10 Bloodiest Wrestling Matches Ever Broadcast
2. WWE Judgement Day 2004: Eddie Guerrero vs. John Bradshaw Layfield
This match took place a few weeks before Guerrero would lose the WWE Championship to John Bradshaw Layfield at The Great American Bash in a Texas Bullrope match. At Judgement Day, Eddie had already agreed with McMahon that hed drop the title to JBL - he was convinced the slide in Smackdowns viewership was his fault, and was worried that the stress of carrying the brand and being responsible for ratings was going to adversely affect the sobriety that hed worked so hard to achieve. But it couldnt look as though the much larger man had just squashed him. The scenario was devised whereby Eddie would have already have proven that he was a physical match for his opponent, in order that the following months loss wouldnt make Guerrero appear weak. Like the JBL/Cena match that would take place the following year, the matchs layout worked to demonstrate the fighting heart of the babyface champion in the face of the viciously unprincipled heel challenger, and a blade job was scheduled reasonably early on after a horrendous chair shot from JBL at ringside. The blade went too deep, however: Guerrero sliced an artery, and was immediately drenched in blood, small jets spurting from his forehead. But the show must go on and so, therefore, did the match. The psychology of the brawl is great, and despite the lack of technical skill on display, Guerrero was never better. JBL had (kayfabe) made it ultra-personal in the build-up to the match when he supposedly gave Eddies mother a heart attack, so the champion was on a mission: he was disqualified after a low blow to JBL (behind the referees back) and a shot to the face with the title belt (in front of the referees face). http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xuhz4_eddie-guerrero-at-judgment-day_sport After the bell, the beatdown went on, the champion obtaining some serious satisfaction and emerging as the more physically dominant of the two men. Backstage, it was a different story - Eddie was in shock, and needed immediate medical assistance. Whatever alchemical combination of adrenaline, grit and sheer testicular fortitude helps wrestlers finish matches that they should have been stretchered out of drained right out of him, along with the huge amount of blood hed lost, and the word was that he wasnt back to full strength for two weeks after this match.