WWE Confidential

Did You Know?

• WWE Confidential was the first WWE-produced show to periodically break kayfabe and consistently use professional wrestling slang.
• The show featured the first time wrestlers explicitly stated on a WWE-produced show that wrestling is a 'worked' form of entertainment rather than a legitimate athletic competition.

Format

Confidential was a unique program for the company, in that it was not a standard "live event" or "recap" show. Rather, it offered an exclusive, "behind the scenes" look into WWE and its talent, both in-ring and otherwise. The show was also WWE's first to periodically break kayfabe and consistently use professional wrestling slang. Confidential was discontinued in 2004 and was replaced with the WWE Experience, a more traditional weekly summary show.

A similar show to Confidential eventually returned under the name WWE Outside the Ring, but in a shortened version. The online show debuted February 2012 on WWE's YouTube channel, with new episodes uploaded on Thursdays. In 2025, a successor to Confidential debuted as WWE Unreal. Notable features included an interview with Shawn Michaels about his life and career, which featured Michaels's first public admission that he was in on the Montreal Screwjob, after years of denying any involvement in it.

There was an analysis of why Stone Cold Steve Austin abruptly left the company in mid-2002. A history of the World Heavyweight Championship featured interviews with past titleholders, making the disputed-by-many claim that this title shares its lineage with the WCW version. Segments detailed life on the road for WWE stars, including overseas tours. A story on how wrestlers feel when people say "Wrestling's fake" was notable because the wrestlers being interviewed admitted that wrestling is a "worked" form of entertainment rather than a legitimate athletic competition, the first time this was explicitly stated on a show produced by the WWE.

The program also included a brief history of the Monday Night War, wrestlers going out of character and using their real names for interviews, a report on the death of Miss Elizabeth, and coverage of the stiffing of Matt Cappotelli by Hardcore Holly on an episode of Tough Enough III. A DVD compilation of segments from this show, The Best of WWE Confidential, Vol. 1, was released in early 2003.