First, the presence of blood on WWE programming has been heavily diminished, for a ban on an intentional bleeding technique called blading was placed in a response to society’s concerns of blood borne virus infections. Throughout the 70’s to 90’s, the presence of blood in a wrestling match expressed a dramatic tone to the programming. When the audience sees a wrestler who was positioned as an underdog bleed after taking a brutal assault from their opponent, an emotional response is produced. The audience often will feel that the bleeding wrestler is showcasing a high level of courage and strength for they are willing to undergo pain to defeat their opponent. Wrestling promoters introduced an intentional bleeding technique refer to as “Blading”,…show more content… Also, the act is usually done a good length into the match as the blood will mix with the flowing sweat to make the wound look like much more blood is flowing from it than there actually is. Many monumental moments of WWE programming in these decades showcase wrestlers bleeding. As awareness of blood-borne virus diseases like Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Hepatitis was growing, so was the safety concerns for high contract sports like wrestling. A risk of blood borne infections being transmitted during sporting activities, from bleeding wounds or exudative skin injury of an infected athlete to the injured skin o of other athletes become more apparent to society. In R Kordi, “Blood borne infections in sport: risks of transmission, methods of prevention, and recommendations for hepatitis B vaccination” from the British Journal of Sports Medicine, he illustrated the risk that close-contact sports like wrestling have when blood is involved. “This risk may be higher in contact and collision sports, especially wrestling, boxing, and taekwondo, because of the higher risk of bleeding injuries and prolonged close body
