The Psychology of Blood and Violence in Pro Wrestling
Ever since the inception of AEW in 2019, the topic of violence in pro wrestling has floated to the surface more often than not. How much is too much? How deep is too deep to cut oneself for entertainment? Is deathmatch wrestling in itself an artform?
As Jon Moxley’s most recent nails spot made the news rounds from TMZ to Screenrant, the same types of questions were posed.
Again.
How far do we go to mimic violence? Is there actually a line that has already been crossed, or does that line truly even exist? Afterall, pro wrestling was never a safe sport. Built by grifters and entertainers, the one aspect that hasn’t changed in over 150 years is the necessity to keep the illusion and suspension of disbelief.
Does blood and violence in pro wrestling accomplish this, or does it hurt it? Now before we truly get into the weeds of this topic, take a look at the following meme below: These are two kids; one at a WWE show, one at an AEW show. One kid is reacting to Cena’s heel turn, and the other is flipping off Chris Jericho. Note the differences. I believe this simple idea goes a long way when we talk about the psychology of blood, but we’ll get into all of that later.
But before all of that, what does history tell us about blood in pro wrestling?
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What History Tells Us
MABRAY CASE WITNESS TELLS OF FAKE WRESTLING MATCHES
(Wire story, Washington DC Post, March 11, 1910)
Link to the full article here <— this is an excerpt from said article.
“Ernest Fenby, who was defeated at Boston a few nights ago by Zbyszko, testified that he received letters from Council Bluffs written by Mabray, giving him information on fixed wrestling matches and horse races. He, with James Coon, a neighbor, interested three friends who lost $14,000 on wrestling matches.
He explained how a bladder full of blood was caused to burst in his opponent’s mouth at a critical moment. Then the latter would roll over and assume a diving condition. This was the ruse to break up the match. Then everybody scattered to prevent arrest. Fenby testified to having worked this trick three times.”
The Mabray Gang, referred to in the article above, orchestrated fixed professional wrestling matches by staging prearranged bouts where the winners and losers were determined in advance, ensuring that bets placed by the gang and their associates would yield guaranteed profits. They lured wealthy victims into betting on these rigged matches under the illusion of legitimate competition, ultimately defrauding them of large sums of money.
This is only one example of fixing matches in early pro wrestling history. Even as early as 1909, the use of blood in matches wasn’t unheard of. Though we can’t pinpoint exactly who first bladed themselves for this purpose, we do know about a man named Kirby “Sailor” Watkins.
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Sailor Watkins
Nicknamed “Sailor”, Kirby Watkins honed his grappling skills while serving in the Navy. Active from the 1930s-50s, Sailor was known for his feral presence in the ring. He would often scale the turnbuckles, pound his chest, and let out primal howls as part of his crazed demeanor.
Watkins believed that for a match to feel real, blood had to be spilled. Without it, he thought the audience would never fully buy into the spectacle. His solution? Ensuring it happened—one way or another. Watkins used his teeth, fingernails, or even the sharp edges of his bootlaces to draw color. This, of course, was always consensual, and Watkins himself often bled like a stuck pig.
This approach, however, worked. Watkins quickly became infamous for his blood-soaked battles, and fans bought into his often crimson-laced matches. And he wasn’t the only one. Legendary grappler Danny McShain was also known for his stiffness in the ring, and shared Sailor’s sentiment.
Blood = believability.
McShain would often open up his opponents the hard way, which is something we haven’t seen since Brock Lesnar allegedly did so to Randy Orton at 2016’s Summerslam. In fact, McShain and Watkins would face off in what was likely a bloody affair sometime in the 1940s.
Mark Lewin, The Shiek, and Many More…
Many wrestlers, even skilled ones like Mark Lewin, relied on blood and brutality to prolong their careers. Lewin, formerly a babyface in the Detroit territory to The Sheik, understood that well-timed bloodshed could ignite a territory’s popularity. In 1950s San Francisco, he struck Mike Sharpe with a knee to the face, drawing blood and setting the crowd on fire.
“There was no blood in San Francisco at the time, so that was the first thing people saw, and business just shot up.” – Mark Lewin
Blood brothers would beget blood brothers. The Sheik, who was entirely more brutal than those who preceded him, used any foreign object he could find and left massive pools of blood in his wake. In fact, in 1968, at Madison Square Garden, he would face off against Bruno Sammartino in a Texas Death Match. The finish? Sammartino grabbed a pen and stabbed Sheik’s arm until it was a bloody mess until he submitted.
