Despite its current reputation for being a family-friendly product,WWEstill hasa tendency to get extreme. Today, WWE prides itself on directing much of its entertainment towards children, but older viewers remember a time when its Attitude Era regularly featured segments that WWEcouldn’t possibly get away with today.
Beyond airing suggestive material, much of WWE’s past was known for being extremely violent. Yes, the act of professional wrestling itself - even if scripted - is arguably violent, but in a time when the company was not as shy about featuring blood on its programming as it is today, the violence was different. There have been times in WWE wherethe level of violence would be downright uncomfortable to watchand bordering the point of gore. It’s rare to see that level of ultraviolence in today’s programming, but sometimes, WWE gives ECW a run for its moneyin the extreme category.
11Mankind vs The Rock, WWE Royal Rumble 1999
One of the most violent nights of WWE television came at the 1999Royal Rumblepay-per-view, where The Rock and Mankind competed for the World Championship. Mick Foley isn’t typically known to have a nice day at the office, but this had to be one of his worst. In an effort to convince the never-say-die maniac to give up, per the stipulation of their I Quit Match, thereigning and defending People’s Championhandcuffs Mrs. Foley’s Baby Boy behind his back, proceeding to clobber him with a steel chair 11 times.
In an age where the risk of concussions and their long-term effects have been well-studied,unprotected chair shots are frowned upon today. Even before such knowledge became so widely known, 11 unprotected chair shots still felt grotesque by 1999 standards, to the point where the roars of the crowd eventually became replaced by a stunned hush.
10John Cena vs. JBL, WWE Judgment Day 2005
The Doctor of Thuganomics Brings New Meaning to the Crimson Mask
John Cena won his first WWE Championship by pinning John Bradshaw Layfield - then the longest reigning champion inSmackDownhistory - atWrestleMania 21. This was just step one in Cena’s ascension into becoming WWE’s decade-long poster child, as by the standards of many, he still needed to earn his stripes. His title rematch with JBL at the followingSmackDown-exclusive PPV Judgment Day would seal the deal, as their match was crafted as an I Quit Match.
The match itself saw John Cena give new meaning to the term crimson mask bydripping like an overstuffed faucet. For Cena alone, the match is too bloody for WWE to talk about as it’s one of the few classic matches yet to be uploaded on their YouTube channel. Cena more than proved himself, but he was lucky he was able to walk away relatively unscathed judging by how much blood he lost.
9Vince McMahon vs Stephanie McMahon, WWE No Mercy 2003
The Then-WWE Chairman Batters His Daughter Before Her Wedding
In 2003, Stephanie McMahon was theSmackDownGeneral Manager and, at the time, was in the middle of an onscreen feud with her father, the WWE Chairman of the Board. That fall, Steph was preparing to marry her real-life fiancé, Paul “Triple H” Levesque, and needed to go on a hiatus from television. Vince McMahon’s best idea to write her off television was to book himself in an I Quit match with her andproceed to beat her senseless.
The match and its background were covered thoroughly in Vince’sMr. McMahondocuseries on Netflix, proving to beone of the most shocking revealsto emerge from the doc for non-wrestling fans to learn. Even for wrestling fans, watching a father act so violently towards his daughter, performance or not,made for an unsettling viewing.
8Shawn Michaels vs Chris Jericho, WWE The Great American Bash 2008
The Official Bloody End of the TV-14 Era of WWE TV
The practice of blading refers to a wrestler using a razor blade (often concealed underneath their wrist tape) to secretly slice open their forehead to give the illusion of their opponent hitting them hard enough to cause bleeding. Blade jobs were banned from WWE after going PG.
Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels must’ve gotten the memo that this would be the last time they’d be allowed to use blood, because they made sure to give the concept of blading a proper sendoff. Michaels maybe goes a little overboard seeing as he ends the night gushing like a stuffed pig.
7Sgt Slaughter vs Pat Patterson, Madison Square Garden Alley Fight, 1981
WWE’s Forgotten Bloody Brawl
This is a bout that has largely been lost to time on account of how old it is, but those old enough to have seen the massacre that both men yielded to each other would agree that it was an unforgettable sight. The match took place on July 21, 2025, and was the culmination of a storyline in which Sgt. Slaughter constantly bullied the retired wrestler turned color commentator, Pat Patterson, largely because Slaughter was managed by Patterson’s former manager, the Grand Wizard.
Weeks of goading Patterson eventually led to an Alley Fight, which by modern standards would be called a Street Fight. Both men truly did pour their blood, sweat, and tears into this match in what many cite to bethe first time WWE ever got extreme. It still holds up as one of the bloodiest matches to take place inside of a WWE ring.
