Podcast / Making Kayfabe

Hey, guess what? It's time for Making Kayfabe, with your hosts, Bryce and Dylan!

Making Kayfabe was a podcast presented and written by Bryce Kitcher and Dylan Copeland, which focuses on the missed opportunities of Professional Wrestling. Its format consists of one of the hosts presenting a wrestling storyline that could have been booked better, and then telling their ideas of how the narrative could be improved.

Each episode finishes with Kayfabe Tombola, in which the other host (who did not book that episode) chooses at random a wrestler and a bizarre scenario from a selection of 4, and is tasked with writing a storyline about that combo in a minute; Hilarity Ensues.

After 6 seasons, Making Kayfabe ended in August 2022. Bryce is set to continue fantasy booking in YouTube form; see Crafty Kayfabe for his next project.

Making Kayfabe is available on all of the platforms shown here, and also has a Patreon page where exclusive content is on offer.

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Episode List

Season 1

• The Summer of Punk - CM Punk in 2011, during the "Summer of Punk".
• Taz is Hardcore - Tazz's run in the WWF.
• Eugene and the Dinsmores - Eugene.
• Keeping Up With The Kanellis' - Mike and Maria Kanellis in WWE.
• EC3dom - EC3's run on WWE's main roster.
• The Forgotten Radicalz - Dean Malenko and Perry Saturn in the WWF.
• Eva Marie: Queen Bee - Eva Marie's first run in WWE.
• Is It Wrong or Right to Censor? - Right to Censor.

Season 2

• Vince McMahon Blows... Up! - Vince McMahon's storyline death in a limousine explosion.
• The AEW Women's Division - All Elite Wrestling's women's division, criticised for being underutilised.
• The Unmasking of Kane - Kane losing his mask in 2003.
• Sean O'Haire: Devil's Advocate - Sean O Haire's "Devil's Advocate" character in 2003.
• Making Mordecai - The Mordecai character.
• Enter Sandman - The Sandman in WWE's version of ECW.
• Otis in the Bank - Otis Dozovic's run with the Money in the Bank briefcase.
• RETRIBUTION - Retribution.
• Humanising the ECW Zombie - The Zombie character in WWE's version of ECW.
• A Man Called Test - Test's early run in the WWF.
• Drew McIntyre: The Chosen One - Drew McIntyre's first run in WWE as Vince McMahon's "Chosen One".
• A New World Order - New World Order in WWE.

Season 2 Bonuses

• Kayfabe Tombola - A special episode with a total of 6 Kayfabe Tombolas.
• Book It Like Russo - Bryce, Dylan, and special guest Tyler Mortimer imitate Vince Russo's swerve-heavy style.
• Fan-Submitted Kayfabe Tombola - A further 6 Kayfabe Tombolas submitted by the listeners.
• Season 3 Preview / Ask Kayfabe Anything - A preview of Season 3 and a Q&A.

Season 3

• Luke and the Harper Family - Luke Harper's solo run in WWE.
• Fixing Mike's Awesome - Mike Awesome in WCW.
• Taka Takes the Title - Taka Michinoku winning the WWF Championship against Triple H in 2000.
• Re-Legitimising Shayna Baszler - Shayna Baszler's run on WWE's main roster.
• STAND BACK! There's a Hurricane Comin' Through! - The Hurricane in 2003.
• A New World Order (Part Two) - A continuation of the Season Two finale.
• "Pirate" Paul Burchill - Paul Burchill's pirate gimmick.
• Lance Storm's Serious Minute - Lance Storm in WWE.
• Kurt Angle's Retirement - The buildup to Kurt Angle's 2019 retirement match in WWE.
• The Insanity of SAnitY - SAnitY on WWE's main roster.
• Hassle, Disloyalty and Neglect: The John Cena Heel Turn - John Cena's "worst year ever" in 2012 results in him turning heel.
• Bret Hart Goes to WCW - Bret Hart in WCW.

