Blading is a part of the professional wrestling business. While WWE has phased out the practice almost entirely, there’s a long history of performers intentionally bloodying themselves to suggest that they’re truly hurt and add an edge of dramatic violence to a particularly brutal match or scenario.
WCW tended not get too bloody, particularly once hands on management from the promotion’s parent companies came into play. Just the same, WCW did have some memorable blade jobs. In particular, there were handful of moments when things clearly got out of hand. This article recalls ten times when blading went wrong in WCW.
10 10. Dustin Rhodes Vs. The Blacktop Bully, Uncensored 1995
The Uncensored 1995 PPV was full of unconventional gimmick matches and that includes Dustin Rhodes battling his arch rival, The Blacktop Bully in a King of the Road Match. The bout was pre-taped as the performers brawled in the back of a moving truck with the objective of ringing a bell to win the match.
The concept was a bit silly and didn’t exactly feel like a winner to much of anyone involved. Rhodes wound up blading heavily to try to add some realism and brutality to the match. The choice wound up getting him fired, though Rhodes would later dispute that choice, suggesting he received conflicting guidance on whether he was or was not allowed to blade.
9 9. Hulk Hogan Vs. Ric Flair, Uncensored 1999
Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair reprised their longstanding rivalry at Uncensored 1999 in a Barbed Wire Steel Cage First Blood Match. There’s a very real argument that the match suffered from gimmick overload, but there was one certainty to it: someone was going to bleed.
The match was ultimately a bit of a farce as they established unconventional First Blood rules early on that the match wouldn’t end when someone started bleeding a little, but it would rather require a lot of blood. At best, this oddball choice served the conspiratorial storytelling as Flair had referee Charles Robinson in his back pocket to gift him the win. Regardless, the rule change before the match was necessary given that Flair not only bled first, but wound up bleeding heavily early in a way that undermined the match concept.
8 8. Cactus Jack Gets Bloodied By The Nasty Boys, Slamboree 1994
Slamboree 1994 featured a fun Broad Street Bully Match in which Cactus Jack and Kevin Sullivan brought the no holds barred violence to The Nasty Boys. All four men were known for violence and working stiff, and it probably comes as little surprise that the match would entail some blood.
Jack bladed and, in an era when WCW steered away from too much color, really stood out for the degree of bloodshed in this outing.
7 7. Dusty Rhodes At The Hands Of The Road Warriors, 1989
Dusty Rhodes was both a top on air talent and a backstage booker for WCW in the late 1980s, just as the winds of change took hold. With Turner taking over the wresting promotion, a number of edicts came down that ran contrary to Rhodes’s creative style. That included a push to have less bloodshed.
It's unclear if Rhodes were deliberately contrary, oblivious, or already had plans in motion when he booked himself to get brutally bloodied by The Road Warriors on TV shortly after these changes came through. Regardless, the choice would result in him leaving the company altogether and heading to WWE for a spell.
6 6. Sid Vicious Vs. Goldberg, Halloween Havoc 1999
The match between Sid Vicious and Goldberg at Halloween Havoc 1999 was uncharacteristically bloody. The match particularly stands out for two muscled up super humans who were more inclined to awe the crowd with displays of power than with bloody brutality.
Vicious cut himself early in the match. Things took a turn for the sickly, though, as Goldberg went after the wound relentlessly. While taking advantage of a visible injury may make sense from a storytelling perspective, the match quickly crossed the line from an entertaining brawl to too gruesome for fans to enjoy.
5 5. Steve Austin Endures War Games, WrestleWar 1992
War Games is notorious for brutality and, particularly in its early years, its share of bloodshed. The 1992 edition was no exception, and, up until NXT adopted the concept, it was arguably the last great War Games match.
Steve Austin represented the Dangerous Alliance in the match and got bloodied early in the bout. Unfortunately for him, the rules of the match meant he still had a long time to go in the cage before it was even possible for the match to end and he could get any kind of reprieve.
4 4. Lex Luger Gushes In The Build To Great American Bash 1988
Lex Luger was one of the most decorated stars in WCW history and truly came of age in the company. That includes doing his first blade job in the build to Great American Bash 1988.
The Horsemen attacked Luger on Ric Flair’s behalf. He wound up getting opened up the hard way off of an initial blow to the head, only for JJ Dillon to follow it up by cutting The Total Package according to plan. The spot was memorably gruesome, if a bit over the top for what anyone originally intended.
3 3. Vader Accidentally Gets Color Opposite Sting, SuperBrawl 1993
Sting and Big Van Vader were legendary rivals and their strap match at SuperBrawl 1993 was a worthy chapter to add to their larger story. Sting was intended to get color during the match, Vader was not. Plans went awry, though.
Put a razor into the kind of hard hitting, fast paced match these two were known for, and accident was altogether too possible. Vader wound up with a laceration behind his ear that left him unintentionally bloodied.
2 2. Eric Bischoff’s Chair Shot On Hulk Hogan, 2000
Though Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan are far and away best known as friends both on screen and off, a 2000 storyline saw Bischoff turn on The Hulkster, complete with a not all that convincing chair shot to the head. To make matters worse, videos that have populated the Internet in the years to follow clearly show Hogan sliding something over his forehead before contact, presumably cutting himself.
There has been some speculation that WCW used fake blood to augment the brutality of the spot. Regardless, it was rough to watch and did not come across well.
1 1. Terry Funk Opens Dustin Rhodes, Slamboree 1994
The Rhodes family—particularly Dusty and Dustin—are known for their ability to sell a bloody beat down, and there may have been no better choice to have gotten the juice flowing than Terry Funk when he attacked The Natural at Slamboree 1994.
Funk had worked a legends match earlier in the evening, and this attack was the set up for Funk to join Colonel Robert Parker’s Stud Stable and feud with Dustin, and later Dusty, over the months to follow. The attack was brutal and convincing, but a little bloodier than WCW was necessarily looking for it that relatively sanitized era.