10 Real Reasons Why Wrestling Fans Never Get What They Want
5. Blood In WWE
Optics, pure and simple.
Blading is a low risk practise. It can go awry, as it did when Eddie Guerrero gigged himself too deep at WWE Judgment Day 2004, but not often. The practise is used to visually convey plight and pile the sympathy on the babyface - or to make a match feel more violent, which is never not cool, sorry.
Advertisers and sponsors get worked over blading because it makes wrestling look far more gruesome than it actually is. Which is the point! It looks harrowing, but isn't! Wrestling is predetermined!
On every last WWE production, you will see something more inherently dangerous than blading. The Money In The Bank ladder match alone should make the safety police hand in their badge, and there's a sense that more than one wrestler in the system is unable to safely navigate the imposed back-and-forth ring style. Tawdry blood is associated with the wrestling of "old", and WWE has long sought to differentiate itself from what it actually is. The blood ban is the ultimate distraction piece.
WWE markets itself as safe-as-houses cinema to rid itself of gore and danger, even if the danger is mere illusion. Brock Lesnar is allowed to do it, yes, but it's rather a lot easier to say no to Austin Theory.