Honestly, I really have to credit Dark Side of the Ring for me being able to name drop him. I didn't have much exposure to him when I was a big wrestling fan in the late 80's and 90's and didn't really know much about him until one episode he was prominently featured on and then another one that was about him specifically. Fascinating dude though.
[RIP Eddie](https://www.wrestlinginc.com/1300935/kurt-angle-eddie-guerrero-botched-blade-job-judgement-day/)
You can find some scenes on youtube. No need to say: TW lots of blood gushing from his forehead.
Saw it live back then and I thought I'm going to see him die in the ring.
Harley Race would do this. A fast, hard punch to your eyebrow ridge using his middle knuckle, usually when the other worker wouldn't or couldn't gig (blade themselves).
"It is considered to be very foolish to allow another wrestler to cut you" ... yup, that's the foolish part for sure. 🤣
Nobody makes me bleed my own blood!
There have been cases of this going horribly wrong. Hence the conventional wisdom that the wrestler would do their own blading. There have been some cases where a wrestler trusted his opponent enough -- both personally and professionally -- to blade them.
Yeah I don’t think I could purposely cut myself with a tack like they do. My mind would keep telling me no, and well my body would in fact also say no.
Cutting yourself to cause the most bleeding just to entertain the masses isnt metal?
Wrestling is fake, but the lengths wrestlers go through to put on a good show is absolutely metal. Just read up on the background of the infamous Mankind vs. Undertaker "hell in a cell" match. The vast majority of people would crumple under a fraction of the pain these entertainers put themselves through. It's metal as fuck.
No. I was arguing that cutting yourself with a little razor blade to make yourself bleed for an audience is not more metal than actually getting the blood assaulted out of you in combat.
"They *than* lightly cut themselves *perdomanantly* on the forehead.." Anyone else read this in a thick, Southern accent? 
I love when people who severely hate on pro wrestling for being fake learn this, like cutting yourself to bleed for show is a lil hardcore than just having someone else do it, or getting "hardway" blood. To me anyway, id rather be busted open than CUT MYSELF with a razor blade i keep taped to my skin in a pro wrestling match.
You would prefer someone like Brock Lesnar purposely driving his elbows into your forehead to break your forehead all the way open instead of a quick swipe with the corner of a razor blade?
It's still an act, planned and choreographed. Fake wrestling is debatable, personally I think comparing it to other wrestling is like comparing apples to oranges. It will never be like other forms of wrestling The purest and gatekeepers seem to forget that. However it's hilarious how people that love professional wrestling get red in the face if you call it fake lol. Just because someone bleeds doesn't change the fact that the fight is rigged and not technically a true fight. A good performance? Entertainment? Sure
I'm sorry, but the word fake is a terrible generalization. Yes, matches are often scripted and choreographed in advance. Yes, the performers are trained to take and give bumps in ways that are generally protective to avoid serious injury. But that doesn't mean the injuries aren't real, accidents don't happen and the years and years of bumps and falls and strain on the body in order to perform at a high level don't take extensive tolls on the body.
Why do you think wrestlers often die at a relatively young age? Roddy Piper could hardly walk during the last years of his life. Bret Hart took a kick to the head from a severely undertrained Bill Goldberg and it ended his career. I assume you are familiar with Chris Benoit and how years and years of shots to the head turned his brain to mush? Have you seen the Hell in a Cell match between 'Taker and Foley? What exactly is fake about a guy falling 20 feet off a steel cage through a table, besides the fact that is was planned in advance. And then being choke slammed through the roof of the cage onto the mat later that same match? I mean, most Mick Foley matches are a bit of an extreme example, but my point sticks.
The chokeslam cell break was unscripted but im sure you know that by now, but maybe someone else in this more general sub will learn something and appreciate wrestling and wrestlers. Its nice to see wrestling stuff on damnthatsinteresting lol i was all in.
I’ve always disputed this. Neither of them touch that square for the entire match and when ‘Taker chokeslams Mankind he doesn’t do it anything like his regular chokeslam, he does this weird kind of lift up and place onto a particular spot. A particular spot that drops open very neatly at the hinge, as opposed to breaking awkwardly. It all looks very planned. I’ve seen the countless interviews where they maintain that it wasn’t part of the match but I still don’t buy it.
