History
Prior to the advent of blading, most storyline blood in wrestling came from one wrestler deliberately splitting the flesh over their opponent's eyebrow bone with a well placed and forceful punch. In his third autobiography The Hardcore Diaries, Mick Foley cites Terry Funk as one of the few remaining active wrestlers who knows how to "bust an eyebrow open" in this way. The forehead has always been the preferred blading surface, due to the abundance of blood vessels. A cut in this area will bleed freely for quite some time and will heal quickly. A cut in this location will allow the blood to mix in with the sweat on the wrestler's face, giving them the proverbial "crimson mask" effect.
In modern North American pro wrestling, blading is almost exclusively performed by and on male performers; blading of women is extremely rare due to the risk of adverse publicity and the increasing use of female performers as "eye candy."
Typically, a wrestler will use a razor or other blade hidden in the tape covering his fingers or part of his hand(s) or somewhere else on his person. The wrestler, however, always runs the risk of cutting too deeply and slicing an artery in the forehead. In 2004, Eddie Guerrero accidentally did this during his match with JBL at Judgment Day, resulting in a rush of blood pouring from the bladed area. Guerrero lost so much blood because of the cut that he felt the effects from it for two weeks.
Some wrestlers like Abdullah the Butcher, Dusty Rhodes, New Jack, and Devon Hughes (Brother Devon / D-Von Dudley) have massive, disfiguring scars on their heads from frequently blading throughout their careers. According to Mick Foley, the scars in Abdullah's forehead are so deep that he enjoys holding coins or gambling chips in them to entertain and/or scare people.
Today, blading is a lot less popular than in the past, due to the prevalence of AIDS and hepatitis. In the 1980s, the willingness to blade was seen as an advantage of new wrestlers. From July 2008 onward, due to its PG rating, World Wrestling Entertainment has not allowed wrestlers to blade themselves. In most cases, any blood coming from the wrestlers are out of storyline and legitimate.
Read more about this topic: Blading (professional Wrestling)
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