The Story Behind Lex Luger’s First Blade Job

On What Happened When Mondays with Tony Schiavone on the MLW Radio Network, Conrad and Tony went into all things Great American Bash 1988. But, while leading into the big event they shared a fascinating story about the first time Lex Luger bled in a segment.

As we all know, most bleeding was and is still done by blading when a concealed piece of a razor blade is sliced across someone’s forehead to give the match color. If you want to see the long-term effects of a career of blading just look at a picture of Dusty Rhodes or Abdullah the Butcher and pay close attention to the area underneath their hairline. There are rare instances of bleeding “hard way” like when Brock Lesnar split Randy Orton open with an elbow strike at Summerslam, but those are not wholeheartedly encouraged.

Conrad set up the situation surrounding Luger’s first blade job perfectly when he said if the bad guys are wearing black and the good guy is wearing white, then someone is going to bleed. That’s exactly what happened. The 4 Horsemen arrived in a limousine and jumped Lex Luger. Schiavone says “we love blood.”

Luger had never been asked to get color before so WCW officials had JJ Dillon take the blade to Lex by taping the razor to his finger. According to Lex Luger’s book, they told him to take four aspirin and do a couple shots of Jack Daniels to thin out his blood before the segment.

In his book, Lex Luger says during the assault, one of the Horsemen slammed his head into the limo so hard it busted him open hard way. However, JJ still followed the script and “zipped” Lex across the forehead with his bladed finger. It is a rare occurrence for someone to be busted open the hard way and then blade in the same spot. Therefore, Lex got the royal treatment during his first experience with gigging.

Blood was flowing fast and Luger was drenched. His white suite was covered in a cascade of crimson and Lex apparently wore his blood-drenched suit for the remainder of the evening. Conrad continues to read from Luger’s book saying The Narcissist even had blood on just about every article of clothing he was wearing as he walked across his hotel lobby with blood in his shoes.

Tony says when someone did their first blade job it was common for someone else to do it for them. Schiavone says he remembers Lex being very nervous about the segment in the hours leading up to filming and throwing Luger’s head into the trunk of the limo to bust him open the hard way was probably just another way to make sure the color happened and a way of initiating him into the world of professional wrestling.

Tony says he loved all the blood.