WWE Issues Statement on Brock Lesnar “Blading” Speculation

At WrestleMania 31, on March 29, former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar wrestled in his first match at WrestleMania, since conquering The Streak in 2014. Lesnar went one-on-one with Roman Reigns in a literal bloodbath, only to drop the title when Seth Rollins cashed in his Money in the Bank Briefcase, which made the bout a Triple Threat match.

In the match, Lesnar suffered noticeable cuts on two occasions. Right out of the gate, Lesnar was bleeding upon receiving a punch from Reigns. Later on, Lesnar received a much more brutal laceration to his forehead, after Reigns launched him into a ring post from outside the ring.

As recently noted, coming out of the match, there was speculation that Lesnar “bladed,” or deliberately cut himself to draw blood. The speculation started to pick up when a gif surfaced, potentially depicting WWE referee Mike Chioda handing a blade to a downed Roman Reigns. Presumably, Reigns would then hand the blade to Lesnar, who used it to draw blood. Though, some wrestling fans see it as Chioda simply checking on Reigns to see if he is okay by squeezing his hand.

Below is the gif in question:

In response to the situation, WWE issued the following statement to Wrestlezone.com:

“WWE programming is TV-PG and we don’t permit intentional bleeding. The communication or contact between our performers and referees is part of our safety protocol. That said, unintentional blood sometimes occurs, and we do our best to minimize.”

Editor’s Note

Honestly, the gif in question is ambiguous. I’d have to go back and watch Lesnar get slammed into the ring post to see if he did indeed blade.