History ValuesDissonance / ProfessionalWrestling

* Akeem the African Dream, aka Wrestling/TheOneManGang. Where to begin? Initially conceived as a parody of Wrestling/DustyRhodes' PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy character, Akeem was a [[JiveTurkey jive talking]] white man who dressed in a dashiki, was billed from "Deepest DarkestAfrica", entered the ring to jive music and danced around. He was managed by Slick, a black "hustler" character who was as close to a pimp as WWF could get away with protraying in the early nineties. Slick transformed him from One Man Gang to Akeem in a ceremony in Harlem involving tribal music played on a boombox and African warriors with spears and warpaint dancing around a flaming oildrum. For so, ''so'' many reasons, that would not fly today. Notably, when George Gray returned for the Gimmick Battle Royale at ''Wrestling/WrestleMania X-Seven'', it's probably for the best that he did so as the Gang, having slimmed down too much to pass as Akeem.
* Back when Wrestling/JohnCena was doing the gimmick of [[PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy a white rapper]], there was a backstage segment in which he encountered Vince [=McMahon=], who said [[NWordPrivileges the n-word in a comedy bit]]. While the punchline was for the Black Wrestling/BookerT to then remark [[CatchPhrase "tell me he didn't just say that"]], it would be extremely unlikely to get away with today[[note]]It's telling that this was one of two notable things that were edited out completely when NBC essentially purchased the American WWE Network and folded it into Peacock (NBC's streaming service), the other being Wrestling/RoddyPiper's half-blackface at ''Wrestlemania VI''[[/note]].

* Foreign wrestlers (or [[FakeNationality American wrestlers billed as foreigners]]) are [[ForeignWrestlingHeel usually booked as the heel]], and nationality was usually played up as part of the gimmick until very recently. Villainous nationalities included [[ThoseWackyNazis German]], [[DirtyCommunists Russian]], [[JapanTakesOverTheWorld Japanese]], and - somewhat ironically, as the best technical wrestlers in the world have come from there - Canadian, particularly ''[[FrenchJerk French]]''-Canadian, who are sometimes even treated as straight-up French.[[note]]On the other hand, non-French Canadians are often treated as honorary Americans. Like Bret Hart (born in Calgary) defending America against evil foreign Japanese heel Yokozuna (born in San Francisco and not Japanese). And yes, this absolutely led fans to chant "USA" in support of a Canadian beating up an American. Wrestling![[/note]] However, when these characters would wrestle before crowds in their homelands (or supposed homelands), they would as often as not be booked to win the match, and gain wild applause from the audience despite still being heels! (Wrestling/JerryLawler referred to these incidents as [[Franchise/{{Superman}} "Bizarro World."]])

* In the old days of wrestling, extending even early into the WWF's "Federation Years" in TheEighties, most wrestling matches consisted of {{Jobber}} [[SquashMatch squashes]], while matches between name talents would typically end in a time limit draw to protect both stars. In fact, a series of time limit draws was the standard build to a final decisive blow-off match, either to estabish that two wrestlers were evenly matched; or to put over a {{Face}} by having him make a good showing against a {{Heel}}, only to have the bad guy saved by the bell just before he could get the pin. Nowadays, any wrestlers who finish on a time limit draw will be booed out of the buiding.

* All-male match cards were pretty common in the WWE and its developmental territories (Deep South Wrestling, Ohio Valley Wrestling and Florida Championship Wrestling and NXT Wrestling in its early days). However, the Women's Evolution, as well as the rise of gender equality, have made all-male match cards frowned upon these days and now that Wrestling/TripleH is in charge of creative in the WWE, it's safe to say that match cards featuring only men's matches are pretty much in the past nowadays.

* Many female talents from the 90s and 2000s mention that it was common for male wrestlers such as Viscera to forcibly kiss them off script as a gag. Playing sexual assault for laughs, especially when the performers themselves haven't consented, wouldn't fly today. Indeed it was falling out of fashion as early as 2013, when Austin Aries came under fire for sexually harassing ring announcer Christy Hemme during his entrance.

* Because of the death of {{Kayfabe}}, many younger fans tend to be shocked when they see footage of the John Stossel/David Schultz incident or the {{Wrestling/Vader}} incident where both wrestlers physically assaulted interviewers who suggested wrestling was fake. Although such questions are still considered in poor taste, very few, if any, wrestlers today would likely go to such lengths to protect Kayfabe; more likely, the wrestler would simply end the interview.

