There is a WWE DVD called ‘The Bloodiest Ever Cage Matches’ and it needs a sequel because the blood contained in that 3 hour disc does not make up to half the amount of blood I’ve seen in the WWE in the past six months. While issues surrounding blood pertaining to the health of the wrestlers is an important issue in itself that’s not what I want to talk about here. What I would like to talk about is the way blood has impacted some of the most memorable matches and match build ups in TNA and the WWE. While I’m sure you guys have a list of your own consider my list and decide if you think blood adds or subtracts from a wrestling match up.
Ultimate X at No Surrender this year between LAX and Christopher Daniels was an excellent match from start to finish. It wasn’t blood that made it so it was the sheer talent and bravery of those four men from the minute that bell rang until the end of the match but the feud started because of blood. The attack on Daniels and AJ from LAX during Jeff Jarrett’s celebration after Hard Justice saw Christopher Daniels split open like a melon and AJ barely able to make it back up the ramp under his own strength. Afterwards Daniels cut a promo setting up the Ultimate X match between them and LAX with blood pouring down his face. There is something about a bloody face during a promo that connects the audience to the urgency of the matter more than a slap to the face would. This occurred when Jarrett busted Samoa Joe open on the last Impact before No Surrender. Jarrett was the first to do it and Joe did not take kindly to that precedent at all looking into the camera shaking in anger saying over and over that “Joe was gonna kill you!”
Whilst Joe was offended at having his own blood spilt Ric Flair took seeing his own blood as something to show to the world. This is shown in a promo that Ric Flair cut after being assaulted by The Game after Homecoming last year. Flair had taken the stitches out earlier and talked to the audience completely blood free, then he decided to take off the plaster to emphasise just how deep the cut was and it bled all down his face. Flair then proceeded to rub the blood all over his face like it were paint and talk to the audience with a completely bloodied face which was an extraordinary contrast against his white shirt but Flair made his point: he wasn’t afraid of his own blood. This was the build up to an unforgettable cage match between Flair and The Game at Taboo Tuesday where blood ran more between them then it did during any of the other matches on the card. It was war in that cage and the blood stained faces of both The Naitch and The Game carved vivid images into the mind that will never be erased.
Sometimes blood quickens interest in a match by accident and I can give two examples of that happening with Dave Batista. The first incident was at The Great American Bash this year where Batista’s match against Mark Henry was changed to a match against Ken Kennedy the week of the PPV due to Mark Henry being too injured to compete. Batista was challenged to the match with Kennedy and had just come back from rehabilitation so he was more than ready to get back in that ring. Somebody should have told Kennedy why they call Batista ‘The Animal’ because within 30 seconds of his entrance music ending Kennedy was a bloody mess. Batista sent Kennedy flying into the ring post and opened him up on impact. No blading here guys this was not planned, Kennedy bled profusely throughout the whole match. I was sure they were going to stop the match before Kennedy bled to death like they did for Matt Hardy during his returning match against Edge at SummerSlam (not that Hardy needed blood to make that match interesting). The next day there were stories all over the internet about how badly Kennedy got busted open proving that blood is something that can still take wrestling fans by surprise. The second incident of accidental blood was with Batista himself last week at No Mercy. The match was coming to an end and Batista went head first into the turnbuckle and when he looked up his forehead was dripping with blood! It was so unexpected because the match had been blood-free until then but Dave sold it very well and the wounded Animal became human again which is what seeing blood reminds us we all are.
Someone who exploits this fact extremely well is Shawn Michaels who has bled a lot of his matches in the WWE. One of the most memorable was at Survivor Series 2003 as a part of Team Stone Cold. Stone Cold never trusted anyone now he had to trust four other men including Shawn who agreed to be on his team despite their long rivalry with each other. Half way through the match was Shawn against Chris Jericho, Christian and Randy Orton and Christian busted Shawn open by catapulting him into the ring post. The significant thing about this was that Shawn was the only wrestler to bleed in the match and he was the only one left on Team Stone Cold making Shawn the most significant man in the match. When Shawn pinned Christian and Jericho it looked like he would have a miraculous victory, anyone who’s seen the match knows that it didn’t quite work out that way. When Stone Cold saw Shawn alone in the ring on his back covered in his own blood his sympathy was overwhelming and instead of stunning Shawn he lifted HBK to his feet and shook his hand. The story for this match was told beautifully by Stone Cold and Shawn, I can’t remember a match being sold so well since, it was a work of art (pun intended).
Blood is a rarity in women’s matches but it was extremely gripping in the build-up to Mickie James’ first WrestleMania match against her idol the now retired Trish Stratus. The fans were sold very well on the fact that Mickie James was psychotically infatuated with Trish Stratus but we didn’t have anything to symbolize that until the second to last RAW before WrestleMania 22. Mickie James had kidnapped Ashley Massaro and Trish had come down the ring to rescue her. When Mickie tried to stop her Trish threw her into the barricade busting Mickie open. When Mickie got back into the ring she was bleeding heavily from the nose and looked truly frightening. Then she put an exclamation point on the whole segment by giving Trish a spin-chilling Tornado DDT. With Trish helpless Mickie planted a kiss on her lips and left blood trickling down Trish’s face. The verdict was in: Mickie James was a psycho and the blood was a graphic reminder of that.
One of the other graphic uses of blood was in Shane O’Mac’s amazing Street Fight against Kurt Angle at King of the Ring 2001. When Angle suplexed Shane through the glass from the back out onto the floor Shane’s face was covered in bits of glass and he was bleeding, it was truly horrific. Amazingly the match went on, Kurt dragged Shane all the way back to the ring and covered him but Shane kicked out showing how tough he was. As the match went on the image of Shane’s face covered in blood reminded me how dangerous wrestling really is and it’s why that match is featured in the Fed’s ‘Please don’t try this at home’ video package.
Okay I lied (forgive me Father) I can remember a time other than Survivor Series 2003 that a story using blood was told brilliantly. It was Shawn Michaels vs. Hulk Hogan at SummerSlam 2005. This was a brilliant use of blood that stunned the audience to almost silence because nobody saw it coming. Shawn was relentless he was on a mission to bust Hogan open and he did so painstakingly jumping up on Hogan over and over again until the job was done. When the camera zoomed to a close up of a bloodied Hogan you could hear the audience hush, it was a definite momentum changer for the match until the end that is but I ain’t even gonna go there. If the outcome of that match had been different the blood would definitely have been a deciding factor in who won the battle of the Legend and the Icon. As far as I’m concerned the jury’s still out, way out on that one but I digress.
Blood definitely added to that match and changed the way the Hogan/HBK story was told. I also think the image of Triple H bleeding from the ear gave The Game a lot of sympathy when going into the Hell In A Cell match against The McMahons and Big Show at Unforgiven this year. The only time blood subtracts from a match is when the story has been told badly and you find yourself unaffected by the sight of it. If you ever find yourself experiencing this I recommend any of the above matches or match build-ups mentioned above, lest you forget how important blood is and how it can change the face of a match – that’s my final pun I’m done now.
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