I've already gone on the record saying that as a wrestling fan, I enjoy watching WWE: Unreal. I still hold that opinion, but after WWE SummerSlam, I think the wrestling company needs to seriously evaluate how it promotes the streaming series going forward. There was quite a bit of talk about the series available with a Netflix subscription, and I don't think a chunk of it was done at the appropriate time.
In a night that ended in quite a surprise thanks to Seth Rollins, it still didn't top my overall shock when Wade Barrett directly talked about CM Punk's storyline in WWE: Unreal, and his nerves about coming back as a performer. Mind you, this is in the midst of Punk being in the ring and competing against Gunther for the World Heavyweight Championship. This is during the main event of Night 1 of SummerSlam, the biggest event of upcoming WWE events for the rest of the year, and we're using it to promote a Netflix series?
It was such a bizarre moment, and thanks to all I learned in WWE: Unreal, a deliberate attempt to promote the show when people are the most tuned into the program. The problem I had with it is that while I know wrestling is a scripted product with performers and pre-determined outcomes, I think it's safe to say I don't want someone directly involved in the product reminding me everything I'm watching is fake in the midst of the match.
Imagine watching the recently released The Fantastic Four: First Steps, and out of nowhere, a character directly refers to Reed Richards as Pedro Pascal, the actor, and tells the audience that Galactus is CGI. It would not only be a baffling decision by Marvel Studios to greenlight that, but to do it in the midst of one of the biggest moments of the entire movie.
Wrestling is scripted – no one is breaking news with that announcement – but it is still a product that its talent and creative team want to be taken seriously. For that reason, I find it so strange that the WWE is hellbent on seemingly making it painfully obvious to even the smallest of children that the entire product is a sham in the moment rather than letting people just suspend disbelief for a while. Is this a directive from coming from someone higher up at TKO? It's so strange to me, I only have to assume there's something from outside of the world of wrestling guiding this.
It's gotten to a point where even Cardi B is more concerned about breaking kayfabe than the actual wrestlers:
CARDI B LOWKEY SCARED TO BREAK KAYFABE 😂“Can yall be seen on camera together?” #SummerSlam pic.twitter.com/5E2BcMZFyTAugust 3, 2025
The WWE has always operated in this weird space between fiction and reality, case in point being the latest ordeal with Seth Rollins' "injury." That said, I can't say I think it's the best strategy to so directly present your product as fake in the midst of putting on a show. Don't worry: we're in on the joke every time we suffer through a strange wrestler with an odd gimmick or someone inexplicably overcoming an injury that would hospitalize most people. But speaking so blatantly about the scriptedness of it all mid-match just spoils the fun, and I'm still wrapping my head around whose idea it was to do that.
SummerSlam continues on Sunday evening, and of course, Monday Night Raw in on Netflix on Monday. We'll see how many more mentions WWE: Unreal gets in the meantime and how the fans respond to it.
