10 Most Extreme Rules In WWE History
7. The First Blood Match
At first glance, the First Blood match seems like a no-brainer. Back before PG rules forebade the use of blood as a storytelling tool, red meant green: blood added drama, and if the objective of the match was to make your opponent bleed, then you’re essentially telling your audience to be on the edge of their seat, looking out for the first sign of blood. That’s money! Or is it?
No, it really isn’t. If blood is supposed to sell the drama of a hard-fought grudge match, then why would a match where the first sign of blood causes the bell to ring be dramatic in any way?
Blood is supposed to up the ante, to take the match to a new level. That’s why wrestlers blade at a specific point in the match’s layout, to take the story up a notch and increase the crowd’s investment in the action. Unless it’s the post-match beatdown that’s supposed to be the focus of the match, no one’s should be gigging at the finish. It makes no narrative sense.
Having the first instance of bleeding be the end of the match is also a bugger to plan for. What if someone gets busted open hardway, something very possible in the kind of brutally stiff match that First Blood tends to be a part of? What if the match relies on hardway juicing but the eyebrow won’t pop?
Whichever way you look at it, a First Blood match is idiotic and a waste of time.