Season 3 Bonuses

• The Making Kayfabe Interview - An interview with CJ Palmisano from Not Another Wrestling Podcast.
• Book It Like Russo 2 (Brolectric Brogaloo) - Bryce, Dylan, and Tyler Mortimer imitate Vince Russo's style again.

Season 4

• King Regal - William Regal's run as King of the Ring and RAW GM, cut short by a Wellness Policy violation.
• Diamond Dallas Page Done Right - Diamond Dallas Page's involvement in the InVasion storyline.
• "The Boss" Spike Dudley - Spike Dudley's 2004 Face–Heel Turn.
• The Ascension Ascend! - The Ascension on WWE's main roster.
• Tommy End's Dark Order - A hypothetical storyline of Tommy End joining AEW and taking over The Dark Order, written before the renamed Malakai Black arrived in AEW in real life.
• SUSPENDED! The Titus O'Neil Story - Titus O'Neil's suspension for holding Vince McMahon's arm, worked into a storyline.
• ZOMBIE LUMBERJACKS! - The aftermath of the Zombie Lumberjack match between The Miz and Damian Priest.
• The WWE Women's Tag Division - The WWE Women's Tag Team Championship and division after Bayley and Sasha Banks split.
• Aces & Eights Could've Been Great - Aces & Eights (Wrestlers).
• The Brian Kendrick Has a Plan - Brian Kendrick's run in WWE as "The Brian Kendrick".
• Steve Blackman Brawls For It All - Steve Blackman wins the Brawl for All.
• CM Punk's Straight Edge Society - CM Punk in the Straight Edge Society.

Season 4 Bonus

• Book It Like Russo 3: Bro 'Till You Can't Bro No Mo' - Bryce, Dylan, and Tyler Mortimer once again pay tribute to Vince Russo's booking style.

Season 5

• The Viscera Episode - Viscera's transformation into Big Daddy V.
• Owen the Black Hart - Owen Hart after the Montreal Screwjob.
• Twisted Alexa Bliss - Alexa Bliss in her unhinged "Lily" gimmick, after the departure of the Fiend.
• Adam Rose's Split Personality - Adam Rose (and his previous persona, Leo Kruger).
• Tales of the WARHORSE - WARHORSE's brief appearance on AEW Dynamite expanded into a fully-fledged feud.
• Keith Lee's Limitless Potential - Keith Lee on WWE's main roster.
• Adam Cole Bay Bay! - Adam Cole on WWE's main roster.
• Hope For Da Pope - "The Pope" D'Angelo Dinero in TNA.
• Xanta Klaus Is Coming To Town - A Christmas Special featuring the Xanta Klaus character from 1995 WWF.
• Death Gooker - The Gobbledy Gooker joins the deathmatch scene.
• Karma for Kurrgan - Kurrgan after the Truth Commission split.
• Undertaker vs. Sting - Sting facing Undertaker in 2015, a dream match that never happened.
• War of the Horsewomen - The "Four Horsewomen of WWE" (Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, Sasha Banks, Bayley) vs. the "Four Horsewomen of MMA" (Ronda Rousey, Shayna Baszler, Marina Shafir, Jessamyn Duke).

Season 5 Bonus

• Book It Like Russo 4: If You Bro What I Mean - Tyler Mortimer returns for the 4th celebration of Crash TV.

Season 6

• Cody Turns Heel - Rather thab returning to WWE, Cody Rhodes gets the AEW heel turn that the fans clamoured for.
• Cody Plays a Dangerous Game - A future Cody Rhodes feud with Triple H in WWE.
• When Foley Met Ambrose - Dean Ambrose's planned debut feud with Mick Foley in 2012.
• The Same Paige - A future return from retirement for Paige.
• Either Nexus Or Against Us - The Nexus.
• The Mad King Reigns Supreme - Eddie Kingston in AEW.
• KATIE VICK - Doing the impossible and making the infamous 2002 necrophilia storyline good.
• Welcome to the Wyatt Family - The Wyatt Family in 2014.

