On a recent episode of his “Grilling JR” podcast, WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross discussed Dustin Rhodes’ departure from WCW over a violation of the no-blood policy.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On Dustin Rhodes getting fired from WCW because there was blood in his King of the Trailer match in 1995 during a time when WCW had a no-blood policy: “There was a specific edict from the home office with no gray area: no blood. Doesn’t need interpretation. No blood is no blood, at least at your own hand. And all those guys, what they were doing was typical, pro wrestling blood. And it didn’t get past the censors, shall we say. And the upper management people put a lot of pressure on Dusty to allow it to happen. I don’t think he allowed — I’ve called matches where there was blood that nobody ever talked about that just came up, or it worked, or it fit the moment or what have you. But this was just a direct — it was a refusal to follow orders.”
On whether the agent should get the heat for it: “Yeah, at least partially. At least partially. I wouldn’t have booked that match. It’s a gimmick match, there’s only a few things you can do. Back on a trailer, a hay trailer, is what it looks like to me. An old hay trailer. So no, I — there’s a good chance that whoever did violate the direct order would be let go. It’s like it just happened to WCW.”
On hearing about it: “Well, I didn’t — you know, there are so many rumors that go around. I wasn’t sure exactly the lay of the land there. Where they fired TFN (till further notice), or where they fired without pay, or basically put on suspension or three months or six months, or whatever the case may be. It’s not fair to suspend somebody for six months, and not pay them. But if you pay them then what good is what good is the penalty? It’s a tough situation. Sometimes you’re just better to cut your losses and move on, and then hopefully get the opportunity — just like Dustin did — to regroup and land on the street and another in another location. Another address.”
