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What's the story?
The Undisputed Era faced off against SaNITy during NXT's house show in Austin on Thursday night to kick off their Texas mini-tour on the way to Houston and NXT TakeOver: WarGames.
During their match, Adam Cole suffered a pretty bad looking injury and things got a little scary for a second.
In case you didn't know...
WWE used to be a place where blood was a frequent part of matches and storylines. Watching someone bleed was pretty much a weekly occurrence on Raw during the Attitude Era, but those days are long gone.
Nowadays if someone bleeds in a match, medical personnel usually intervene and the match is halted while the injured performers get looked at.
The heart of the matter
Sometimes, things go wrong in professional wrestling. When SaNITy and The Undisputed Era squared off against each other, everyone in Austin, Texas expected a hard fought contest but nobody expected a bloody one.
After all, sporting a crimson mask is forbidden in today's WWE (including NXT). But you can't stop the blood from flowing when there's a legitimate blow to the head.
It didn't look like it phased Cole too much to be sporting a bloody injury like this. After all, he's been busted open before. But a cut like this could be bad news especially considering the brutality that might await him inside the WarGames in Houston.
Thankfully, Adam Cole was okay and The Undisputed Era won to send the crowd home happy. Cole, O'Reilly, and Fish are super popular with the NXT Universe and look like they're earmarked for some great things moving forward.
What's next?
Adam Cole, Bobby Fish, and Kyle O'Reilly are going to have a wonderful time on top of NXT while they're in WWE's developmental territory. But who knows if this time next year, we'll be talking about The Undisputed Era's possible main roster call-up being an imminent reality?
Author's take
Blood used to be something that made a match even more dramatic and now it's something that sparks actual worry. It's strange how fan perspective evolves along with the pro wrestling business.
Sure, there are still places where wrestlers bleed all over the ring and that's all well and good. But WWE's current climate has taught fans to become rather concerned when they see color during a match. I'm just glad Adam Cole was okay, bay-bay.
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