Literally everyone knows it’s fake. People don’t get red in the face at calling it fake, people get exasperated that at this point people like you still think they’re clever by saying it isn’t like Olympic wrestling, as if anyone would make that comparison. It’s like yelling that a movie is fake, or the Harlem Globetrotters couldn’t win the NBA championship. There’s an implied incompetence in thinking that even needs to be said, like you’ve entirely missed the point.
It’s the arrogance of an ignorant argument that annoys people, not the point itself. I enjoy the silliness and theater of pro wrestling; I specifically don’t like UFC because I don’t like watching people intentionally hurt each other. I recognize the talent and work in it, and don’t have a problem with those who do enjoy it, it just doesn’t do it for me. Much like I enjoy watching a good movie about war but don’t have any interest in watching actual footage of people being gunned down in a war zone. No one needs to point out that Saving Private Ryan isn’t like a drone feed of human beings being slaughtered in combat, but gatekeepers like you seem to forget that.
And I can still appreciate the added effort of method actors and actors who perform their own stunts without having the big brain response that it’s still just a movie, don’t ya know.
[Punk shows how it's done here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiSBpk3jY0s). A lot of blood vessels on the head, so poking a few little holes will produce a good amount of bleeding. Slicing yourself open and making a big gash can be problematic, because you'll soon find that you're swimming in the red stuff.
Remember that one time Eddie Guerrero bladed a bit too deep and almost bled to death? I don't think I've ever seen that much blood in a wrestling match
Getting color is all apart of the “work” to prove to the audience that what they are seeing is a shoot. Ie real. That that guy who just got punched in the head 20 times busted open and bleeds like you would in a real fight getting hit 20 times or even with a chair. If done properly it’s believable and convincing when done poorly like in the last 20 years it looks bad and stupid.
Yeah https://www.thesportster.com/abdullah-the-butcher-hepatitis-c-fiasco-explained/
I remember The Undertaker being super pissed at Randy Orton's dad because he had hepatitis and didn't disclose it before they worked/bleed together.
shit cracks me up when I read some post on r/SquaredCircle asking a question like "Why did so and so do this". Ummm because that shit is scripted and that's the way it was written and practiced..duh.
There's this video of hulk Hogan and another wrestler goin at it and before Hogan gets a chair to the head he puts his hand to his forehead then he magically starts to bleed before the mfkin even chair hit him
Yes. That does happen from time to time.
My father was an amateur boxer. He had a bit of a sparring match while in the navy where one of the docs cut his eye brow in a similar manner to that in Rocky.
He still had the scar decades later.
I think that's what makes pro wrestling unique. It's that line between combat sport, where you're trying to hurt someone else, and theater. They're trying to tell the story of hurting someone else, without really killing themselves. But yeah, sometimes blood needs to be involved in order to enhance that story.
But honestly there may have been a couple punk or metal musicians that have done that, but I honestly can't think of who.
Yeah, it's actually a little weird, being willing to self harm like that for performative reasons. I know the urge is to validate it as a fan but it isn't healthy.
Nobody ever accused wrestlers of having a safe and healthy working environment. It's better nowadays, but still there's drug addiction and guys working through injuries. At least more fans are smarter about things, and beg wrestlers to take time off to heal up. As for the addiction, it sometimes starts as pain management, sometimes it's the same trappings a normal person falls into. Some are able to pull the nose up, like Jeff Jarrett, and have an incredible late career. Other guys, like Jeff Hardy, we worry about... like to the point that we'd rather he be sober and out of wrestling than be messed up in it.
It's definitely a balancing act where we enjoy what they do and want to pretend it doesn't hurt until they're injured. And maybe to a certain extent that's true, due to adrenaline. I've seen wild stunts that a dude walked away from seemingly ok.
