My interest in wrestling comes in waves; I grew up watching WWE during the infamous Attitude Era of the late ’90s, and have since followed the sport from afar. Every now and then, something will reignite my curiosity — the rise of All Elite Wrestling (AEW), a particularly stacked card at a big event, or more recently, the rise of fascinating and unhinged rivalries played out through wild stunts and obscene acts.

In order to understand the charm behind the abhorrent acts I’m about to describe, it’s important to remember that wrestling adheres to a certain canon. Wrestlers play heroes or villains, known as faces and heels, and maintain that persona outside of the ring. Everyone is aware that it’s not a “real” fight, but wrestlers will maintain “kayfabe” when a show is done — a polite fiction that every match, monologue, betrayal, and heartbreak is real. It makes for excellent theater, especially when it comes to a heated showdown between foes.

Take, for instance, the case of Adam “Hangman” Page and Swerve Strickland. The back-and-forth between these two men has built up over a year in AEW, with each wrestler taking brutal shots at one another both in and out of the ring. Page began as the obvious good guy, winning a battle royale and donating the $50,000 winnings to the Chicago Public Education Fund. Yet he was still aggrieved by Strickland, who interrupted his promos and challenged him to a match at the next annual marquee WrestleDream event. 

Page became more and more aggressive in the face of Strickland’s antagonism and the fans’ encouragement of such behavior — he stabbed Strickland in the hand with a pen. In one intense match, Page stapled one of his son’s drawings to Strickland’s face, tore it off, and drank the blood from the staple wound.

The Page-Strickland rivalry has been playing out for a year, and each escalation is absurd to the point of hilarity. One particular highlight took place in October 2023, when Strickland broke into Page’s house, made fun of the home’s decor, and put some merch from his buddy Prince Nana in the crib of Page’s sleeping child as an implicit threat.

Indirectly threatening the sleeping baby of your rival is a big move, and yet Page managed to top it. In September, Strickland made the huge step of purchasing his childhood home. It was touching to watch Strickland discuss the history of this home — family cookouts, time with relatives, climbing trees, and eventual struggles and hard times. While Strickland was unable to help his mother as a teenager, he made a promise that he would earn that house back for his family. After watching such a heartwarming promo, you might think that some things are too sacred to be brought into a petty wrestling feud.

You would be wrong, as one of Strickland’s promos in the ring was interrupted by a video on the big screen for all the arena to see. In it, Page swung by that very same house and doused it in gasoline. Fans got to watch in horror and fascination as Page explained his motivation and detailed his revenge, all the while pouring gasoline on the property. Not only did Page talk mad shit about Strickland’s parents, upbringing, and family life, but he lit the treasured childhood home on fire while Strickland fell to his knees in helpless fury in the ring.

You may have hated someone, but have you ever “set their childhood home on fire” hated someone? The Strickland/Page feud will be timeless, not just because of these stunts, but because of the kayfabe around them. Fans will enter heated discussions on whether Page was justified after Strickland’s home invasion, or if Page simply felt too entitled to fans’ love and support. The extreme circumstances of the rivalry are all part of the fun. No one is threatening anyone’s baby, but it’s fun to pretend they are, especially if it leads to heated matches with high emotional stakes.

WWE has also been stepping up its feud game, playing sneaky little stunts with kayfabe. The recent Bad Blood event on Oct. 5 had a heavily promoted card and a Hell in a Cell match — which is like wrestling, but in a giant steel cage that allows for extra violence — but the most notable event of the night wasn’t captured by WWE cameras. After the event, with the show off the air, Kevin Owens pulled up in a Lamborghini, pummelled his ally Cody Rhodes in the parking lot with punches and kicks in a vicious betrayal, and then bounced.

Wrestlers ambushing each other backstage is nothing new; I vividly remember Mankind and Stone Cold Steve Austin showing up in front of a full camera crew to beat some ass off schedule. But it’s also very clearly staged when a full camera crew coincidentally happens to be there to catch the whole scuffle. Owens’ ambush was a gamble, but one that paid off — there were no WWE cameras around, but every fan in the vicinity had a cell phone. Triple H, the current chief content officer at WWE, even took to Twitter as if he were addressing an official incident.

These incidents have gotten me back into wrestling, because I love seeing feuds play out in such explosive fashion. That conflict between larger-than-life figures is fascinating to watch, and the kayfabe adds another layer of enjoyment. These clashes between big personalities are what make wrestling so much fun, and it’s an absolute blast to see how wrestling circuits frame these acts of antagonism.