10 Times Wrestlers Bled The Hard Way In The PG-Era

Plus 3 incidents that were probably blade-jobs.

There's no two words in the english language more likely to induce a hardcore wrestling fans righteous fury than 'PG Era', except maybe the words 'returning' and 'Batista'. The company changed the classification of its programming during the summer of 2008 from TV-14 to PG. For many fans it was a case of 'we didn't know what we had until it was gone.' After the rating change, though it didn't happen immediately, many of the companies edgier tendencies were gradually scaled back or dropped outright. 'Suggestive Dialogue' was trimmed down, the sexual angles were sanitised (no more choppy choppy of Val Venis' pee pee) and there were much fewer examples of male wrestlers laying hands on female wrestlers. But what the fans miss most from that different time, that fond-remembered TV-14 age, those Wonder Years, is, simply, the blood. Under PG rules there was to be no more intentional bloodshed, which for decades had been a huge part of the industry of Professional Wrestling. No more would wrestlers be allowed to 'get colour' by cutting themselves on the forehead with concealed blades, an act known amongst fans as 'blading'. The last WWE-sanctioned act of blading took place during a match at The Bash PPV in 2008 between Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels, and from then on claret was banned. But, of course, wrestling being wrestling, accidents will happen when big boys fight and a number of times in the PG Era wrestlers have been busted open for real, known as doing it 'hardway.' Here are a list of those times when WWE superstars couldn't keep it in their veins, including 3 extra entries that were almost definitely blade-jobs. Naughty boys.
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Adam is a sports writer, comedian and actor, currently living in London.