Blading - Does it still hold a place in the modern age of wrestling?

Blading, once a regular occurrence during the Attitude era is now scarcely seen. This week on Raw we witnessed Brock Lesnar being busted open the hard way on a ring post and immediately it turned a feud from which the majority of the internet groaning at the prospect of into one where everyone was praising and looking forward to seeing how it plays out.
Vince himself loathes blading, Bret Hart wrote that wrestlers were fined for blading and would often attempt to hide the fact they had bladed (not quite sure how you easily hide a cut to the forehead with a razorblade) but still did it due to the way it lifted a crowd. Blading though comes at a cost, the risk of contracting a disease such as Hepatitis is there or a botched blade into an artery can result in huge blood loss and possible shock.
It's a question that we discuss this week on the podcast but I wanted to throw it open to the forum...
Do you think blading still has a part to play in wrestling today?

An interesting question. Theres no doubt that the sight of blood does elevate a particularly intense feud and adds to the edge. Whether it would have to be blading, or perhaps fake blood could do the job would be an interesting question

I don't think it's necessary, but at the same time it can be effective and I can see why wrestlers have chosen to do it in the past. However, I'm not sure it's worth the risk. It's certainly not that important for blood to be in wrestling, and while Brock Lesnar being busted open might be seen as the reason for a spike in interest, I thought the segment would have done a good job regardless.

Wrestling, and in particular WWE, have a habit of overusing successful things, and I think blood would be no different. I can't see it being used sporadically by wrestling, if it was reintroduced it would be commonplace and it's effect would wear off.

What I advocated in the podcast was that if it was to return to the screens in any shape or form (my preference is one where it is used as an absolute minimum to therefore gain maximum impact ) would be for both wrestlers prior to agreeing to be involved in it to both be screened for blood transmitted diseases.

I don't think blading has a place in wrestling today in respect to WWE, while seeing blood does elevate the mood of a feud as seen with Brock and HHH it isn't child friendly and WWE is now, I haven't looked at stats or viewer ratings but I imagine the key demographic for WWE is children, early teens and their parents (to buy all the awful merchandise).
If week in, week out and even at PPV's you have barbedwire 2x4's and blood everywhere like in the Attitude Era you'd have people stopping their children watching and that hurts business because one, they don't have as many viewers and two they aren't going to sell said awful merchandise because the amount of kids who will want a wrestling figure is much bigger than the amount of adults.

As for blading in the independent circuit though I believe that it does still have a place, whereas WWE makes money from an audience which is mostly children, independent federations audiences I imagine will be adults and people in their later teens who to get interested in a federation will want to see the type of things they used to back in the day of the Attitude Era and one of those things was violent bloody matches, so using blading for a smaller federation may be a smart move.

I think when used correctly, it can add the Xfactor to a match. There are certain matches that could go from good, to great with the addition of blood and the story telling it brings with it. Last Man Standings, Hell in a Cell, the Elimination Chamber etc could all be brought back up a notch in my opinion.

However, you dont want to see it week in week out because then it devalues it, it should still carry a bit of shock factor.

I don't think blading has a place at all. Not in the Golden Era, not in the Attitude Era, not in the PG Era. If someone bleeds, someone bleeds, and it shouldn't be covered up or edited. It can make a match, but it usually makes them when it's for real, like Austin at WM13.

People bled in the Golden Era. As a kid I was like, "wow, Beefcake got busted open" It was cool because it was different, and judging by programming of the time it was more likely real. But come the late 90's when everyone match was a blood bath just killed the mythos. If anything, the Attitude Era was more fake than the "you know it's fake right?" Golden Era. Those guys were getting busted open more than Boxers.

I can't remember the event, but I do remember Austin being in a First Blood match in the late 90's. He got cut (for real) on his head. But they continued the match "because it's just a scratch" (it wasn't), and his opponent bladed pretty soon after for the scheduled Austin win. For me, it didn't work. They should've thought on their feet and had Austin lose.

Brock getting busted open on Raw was cool because it was real.

I think it does hold a place, as long as it isn't too often.

Whenever people see Flair now, the expect blood, yet if, everynow and again, if use sparingly for say Cage matches or street fights etc, it does add to the realism of the event

Austin bladed in wrestlemania 13. Hart did it for him

Bret claimed that in his biography didn't he? I remember at the time it was denied, because it was still banned. I always thought it was when Austin hit his head on the railings/timetable/bell, but then I've not seen the match in 15 years. Do I suffer Wrestlemania 13 again to find the answer?.... nah, I'll take your word for it.

Admittedly it was an effective blade, but I stand by my earlier comment; there's no place for it. Excessive blood doesn't add to a real contact sport, so I don't think it's needed in an entertainment sport.

i'm just going off what Bret said... he doesnt seem to have any agenda against Austin, so he could have been talking sense for a change!!

As for blading... I'd have to agree its not something I would encourage wrestlers to be doing if I was Vince. However I do see the added tension and intensity it can bring to a feud in the right circumstances.

When you had people like Flair, blading so excessively as he did, though it can actually take you out of the moment. "oh look... Flair has butchered himself again" was often the thought when I was watching his matches.

I think that blood can definitely enhance a feud or match, I mean you only have to look at what happened on Monday night to see the impact it can have. If Lesnar hadn't been cut open would people be talking as much about his brawl with Triple H? Probably not.


