Tony Schiavone believes there is still a place for blood and death matches in wrestling, though he thinks the match-type seems tame compared to more modern-day stipulations.
The topic of blood has been debated for a long time, with WWE very rarely allowing it (though they did allow Brock Lesnar to bleed heavily at the recent Backlash 2023 pay-per-view event.)
Speaking on his podcast, “What Happened When,” Schiavone shared his belief that the death match stipulation and blood still have a place in wrestling. He said,
“Well, I always thought there was a place for a Texas Death Match in wrestling, although the Texas Death Matches that I remember are much different than the ones there are now.
“I think in this era of tables, ladders, and crazy things that we do, I think Texas Death Matches are kind of plain compared to that.”
Schiavone added that blood has a place in wrestling when used correctly, and gave his praise for death match wrestling veteran Nick Cage, saying,
“I got to talk to Nick when he did his match against Chris Jericho, and I just told him I had seen the ‘Dark Side of the Ring’ about him, and I told him how glad I was to have him with us. I’m glad we got Nick a pretty good payday.”