Patreon Episodes

Patreon Exclusive Rebookings

• WALTER Goes to Suplex City - Brock Lesnar goes to NXT UK and challenges Walter.
• Luna Vachon: Lady Vader - Luna Vachon in WWF's Attitude Era.
• Making Billie Kayfabe - Billie Kay in her 2020 resume-pushing gimmick.
• Tozawa's Title Chase - Akira Tozawa in the WWE Cruiserweight Championship picture.
• How To NOT Screw Up Samoa Joe - Samoa Joe on WWE's main roster.
• Mr. McMahon's ECW - Vince McMahon as ECW Champion.
• Mickie James' New Obsession - Mickie James' second run in WWE and her storyline with Alexa Bliss.
• The Abominable Strowman - Braun Strowman's return to WWE with a reinvented character.
• Naomi and the Bloodline - Naomi being entangled with Roman Reigns's stable, via her husband Jimmy Uso.
• Tajiri's Mist of War - Yoshihiro Tajiri in WWE.
• Brie-Lieving in Head Cheese - Steve Blackman and Al Snow's tag team.
• The Dustin Finish - A theoretical end to Dustin Rhodes' career.
• Albert is Awesome - Albert in WWE.
• BWOhmygod - The Blue World Order in WWE in 2005.
• Love That Danhausen - Danhausen's debut in AEW.
• Pete Dunne Ain't Butch - Pete Dunne on WWE's main roster.
• The REAL Johnny Wrestling - John Morrison after his initial breakup with the Miz in 2009.
• It's Good To Be King - Jerry Lawler wins his WWE Championship shot in 2010.
• Kaval's Low Key Tactics - Kaval after winning NXT Season 2 in 2010.
• Abadon's Abandoned - Abadon in AEW.

Kayfabe Conundrum

A collection of bizarre booking challenges.

• St. Pentagon's Day - Pentagón Jr. is revealed to have been Irish all along.
• John Cena Gets Hit By a Bus! - Exactly What It Says on the Tin, leading to a fear of buses.
• "Smell" in a Cell - An epic match between all the most malodorous wrestlers.
• WWE Farmageddon - In collaboration with Emmerdale, WWE debuts a farm-based brand.
• The Rock vs. The Paper - The Rock goes up against his logical nemesis.
• Disco Inferno's NWO - What if, at Bash at the Beach 1996, Glenn Gilbertti was revealed as the third man?
• The Great Power Uti - The legendary Nigerian wrestler/pastor takes his "talents" to WWE.
• The Gladiator Gimmick - Trying to make the cursed gladiator gimmick work... with Nathan Jones!
• One Gobbledy Phenom - Switch Survivor Series 1990 debuts; what if the Gobbledy Gooker had Undertaker's powers?
• Sloth Shield - Orange Cassidy replaces Roman Reigns in the Shield.
• Sting & Sting - Sting is accidentally booked for a The Police concert, and the musician Sting ends up at an AEW show.
• Stardust in Their Eyes - Cody Rhodes returns to WWE, to find the Stardust character had continued in his 6 years away.
• Cinematic SmackDown - A fully cinematic edition of SmackDown so bad, it gets Fox to cancel the show.
• He Can Dig It, Sucka - Booker T using a gravedigger gimmick.
• Spaceman Holly - Hardcore Holly's rejected WWECW gimmick as an astronaut.
• The Greatest Feud You Never Saw - John Cena takes on Invisible Stan.
• Triple H: The Game: The Game - Triple H pitches a game very loosely based on his career.

Talking Kayfabe

A talk show format only found on Patreon. Mostly Exactly What It Says on the Tin.

