I never really understood why MK was so popular. Sure it was fun to play and there was a lot of gore, but it really is pretty average in the controls, combos and characters. I used to find the gore goofy in the past eras of low res games. Now the realism is pretty hard to watch like you said so I don't think about playing it anymore.
At least the last time I played an "MK" game was the vs DC one. That one was pretty goofy and had crappy animations which got a good giggle out of me before I got tired of the stupid combos and violence on childhood heroes.
But I don't think it will be an MK game without the blood. So let's keep it as a niche kind of game and let those who want it that way play it.
I don't watch streams of fighting games either so I don't really know. You could watch the popular ones like SF and Tekken. It depends on whether you've played the games to appreciate it really. Some people like Blazblue but I don't really know much from the rare hours I played it for on my cousin's console. However, I do remember playing King of Fighters a lot a few years back so I guess you could look into it if you're interested. I have no idea how the new KOF looks like but it's nice to see the familiar characters and aesthetics.
Whenever I watch streams, I usually watch if the game looks interesting or for the streamer themselves. Some of them are probably the funniest people I've ever heard.