10 Times Blood & Guts Made Wrestling AWESOME
5. Samoa Joe Vs. Finn Balor (NXT TakeOver: Dallas)
Every other singles match on the card suffered by comparison when Sami Zayn and Shinsuke Nakamura made magic earlier in the night, though Samoa Joe vs. Finn Balor's visuals helped make it a memorable NXT Championship tilt.
Joe got busted way open early on. His own headbutt on Balor opened a wound just above his right eye which, as mixed martial arts fans can testify, is one of the absolute worst places to suffer a gash. Not only was Joe forced to contend with a headwound's naturally heavier blood loss but the plasma was flowing down into his eye, hindering his vision. Soon, his whole torso was splattered in crimson, making him look more like a primal warrior emerging from a decimated battlefield than a wrestler.
Chants of "let them bleed!" filled the bleeding as medical staff intervened, frantically working to close the wound. It was but a minor hindrance: the slowdown couldn't derail a heated, exciting clash, and Joe looked like an even bigger killer for having to battle through his own war wounds, though he was felled by Balor in the end.