3. Sgt. Slaughter - MSG, May 1984
Long before there was Raw and Smackdown and even before there was Wrestlemania, the WWF made a habit for years for running monthly shows from Madison Square Garden in New York City- the McMahon family's initial territory before Vince Jr. decided he wanted a monopoly on professional wrestling. In 1984, a trilogy of these live shows was headlined by a classic heroic USA vs evil Iran feud between patriotic Sgt. Slaughter and the hated Iron Sheik. Over in the NWA, Ric Flair and Dusty Rhodes were starting a trend- a trend in making blood an attraction of main event bouts. Vince decided to jump on the blood bandwagon with this (super hot) feud, asking Slaughter to blade in all three of their trilogy of matches. The worst cut, way ahead of its time, came in the second bout. During this time, the WWF still used a soft cloth covering on top of the ring, which soon became blackened as the red of Slaughter's pouring blood mixed with the blue of the cloth. When Vince took the WWF PG in the 90s, blood would be banned up until 1997, making this trilogy of matches all that more historic.