Why does the new era of WWE also pass through sneakers?

Kayfabe is the reason why we believe that wrestling is real. It is the filter through which all events in a storyline are conceived, developed, and executed, with the ultimate goal of convincing the audience that what is happening in the ring is real and not pre-planned. While reality has always been able to flow into kayfabe, kayfabe until a few years ago could never influence reality. There’s one incident that best exemplifies this aspect: in 1975, there was a plane crash involving four wrestlers, all of whom miraculously survived despite the crash. Three of the four wrestlers, including Ric Flair, played the role of heel in the ring, and once the news of the incident became public, they stayed still for a long time to recover from their injuries. Tim Mr. Wrestling Woods, however, the last wrestler involved in the incident, was a face. In the days following the accident, rumors spread that he too had been involved, but to protect kayfabe, and thus the idea that good and bad guys didn’t get along even outside the ring, Woods returned to the ring two weeks after the incident, still severely injured.

The sneaker trend in WWE

Today, the world of wrestling is less dogmatic. Kayfabe hasn’t vanished, but it’s much more blurred. Wrestling has stopped being a circus-like show that tries to deceive the audience; today, it’s pure entertainment. The goal is to engage the audience and ensure there is an emotional reward for the time and attention they’ve spent, even though they are aware of the theatricality of the performance. And as the concept of entertainment itself has changed, wrestling has adapted. The audience has adapted, and so have the wrestlers, who are now much more inclined to share the lives of the people behind the superstars. At the same time, they want to integrate a piece of their real life into the ring, and that’s where sneakers come into play. That sneakers have a central role in WWE is well known, but the issue has been looked at from a commercial perspective until now. There’s a second layer to address: the one in which the sneaker trend has helped wrestling move as far as possible, almost definitively, away from the concept of kayfabe.

Reality and kayfabe today

Let’s be clear, reality and kayfabe remain two distinct identities, but they are no longer separated; they are now united, or rather, they have mixed with each other. For wrestlers, it has become normal to step out of character for interviews, podcasts, vlogs, or other videos to be posted on any social platform. Even Mark Calaway (aka The Undertaker) did it: for him, a captain of the old guard who defended kayfabe as an unquestionable dogma of the wrestling world, it became normal to appear outside his character once he retired. In this context, sneakers have contributed to breaking down the wall between reality and kayfabe. They are the most used stylistic element by wrestlers, both in their private lives and in the public sphere.

Most wrestlers today wear sneakers in the ring, both during talk moments or even as part of their look during a match, sometimes using a trick - they wear a sort of shin guard that covers the top of the shoe so the viewer at home gets the optical illusion of a wrestler wearing more conventional boots. But the point here isn’t to emphasize that sneakers have conquered wrestling, that’s already established. The point is that sneakers have helped erase the distinction between reality and kayfabe. Does Roman Reigns wear Jordan 1s in the ring because he finds them comfortable in real life and believes they fit his character’s aesthetic? Or should we think that when we cross paths with Reigns on the street wearing sneakers, he’s still in character? Both statements are true, but we don’t know whether reality has influenced kayfabe or vice versa. The same could be said about LA Knight, Dominik Mysterio, CM Punk, Kevin Owens, all superstars who have made sneakers a distinctive feature of their characters. And this could be extended beyond WWE, as in AEW, brothers Nick and Matt Jackson even have their own sneaker line.

The shift from the Reality Era to the New Era

Sneakers have helped wrestling not only enter a new era - what we are living through is The New Era, a historic moment that succeeded the Reality Era - but also to consolidate a new type of relationship with fans. While for the casual audience, there remains an entry barrier, a sort of inability to believe what they see, for the more dedicated audience, there’s a tacit pact. The person we see in the ring is the same person we see outside the ring. And the person we see outside the ring is the same person we see in the ring. It doesn’t matter if a superstar steps out of character, showing themselves as friendly and approachable when in kayfabe, they are the most sadistic of the villains. Fans know perfectly well that the person and the wrestler are the same thing, sometimes they are just two sides of the same coin. Kayfabe exists but is no longer noticeable.