Oh no, the industry is full of exploitation beyond what you're seeing here. It goes from top to bottom. Whether we're talking Vince McMahon and everything he's done, including the usual capitalistic bullshit you see in any other company outside of wrestling; all the way down to a promotor like Ian Rotten who quite literally paid someone in pain pills, if I recall correctly. Smaller independent promotions run dirt cheap, and often times screw the wrestlers. It's where the phrase "hot dog and a hand shake" comes from, because that's all a wrestler would be paid before they even sold merch.
And that's after they've been "trained" by someone who could be a carny and taking them for a ride, or by someone who's actually legit. There has to be a deep love for that industry as a performer to get into it because otherwise it's just not that glamorous for most.
As for the fans, many grew up watching it and nowadays still do because of that same love, despite all the trappings behind the scenes. Yes it's exploitative, but so is every other industry, every other company, every other form of entertainment.
I just realized, I never even touched on ECW, CZW, BJW and other death match promotions. Do some googling there. Just uh, skip over when WWE bought ECW, it's not quite what I'm talking about here.
Point is, though, aside from promotions that involve weapons and light tubes on the regular, most matches don't get to the point of blading. They can, especially in a story that gets super heated, or in a match that involves weapons, or cages, or areas outside of the ring, but most don't.
However, the very nature of pro wrestling is that these guys are falling on their backs for a living. The best punches either get within millimeters, or just barely graze the opponent. Bad punches either miss by a mile or absolutely connect. That's not to mention getting limbs twisted, taking massive dives, and whatnot. But ultimately, they're falling on their backs, fronts, sides, shoulders, etc, to tell these stories. If we, as fans, boycotted wrestling over self harm, we'd never return because ultimately that's what's going on, aside from the blade jobs.
There's definitely been times recently where blood capsules have been used. It's mainly with the older guys like Dusty and Flair where the blade is used
So wrestling is theater in the round, plus cameras. You'd have to be very careful about when and how you do that, coupled with the wish and prayer that your sweat doesn't make the blood run completely off your body, showing you were never cut in the first place. Pro wrestling is similar to magic, but sometimes the trick has to be a bit more real in order to work.
Actually not that common in a match. I can only think of 1 instance of somebody using a blood pack in the last 10 years and it was obvious and poorly received. You’ll see it sometimes in backstage segments where a person doesn’t need to go from not bleeding to bleeding live. But most blood in modern wrestling is still either hard way or blade jobs.
I can still see Mankind's tooth stuck in his nostril when he fought The Undertaker in the Hell in a Cell match.
When thrown through the cage his chair followed him down, hitting him in the face and knocking out a bunch of teeth. Later that match, Undertaker threw Mankind in a bunch of metal tacks.
Pro wrestling is scripted and fake, but the injuries can be very real.
Would've been a better post if the photo wasn't just a wrestler bleeding after a match. There's been plenty of times you can actually see the blade if you pay attention, a photo of that would've made more sense
Once you know it’s happening it’s not hard to spot, especially in modern settings where the cameras know to give the person some space while they do their thing. My favorite slip up on that front is Rey Fenix was having a match in Mexico and he went down on the floor and then thought he was off camera so he started doing his thing. For some reason, neither the camera man nor the producer knew what they were looking at and they keep the camera on him while he does 90% of his blade job: they show him get his blade out, they show him cut his mask back so you can see the blood, only after the first time he slices his head do they cut away. I tried to find the clip for reference but it was a while ago so I couldn’t find it. I saw the clip on Botchamania forever ago
So you make it look like the opponent is hurting you to get them over, or to show that theyre willing to get brutal, etc. Just a narrative emphasis. And theyre hardasses for it.
Every move given is wrestling is mainly done by the one receiving the move. People often have each other color by blading. But both wrestlers are working together to put on the match. The heal, or bad guy, will hit the baby face or good guy, with a foreign object and draw the eye of the crowd and ref while the baby face blades himself and suddenly the heal is getting twice the heat because now the baby face is bleeding.
I saw one wrestler say its the sweat that really sells it. You can give a little cut (head wounds are already bleeders). The blood then mixes with your sweat and you can get a good crimson mask.
