9 Times Wrestling Made You Believe
2. Samoa Joe Looks Even More Like A Monster
Blood! Hardwired into the human brain is a reaction to the shedding of claret, rooted deep in the lizard cortex concerned with the basics of survival. A glimpse of the red stuff tickles some obscure ganglion that sparks basic emotions in everyone.
Wrestling fans are jaded to a spot of blood. They no longer live in an era where wrestlers cut open an eyebrow in reaction to a stiff insult, but they still know it’s part of the show, a shortcut to adding drama to a match so overused it barely does anything any more. But blood still has power, as witnessed in Samoa Joe’s NXT Takeover match against Finn Bálor, in June 2016.
Early on in the match, a clash of heads opened a cut beside Joe’s eye, and it bled. A lot. And the match changed. In the minds of the audience, Joe changed. For a moment they saw not a man in a predetermined wrestling exhibition, but a looming monstrosity from the depths of their minds. Joe pushed aside the referees who tried to towel him down. The crowd booed at the interruptions as Joe’s streaming head wound refused to be stemmed. And for a few glorious moments, Samoa Joe was not a man, but an honest to goodness monster.