A Modest Response: The Machine Guns won’t Blade

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Recently on TNA Impact, during a segment with Team 3-D, Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin, known collectively as the Motor City Machine Guns, were asked to blade to sell a beating. Blading, for anyone new to wrestling, is the act of cutting ones forehead in a wrestling context. This is also known as showing color or juicing. Alex Shelley refused to cut himself, having never bladed and having no desire to ever do so. Chris Sabin was happy to follow, leaving Jay Lethal to face getting cut, which he apparently had no problem with.

TNA had a huge problem with Shelley and Sabin refusing to cut themselves. After the Impact at which they didn’t cut themselves, TNA severely depushed them as punishment. First, at the PPV, they were knocked out early, looking bad and allowing Lethal to single-handedly win the match. After that, Sabin and Shelley have been demoted from Impact to Xplosion, a show no one watches, where they jobbed to the terrible comedy due, the Rock and Rave Infection.

This is among the most egregious examples of just how poorly conceived and backwards wrestling is. Cutting yourself is a dangerous and harmful activity in every walk of life. Everyone recognizes this but the carnies that infest the wrestling business and those who buy into their hype. Cutting yourself can lead to severe depression, not to mention the physical scarring repeated blading causes. It may be tradition, but then so was sacrificing virgins until we knew better. We now know better. Blading is, at best, a personal choice that must be protected.

Let’s go over how many different ways TNA screwed up in this one.

First we have the fact that Shelley and Sabin were basically homegrown, marketable talent that was making TNA money. TNA is, by depushing them, forcing away that money. That’s a questionable strategy no matter what, but considering the Machine Guns segments have been among the highest rated on Impact regularly and they are among the few recognizable non-WWE faces on the show, depushing them is entirely counterproductive.

Next there is the fact that the blading was to take place in the middle of an ordinary Impact episode. Some of the most memorable moments in wrestling came with a blade job, such as Steve Austin passing out in the Sharpshooter in a pool of his own blood. This was the culmination of a long feud and took place at Wrestlemania. Compare that to a random Impact in a feud where the faces and heels weren’t clearly established in ring (with Sabin and Shelley acting the heels while being treated the faces by announcers) and the fact that this was only the penultimate chapter in the feud. This wasn’t nearly big enough to even ask for a blade job. It would add nothing to the buys of the PPV (if months of selling the feud wouldn’t, a bit of blood at the end surely won’t) or to how memorable the angle was, since the climax was still to come. This is TNA’s lazy way of adding heat without having to think so hard, yet ultimately adding nothing.

Sabin and Shelley are marketable in large part because of their look. They appeal to a demographic that the Hardyz, Rockers, and Rock ‘n Roll Express did previously. Cutting into their heads will only hurt that marketability. Since these guys bodies and their appearance and well-being are their investment for how they make a living, damaging, purposely that look is absolutely bad business.

Cutting oneself is not a healthy activity. It’s an act of those suffering from any number of psychological disorders. It has been said that self-mutilation can further depression. The wrestling business already has an absurdly long list of depressed wrestlers who hurt themselves or others. Why perpetuate the risk?

Ultimately, blading is likely a bad idea, but is entirely a personal choice. Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin, despite the closed-mindedness of their fellow employees, made a difficult choice to stand against a practice they felt was wrong. Instead of being applauded for their gumption or even just respecting their opinion, they are depushed by their company and attacked on the internet. I have it on very good authority that this is the main cause of the depush. There is no other job where, for refusing to put yourself in serious long term and short term risks (remember the Mass Transit incident ECW fans?), will result in punishment from your boss. In fact, this is almost certainly blatantly illegal and Shelley and Sabin should sue. They are losing money and being demoted for making a choice they had every right to against an action that had no benefit to them, or, sadly, even the company which demanded it.

Glazer is a former senior editor at Pulse Wrestling and editor and reviewer at The Comics Nexus.