Did Batista Intentionally Bleed on Monday Night Raw?

Since the onset of the PG era, the WWE superstars have taken a great deal of punishment with very little bleeding in return.

Chair shots, trash cans, tables, cage doors, ring steps, and even Hornswoggle have been used as "foreign objects" and yet none of these things have spilt blood in a WWE ring.

Compare that to TNA, where even a strong wind seems to produce a bloodbath and you have an important difference between the two companies.

There are, of course, accidents in the ring and some wrestlers have bled inadvertently but gone are the days of a Stone Cold laceration as seen at Wrestlemania 13.

On Monday Night Raw (March 15) the blood policy seemed to come under challenge in the Batista-Kofi match. At first it seemed like an innocent enough move in the corner with Kingston catching the Animal with a kick to the head.

The result saw a medium amount of blood.

With the miracles of modern technology, slow motion show that Kingston actually connected only with Batista's ear and in the seconds that followed, what looked like a blading actually occurred.

As the Animal fell, a distinctive motion is seen and as he gets to his feet, he places his knee very carefully where his hand had been. In effect hiding whatever he had used to cut himself.

It’s not that incredible—after all they could easily deny a blading. The reputation that Kingston has for both high-flying moves and unfortunately making mistakes, the WWE could easily deny that the blood was intentional and further condemn Kingston to the mid-card.

Certainly the reaction of the referee, who had his gloves out before the blood even appeared, together with the fact that the incident helped to promote the image of an "angry animal"—all point to the WWE possibly changing its views on "moderate use" of blood.

Has the Monday Night Wars, Part II, already begun to change the attitudes and policies of the WWE?