes sense because you never roll unless the audience is song what happens! Awesome, I think I get it.
Thanks everyone!