10 Times Blood & Guts Made Wrestling AWESOME

3. The Muta Scale Is Born (NJPW Final Battle - 14 December 1992)

Shawn Michaels blade job
NJPW

The Muta Scale is the barometer used to judge the volume of spilled in a wrestling match, stemming from the legendary gusher suffered by The Great Muta when he faced Hiroshi Hase on New Japan's Final Battle tour back in December 1992, replacing his red-and-blue face paint with a glistening mask of his own bodily fluids.

Hase had already used the sole of his boot to brutally rub Muta's paint away, symbolically trashing the gimmick to leave the man behind it exposed. Muta was cut soon after. Hase gashed him a crowbar shot designed to mask a proper blade job, creating one of the most infamous examples of deliberate colour in wrestling history, the blood pooling on the mat.

Muta vs. Hase stands as a very good to great wrestling match given genuine historical significance by its bloodletting. "The Muta Scale" became a common phrase amongst certain breeds of wrestling fans soon after and even today, people compare big-time colour spots with what happened to Keiji Mutoh back in 1992, with Cody vs. Dustin the most recent example at a mainstream level.

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Channel Manager

Andy has been with WhatCulture for eight years and is currently WhatCulture's Wrestling Channel Manager. A writer, presenter, and editor with 10+ years of experience in online media, he has been a sponge for all wrestling knowledge since playing an old Royal Rumble 1992 VHS to ruin in his childhood. Having previously worked for Bleacher Report, Andy specialises in short and long-form writing, video presenting, voiceover acting, and editing, all characterised by expert wrestling knowledge and commentary. Andy is as much a fan of 1985 Jim Crockett Promotions as he is present-day AEW and WWE - just don't make him choose between the two.