6Kurt Angle vs. Shane McMahon, WWE King of the Ring 2001
Shane McMahon Risks Worsening a Concussion by Asking to Get Thrown Through Glass Over and Over
Even before reaching the infamous moment of the match, Shane McMahon and Kurt Angle shared the stage for a highly physical encounter, but of course, the moment itself is why this match is so infamous. For those unaware, the moment comes when Kurt Angle and Shane McMahon reach their planned spot for Angle to belly-to-belly suplex McMahon through the glass pane on the stage. Except, McMahon didn’t go through the first time. He’d insteadbounce off the glass and head first onto the cement floor.
Despite Angle whispering his concern and Shane hearing an incessant ringing in his head that prevented him from hearing anything, the Chairman’s son insisted on trying the spot again. They’d attempt this multiple times before getting the desired result. Shane McMahon deserves credit for a gutsy performance, but there comes a point when one has to just give up on a spot for their safety, andthis should’ve been such a moment.
5JBL vs. Eddie Guerrero, WWE Judgment Day 2004
Eddie Guerrero Cut Open an Artery to Put JBL Over
After enduring one failed singles push after another in the late 90s and early 2000s, one-half of the APA had one last shot at superstardom upon transitioning from Bradshaw to JBL. Subsequently, he received a shot at Eddie Guerrero’s WWE Championship at Judgment Day 2004. While not booked to win, this was more of a test run to see if Layfield could deliver a performance worthy of the main event picture that the WWE was ready to prime him for once more.
Being as generous as possible in hopes of getting his opponent over, Eddie Guerrero opted to give himself perhapsthe ugliest blade job possible, just to make JBL look like a serious threat to the title and a contender. It worked, as JBL would be booked to win the title from Guerrero later that summer. The problem is, atJudgment Day, Guerrero mistakenly cut too deep and sliced open an artery in his forehead.
4Brock Lesnar vs Randy Orton, WWE SummerSlam 2016
Getting Busted Open the Hard Way Gives Orton a Concussion
With blading effectivelybanned from the WWE, the only way that the WWE Universe sees blood is if wrestlers get busted open the hard way. In the modern age, this typically happens incidentally, by accident, but on the night ofSummerSlam 2016, it was dangerously purposeful.Raw’s Brock Lesnar wrestled SmackDown’s Randy Orton in an interbrand dream match. In the bout’s final moments, the MMA specialist would remove his gloves and use elbow strikes to bust open Orton’s skull. It was one of those moments where it was hard to tell if the outcome was scripted or not.
Lesnar won by TKO in a moment that seemed designed to set up aWrestleManiamatch with Shane McMahon, who entered the ring confronting Lesnar for injuring his Superstar, and perhaps garner some social media buzz. The planned McMahon match was later nixed by Lesnar and the buzz was controversial enough to nearly spark a backstage fight between Lesnar and Chris Jericho,rendering the effort virtually pointless. Meanwhile, a concussed Orton needed several stitches to close his lacerations.
3Brock Lesnar vs Roman Reigns, WWE WrestleMania 34
Less than two years after the Randy Orton incident at SummerSlam,WWE would try to duplicate the moment againatWrestleMania 34, when Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns hadthe second match in their trilogy. Much like he did with Orton, Lesnar removed his gloves and proceeded to pound into Reigns' skull until he started to sport a crimson mask. If nothing else, the sight of Reigns screaming in Lesnar’s face with blood pouring down his face made for a cool visual.
However, despite achieving an underdog feat, Reigns still lost. Even worse, despite a bloody underdog performance, the much-vilified Big Dog character was still venomously booed by the crowd. Somehow,this seemed even more pointlessthan what happened with the Orton match and, somehow, achieved less in the process.
2Mick Foley vs Edge, WWE WrestleMania 22
A Fiery Conclusion to a WrestleMania Show-Stealer
Mick Foley might be a glutton for punishment, given how often he finds himself in a position to be disgustingly brutalized at the hands of another man in the ring. No one can say he didn’t try to entertain the people in every stage of his professional wrestling career. Unfortunately for daredevils like Foley, the people areoften entertained by car crash television, and his Hardcore Match with Edge exemplifies that.
TheirWrestleManiabout featured the kind of chaos one would expect from a Hardcore Match, particularly in terms of weaponry used, like barbed wire bats. Then, things took a scary turn after Lita entered the scene to douse a table at ringside with gasoline just before setting it ablaze. As the table is on fire, Edge hits Foley with a Spear through the table. Foley is out cold while Edge is shaking like a leaf after the jaw-dropping moment.