Abdullah the Butcher, The Fabulous Fargos, The Von Erichs, Harley Race, Carlos Colón, Terry Funk, Bruiser Brody, and of course, Dusty Rhodes and Ric Flair — all wrestling legends that were known as bleeders in their time.
Blood and violence in professional wrestling has been around for well over 100 years. Ever since many folks knew wrestling was all for show (around the late 1800s), blood used for entertainment, was not far behind.
So what happened, and why are so many averse to blood in current times?
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ECW and the AE
It wasn’t that long ago that wrestling fans consumed blood and violence on a near weekly basis. Some of the most violent matches in WWE history have come in the 90s Attitude Era. This was largely inspired by the unique adult-oriented ECW, which pushed the envelope as much as humanly possible. I fondly remember No Way Out 2001, a show that I attended live, and Triple H/Steve Austin’s brutal 3 Stages of Hell Match. This was a match I doubt takes place without ECW’s violent influence.
And there was a reason for this change in fan interest. Society shifted in the 90s towards favoring anti-heroes, hedonism, and content geared more towards a counter-culture, even if filtered through mainstream sources. Naturally, professional wrestling followed. WWF and WCW became more violent, more bloody, and unfortunately, overly misogynistic.
The family-friendly content of the 1980s, pro wrestling and beyond, simply went out of style. It was boring, sanitized, and usually predictable. And while the 90s in pro wrestling witnessed a lot of blood and violence, it didn’t entirely stop in the Attitude Era.
From Edge vs. Foley to JBL vs. Guerrero, plenty of examples exist of complete bloodbaths even after the AE ended. However, once WWE went PG in 2008, these became less and less frequent.
Was this the right move? Were the many violent wrestlers throughout history justified in their approach? Well, let’s examine the psychology of a fight, first.
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The Psychology of a Fight
When we break it down, a pro wrestling match is a physical contest. It’s a test of wills, strengths, and spirit. In essence — a fight.
Pro wrestling is a scripted fight; and has been since the late 1800s.
With that, let’s take a look at UFC. If you watch UFC you’ll notice two things:
- The sense of urgency to gain the physical edge and defeat your opponent is high.
- There is blood. Usually in most matches.
And from boxing, to kickboxing, and of course MMA, blood is fairly common and accepted. These are real fights, afterall, and human beings are fragile meatbags. So it makes sense that highly trained athletes in the best shape of their lives would make their opponents bleed, and vice versa. The goal is to defeat your opponent through physicality in one form or another, right?
So if pro wrestling is a scripted fight, why is blood such an issue if done on a routine basis? Whether family-friendly, sports-oriented, or comedic — pro wrestling portrays a fight. You want to see a structured wrestling match with no blood? Watch amateur wrestling.
But logically, since there are little to no rules, and this is scripted entertainment, shouldn’t pro wrestling emulate a real fight as much as possible in the continued effort to suspend disbelief?
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Saving Bladejobs for “Important” Moments
But I get it. Why overdo it? Afterall, blood-letting in wrestling was initially used for shock. When I watched CZW in the early 2000s, I was entertained at first — but after every match was a violent spree of barbed wire, fluorescent lights and pizza cutters, it started to get boring. It lost its shock value, and the blood no longer felt important.
It’s like listening to grindcore, and I like grindcore, but I can only handle so much Wormrot before it all sounds the same. Deathmatch wrestling is a niche, much like grindcore. Wrestling itself is a lot like metal. There are many different forms of the genre (like wrestling), and I personally prefer to listen to many different genres within both. Eventually, I’ll want to pop on Knocked Loose or Hatebreed, Spiritbox or Jinjer, HANABIE or Nemophila, Slaughter to Prevail or Paleface Swiss, Cult of Luna or Amenra.
And all of these bands have different and unique sounds from different countries, all within one larger genre. Much in the same way I may feel GCW and New Japan one week, and Stardom and TJPW the next. Anyway, like Taz, I digress…
The point is that regardless of “wrestling genre”, using blood and violence too much loses its effect.
But what if you’re not using it enough? In my opinion, a company like WWE uses blood in their matches too little. It takes away the realism of the fight if an intense rivalry results in a milktoast battle.
