7 Superstars who were busted open the hard way

As wrestling fans of this generation, we are made no strangers to the fact that the Attitude Era was the greatest period in WWE history. There was extreme violence, adult storylines, wild gimmicks and everything that would immediately attract the viewer. However, following that and then the Ruthless Aggression era, it is quite clear that PG-13 has prohibited the WWE from pulling such angles.And along that line, one other thing that we saw a lot of back then was blood. How many times have we seen a bloodied up Austin or Mick Foley? Following the rise of the ECW, hardcore wrestling found its way into WWE as well. The performers in ring were more concerned on telling a story over pure in-ring wrestling and this led to some of the best matches. However, in most cases, the involvement of blood was fully intentional as wrestlers did blade jobs during the match.But then, there were times when blood wasn’t by design. The high-energy wrestling resulted in blood as wrestlers were busted open due to the impact of blows. Let’s take a look at ten times when wrestlers were busted open the hard way:

#7 Daniel Bryan

This incident wasn’t very long ago and not on the big stage. In the first SmackDown post-WrestleMania XXXI, Sheamus took on Daniel Bryan in his new heel outlook. Moreover, Bryan had recently won the Intercontinental title at WrestleMania and was riding off that momentum. As you’d expect in a Bryan match with a new heel on the scene, Sheamus was dominating the early exchanges and concentrating on Bryan’s damaged neck.

Bryan was set up for his comeback that would rev up the crowd, but Sheamus prevented it just yet. And with a few hard blows and then a fall from the ring, Bryan was suddenly up with blood on his face.

And eventually, Sheamus would win the match with help from Barrett. Unlike many occasions, this furthered the storyline and gave a lot of credibility to Sheamus in his new role. And the WWE even acknowledged, rather than choosing to ignore it, by posting a segment of Bryan getting stitched from that. Now, that was being busted open for good reason.

#6 Brock Lesnar

And once more, we have an entry as recently as WrestleMania XXXI. Brock Lesnar is legitimately one of the toughest guys in the WWE and we have seen the amount of pain Lesnar can handle. Remember the Shooting Star press botch and how he went on to finish despite a broken neck? That’s the Lesnar we know and honestly, a bit of blood shouldn’t be much for him.

But, considering the WWE’s stringent PG-13 policies on blood, it was quite a shock to see him bleed at the grandest stage of them all. The main event of WrestleMania is the WWE’s biggest match of the year and to see him cross the line was quite surprising.

However, a closer GIF shows that it was out of impact of hitting the ring that Lesnar started bleeding. And duly so, WWE issued a statement following the event stating it was an accident and not by intention as many had suggested.

#5 Batista

If you’d notice through many matches, the ones with metal equipment involved are most prone to blood. Ladder matches, hell in a cell and of course, steel cages could easily tear the skin and allow for blood if landed upon wrongly. This was back in 2008, in the RAW Main event where Batista put his World Heavyweight title on the line in a steel cage match.

Over the course of the match, Batista started bleeding and by the end, quite profusely. While viewers were quite taken aback, because of the fact that no one expected blood in the PG-era, Batista had pre-planned for it. In a later interview with Chris Jericho, he would mention how he believed it was essential to have blood to tell a story in the ring in such matches.

Batista also confessed that while he had taken to minor blading, most of it was out of being busted open. Vince was quite livid regarding this post-match and even fined Batista for 100,000 dollars.

#4 John Cena

Back in 2009, when WWE first introduced the Bragging Rights PPV, John Cena went head-to-head against Randy Orton, as they always do. Except that, this time it was a 60-minute Iron Man match. Although it was quite a long time since the WWE had seen an iron-man match, they were expecting a good showdown since Orton and Cena usually deliver in the ring.

But then, Cena, who is the poster boy of WWE’s PG Era and present promotions was bleeding just fifteen minutes into the match. Orton had brought the mic to pull off a promo in the middle of the match and went for Cena’s head with it. And that led to Cena getting busted near his forehead from which bleeding started.

WWE were quite immediate in their follow-up and tried to close the wound with some medics but it didn’t help. Eventually, Cena got back up and finished the match with a win to retain his position in RAW and assuring fans of his status at the top.

Once again, in 2012, John Cena was busted open in the main of Extreme Rules PPV. Going on against Brock Lesnar, Cena was busted open early into the match and the match was paused for the medics to take care of him. Lesnar, too was busted open and this ended up one of the bloodiest matches in recent memory.

#3 Randy Orton

Ever since his debut, Randy Orton edged on sanity with his gimmick of Legend Killer and subsequently, The Viper. And in his early days, he was involved in some hardcore and bloody matches with the likes of Mick Foley and such. However, since the start of the PG Era, there had been nothing significant of him showing blood until June of last year.

In the main-event ladder match for the WWE title, Randy Orton was heavily involved. After receiving ladder shots to the head, he started bleeding profusely all over his face. However, seeing as the match was in full swing, they couldn’t afford to sidestep Randy which led to him finishing the match with a bloodied-up face. Later, it was revealed that 12 stitches were required to fix the spot.

#2 Lita

To be fair, we always knew Lita as one of the best female wrestlers to have been in the WWE. However, back in 2000, she was busted open in a match on Survivor Series against Ivory. While it is hard to find instances of a male wrestler, it was absolutely stunning to see a female wrestler carry on despite having a crimson mask.

Although the exact event that resulted in the injury is not clear, it is quite visible that she had a lot of blood pouring out. And not to mention, the match wasn’t stopped or anything and she went ahead with the planned finish. This truly deserves applause as Lita showed once again why she is possibly the greatest female wrestler to have been in the WWE.

#1 Joey Mercury

The man we now commonly know as part of J&J Security was a wrestler, as many would have seen. And Joey mercury, during his stint as a tag-team with Johnny Nitro(later John

Morrison) was busted open pretty bad in a PPV Ladder match. Once again, the ladders were the culprit here as the impact of hitting one right on the nose and orbital bone led to a nasty injury.

It was a four-man tag team match and the person who removed the hanging belts was the new Champion. As the match progressed, the ring was infiltrated with ladders. Four men were standing at one and Jeff Hardy went over the top rope. In a move that was a copy of how a see-saw works, Jeff Hardy jumped on one end of it and the other end sprang up immediately to strike Mercury hard on the face.

Mercury was bleeding within seconds and Matt Hardy later revealed that Mercury was shouting for help just as soon. It was a despicable sight as Mercury was taken to the back and received numerous stitches that kept him out of action for a sizeable period of time.