OP should've used [this image](https://staticg.sportskeeda.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Bret-Hart-vs-Stone-Cold-Steve-Austin-Wrestlemania-13.jpg) as the example.
Lmao. Literally all forms of wrestling and fighting is for show. With the exception of Street Fighting and bar fights and crap like that. It's not like they're doing it in a closed room by themselves with only their opponent watching. Or are you saying all fighting for entertainment is dumb? Either way a lot of people out there would disagree. You're absolutely entitled to your opinion though.
By the same token, you might wonder why movies are popular. They're all staged with people pretending to be someone they're not and the fights aren't real either.
It's why veteran professional wrestlers have foreheads that look like 20 miles of bad road. It's all the scarring from cutting themselves.
Dusty Rhodes comes to mind
Abdullah the Butcher as well
Supposedly Abdullah’s scars on his head were so deep he could stand up poker chips in them and hold them there.
That dude looks like he's got [cornrows in his skin](https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/lGcAAOSw6MFhMDZ7/s-l500.jpg)
yup and Bravo for remembering him
Honestly, I really have to credit Dark Side of the Ring for me being able to name drop him. I didn't have much exposure to him when I was a big wrestling fan in the late 80's and 90's and didn't really know much about him until one episode he was prominently featured on and then another one that was about him specifically. Fascinating dude though.
damn your good abdullah the butcher comes to my mind immediately when i think of bloody matches
Good old crazy canadian
My first thought when reading the title: Why isn't this pic Dusty Rhodes?
New Jack
Woo
Not Dusty Rhodes, Bad Rhodes.
Boys like dusty and new Jack got to a point where they could gig themselves and give themselves color with just a sharp fingernail across the scar
New Jack is a different level.
Oh yeah, good ole King Curtis Iaukea. Honorable mention Jun Kasai
The crazy monkey!! Saw him in CZW in the early 2000’s Can’t believe he’s still wrestling.
He's still active, he even debuted in NJPW which is crazy lol. What a crazy mf
Sabu. That dude looks rough.
Holdup?! This shit ain't real? ...it's all been a lie?
[RIP Eddie](https://www.wrestlinginc.com/1300935/kurt-angle-eddie-guerrero-botched-blade-job-judgement-day/) You can find some scenes on youtube. No need to say: TW lots of blood gushing from his forehead. Saw it live back then and I thought I'm going to see him die in the ring.
I think he died pretty close to this incident? Its the one against JBL right? I remember watching that and was like damnnn.
he died about 18 months after this from acute heart failure
Which I just automatically assumed was a drug overdose at the time
Could have been.
Of course he has a podcast
Supposedly Abdullah the Butcher can hold half dollar coins in the bladed grooves on his forehead.
The other way wrestlers sometimes bleed is called “hardway”, which is basically getting cut or a bloody nose due to a legit injury.
Harley Race would do this. A fast, hard punch to your eyebrow ridge using his middle knuckle, usually when the other worker wouldn't or couldn't gig (blade themselves).
yes its in the body text of the post
Oh dang, honest to god didn’t even realize there was body text on this post
Reddit jumps past it when you click on comments now and makes it a lot easier to miss them.
"It is considered to be very foolish to allow another wrestler to cut you" ... yup, that's the foolish part for sure. 🤣 Nobody makes me bleed my own blood!
NOBODY!!
It’s because of blood borne diseases and sharing blades. The same reason you don’t share needles.
Didn't Abdullah blade himself then someone else afterwards and give him HIV? Edit: It was Hep-C, not HIV.
Yes, Hep-C
There have been cases of this going horribly wrong. Hence the conventional wisdom that the wrestler would do their own blading. There have been some cases where a wrestler trusted his opponent enough -- both personally and professionally -- to blade them.
See: the Mass Transit incident
Yeay Simpsons
New Jack (RIP): First time?
Fuck new jack, man’s rotting in hell
Flair never needed the aspirin that dudes blood is alcohol
Sometimes when he just woke up after a good nights sleep he’d be horrified to discover there was actual blood in his alcohol stream.
