10 Things WWE Did When It Was Huge (And Need To Do Now)
8. Let The Blood Flow
WWE won't allow performers to blade on TV in 2017 because it is seen as a violent, sponsor-triggering return to the dirty days of carny wrasslin'.
A non-existent joke of a PR department is fine. Legitimately painful apron bumps are fine. Even wink wink accidental hardway crimson drawn from the sharp elbow of a genuine combat athlete is fine. Somehow, the relatively safe practise of blading, which carried out correctly causes the most minimal of damage, is seen as something beyond the pale - even when stringent medical screening means that, if implemented now, it would be safer than ever in practise. It's bizarre: folks are still getting worked by the blade years after the ruse was revealed.
Blood does so much to enhance the drama of a match. Used sparingly, its very presence designates a match as a big deal and a performer as figure of sympathy. In the case of Steve Austin at WrestleMania 13, it was transmogrified star dust.
It isn't crucial - the WWF generated green without the red in the Golden Age - nor is the proposition realistic. But in a content-heavy age, in which so many performers put themselves through agony to pop crowds who deflate by the next suicide dive, it would differentiate headliners when so many are mired in the midcard.