Reply #23: Kayfabe.

[Shoe Horn]

""Kayfabe" is a Carny term thought to have originated from the Pig Latin for "be fake", possibly originally by pronouncing it backward ("kay-feeb"). Professional Wrestling adopted the term as a reference to the standard Fourth Wall features of separating the audience from the action. It is meant to convey the idea that, yes, Pro Wrestling is a genuine sport, and yes, this is how these people act in real life. It is essentially Willing Suspension of Disbelief specifically for Pro Wrestling.

Back in the old days, though, Kayfabe was much more; it was pro wrestling's real-life Masquerade. Wrestlers, promoters, and everybody else involved with the business alike resorted to any means necessary to guard the secret that wrestling was rigged, from wrestlers roughing up any reporters who dared ask, "It's all fake, right?" to (alleged) death threats towards anybody who threatened to expose the secret, through contacts with the Mafia and other organized crime. Heels and faces weren't allowed to travel, eat, or be seen with their 'enemies' in public. Regardless, fans started to figure out the truth in the '70s (...)"


http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Kayfabe