Does Blood Have a Place in WWE?

[Snowman1]

...Honestly, it goes back to the #1 thing I wonder about when it comes to wrestling: how much does kayfabe/storylines/what actually happens on TV matter?

Usually that stuff doesn't to us wrestling fans, but seeing blood usually takes me out of the match because...
Well, I know these people I enjoy watching are willingly cutting their foreheads open, and that's deep into the list of things I simply don't want to see. Soft spot.
(Oh but it doesn't hurt much more than a normal bump - I don't care.) It actually takes me out of the match and makes it feel more fake.
(Also, leads to stuff like that Lesnar/Taker Hell in a Cell match that was kinda lame but everyone marked out just for blood. Maybe wrestling just isn't for me.)

However, stuff does happen, and the nonsense with them stopping Joe vs Balor was completely unnecessary... as I feel all hypocritical for respecting Joe for taking such a wicked stiff forearm that even busted him open

 

[Roadster]

...Honestly, it goes back to the #1 thing I wonder about when it comes to wrestling: how much does kayfabe/storylines/what actually happens on TV matter?

Usually that stuff doesn't to us wrestling fans, but seeing blood usually takes me out of the match because...
Well, I know these people I enjoy watching are willingly cutting their foreheads open, and that's deep into the list of things I simply don't want to see. Soft spot.
(Oh but it doesn't hurt much more than a normal bump - I don't care.) It actually takes me out of the match and makes it feel more fake.
(Also, leads to stuff like that Lesnar/Taker Hell in a Cell match that was kinda lame but everyone marked out just for blood. Maybe wrestling just isn't for me.)

However, stuff does happen, and the nonsense with them stopping Joe vs Balor was completely unnecessary... as I feel all hypocritical for respecting Joe for taking such a wicked stiff forearm that even busted him open

TV is supposed to matter a lot. There's a reason promotions like WWE, New Japan and AAA are so big. It's because a worldwide audience can see and immerse into their storylines. TV is the nest for the eggs(feuds), so to speak. The PPVs are the major development cycles, the blow off is the hatching and the birds first time in flight is the pay off (heat on a heel, being over for a face, etc etc). TV is the backbone for pro-wrestling. So TV should always be taken very seriously, unless you're WWE and you have enough marks to fill the arenas without enough sitting at home with their TV set on USA Network.

Also, that's being really cynical. Taker and Lesnar are notorious for actually busting themselves open. So they're being healthy and aren't blading. But the point of wrestling is to suspend your belief in the action happening in the ring. The movements, the moves, the expressions, to voices and everything else is essentially telling the story, and blood is mean't to tell a story of brutality and viciousness. For example, you cut your finger and blood comes out, you know you sliced it up pretty good. But if nothing happens and it's just a piece of skin then you're okay with it. Anyways, I'm kind of getting off-topic, but if you can't really immerse into a match's physicality for the fear of being "too fake" is kind of like being a Horror movie fan, but you can't stand the part where the ghost plays mind games because it isn't what real ghosts will do. WWE isn't a legit contest, so blood adding a kind of "false reality" feel to it isn't anything a fan should worry about.

 

[Swift]

Blading is pretty dumb lol.

 

[ParkinsonsAim]

I don't care of its used or not, but I do agree that if its used in a proper way it can create a more emotional moment.

I think HHH busting up Roman was a good example. Showed HHH was still a savage and made it feel like Roman was in way over his head. I remember thinking, "finally, The Game is back"....

...and then he was gone.