On May 2, Mike Johnson at PWInsider reported, "Excessive blood and blading will not be permissible by the promotion."
The report noted, "In the case of hardway blood or something like a bloody nose or mouth, blood will be allowed and it was noted that it's understandable that sometimes, blood will be a result of contact in the ring - but purposeful, heavy bloodletting is a thing of the past in the promotion."
Fightful Select added, "We’re told that the company felt like that it went overboard of late, and said that they wanted it to mean more whenever it was that they decide to do it again."
Speaking to Sports Illustrated's The Takedown, TNA President Carlos Silva clarified things.
According to SI, Silva said there is no "ban" on blood, but that the locker room was encouraged "to utilize brutality and intentional bleeding more sparingly, coming off of two extreme instances in a short period of time" and that "if creative or the talent feel intentional blood or heavy violence is earned for their story or the stakes of the match, it is 'absolutely' something TNA is open to exploring using."
Silva acknowledged TNA "is being cognizant of potential advertisers and partners, alongside confirming The Takedown's note on shopping for a new media rights deal."
Jon Alba of The Takedown noted, "TNA has been shopping IMPACT’s broadcast rights around."
At TNA Unbreakable, Sami Callihan and Mance Warner engaged in a bloody barbed wire massacre match. Shortly after, during a taping of TNA iMPACT!, Steve Maclin and Eric Young bled buckets in a dog collar match.
Fans can check out Fightful's interview with Steve Maclin where he dicusses the bloody match here.