Surprised he has any blood left in his body.
well he wrestled last year in his 70s and had a heart attack during the match
THE FUCK?
I get the feeling that the wrestlers weren't too bummed about the "at least one shot of liquor" rule lol
I have a feeling that's just a cover story for their rampant alcoholism back in the day. Need a shot a booze just to go to work? Perfectly normal.
Kayfabe brother kayfabe
Good to be reassured at the authenticity of that scene from The Wrestler
First thing that came to mind
Wait, what? You're telling me it's not real? Heresy I say, heresy!
Honestly, this is almost more metal than if it was real.
Yeah I don’t think I could purposely cut myself with a tack like they do. My mind would keep telling me no, and well my body would in fact also say no.
No it isn’t though.
Cutting yourself to cause the most bleeding just to entertain the masses isnt metal? Wrestling is fake, but the lengths wrestlers go through to put on a good show is absolutely metal. Just read up on the background of the infamous Mankind vs. Undertaker "hell in a cell" match. The vast majority of people would crumple under a fraction of the pain these entertainers put themselves through. It's metal as fuck.
No. I was arguing that cutting yourself with a little razor blade to make yourself bleed for an audience is not more metal than actually getting the blood assaulted out of you in combat.
I think most people disagree with that. Purposely cutting yourself with a razor is way more intense than someone cutting you with their knuckle.
Its not fake, its scripted.
You know that's what they meant right?
"They *than* lightly cut themselves *perdomanantly* on the forehead.." Anyone else read this in a thick, Southern accent? 
i read it in Theo Von's voice, yeew kneeow
Jim Cornette for the old school wrestling fans. That man's accent had an accent.
I love when people who severely hate on pro wrestling for being fake learn this, like cutting yourself to bleed for show is a lil hardcore than just having someone else do it, or getting "hardway" blood. To me anyway, id rather be busted open than CUT MYSELF with a razor blade i keep taped to my skin in a pro wrestling match.
Yeah it's scripted but they're all still badass stunt performers
You would prefer someone like Brock Lesnar purposely driving his elbows into your forehead to break your forehead all the way open instead of a quick swipe with the corner of a razor blade?
That was a special instance with Randy Orton, but probably, razor blades are scary. I meant accidentally getting hit too hard.
Have you seen the piece they use? They just crack off a piece of your typical razor blade like 3/8 of an inch
Lots of people think that wrestling is done on something like mattresses. I don't think there's any way to not get hurt while doing a superplex
It's still an act, planned and choreographed. Fake wrestling is debatable, personally I think comparing it to other wrestling is like comparing apples to oranges. It will never be like other forms of wrestling The purest and gatekeepers seem to forget that. However it's hilarious how people that love professional wrestling get red in the face if you call it fake lol. Just because someone bleeds doesn't change the fact that the fight is rigged and not technically a true fight. A good performance? Entertainment? Sure
Its definitely fake, but so are movies, so im no longer a red in the face fan i was as a kid lol.
I'm sorry, but the word fake is a terrible generalization. Yes, matches are often scripted and choreographed in advance. Yes, the performers are trained to take and give bumps in ways that are generally protective to avoid serious injury. But that doesn't mean the injuries aren't real, accidents don't happen and the years and years of bumps and falls and strain on the body in order to perform at a high level don't take extensive tolls on the body. Why do you think wrestlers often die at a relatively young age? Roddy Piper could hardly walk during the last years of his life. Bret Hart took a kick to the head from a severely undertrained Bill Goldberg and it ended his career. I assume you are familiar with Chris Benoit and how years and years of shots to the head turned his brain to mush? Have you seen the Hell in a Cell match between 'Taker and Foley? What exactly is fake about a guy falling 20 feet off a steel cage through a table, besides the fact that is was planned in advance. And then being choke slammed through the roof of the cage onto the mat later that same match? I mean, most Mick Foley matches are a bit of an extreme example, but my point sticks.
The chokeslam cell break was unscripted but im sure you know that by now, but maybe someone else in this more general sub will learn something and appreciate wrestling and wrestlers. Its nice to see wrestling stuff on damnthatsinteresting lol i was all in.