• Mizunderstood? - Bryce tries to understand just why Dylan hates the Miz, and maybe change his mind.
• Best of the Year (So Far)
• Wrestling Video Games
• The Vince McMahon Scandal - Discussing what lies ahead now that Vince is no longer head of creative.
• We Made Kayfabe - A mini-episode announcing the end of the podcast.

Making Kayfabe provides examples of the following tropes:

• Author Appeal: Bryce is a big fan of The Hurricane, inspiring the rebooking of the gimmick.
• Berserk Button: Dylan absolutely hates The Miz and reacts negatively whenever he's brought up.
• Bestiality Is Depraved: In "Book It Like Russo 3", Russo repeatedly refers to CM Punk's Tiger King gimmick as possibly involving fucking the tiger.
• Big Damn Heroes: In "King Regal", CM Punk with the Money in the Bank contract, snatching the WWE Championship out from under William Regal's nose just after he's abused his power to win it.
• Call-Back:
  • Call-Backs to bizarre Kayfabe Tombolas usually reference the one where Melina believed she was a World War II fighter pilot.
  • After "RETRIBUTION" offered joking interpretations of the names of T-BAR and SLAPJACK, one Kayfabe Tombola later in Season 2 had the (sadly unchosen) scenario "slaps a guy called Jack in a tea bar".
  • Episodes involving Shayna Baszler and/or the WWE Women's Tag Team Title scene reference the gag from "Re-Legitimising Shayna Baszler" of replacing Nia Jax with Hardcore Holly. This features in "Twisted Alexa Bliss" and "The Same Paige".
  • Any reference to the Godwinns calls back to Bryce's complete ignorance of them and/or the invented podcast "Good Wins with the Godwinns".
• Chekhov's Gunman: In "Vince McMahon Blows... Up!", Paul London, whose infamous smiling incident during Vince's walk to his death (which got him fired in real life) is actually a clue to his having perpetrated the bombing at Shane McMahon's behest.
• Cold Open: Later Season 1 and Season 2 episodes often started with one of these.
• Creator Thumbprint: For Dylan, a Number 1 Contender match figuring in the story.
• Depower: Played with in "Twisted Alexa Bliss". Alexa Bliss' supposed supernatural abilities are revealed to be gone when she tries to use them on Shayna Baszler in a rage, but nothing happens. As it turns out, there was no power to remove; everything supernatural she did was the Fiend acting on her behalf, and having abandoned the Fiend, she can't use them anymore.
• Driving Stick: Bryce and Dylan (both from the British Isles, where manual transmission is the norm) mock the trope of Americans being unable to do it in "KATIE VICK".
• Dropped a Bridge on Him: At the start of "The REAL Johnny Wrestling", they joke that the Miz dies in a car accident, which Dylan had nothing to do with.
• Easy Amnesia: Bryce and Dylan see this as good fuel for Kayfabe Tombolas (these being throwaway stories, after all), and have invoked this more than once to allow for the more interesting "change in identity" scenarios.
  Bryce: "You could have had... 'gets an amnesia gimmick'. Which is all of our Kayfabe Tombolas anyway."
• "El Niño" Is Spanish for "The Niño": Bryce decides to Google Translate "Tensai" in "Albert is Awesome". It means "Tensai".
• Feghoot: The Kayfabe Tombola in "The Same Paige" is one of these. Chuck Taylor, who is afraid of the letter T, challenges for the TNT Title, but gives up when he discovers his opponent will be Booker T. He leaves the wrestling business after going... T-total.
• Flashback... Back... Back...: In "Re-Legitimising Shayna Baszler", Bryce has one of these, complete with echo and harp, when he starts to dream about Shayna Baszler being treated appropriately. Dylan has to remind him that the audience wouldn't see the dream.
• Found Footage Films: In "Twisted Alexa Bliss", one episode of Raw is punctuated by footage from Shayna Baszler's home, filmed by Nia Jax. They didn't make it to Raw, officially due to having "missed their flight", but really they don't want to have to deal with Nikki Cross having possibly freed Alexa Bliss from her institutionalisation. This doesn't stop unusual occurrences from reaching them.