* Back when Wrestling/JohnCena was doing the gimmick of [[PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy a white rapper]], there was a backstage segment in which he encountered Vince [=McMahon=], who said [[NWordPrivileges the n-word in a comedy bit]]. While the punchline was for the Black Wrestling/BookerT to then remark [[CatchPhrase "tell me he didn't just say that"]], it would be extremely unlikely to get away with today.

* Wrestling promotions in the current age that refuse to book women are often looked upon with hostility and viewed as sexist (just look no further than to Wrestling/RingOfHonor who, despite being otherwise well-regarded for their product, got a lot of flak during the years it was male-only). The same doesn't apply to Japan, where promotions are traditionally either male-only (''puroresu'') or female-only (''joshi puroresu''), and female promotions have outdrawn male promotions in the past (Wrestling/AllJapanWomensProWrestling was a bigger draw than [[Wrestling/AllJapanProWrestling its male counterpart]] in TheEighties), which can be held down to how, in comparison, there have been few American female-only wrestling promotions to reach mainstream notabilty. Only a few promotions in Japanese history have consistently booked both men and women, like FMW, Wrestling/DramaticDreamTeam and Wrestling/FightingOperaHUSTLE, and all of them did it for the local wackiness of the premise. Even merely co-producing events between male and female companies is considered indy sleaze in Japan, something that big promotions like NJPW and AJPW are expected not to do. In fact, when Wrestling/NewJapanProWrestling toured America in 2018 and a petition popped up demanding they book female wrestlers, said petition faced backlash not only from other wrestling fans who thought they were being disrespectful to puroresu tradition, but from ''joshi promotions themselves''.

*** In Creator/AndyKaufman's infamous amateur "intergender wrestling matches" with female audience volunteers in his stage act, the objective was never to injure women; it was for showmanship with his {{Heel}} persona of a StayInTheKitchen misogynist, to sell his act to a male audience, and to no small extent personal preference (he secretly flirted with many opponents, with frequent success; ''this'' would be seen as extremely questionable now). Notably, the legendary "feud" with Wrestling/JerryLawler began with Lawler challenging Kaufman to fight his protege Foxy Jackson; when Kaufman won and wouldn't quit humiliating her, Lawler jumped into the ring and pulled him off her, and Kaufman took offense...

* Foreign wrestlers (or [[FakeNationality American wrestlers billed as foreigners]]) are [[ForeignWrestlingHeel usually booked as the heel]], and nationality was usually played up as part of the gimmick until very recently. Villainous nationalities included [[ThoseWackyNazis German]], [[DirtyCommunists Russian]], [[JapanTakesOverTheWorld Japanese]], and - somewhat ironically, as the best technical wrestlers in the world have come from there - Canadian, particularly ''[[FrenchJerk French]]''-Canadian, who are sometimes even treated as straght-up French.[[note]]On the other hand, non-French Canadians are often treated as honorary Americans. Like Bret Hart (born in Calgary) defending America against evil foreign Japanese heel Yokozuna (born in San Francisco and not Japanese). And yes, this absolutely led fans to chant "USA" in support of a Canadian beating up an American. Wrestling![[/note]] However, when these characters would wrestle before crowds in their homelands (or supposed homelands), they would as often as not be booked to win the match, and gain wild applause from the audience despite still being heels! (Wrestling/JerryLawler referred to these incidents as [[Franchise/{{Superman}} "Bizarro World."]])

** The Curtain Call Incident where the members of Wrestling/TheKliq broke Kayfabe at a house show to hug (before two members went off to WCW) resulted in Triple H getting ''punished''. These days the attitude is that house shows are CanonDiscontinuity and something only counts if it happens on TV. It's not uncommon for workers to wrestle in a different role (as in a face works heel) if WWE wants to test them for a potential turn - or if they don't have anyone else to work with.

* Going back even to the 90s, Kayfabe was still heavily enforced. For example, the cast of ''{{Wrestling/GLOW}}'' had to stay in character whenever they were out in public - and Faces and Heels couldn't be seen together. Professional wrestling these days tends to acknowledge that the wrestlers are only playing characters on TV. It's more unusual to find a wrestler doing an interview ''in'' character (One notable exception to this, though, is Twitter, as many Superstars will use their Twitter accounts to extend their feuds and characters beyond what they can in their limited TV time. See Wrestling/{{Fandango}} and Wrestling/SummerRae playing up their Kayfabe breakup for an example.)