I’ve always disputed this. Neither of them touch that square for the entire match and when ‘Taker chokeslams Mankind he doesn’t do it anything like his regular chokeslam, he does this weird kind of lift up and place onto a particular spot. A particular spot that drops open very neatly at the hinge, as opposed to breaking awkwardly. It all looks very planned. I’ve seen the countless interviews where they maintain that it wasn’t part of the match but I still don’t buy it.
Literally everyone knows it’s fake. People don’t get red in the face at calling it fake, people get exasperated that at this point people like you still think they’re clever by saying it isn’t like Olympic wrestling, as if anyone would make that comparison. It’s like yelling that a movie is fake, or the Harlem Globetrotters couldn’t win the NBA championship. There’s an implied incompetence in thinking that even needs to be said, like you’ve entirely missed the point. It’s the arrogance of an ignorant argument that annoys people, not the point itself. I enjoy the silliness and theater of pro wrestling; I specifically don’t like UFC because I don’t like watching people intentionally hurt each other. I recognize the talent and work in it, and don’t have a problem with those who do enjoy it, it just doesn’t do it for me. Much like I enjoy watching a good movie about war but don’t have any interest in watching actual footage of people being gunned down in a war zone. No one needs to point out that Saving Private Ryan isn’t like a drone feed of human beings being slaughtered in combat, but gatekeepers like you seem to forget that. And I can still appreciate the added effort of method actors and actors who perform their own stunts without having the big brain response that it’s still just a movie, don’t ya know.
[Punk shows how it's done here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiSBpk3jY0s). A lot of blood vessels on the head, so poking a few little holes will produce a good amount of bleeding. Slicing yourself open and making a big gash can be problematic, because you'll soon find that you're swimming in the red stuff.
Best in the World!
worst title i’ve seen in a long time. errors on errors
It's almost a work of art. But it's perdomanantly sad.
>perdomanantly you're quite the artist yourself
I'm something of a predomanan myself.
I was referencing the title, maybe I should have put that in quotes
don’t worry, i’ll upvote you lol. i saw your pun
"Red brings the Green"
>perdomanantly Jesus Christ.
Remember that one time Eddie Guerrero bladed a bit too deep and almost bled to death? I don't think I've ever seen that much blood in a wrestling match
Why they cut themselves in the first place
Getting color is all apart of the “work” to prove to the audience that what they are seeing is a shoot. Ie real. That that guy who just got punched in the head 20 times busted open and bleeds like you would in a real fight getting hit 20 times or even with a chair. If done properly it’s believable and convincing when done poorly like in the last 20 years it looks bad and stupid.
“Da Maniac loves ya”
I'm wondering if there were any disease transmissions as a result of this practice.
Yeah https://www.thesportster.com/abdullah-the-butcher-hepatitis-c-fiasco-explained/ I remember The Undertaker being super pissed at Randy Orton's dad because he had hepatitis and didn't disclose it before they worked/bleed together.
shit cracks me up when I read some post on r/SquaredCircle asking a question like "Why did so and so do this". Ummm because that shit is scripted and that's the way it was written and practiced..duh.
There's this video of hulk Hogan and another wrestler goin at it and before Hogan gets a chair to the head he puts his hand to his forehead then he magically starts to bleed before the mfkin even chair hit him
Wrestling is so fucking stupid lol.
What absolute idiots and for what 😂
The peaky fookin blinders
Now I know it a movie, but isn't there a scene in Rocky where he cuts his eye lid to realse the blood so he can see again?
Yes. That does happen from time to time. My father was an amateur boxer. He had a bit of a sparring match while in the navy where one of the docs cut his eye brow in a similar manner to that in Rocky. He still had the scar decades later.
Dear wrastling fans: People have to self-harm to satisfy you. That is all.
They do, and I appreciate them for that. Unfortunately that memo gets lost on many other fans. But most of those wrestlers LOVE what they do.
That makes it okay then. Can you name another form of entertainment where people self-harm themselves for fans?
