My interest in wrestling comes in waves; I grew up watching WWE during the infamous Attitude Era of the late 1990sand have followed the sport from afar ever since. Every now and then something will pique my curiosity again: the rise of All Elite Wrestling (AEW), a particularly stacked card at a major event, or more recently the rise of fascinating and unhinged rivalries that play out in wild stunts and obscene acts.
To understand the charm behind the heinous acts I’m about to describe, it’s important to remember that wrestling adheres to a certain canon. Wrestlers play heroes or villains, known as faces and heels, and maintain that personality outside the ring. Everyone is aware that it’s not a “real” fight, but wrestlers will maintain “kayfabe” once a show is over – a polite fiction that every match, monologue, betrayal and heartbreak is real. It makes for excellent theater, especially when it comes to a heated confrontation between enemies.
Take, for example, the case of Adam “Hangman” Page and Swerve Strickland. The back and forth between these two men has built up over a year in AEW, with each wrestler taking brutal shots at each other both inside and outside the ring. Page started out as the obvious good guy, winning a battle royale and donating the $50,000 winnings to the Chicago Public Education Fund. Yet he was still mortified by Strickland, who cut his promos and challenged him to a match at the next annual WrestleDream event.
Page became increasingly aggressive despite Strickland’s antagonism and the fans’ encouragement of such behavior – he stabbed Strickland in the hand with a pen. In one intense match, Page stapled one of his son’s drawings to Strickland’s face, tore it off and drank the blood from the stapled wound.
The rivalry between Page and Strickland has been going on for a year, and every escalation has been absurd to the point of hilarious. A particular highlight occurred in October 2023, when Strickland broke into Page’s home, made fun of the home’s decor, and stuffed some of his buddy Prince Nana’s merchandise into the crib of Page’s sleeping child as an implied threat.
Indirectly threatening your rival’s sleeping baby is a big step, and yet Page has managed to top it. In September, Strickland made the big step by purchasing his parental home. It was moving to watch Strickland discuss the history of this house – family cookouts, time with relatives, climbing trees, and any struggles and hard times. Even though Strickland couldn’t help his mother as a teenager, he vowed to recoup that house for his family. After seeing such a heartwarming promo, you might think that some things are too sacred to be brought into a petty wrestling feud.
You’d be wrong, as one of Strickland’s in-ring promos was interrupted by a video on the big screen for the entire arena to see. In it, Page came by that same house and doused it with gasoline. Fans watched in horror and fascination as Page explained his motivation and outlined his revenge, all the while pouring gasoline on the grounds. Not only did Page talk crazy things about Strickland’s parents, upbringing and family life, but he set the precious family home on fire as Strickland fell to his knees in the ring in helpless rage.
You may have hated someone, but have you ever seen someone “burn down their childhood house”? The Strickland/Page feud will be timeless, not just because of these stunts, but because of the kayfabe surrounding it. Fans will have heated debates about whether Page was justified after Strickland’s home invasion, or whether Page was simply too entitled to fans’ love and support. The extreme circumstances of the rivalry are all part of the fun. No one threatens anyone’s baby, but it’s fun to pretend that they do, especially when it leads to heated competitions with high emotional stakes.
WWE has also stepped up its feud game by playing sneaky little stunts with kayfabe. The recent Bad Blood event on October 5 had a heavily promoted card and a Hell in a Cell match – which is like wrestling, but in a giant steel cage that allows for extra violence – but the standout event of the night was that not. captured by WWE cameras. After the event, when the show was off the air, Kevin Owens pulled up in a Lamborghini, bombarded his ally Cody Rhodes in the parking lot with punches and kicks in a brutal betrayal, and then bounced.
Wrestlers ambushing each other backstage is nothing new; I vividly remember Mankind and Stone Cold Steve Austin showing up in front of a full camera crew to get off schedule. But it’s also very clearly staged if there happens to be a full camera crew present to capture the entire scuffle. Owens’ ambush was a gamble, but one that paid off: There were no WWE cameras around, but every fan in the area had a cell phone. Triple H, the current Chief Content Officer at WWE, even took to Twitter to pretend he was talking about an official incident.
These incidents got me back into wrestling because I enjoy seeing feuds play out in such an explosive way. That conflict between larger-than-life figures is fascinating to watch, and the kayfabe adds another layer of fun. These clashes between big personalities are what make wrestling so much fun, and it’s great to see how wrestling circuits frame these hostile acts.