What’s the story?
We reported on The Dirty Sheets Podcast via our “DS Breaking News” show this morning that the blood in the Shane McMahon angle, where he was launched through a car window, was actually fake blood. Listen to the Podcast via Soundcloud link, below.
In case you didn’t know...
The most common way to draw blood in a pro-wrestling match is through blading. Blading is when a wrestler intentionally cuts himself to draw blood. It is also known as juicing or getting colour. The blade is the object used for blading, and a “blade-job” is a specific act of blading.
On rare occasions, a blade job will be carried out by your opponent. Steve Austin has spoken before about not being a fan of blading himself and preferred his opponent to do it for him, an example being, WrestleMania 13 against Bret Hart.
A hardway cut is when a wrestler bleeds by any means other than blading, typically from a legitimate strike or potato. This can be either by accident or on purpose.
The heart of the matter
On SmackDown Live this week, AJ Styles attacked Commissioner Shane McMahon. Styles attacked Shane as he claimed that he had deprived him of the opportunities that he deserved.
Before attacking Shane, AJ told Renee Young in an interview that he would get his thrills where he could, as he wasn’t booked for WrestleMania. AJ Styles ambushed Shane in the parking lot of the arena, concluding with AJ throwing Shane through a car window.
When the WWE made its programming PG, back in 2008, they initiated a "no blood" policy, which prohibits intentional blading by their performers. It's a policy that the company enforced strictly in the past, especially in its first year, when Batista was fined $100,000 for blading during a cage match with Chris Jericho on Raw on Nov 3rd, 2008.
However, the WWE has allowed blood, be it via blade-jobs or hardways on PPV, to enhance select main event matches. Brock Lesnar bladed for his match with Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 31 and Brock was also involved again at SummerSlam 2016, when he opened Randy Orton up with a hardway cut.
WWE do not allow real blood to be shown on TV, and will always change the picture to Black and White when real blood is on display. This is why it was confusing to me and many others, including the USA Network, when the WWE showed Shane McMahon bleeding last Tuesday.
It turns out, the WWE’s policy on blood is very specific. Blood drawn from blading or a hardway cut that is real, can NOT be shown on TV or PPV and must be attended to be a physician immediately. There will be some instances on PPV where WWE will allow the blood to be shown for a few minutes, in order to enhance a match or angle.
However, the policy is prety strict. On the other hand, the policy does not prohibit fake blood, which comes via a blood capsule. Blood capsules are NOT a part of the WWE’s “no blood” policy, therefore, the WWE are seemingly willing to use them to enhance big angles.
So to summarise, the WWE blood policy is not a ban on showing blood, but a ban on showing real blood. It certainly is a strange rule.
What’s next?
Shane McMahon and AJ Styles will clash on Sunday 2nd April at WrestleMania. Based on the graphic angle they did on Tuesday, it’s very likely they will be involved in a gimmick match, as Shane is not capable of working a good singles match without gimmicks attached.
It would also be an insult to AJ if Shane stood toe-to-toe with the best wrestler in the world, in a straight up wrestling match.
Author’s take
Be it a street fight or no hold barred match, AJ and Shane will go to war at WrestleMania. Given that WWE wanted to use blood to build the match, they are likely to use blood to enhance the match, as this year, Shane can not simply dive off the Hell in the Cell to get his ‘WrestleMania moment.”
I think we could see Shane bleed again and given that WrestleMania is a huge PPV, I believe a blade-job is highly possible. It wouldn’t be the first time that a part-timer is given preferential treatment. Many guys on the WWE roster, such as Dean Ambrose, have asked to do a Hell in the Cell bump before and have been refused by the WWE.
A full-time talent would have got a much-needed career boost from being allowed to dive off the Hell in the Cell last year, but the stunt was given to Shane McMahon and the WWE got nothing out of it in the long run. It did not create a star, just one big moment on that single given night.
I expect Shane to get preferential treatment again at WrestleMania 33.
Stay tuned to our Podcast, “The Dirty Sheets.” We will have much more breaking news on the road to WrestleMania. Be sure to check out our Podcast next with, Conrad Thompson, the host of the world’s No.1 wrestling Podcast “Something to wrestle with... Bruce Prichard.”
There will also be a write-up from the interview, right here on Sportskeeda.com
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