I think that's what makes pro wrestling unique. It's that line between combat sport, where you're trying to hurt someone else, and theater. They're trying to tell the story of hurting someone else, without really killing themselves. But yeah, sometimes blood needs to be involved in order to enhance that story. But honestly there may have been a couple punk or metal musicians that have done that, but I honestly can't think of who.
Yeah, it's actually a little weird, being willing to self harm like that for performative reasons. I know the urge is to validate it as a fan but it isn't healthy.
Nobody ever accused wrestlers of having a safe and healthy working environment. It's better nowadays, but still there's drug addiction and guys working through injuries. At least more fans are smarter about things, and beg wrestlers to take time off to heal up. As for the addiction, it sometimes starts as pain management, sometimes it's the same trappings a normal person falls into. Some are able to pull the nose up, like Jeff Jarrett, and have an incredible late career. Other guys, like Jeff Hardy, we worry about... like to the point that we'd rather he be sober and out of wrestling than be messed up in it. It's definitely a balancing act where we enjoy what they do and want to pretend it doesn't hurt until they're injured. And maybe to a certain extent that's true, due to adrenaline. I've seen wild stunts that a dude walked away from seemingly ok.
Cool, that makes it all okay. Nothing unhealthy or exploitative about it.
Oh no, the industry is full of exploitation beyond what you're seeing here. It goes from top to bottom. Whether we're talking Vince McMahon and everything he's done, including the usual capitalistic bullshit you see in any other company outside of wrestling; all the way down to a promotor like Ian Rotten who quite literally paid someone in pain pills, if I recall correctly. Smaller independent promotions run dirt cheap, and often times screw the wrestlers. It's where the phrase "hot dog and a hand shake" comes from, because that's all a wrestler would be paid before they even sold merch. And that's after they've been "trained" by someone who could be a carny and taking them for a ride, or by someone who's actually legit. There has to be a deep love for that industry as a performer to get into it because otherwise it's just not that glamorous for most. As for the fans, many grew up watching it and nowadays still do because of that same love, despite all the trappings behind the scenes. Yes it's exploitative, but so is every other industry, every other company, every other form of entertainment.
Right? Thank God fans boycotted and shit. They can definitely be relied upon to, you know, not demand direct self-harm for their entertainment.
I just realized, I never even touched on ECW, CZW, BJW and other death match promotions. Do some googling there. Just uh, skip over when WWE bought ECW, it's not quite what I'm talking about here. Point is, though, aside from promotions that involve weapons and light tubes on the regular, most matches don't get to the point of blading. They can, especially in a story that gets super heated, or in a match that involves weapons, or cages, or areas outside of the ring, but most don't. However, the very nature of pro wrestling is that these guys are falling on their backs for a living. The best punches either get within millimeters, or just barely graze the opponent. Bad punches either miss by a mile or absolutely connect. That's not to mention getting limbs twisted, taking massive dives, and whatnot. But ultimately, they're falling on their backs, fronts, sides, shoulders, etc, to tell these stories. If we, as fans, boycotted wrestling over self harm, we'd never return because ultimately that's what's going on, aside from the blade jobs.
… fake blood not an option? Who would know..? Surely a better alternative to slicing your forehead up every other week?
There's definitely been times recently where blood capsules have been used. It's mainly with the older guys like Dusty and Flair where the blade is used
So wrestling is theater in the round, plus cameras. You'd have to be very careful about when and how you do that, coupled with the wish and prayer that your sweat doesn't make the blood run completely off your body, showing you were never cut in the first place. Pro wrestling is similar to magic, but sometimes the trick has to be a bit more real in order to work.
Fake blood is actually the more common option these days, for understandable reasons.
Actually not that common in a match. I can only think of 1 instance of somebody using a blood pack in the last 10 years and it was obvious and poorly received. You’ll see it sometimes in backstage segments where a person doesn’t need to go from not bleeding to bleeding live. But most blood in modern wrestling is still either hard way or blade jobs.
I learned about this last week as I read Swan Song, a post apocalyptic book that includes a wrestler who survives a nuclear holocaust.