However, the problem is - as Crimey pointed out - that if you allow one guy to blade then more and more wrestlers are going to want to do it, then you get the Flair situation where it's a weekly occurrence and it loses all its effect. You're also more likely to get wrestlers moaning "Well if he can do it why can't I?" and possibly taking matters into their own hands.

Austin at WM13 was definitely a blade job. Usually when a wrestler bleeds in a match it is a bladejob; it's rare that they are opened hardway (which is why you so rarely see blood when there is a no blading policy!).

Why can't they use blood capsules etc like they do in the movies? Obviously I know they can put it on between takes but if the ref had the blood capsules in his pocket, go and 'check up' on the guy that got clobbered on the head and pass them a capsule to use. Just a thought :-/

Blading certainly has a place in Pro Wrestling in my opinion, always did always will, having said that I've never been a big fan of it being done with the exception of particular incidents, I believe it should be done more often in matches like Hell in a Cell and Last Man Standing matches, these matches are supposed to be brutal and as such I believe blood is needed (not always) to get that point across, I'm also a fan of using it occassionally in set-up angles as a way of shocking the viewer and creating that initial buzz.

I hated how blood became the norm, it meant nothing, even in big matches, it didn't add to them because it wasn't a surprise when it happened, I'm glad they went back to no blood for a while, we needed thay as fans to get rid of the expectancy, I'm all for it being done occassionally though.

I also don't think its better to see a guy busted open hard way as opposed to blading, if they're going to bleed then I'd prefer they did it in a somewhat controlled manor rather than taking a nasty bump to the head

Think I'm pretty much with Kay Fabe on this.

We all know its easy to become desensitised to violence if we see too much of it, too regularly. As others have said, if you see blood too often, it loses both novelty and shock value.

I thinking having bloodshed in cage or TLC matches is acceptable, or in especially intense feud matches where the guys are supposed to be trying to put each other in hospital.

As a technique for achieving said bloodshed, I guess blading is at least a relatively safe and controlled way of doing it...at least I would hope wrestlers are shown by qualified doctors/medical personnel how and where to cut. If not, they ought to be...


I'd agree with whoever suggested the wrestlers undergo a blood test prior to the match, to make sure there's no risk of contracting diseases.

I heard Bob Orton had Hep C and told Laurinaitis this when he was involved in the taker-orton HIAC match back in 2005 and he still was told to blade.

TopoftheChops wrote:I heard Bob Orton had Hep C and told Laurinaitis this when he was involved in the taker-orton HIAC match back in 2005 and he still was told to blade.

Undertaker was p*ssed with this when he found out some time after the match.
I hadn't read he had mentioned it beforehand, I thought it came out after. One of the reasons he got his release a few weeks later.

Bluebird_ccfc wrote:Why can't they use blood capsules etc like they do in the movies? Obviously I know they can put it on between takes but if the ref had the blood capsules in his pocket, go and 'check up' on the guy that got clobbered on the head and pass them a capsule to use. Just a thought :-/

If it could be done realistically, I'd definitely be a proponent of using fake blood. No point blading just because 'it's always been done that way' if a less tawdry alternative is available. Wrestlers also shouldn't be made to feel inadequate in any way for using fake blood (this can be avoided by enforcing a total ban on blading across the whole roster).

The only problem is whether the realism can be replicated. If it looked fake, there would be ridicule. The one thing you can say about blading is that it really does look like the wrestler is bleeding, because they are!

On the subject of Vince McMahon, I've heard that he hates blading because he considers it to be antiquated and vulgar. Yet he's bladed in pretty much every match he's ever had!

I think it does have a place as long as its not used every payper view, i dont see the problem with kids being a target audience, as i was a kid during the bret hart austin match, i actually found it cool.

i dont think first blood matches have a place in todays wrestling culture, but blood used one off in a match to help make someone look strong definitly has a place id say

Makaveli wrote:I think it does have a place as long as its not used every payper view, i dont see the problem with kids being a target audience, as i was a kid during the bret hart austin match, i actually found it cool.

i dont think first blood matches have a place in todays wrestling culture, but blood used one off in a match to help make someone look strong definitly has a place id say

While kids will probably find it cool their parents may not like them seeing it, while WWE aims it at kids they also have to take in to account that it's their parents that decide what they get to watch.

As a kid I remember watching Cactus Jack v HHH in the H.I.A.C match in 2000 and loving every second of it and my parents knew that I was sensible enough to watch it without attacking my cousins with barbed wire or anything like that but if they were stricter they might have stopped me watching...the WWE knows this and that's why blood and blading is a thing of the past.

Does blood not have any affect as a deterrent? Do things not look like they hurt more when bloods involved? Surely kids fear blood a bit, you can hide hitting some in the head but if they bleed then parents definitely find out about it.

Obviously I can only speak for myself but as a kid seeing wrestlers bleed didn't put me off wrestling, if anything it made me like it more but the point of this chat is about if blood or more so blading is still relevant in wrestling and when it comes to WWE, while I think it adds to matches/feuds as a business it isn't relevant.

An article was recently released where it showed that more kids watched WWE during the attitude era than they do now. I can't remember the exact number. It also stated that in terms of overall numbers, a higher percentage of adults watch now than in the attitude era