If you didn’t catch episode one, welcome to 31 Days of Deathmatches. This is an advent calendar-style countdown to Halloween offering you a door of deliciously gory wrestling per day. Our trip to the spookiest day of the year will take us around the world and through time. This will chronicle some of the most significant deathmatches throughout the years but will mostly consist of my absolute favourite barbed wire bouts and glass shattering matches. Without further ado, let’s open the next door.
This isn’t a deathmatch in definition but the impact it had worldwide can not be understated. This match set the scale for the amount of blood shed in a match. The crimson on display during this bout would set a precedent for other wrestlers to try and follow. The best thing here though is it wasn’t just done through reckless blading, but it was done with purpose.
This is still considered one of the bloodiest matches in history and saw The Great Muta back in Japan following his American excursion to WCW and fighting the workhorse Hiroshi Hase. Hase gives him hell early on and rips off the face paint that Muta often wore. When Muta can’t keep pace, he turns to weaponry to even the score. Muta grabs a blade but Hase turns it on him, causing the first wave of blood to flow. Muta keeps on fighting despite the blood loss and ends up wearing a body paint of his own claret. Despite the fact he has decorated the ring with his own plasma, Muta does go on to win the match with the Moonsault.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJW88Cx_8qs]
Whilst not a deathmatch as such, it’s hard not to deny the impact this match has had. As a massive Muta fan, I find the match both enjoyable to watch but also to see as a history maker in terms of blood loss. Whilst not the most positive accolade to hold, it is indeed a mean feat to achieve. This was done with one blade and pushed out over the course of ten minutes or so. It was a grizzly sight for sure. I remember googling the Muta Scale when first introduced to the term and watching the whole thing in shock. The only examples that come to mind when thinking of this level of blood loss in recent times are Eddie Guerrero after the bad blade job and Dustin Rhodes at Double or Nothing. Blood is a powerful tool and the Muta Scale is one of the reasons it is analysed as much as it. Plus you look at those images and tell me that without context you wouldn’t see that and think deathmatch?
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKBgIQXGbks]
Come back tomorrow for your next deathmatch treat!
Images courtesy of YouTube, Medium & Cultaholic Videos courtesy of MutaMark224