20 Pro Wrestling Firsts You Need To Know

5. Blading On Television

Wrestling Bladejob
WWE.com

From the flamboyant to the grizzly. Blood has always played a part in professional wrestling, but it hasn't always been a case of an individual cutting themselves (or 'blading') in order to draw blood. Originally, a carefully placed shot over an eyebrow bone would do the trick. That practice fell out of favour however, in favour of the more consistent, less painful, and more dramatic blading.

Many individuals became synonymous with blading, with men such as Abdullah the Butcher, Ric Flair, and Dusty Rhodes wearing the crimson mask more often than not. It didn't happen on TV all too much however, as the idea of grapplers covered in blood wasn't too enticing to networks and broadcasters.

It is at WrestleMania II therefore that we find the first example of blading on television, as King Kong Bundy got busted open in the main event cage match against Hulk Hogan.

Contributor
Contributor

Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.