But I get it. WWE is a family-friendly, publicly traded company. Besides, not everyone likes to watch horror movies and high intensity action sequences. You shouldn’t have to stomach blood if you don’t want to. My partner doesn’t even like bloody matches, and like me, she’s an AEW fan.
And while they’ve increased the use of blood and violence a little, I feel it’s still used very sparingly. It’s usually the same weapons, the same spots, and little creativity. This is supposed to be a fight, correct? The (alleged) best company in the world with the (alleged) best athletes and it seems like they’re doing little to no damage to one another. No sense of urgency, no stiffness (sans a few talents), and rarely any crimson.
But what if we flip the coin?
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Let the Bloodletting Commence!
On the other hand, many believe a promotion like AEW uses blood too much. When you see blood every single week, it loses its effect. At some point you almost expect every match to have blood, and notice when it doesn’t.
It begs the question of being an alternative and where the line actually is for “how much is too much?”. Some of the most entertaining matches I can remember, from TayJay’s battle with The Bunny and Penelope Ford to Britt Baker and Thunder Rosa’s St. Patrick’s Day Slam championship match, to Swerve Strickland vs. “Hangman” Adam Page — all were bloody and violent battles.
However, there was a stretch when even in the most normal of AEW TV matches, we would see a crimson mask. Throughout stretches of 2022-2023 we nearly saw someone bleed nearly every damn week on AEW television.
While blood doesn’t bother me personally, even I can admit that it was too much at the time.
Between lackluster stories, and negative press, 2023-24 specifically, weren’t the best years for the company creatively. As Lou Thesz once put it:
“By the late 1940s, we’d begun to see a handful of boys who regularly used blood in their matches, and they used it for one simple reason: they couldn’t do anything else, It was the cheapest way of attracting attention, but it worked, and it was a way for them to stay employed.”
However, as Jon Moxley put it in a 2023 interview:
“The point of the dissertation is that this is a combat sport. But we’re not allowed to have blood in a match unless it’s a personal grudge? We’re only allowed to have blood after a five-month grudge after someone slept with somebody’s wife or somebody ran over someone with a car? And then—and only then—are we allowed to have this dramatic crimson mask that looks the exact same every single time? For me, realism-wise, since this is a combat sport, that means there is the potential for blood in every match.”
In some ways, both Thesz and Moxley are both right. However, at the end of the day, we are still watching a simulated fight. That being said…
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It’s a Fight. People Bleed. Violence is Natural.
When we refer to the meme above at the very top of the article, we actually get our answer. How much blood and violence is too much? It comes down to the viewer and their expectations of the product they have invested in.
WWE truly is the box office fantasy, while AEW is the grittier A24 ‘reality’.
Personally, I can’t help but agree with Moxley. Be it TV, movies, real-life combats sports, or even pro wrestling — when there is a physical conflict in any form, there is the potential for blood. Does it mean we need to see blood in every match?
No. In fact, that would get really old really fast.
However, does it mean we can see it on occasion on weekly shows and especially for PPVs? I see nothing wrong with that, given AEW’s grittier style of wrestling and format. Personally, if a wrestling promotion isn’t utilizing blood for the effects of a simulated fight enough, then I lose my suspension of disbelief pretty quickly.
What AEW has been doing this year so far, saving blood for larger PPV matches, or hardcore matches (so you know exactly what you’re getting), has been the perfect balance. They have notably toned it down a little for weekly TV in 2025.
It all boils down to what you want out of your fantasy. But to believe there must be a limited or specific amount of blood and violence saved only for special occasions is a ridiculous notion. Again, this is supposed to be a fight.
There is simply no specific amount of how much blood should or shouldn’t be allowed in any given match. In the same light, no determined amount of violence should be or not be allowed in any given match based on pre-conceived notions of what pro wresting “should” or “shouldn’t” be.
Some folks like violence. Let them like violence. Some want a toned down and filtered type of fighting. Let them have it. The mistake we can’t make on either side is to try and judge what is “too much” or “too little” based on this elitist IWC-brained notion of what makes good wrestling. However, blood in pro wrestling has been around in one form or another for over 100 years. It’s not going away anytime soon.
In other words, as the great Brian Zane put it, like what you like and don’t be a dick.
-TKW
mocwrestling@yahoo.com