• Fun with Acronyms: The final line of "A Man Called Test": Dylan proposes a stable between the APA and Test, called the "Test-Acolyte Protection Agency Service", or TAPAS.
• Groin Attack:
  • Discussed in "The Summer of Punk" as part of the Kayfabe Tombola, and also appears as part of the twist of that episode with CM Punk screwing Daniel Bryan.
  Dylan: "If you go back and watch loads of other matches — kick him in the dick! It's his weakness!"
  Bryce: "Seeing things like No Disqualification matches, matches where there's no rules, why doesn't someone go up and just punch the guy in the dick, again and again and again? He's going to submit!"
  • In "'The Boss' Spike Dudley", this is Spike's preferred method of disciplining his subordinates.
• Lampshaded Double Entendre: In "A Man Called Test":
  Dylan: "Triple H counters and says he's still pretty close to one person: Stephanie McMahon, if you know what I'm saying. (Beat) He's talking about dicking her."
  Bryce: "Thanks for the clarification."
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: "The Viscera Episode" reveals the ending of "Vince McMahon Blows... Up!", due to them taking place at the same time.
• Love Redeems: In "Keeping Up With the Kanellis'", Tye Dillinger attempts to team with Mike and get friendly with him in order to convince him there's a better way than heelishness. It doesn't work.
• Meaningful Name: In "Vince McMahon Blows... Up!", Ken Kennedy's name being a reference to Vince McMahon's middle name is actually revealed as important - because his full name is Kenneth Kennedy McMahon.
• The Mole: In "The Summer of Punk", CM Punk himself, who was playing the ROH wrestlers and fans for fools in order to allow Vince McMahon to gain control over the company.
• Morton's Fork: The final Kayfabe Tombola of Season 2 had all four wrestlers and all scenarios be the same: "Reno joins WWE and everyone makes fun of his shit haircut".
• Never the Obvious Suspect: In "Naomi and the Bloodline", Bianca Belair is attacked prior to her match at SummerSlam, forcing her championship to be vacated, and letting Naomi into the match. Given that there was talk of Naomi joining Roman Reigns' Bloodline, wouldn't you suspect the Usos had something to do with it? Nope - Reigns shoots that down, and it turns out it was Sasha Banks, Belair's scheduled opponent who was hoping that the attack would give her a forfeit victory and the title.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: In Bryce's segment of "Book It Like Russo 4", Vince Russo uses this to give Vince McMahon a terrible booking idea, then convinces the shareholders that Vince has gone insane so they will remove him from the company, letting him take over.
• One-Steve Limit: A real example (Michael Cole forcing an Adam Cole name change on the main roster) is used in "Adam Cole Bay Bay!". Under threat of violence, Adam Cole convinces Michael Cole to appear as just "Michael" from now on.
• Overly Long Gag: Done knowingly in "RETRIBUTION", where they mock the names of members T-BAR and SLAPJACK at length and in deliberately hackneyed fashion ("Did he slap a guy called Jack?").
• The Power of Love: As in reality, in "Keeping Up With the Kanellis'", Mike and Maria Kanellis claim that this is what's winning their matches, when in fact it's the Power of Maria Cheating On Mike's Behalf.
• Real Life Writes the Plot: An interesting defied example in "The Same Paige". The story was written with Sasha Banks having a primary role. However, a couple of weeks before the episode aired (i.e. while it was still being written), Sasha walked out on WWE. The story is retained as-is. The only real example of this affecting the booking is a cheeky little In-Joke, when Sasha mocks Paige for her retirement and says she would never "take her ball and go home".
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Mark Henry gives one to Viscera in "The Viscera Episode", calling him a "people-pleaser" to insult him and drawing comparisons to his own weakest, least effectual point (the "Sexual Chocolate" era). This is done to inspire him to snap out of the "World's Largest Love Machine" and become the beast he can be.
