Do you miss...

[Dirty Eddie]

But at the end of the day I suppose if the absence of blood is a good thing healthwise for the wrestlers that is the key point. If they are losing too much blood every few months it can be very serious and dangerous and making them do that just so a beatdown or match looks more violent or dangerous is a stupid thing really as it really is putting their health on the line.

 

I think the health issues around blading is more to do with the infections you can get and the fact that the wrestlers are in very close contact with each other while bleeding.

 

I'm pretty sure it has nothing to do with losing 'dangerous' amounts of blood.

 

Other than the very, very occasional McMahon butcher job, or Eddie carving his forehead off, the amount of blood lost is actually very small - certainly not enough to be dangerous.

 

On topic....

 

I do miss it, for the same reasons most have given. Essentially, wrestling is about people who hate each other getting to beat the shit out of each other. There are a bunch of classic instances that simply wouldn't have been as memorable or intense without the blood involved.

 

Stuff like...

 

The Bret/Austin sharpshooting/double-turn. Austin's passing out through the blood-loss and pain was classic.

 

The original Hell In A Cell with Michaels looking like he was about to die at the Taker's hands.

 

Flair's crazed, blood-soaked epic performance in the Savage/Flair Mania 8 Title Match.

 

The Team Austin V Team Jericho (i think) Survivor Series match where Michaels bled like mad in one of the most dramatic matches of the last decade.

 

Like most on here, i completely understand why they have done it. When aiming for the kiddie market, blood all over the place would be very odd. But, speaking as an older fan, I think it has ruined most of the better gimmick matches (street fight, HIAC, Elimination Chamber etc...), especially now that there are more of those matches than ever!

[CleetusVanDamme]

The Team Austin V Team Jericho (i think) Survivor Series match where Michaels bled like mad in one of the most dramatic matches of the last decade.

 

Close, it was Team Austin vs Team Bischoff. Good call though, I think I started a thread on it. HBK's performance in that match is a thing of beauty.

[Dirty Eddie]

The Team Austin V Team Jericho (i think) Survivor Series match where Michaels bled like mad in one of the most dramatic matches of the last decade.

 

Close, it was Team Austin vs Team Bischoff. Good call though, I think I started a thread on it. HBK's performance in that match is a thing of beauty.

 

 

Ah yes, there we are, thanks.

 

Yeah, a really gripping and dramatic match, made more so by the bloody state Michaels was in. Blood is a weird thing in wrestling; if a no-name, tubby fool from IWA-MS or CZW bleeds it doesn't affect me in the slightest, but if it's someone I actually care about (and who doesn't bleed like a crazy-man every week) then it can really turn the heat up in a match.

 

I'm aware that (blood or no blood) it's still not 'real' yet the sight of Michaels or Taker (for example) bleeding all over the shop definitely does make it more dramatic and intense. That is what i miss about the current WWE product; it almost never feels intense or dramatic, instead it all feels very lightweight and unimportant. You have that feeling that whatever nasty deeds go down, everything will be fine next week. This isn't helped by the writers deciding that every time Cena gets screwed out of the belt or takes a nasty 6 on 1 beating, the next time we see him he is still full of jokes and smiles. Getting pissed off and staying pissed off is needed a lot more these days!

[King Pitcos]

That is what i miss about the current WWE product; it almost never feels intense or dramatic, instead it all feels very lightweight and unimportant. You have that feeling that whatever nasty deeds go down, everything will be fine next week.

That was the case long before everyone stopped bleeding. If Cena got busted open in an attack next week, it'd seem huge. If he'd got busted open in an attack in 2007, it wouldn't have. But either way, it probablywouldn't make any odds to the "everything will be fine next week" aspect. As you say, that comes from writing a character to always be dominant. For me, much of Stone Cold Steve Austin's big run was unexciting because no matter what happened to him, he was never on the backfoot for more than about two minutes.

[Tommy!]

I do and I don't.

 

By not throwing it out willy nilly its building it up. When some one does it's going to be fucking huge because its special again, as Loki said its sort of hitting the rest button.

It became so widely used it lost its impact, and so to build it back up is sensible and will re establish it to have the impact it should have. In most matches I don't notice, I get into the characters and what is happening to think about whats not.

 

However there are matches where it holds it back a bit. When they do a HIAC or a cage a certain way for example and they don't have the blood it feels like its holding back the drama, theres a reason and a story there and it would add to the intensity. These don't pop up much mind, but when they do its a bit of a shame.

 

So I'm in the middle, I only miss it when it makes sense for it to be there, when it would add to the drama and fit the story and its not being there feels like a hold back.

 

I don't like them stopping a match to wipe up blood when some one does have a cut. It kind of hinders the flow and sometimes looks odd how they do it.

 

if a no-name, tubby fool from IWA-MS or CZW bleeds it doesn't affect me in the slightest, but if it's someone I actually care about (and who doesn't bleed like a crazy-man every week) then it can really turn the heat up in a match.

 

I agree with this, assuming I understand the point fully. If I don't care about the character to start with then blood means nothing, it can be a tool but I have to have made an investment into the people and the situation for it to hit me and mean something.

[GlennCullen]

Its also funny from a 'real' pov how a few years ago guys like HHH, Austin etc would bleed in nearly every major match but now....nothing, not a drop from anyone, if that makes sense??

That's no sillier really than the way wrestlers only take three minutes to lose on TV but fifteen on pay-per-view.

