In a recent interview with Sports Illustrated, All Elite Wrestling star Jon Moxley discussed several topics, including the usage of blood in pro wrestling.

“I have a whole dissertation on my theory about blood in modern wrestling, do we have time for that. This is a combat sport, college wrestling is a combat sport too, they have blood timeouts to patch it up, the lowest prelim bout of a UFC card, or a boxing card, somebody might have a little blood on their eyebrow, or blood coming out of their nose, but they’re not selling a blood sport, it’s not tune in for the blood, tune in for the gore, it’s part of the aesthetic, it adds realism.

Some people say, this is just a random match, why is there blood, I heard that last week versus Tomohiro Ishii, he’s one of the greatest of all-time, I’m not going to let that moment slip by, I’m going foot to the f***ing gas pedal, how can I not. Then, I hear that I can’t have a good match without blood. Okay then, you made my argument for me, I’ll do it every time.

The point of the dissertation is that this is a combat sport, but we’re not allowed to have blood in a match unless it’s a personal grudge, we’re only allowed to have blood after a five-month grudge after someone slept with somebody’s wife, or somebody ran over someone with a car, and then, and only then, are we allowed to have this dramatic crimson mask that looks the exact same every single time. For me, realism-wise, since this is a combat sport, that means there is the potential for blood in every match, everything in wrestling is preposterous to some degree, but this helps with the suspension of disbelief.

I’m actually for less blood, but more often. If every single match on the card had a busted eyebrow, or bloody nose, it would just be part of the sport, but some gory spectacle with blood shooting like a hose is pretty unnecessary, we’re elbowing each other in the face every single match, we’re kicking each other in the face every single match, what are these people made of if they’re not bleeding. People ask why there is blood in the ring every time I leave it. It feels unnatural to go out of my way to make sure no one is bleeding, that feels like I’m taking my foot off the gas pedal, that doesn’t interest me.”

The full interview is available at this link.