Mantaur Rodeo Clown
X-Pac Rules
How much does hair affect a wrestler?
When I ask you who is the biggest wrestler of all time, you're going to give me one of two names. It's either going to be Hulk Hogan or Stone Cold Steve Austin.
What exactly do these two bring to the table in terms of hairstyle? Stone Cold has had numerous hair styles, from this in the early nineties:
To his classic shaven head, as seen here:
As soon as he made his breakthrough in 1996, he shaved his head, leaving his hair behind as well as his Ringmaster gimmick. I know that's an abridged version, but he eventually ended up looking like what we know and love. Did his clean shaven dome contribute more towards his success? Ridiculous, perhaps, but hear me out.
It was a part of his gimmick, and a mans hair can tell you a lot about his character, I assure you.
So whose that other huge name? Hulk Hogan? Well he sort of had a blend of bald and long hair didn't he?
The long hair look is often associated with rebel's, it's associated with the new crowd, it's associated with the cool guys. Track it through history, look at Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Ultimate Warrior, Randy Savage. Did these guys become so popular, because their predecessors of a decade before had been so careless in their haircare? Bob Backlund, The Iron Sheik? The short hair look was out, and the long hair was in.
And what about todays generation? Are the crew cuts the way to go? The biggest stars of today have returned to the man's man haircut of short back and sides. John Cena, Batista, Randy Orton, AJ Styles. All these guys have a "sensible haircut". How much do you think this attirbutes to their success?
And what about the heel face perspective? does the short hair always work better for a heel? Or is the feeling vice versa? Perhaps they simply exist as an antithesis to what the face represents.
When Andre the Giant turned heel, he no longer sported his afro. This worked perfectly against the golden mane of Hogan.
Shawn Michaels was the golden boy in 1996 WWF, and his match with Vader, the monster bald heel showed that the crafty, cool long hair was better than the raging mastodons sweaty palate.
Is there anything more crushing to a superstars ego than a hair vs hair match? Edge's victory over Angle led to Angle's descent into a more intense, more powerful character.
Edge was the Rated-R superstar. John Cena was the Champ. The persona's were perfectly captured in their hair, with Edge's rockstar mane and Cena's "down to business" crew cut.
In summary, I ask you. What does hair in wrestling do for you?
When I ask you who is the biggest wrestler of all time, you're going to give me one of two names. It's either going to be Hulk Hogan or Stone Cold Steve Austin.
What exactly do these two bring to the table in terms of hairstyle? Stone Cold has had numerous hair styles, from this in the early nineties:
To his classic shaven head, as seen here:
It was a part of his gimmick, and a mans hair can tell you a lot about his character, I assure you.
So whose that other huge name? Hulk Hogan? Well he sort of had a blend of bald and long hair didn't he?
The long hair look is often associated with rebel's, it's associated with the new crowd, it's associated with the cool guys. Track it through history, look at Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Ultimate Warrior, Randy Savage. Did these guys become so popular, because their predecessors of a decade before had been so careless in their haircare? Bob Backlund, The Iron Sheik? The short hair look was out, and the long hair was in.
And what about todays generation? Are the crew cuts the way to go? The biggest stars of today have returned to the man's man haircut of short back and sides. John Cena, Batista, Randy Orton, AJ Styles. All these guys have a "sensible haircut". How much do you think this attirbutes to their success?
And what about the heel face perspective? does the short hair always work better for a heel? Or is the feeling vice versa? Perhaps they simply exist as an antithesis to what the face represents.
When Andre the Giant turned heel, he no longer sported his afro. This worked perfectly against the golden mane of Hogan.
Shawn Michaels was the golden boy in 1996 WWF, and his match with Vader, the monster bald heel showed that the crafty, cool long hair was better than the raging mastodons sweaty palate.
Is there anything more crushing to a superstars ego than a hair vs hair match? Edge's victory over Angle led to Angle's descent into a more intense, more powerful character.
Edge was the Rated-R superstar. John Cena was the Champ. The persona's were perfectly captured in their hair, with Edge's rockstar mane and Cena's "down to business" crew cut.
In summary, I ask you. What does hair in wrestling do for you?