 

Or how in the Survivor Series every finisher means INSTANT DOOM, even when its come out of nowhere.

[ThePhenom]

Its also funny from a 'real' pov how a few years ago guys like HHH, Austin etc would bleed in nearly every major match but now....nothing, not a drop from anyone, if that makes sense??

That's no sillier really than the way wrestlers only take three minutes to lose on TV but fifteen on pay-per-view.

 

Or how in the Survivor Series every finisher means INSTANT DOOM, even when its come out of nowhere.

You can't take things too seriously like that, it's just a TV show.

[PunkStep]

Its also funny from a 'real' pov how a few years ago guys like HHH, Austin etc would bleed in nearly every major match but now....nothing, not a drop from anyone, if that makes sense??

That's no sillier really than the way wrestlers only take three minutes to lose on TV but fifteen on pay-per-view.

 

Or how in the Survivor Series every finisher means INSTANT DOOM, even when its come out of nowhere.

You can't take things too seriously like that, it's just a TV show.

If you didn't take wrestling seriously Dills, then you wouldn't be on here

[Tommy!]

Its also funny from a 'real' pov how a few years ago guys like HHH, Austin etc would bleed in nearly every major match but now....nothing, not a drop from anyone, if that makes sense??

That's no sillier really than the way wrestlers only take three minutes to lose on TV but fifteen on pay-per-view.

 

Or how in the Survivor Series every finisher means INSTANT DOOM, even when its come out of nowhere.

You can't take things too seriously like that, it's just a TV show.

 

For me wrestling doesn't have to make sense, it only has to make enough sense for me to over look what doesn't. I hope that makes, erm, sense.

If I picked apart all the things in wrestling that don't really make sense in the "real world" there would be nothing left but that doesn't mean I want no logic or meaning to anything.

[ThePhenom]

Its also funny from a 'real' pov how a few years ago guys like HHH, Austin etc would bleed in nearly every major match but now....nothing, not a drop from anyone, if that makes sense??

That's no sillier really than the way wrestlers only take three minutes to lose on TV but fifteen on pay-per-view.

 

Or how in the Survivor Series every finisher means INSTANT DOOM, even when its come out of nowhere.

You can't take things too seriously like that, it's just a TV show.

 

For me wrestling doesn't have to make sense, it only has to make enough sense for me to over look what doesn't. I hope that makes, erm, sense.

If I picked apart all the things in wrestling that don't really make sense in the "real world" there would be nothing left but that doesn't mean I want no logic or meaning to anything.

Fair enough. I accept that it's a fictional world, so I don't mind Triple H not going to prison for running over Austin, and Triple H not being dead after being in a car that was lifted up with a forklift and then dropped to the floor. I want storyline structure though, if that makes sense?

[CleetusVanDamme]

You can't take things too seriously like that, it's just a TV show.

 

Didn't you attempt suicide after NTL fucked up showing Wrestlemania one year, Dill?.

[Dirty Eddie]

That is what i miss about the current WWE product; it almost never feels intense or dramatic, instead it all feels very lightweight and unimportant. You have that feeling that whatever nasty deeds go down, everything will be fine next week.

That was the case long before everyone stopped bleeding. If Cena got busted open in an attack next week, it'd seem huge. If he'd got busted open in an attack in 2007, it wouldn't have. But either way, it probablywouldn't make any odds to the "everything will be fine next week" aspect. As you say, that comes from writing a character to always be dominant. For me, much of Stone Cold Steve Austin's big run was unexciting because no matter what happened to him, he was never on the backfoot for more than about two minutes.

 

I didn't say the lack of blood was the sole reason, just one of many things that has made the whole company less 'must-watch' and dramatic, for me anyway.

 

Yeah, I also got a bit bored of Austin towards the end, but it took a while. The late '96 to late '98 Austin was awesome.

[King Pitcos]

For me wrestling doesn't have to make sense, it only has to make enough sense for me to over look what doesn't. I hope that makes, erm, sense.

If I picked apart all the things in wrestling that don't really make sense in the "real world" there would be nothing left but that doesn't mean I want no logic or meaning to anything.

It's a weird one, wrestling logic and what we can accept. As a kid, I didn't take issue with much. But Macho Man trying to pin Yokozuna at the '93 Rumble and Luger's celebration for a count out win over Yoko (which would normally result in a babyface having a tantrum because they didn't get the title) at SummerSlam that year both fucked me off royally.

[KillerTwist]

I haven't really noticed the lack of blood, but I probably watch enough past matches to get my fill.

[PunkStep]

For me wrestling doesn't have to make sense, it only has to make enough sense for me to over look what doesn't. I hope that makes, erm, sense.

If I picked apart all the things in wrestling that don't really make sense in the "real world" there would be nothing left but that doesn't mean I want no logic or meaning to anything.

It's a weird one, wrestling logic and what we can accept. As a kid, I didn't take issue with much. But Macho Man trying to pin Yokozuna at the '93 Rumble and Luger's celebration for a count out win over Yoko (which would normally result in a babyface having a tantrum because they didn't get the title) at SummerSlam that year both fucked me off royally.

I remember being pissed off with the Savage pin attempt, and I was only young at the time. It was silly.

 

I didn't mind the count-out win over Yoko though, because I saw it as a step closer to Lugar finally dethroning the unstoppable, dominant champion (who was being booked well as this unstoppable un-slammable monster). First he flew in and slammed him, then he won via count-out at SummerSlam. I thought he'd then win the title clean at the next PPV at the time.