Fans of professional wrestling are reeling this week after an interview with WWE executive Hunter Hearst Helmsley (or Triple H) seemed to indicate that the sport is actually an elaborate facade with predetermined outcomes based on scripted storylines.

The interview, broadcast Monday on “Stone Cold” Steve Austin’s podcast, saw Helmsley speak about professional wrestling in such a manner as to suggest that its combatants are actually engaged in a kind of co-operative choreography to achieve an agreed-upon outcome.

Helmsley spoke about how some wrestlers, such as Roman Reigns, are “given a push” — that is, they are chosen to become high-profile stars by winning important matches, even if they’re “not ready” (as is clearly the case with Reigns).

Helmsley presented himself in the interview as a kind of omniscient puppeteer who stages elaborate, serialized stories through pantomimed conflicts that crescendo over a period of weeks until a dramatic conclusion on pay-per-view. He didn’t explain why those stories are frequently awful.

His forthright answers to tough questions about the legitimacy of WWE “feuds” led Austin to pose a tough question: “Is Kayfabe dead?”

Without hesitation, Helmsley replied: “No, Kayfabe is alive and well. They have more reliable wrestling news than Meltzer.”