kayfabe
/ˈkeɪfeɪb/noun [mass noun] US informal
(In professional wrestling) the fact or convention of presenting staged performances as genuine or authentic: a masterful job of blending kayfabe and reality he’s not someone who can break kayfabe and talk about the business [as modifier]: I heard that AJ approached him to rehearse a kayfabe segment...
- For more than a year, he paid the price for "breaking kayfabe."
- True, wrestling has changed over the years, but maybe we'll see a revival of kayfabe.
- He made everyone think he is the man, and he is still playing the kayfabe way, living the gimmick outside the ring.
Origin
1980s: origin uncertain; often said to have arisen in American travelling carnivals. One explanation interprets the word as an alteration of 'be fake' written backwards, while the -ay- element is typical of the way in which words are formed in pig Latin.