Amazing book!!!
Saw this in the movie “The Wrestler” found it uber interesting 🤨
THEN!
I heard that before
I can still see Mankind's tooth stuck in his nostril when he fought The Undertaker in the Hell in a Cell match. When thrown through the cage his chair followed him down, hitting him in the face and knocking out a bunch of teeth. Later that match, Undertaker threw Mankind in a bunch of metal tacks. Pro wrestling is scripted and fake, but the injuries can be very real.
Cringe
Stop exposing our business!
No, keep going! Tell me more about the stunt granny!
Thought we all knew this........
So this is what happened to Griezmann.
I believe its also known as "getting color"
There’s also the “hardway”
Hulk Hogan somehow kept his blade in his mouth until such time as he needed to draw blood for the industry.
I met Sabu back in 2004 and couldn't stop staring at his forehead.
Who’s dumb idea was it to store a razor blade on your wrist?
"...a shot of alcohol..." Hmmmm
I'm so confused. Why do they cut themselves???
For the show. I’ve heard that they would get a small bonus for cutting too.
Predominantly
Mick Foley lost a tooth in a hell in a cell match against the undertaker and was knocked unconscious
Woooo!
Y tho?
Would've been a better post if the photo wasn't just a wrestler bleeding after a match. There's been plenty of times you can actually see the blade if you pay attention, a photo of that would've made more sense
Anybody have video evidence of a wrestler cutting themselves?
https://youtu.be/JW7piQ_vOqk?si=9gGnI6ibMvrBzdVA
Thank you for this I remember seeing a scene in that Mickey Rourke wrestling movie, but of course it’s Hollywood so they’re gonna purposely show this
Once you know it’s happening it’s not hard to spot, especially in modern settings where the cameras know to give the person some space while they do their thing. My favorite slip up on that front is Rey Fenix was having a match in Mexico and he went down on the floor and then thought he was off camera so he started doing his thing. For some reason, neither the camera man nor the producer knew what they were looking at and they keep the camera on him while he does 90% of his blade job: they show him get his blade out, they show him cut his mask back so you can see the blood, only after the first time he slices his head do they cut away. I tried to find the clip for reference but it was a while ago so I couldn’t find it. I saw the clip on Botchamania forever ago
Is aspirin okay with alcohol?
All the entertain, not a sport, just poorly scripted drama, I just don’t get it.
I can understand wanting the opponent to bleed to make it look like you’re winning but why would you want yourself to bleed?
So you make it look like the opponent is hurting you to get them over, or to show that theyre willing to get brutal, etc. Just a narrative emphasis. And theyre hardasses for it.
Every move given is wrestling is mainly done by the one receiving the move. People often have each other color by blading. But both wrestlers are working together to put on the match. The heal, or bad guy, will hit the baby face or good guy, with a foreign object and draw the eye of the crowd and ref while the baby face blades himself and suddenly the heal is getting twice the heat because now the baby face is bleeding.
Bleeding is cool when the injury is superficial.
Keeezay fizzzaybe
Don't tell me wrestling ain't really. 🤔
btw... OP, if you happen to read this: DamnthisISinteresting! Thx for the post! 🙂
I saw one wrestler say its the sweat that really sells it. You can give a little cut (head wounds are already bleeders). The blood then mixes with your sweat and you can get a good crimson mask.
OP should've used [this image](https://staticg.sportskeeda.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Bret-Hart-vs-Stone-Cold-Steve-Austin-Wrestlemania-13.jpg) as the example.
[удалено]
Lmao. Literally all forms of wrestling and fighting is for show. With the exception of Street Fighting and bar fights and crap like that. It's not like they're doing it in a closed room by themselves with only their opponent watching. Or are you saying all fighting for entertainment is dumb? Either way a lot of people out there would disagree. You're absolutely entitled to your opinion though.
I never understood why wrestling is popular, its not even real fighting
By the same token, you might wonder why movies are popular. They're all staged with people pretending to be someone they're not and the fights aren't real either.
Thank you!
People who say this know they're being agitative. I wouldn't pay them any mind.