• Red Herring Mole: In "The Summer of Punk", Kevin Steen, even in-universe. Steen is kicked out of Team ROH by Punk because, since his dream was always to be a WWE Superstar, he suspects that Steen will screw the team. He never does, and even takes a superkick for longtime rival El Generico. Also played with with regard to Daniel Bryan; while it's teased he will switch to the ROH side and betray Team WWE, he never really does, though he does hug it out with Punk as part of the twist ending of the match.
• Running Gag: Several wrestlers appear as Running Gags, and are known as "Friends of the Show".
  • Repeated mentions of Ministry of Darkness member Viscera as the greatest wrestler ever are common. In fact, this was the first of the "Friends of the Show" to be mentioned, in the very first episode.
  • After noting how often Stevie Richards appears in their storylines, both began to guess Stevie Richards was involved in storylines on a regular basis. In Season 4, this escalated to involve cries of "STEVIE FUCKIN' RICHARDS" and gratuitous amounts of airhorn.
  • Reno was a running gag for much of Seasons 2 and 3, remembered simply for how unmemorable he was (and for his laughable haircut).
  • Headbanger Thrasher was mentioned often in the early seasons for appearing multiple times in Kayfabe Tombolas, but now is rarely seen.
  • Other than wrestlers, Dylan's tendency to work Number 1 Contender matches into his storylines is notable, and is also accompanied by airhorns.
  • Crab hands, in Kayfabe Tombolas.
  • The WCW show Slamboree is often referenced also. SummerSlam, as a result, has become Summer Slamboree to them.
  • For most of season 5, the "$100 Million Golden Egg" that appeared at Survivor Series 2021, used as a comparison to wrestlers who were released around that time ("who needs Keith Lee when you've got a golden egg?").
  • Series 6 has Bryce's approach to timeskips: asking Dylan to close his eyes and open them, explaining they're now on a later show whilst Dylan acts distraught.
• The Scapegoat: In "Keeping Up With the Kanellis'", Mike and Maria habitually blame Tye Dillinger for their own failures in their tag championship run - which becomes something of an Ironic Echo when Tye legitimately does stop Mike and replacement partner Mojo Rawley from winning.
• Shocking Moments: Discussed in both "Taka Takes the Title" and "It's Good To Be King", as both revolve around surprise title victories. The argument is that you need genuinely surprising results from time to time, even at the very top level, in order to make your audience believe anything can happen. invoked
• Shout-Out:
  • In "The Best Feud You Never Saw", John Cena's letter to Invisible Stan is described as 60 pages long, and the last few pages were just him saying "Screw Stan" over and over again.
  • In "The Vince McMahon Scandal", they repeatedly refer to Tony D'Angelo as "Tony Macaroni", a local and fairly obscure reference to the Scottish-based chain of Italian restaurants.
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Conrad Thompson, wrestling podcast magnate to which Making Kayfabe presents itself as an Unknown Rival.
• Skewed Priorities: In the Kayfabe Conundrum episode "Cinematic SmackDown", Fox has a bad case of this when they cancel SD not over the nonsense in that show, but over a Wardrobe Malfunction.
• Something We Forgot: A variation in "He Can Dig That, Sucka": "And they all lived Happily Ever After, except Vince, Brother Love... and the 15 other wrestlers who got buried alive" - implying that no one remembered to dig them up.
• Sophisticated as Hell:
  Dylan: "Let's say this diplomatically, Conrad Thompson. Fuck you. We wanted to meet William Regal."
• Stealth Sequel: While multiple rebookings have been shown to be in the same universe as each other, "Adam Cole Bay Bay" is the first one to directly follow a rebooking of a different star. In this case, it follows on from "Keith Lee's Limitless Potential", with a Keith Lee well-established on the main roster. This is a case of serendipity, as part of Adam Cole's aborted main roster plans saw him managing Keith Lee. Bryce and Dylan even joke about what Cole's position would be as the lackey in the Doctor gimmick.
