kayfabed

kay·fabed
K5A1Y4F4A1B3E1D2
/ˈkeɪfeɪbd/

adjective

Of events within the industry: portrayed as real, and not scripted or staged.

Scrabble 21

Meanings

adjectivekayfabed (not comparable)
  1. not comparablegovernmentOf events within the industry: portrayed as real, and not scripted or staged.

    While some respectable sporting journals, most significantly Ring Magazine, continued to offer balanced (but kayfabed) coverage of wrestling, the ballyhoo-filled wrestling magazines came to be the main source of printed information for devotees.

    2006, Scott M. Beekman, Ringside: A History of Professional Wrestling in America, Westport, Conn.; London: Praeger Publishers, Greenwood Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 97
    2 more examples

    He also lived in the bizarre, hazy world of half-truth, half-kayfabed fiction that wrestling in 2007 had become. Lest we forget just how far the line between reality and storyline was blurred, WWE refused to acknowledge the death of Sherri Martel because it would undermine the Vince is dead angle.

    2008, Scott Keith, “Conclusion”, in Dungeon of Death: Chris Benoit and the Hart Family Curse, New York, N.Y.: Citadel Press Books, Kensington Publishing, →ISBN, page 193

    [King Kong] Bundy and I stood our ground and yelled shit at each other, acting like we were about to go to blows. Then I scuffed my feet, rubbed my hands together, and went for the slam. I picked him up about halfway before I felt him deadweight me, and I had to let go of him. I grabbed my back in kayfabed pain.

    2011, Joe “Animal” Laurinaitis, Andrew William Wright, “Destroy Everything that Moves”, in The Road Warriors: Danger, Death, and the Rush of Wrestling, [St. Charles, Ill.]: Medallion Press, →ISBN, page 82
verb
  1. participlepastsimple past and past participle of kayfabe.

Origin

Cite this entry
APA

kayfabed. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kayfabed

MLA

“kayfabed.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kayfabed. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “kayfabed,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kayfabed.

Source: kayfabed on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.