There was a point in the mid-2000s when it seemed that pretty much every pay-per-view main event featured liberal use of blading. Bloodied faces and chair shots were once a fixture of big matches, but the TV-PG rating of WWE programming has put an end to this. All of the edgy content that made professional wrestling so popular at the end of the 1990s has gone with it. The loss of blading isn't a huge problem in WWE. It's perfectly possible to construct a dramatic, and even brutal, wrestling match without using blood. However, there are times when what Jim Ross would call "a bit of colour" feels like it would add a lot to the story. The same goes for weapon usage and dramatic high spots. It's unlikely that we will ever see anything like Shane McMahon launching himself off the TitanTron at Unforgiven 2003 or the sheer mayhem of the TLC tag team bout at WrestleMania X-7. For example, Randy Orton was visibly bloodied - without the need for a cut - when he recently suffered a brutal beatdown at the hands of the Authority. The violence of the scene wasn't excessive, but the small amount of blood really added to the drama of the situation. This was a non-PG moment that really brought home how powerful professional wrestling can be. It's obvious that WWE isn't going to go back to its days of using blading, extreme violence and adult content, but it wouldn't hurt to push the boundaries occasionally.
Freelance film journalist and fan of professional wrestling. Usually found in a darkened screening room looking for an aisle seat and telling people to put away their mobile phones. Also known to do a bit of stand-up comedy, so I'm used to the occasional heckle.
