The rare usage of blood on WWE television was on display this week during WWE Monday Night Raw when The Rock attacked Cody Rhodes in the closing moments.
Angle
Rock told Rhodes earlier in the night he would make him bleed, and that happened as Rock beat down Rhodes throughout the arena and tossed him up against a tour bus.
Rhodes was bleeding from his forehead. Rock took off his weight-lifting belt, rubbed Cody’s blood on the belt, and said I kept my promise to Mama Rhodes. This was the latest build for The Rock & Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns vs. Rhodes & World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins is set for the WrestleMania 40 – Night 1 headliner.
Blood
Blood on WWE television has been banned for years, to the point where matches have had to be paused so a wrestler can be bandaged up before continuing to compete, as Vince McMahon banned it. It got to a point where after a steel cage match on Raw between Chris Jericho and Batista, fines were given out because Batista was busted open the hard way.
In the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer reported that he was “ told that going forward it will be used very rarely. There are no plans to turn it into AEW where it’s used more liberally.”
In this case, The Rock wanted it for the angle, and it happened.