WWE Hall of Famer Highlights Major AEW Issue with Blood in Matches

Teddy Long has shared his opinion on AEW’s approach to using blood in its programming. The WWE Hall of Famer appeared on the latest episode of The Wrestling Time Machine podcast alongside Mac Davis and Sportskeeda Wrestling Senior Editor Bill Apter.

The discussion centered around the recent AEW Revolution Pay-Per-View, which featured bloody matches including Mariah May versus Toni Storm and Will Ospreay against Kyle Fletcher in a Steel Cage.

Apter noted during the conversation that WWE uses less blood due to PG rating requirements and shareholder considerations. Davis observed that blood creates a bigger impact when limited to a single match rather than being used throughout an event.

Long agreed with Davis’s assessment, explaining that blood should be reserved for main event matches to maximize its effectiveness.

You save it for your main event, Okay? If you’ve seen blood from the beginning [it takes away from the impact]. I’ll give you a quick scenario… there was a time when we’d get ready to go to the ring, [before] all the matches they’d let everybody know, ‘Nobody goes to the outside but the main event, keep your match n the ring!’ [If every match ends up on the floor], then when the main event comes, it means nothing because they’ve already seen it.

The Steel Cage match between Ospreay and Fletcher took place after the Women’s World Championship match between May and Storm, with both contests featuring significant blood.