• Strange Minds Think Alike: Twice in "KATIE VICK", Dylan manages to guess a beat of the Katie Vick storyline that really happened (Kane saying "now I'm going to screw you" to Triple H, and Jerry Lawler calling the Katie Vick mannequin attractive) which leads Bryce to accuse him of being the one booking the storyline.
• Sure, Let's Go with That: In "KATIE VICK", Bryce recounts the story of how the Katie Vick storyline was supposed to be a vehicle for the debut of Scott Vick (Sick Boy of Raven's Flock). Dylan misapprehends this, possibly for comedic effect:
  Dylan: "Wait, wait, wait. So Kane was supposed to fuck Sick Boy?"
  Bryce: "Yeah. Why not? I don't know. Let's say yes."
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: "He Can Dig That, Sucka" sees the recent increase in Buried Alive matches cause unrest among the wrestlers (who don't want to be buried alive), writers (who are running out of talent to use), and fans (who miss everyone who's getting buried alive).
• The Talk: In "A Man Called Test", after the "clarification" listed in Lampshaded Double Entendre, Dylan humorously asks if the clarification was needed, and kicks off one of these.
  Dylan: "When a man loves a woman..."
  Bryce: "He drugs her, and takes her to a Las Vegas, you know, drive-thru marriage..."
  Dylan: "Triple H's Guide to Sex: drug them."
• Talk Show with Fists: In "Keith Lee's Limitless Potential", Dr. Keith Lee gets The Doctor's Surgery. It doesn't even last through its first edition.
• Technician Versus Performer: The main difference between the two hosts (aside from their obvious accents); Dylan is more attached to the "sports" side of sports entertainment, whilst Bryce is more attached to the "entertainment" side. This manifests in their bookings as Bryce takes on most of the more out-there storylines (ECW Zombie, The Ascension conspiracy...) while Dylan's starting points are more grounded.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot / They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: This waste of potential by wrestling promotions is often the focus of the rebookings. The shining examples come from even the smallest of points (such as Titus O'Neil touching Vince McMahon's arm). invoked
• Trial Balloon Question: Played for Laughs in the Talking Kayfabe episode "The Vince McMahon Scandal", which spends the first 8 solid minutes of its runtime not mentioning Vince McMahon at all. Instead, Bryce and Dylan discuss a hypothetical person who did all the things Vince did, and act like they've never heard about it.
• Unwanted Assistance: In "Keeping Up With the Kanellis'", Tye Dillinger really does not want Maria Kanellis interfering on his team's behalf, as he often proves he can win clean. He reluctantly accepts an opportunity to win the championship by their chicanery, but he continues to question the Kanellis couple's methods throughout. This causes their title loss and breakup.
• Wardrobe Malfunction: The punchline, so to speak, of "Cinematic SmackDown" is that the reason Fox cancels SmackDown is not because of the Brothers of Destruction committing hate crimes, random supernatural and sci-fi elements, and the legit deaths of multiple people, but one of these.
• Waxing Lyrical: In "The Best Feud You Never Saw", John Cena's letter to Invisible Stan is mostly taken from Eminem's "Stan".
• Worked Shoot:
  • In "Keith Lee's Limitless Potential", Keith Lee cuts a scathing promo on creative's plans for him, including having him work an unnecessary gimmick and chasing the 24/7 Championship.
  • Followed by the sequel, "Adam Cole Bay Bay!", where Adam Cole does this on WWE's plans to cut his hair, change his name, and have him as a lackey. Though this time it's a subversion as it turns out Adam Cole himself chose this idea over bringing The Undisputed Era with him to SmackDown.
• Wrestling Doesn't Pay: In "Keith Lee's Limitless Potential", Keith Lee shows up one Raw with a doctor gimmick. He is not happy with it, and abandons it.

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