Rusev's Reported Backstage Heat Is Hypocrisy from WWE

Rusev broke a rule WWE itself has been breaking for years: He allowed the audience a peek behind the curtain.

The Bulgarian Brute made his real-life engagement with Lana public, which clashed with the ongoing onscreen story that Lana had moved on to Dolph Ziggler, while Rusev had (mostly) moved on to Summer Rae. On last week's Raw, reality bled into fiction. The real Lana-Rusev relationship became the story WWE was now telling.

That's not the final layer of the story, however; another is reportedly unfolding behind the scenes.

According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t Wrestle Zone), Vince McMahon was not happy about the situation, as it broke the rules of maintaining one's character. With the powerhouse then suffering two losses in a row and F4WOnline reporting (h/t Wrestling Inc) that Monday should end up being an "interesting" day for him, speculation is rampant that WWE will punish Rusev.

If this is true, McMahon is being a world-class hypocrite.

Pro wrestling is long past the days when wrestlers did everything they could to maintain the illusion that what happened in the ring was real. 

Heels don't act like heels in public. Wrestlers routinely discuss the characters they play and the scripted nature of their matches.

There was a time when Rusev and Lana's letting the world know they are a couple despite being enemies on TV would have been a fireable offense. 

In 1987, police pulled over Iron Sheik and Jim Duggan. The two rivals, who had drugs in the car, certainly earned the ire of WWE, but ruining the illusion of their in-ring animosity was just as serious. As Wade Keller recalled on Pro Wrestling Torch, "The mainstream media seized the chance to mock pro wrestling because two wrestlers in a bitter on-air feud were caught driving together."

That doesn't happen anymore. The industry, especially WWE, is more open, more willing to show its hand.

Kayfabe is sitting in a cemetery with a headstone.

WWE and its roving band of Superstars constantly break that once-sacred concept of maintaining an air of legitimacy about what happens in the ring. The company even invites roster members to sit down with Steve Austin on the Stone Cold Podcast and talk openly about the business.

McMahon himself appeared on the show and discussed the decision behind booking Undertaker to lose at WrestleMania.

Of course, the fact that Undertaker lost by way of creative decision rather than Brock Lesnar's dominance is a departure from what WWE tells us each week on Raw and SmackDown. Fans aren't jarred by that, though. It happens daily.

Stardust and Stephen Amell, fresh off trying to tear each other apart at SummerSlam, were seen teaming up for charity, holding a giant check together. WWE happily posted the image:

Stephanie McMahon and Ronda Rousey clashed at WrestleMania 31. The UFC star gripped the executive's arm, bending it back, threatening to break it.

When the two women met in real life at the ESPYs a few months later, they ignored their scripted bad blood and posed together on the red carpet:

More recently, as noted by Greg Beck for WrestlingNews.co, Chris Jericho tweeted and then deleted a photo of Bray Wyatt, Roman Reigns and others posing backstage. The image is long from forgotten. Several fans like Andy Wilmot have shared it on Twitter:

The picture featured mortal enemies posing together and was posted by a man who had onscreen issues with Reigns and feuded with Wyatt. 

Jericho didn't need to delete the photo. It would have just been one of a thousand examples of someone spoiling wrestling's illusions. It's something WWE itself does as a matter of routine.

The company produces Total Divas, a highly touted, highly promoted reality show which is a constant exercise in breaking kayfabe. 

Wrestlers refer to themselves by their real names. Feuds happening on TV aren't acknowledged. The whole premise is built around offering access, character maintenance be damned. 

In one clip, Alicia Fox, Paige, Natalya and The Bella Twins all hung out together, mourning the loss of Dusty Rhodes. Never mind that they were supposed to be at odds, with Paige long trying to tear down the Bella empire on TV each week. 

WWE's partnership with Be a Star constantly sees heels play the good guy.

McMahon, WWE's corporate tyrant on Raw each week, reverts to her real self and spreads a message of tolerance. Sheamus, a man who spends each Raw trying to bully the competition, plays nice at Be a Star events.

In that climate, with Superstars asked to be spokespeople for the WWE brand, with the company producing shows like Total Divas and the Stone Cold Podcast, how exactly is one supposed to maintain a character?

WWE cannot punish Rusev for letting his not-so-secret engagement out of the bag. As Travis Hopson pointed out on Daily DDT, this situation "is absurd given the WWE's history with breaking kayfabe when it suits them."

Total Divas is designed to do the very thing Rusev is being accused of doing. WWE's ventures into charity ask the wrestlers to ignore their character's alignments. The WWE Network offers a hosts of ways fans can see past the curtains, cut through kayfabe and see the real lives of wrestlers.

Breaking kayfabe is part of today's WWE culture. Rusev didn't do anything to disrupt the continuity of onscreen storylines that the company doesn't do itself. If he is worthy of punishment, so is WWE as a whole.