Wrestlers And Their Hairstyle

[Fansince1992]

You might read the title and think to yourself, what the hell is this about.

I have been thinking of getting peoples opinions about this for quite a while, so thought what the hell lets ask Wrestlezone.

If you look back to the Golden Era (80s and early 90s) most (not all) Wrestlers had long or shoulder length hair. The examples here are endless will give a few - Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Ultimate Warrior, Texas Tornado, Tito Santana, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Marty Janetty, Brutus Beefcake, Rowdy Roddy Piper, Jake The Snake, Macho Man Randy Savage, Kevin Nash, Razor Ramon/Scott Hall, Triple H, Stunning Steve Austin, Raven, Ravishing Rick Rude, Undertaker , CM Punk. I could go on but i won't.

Fast forward to 2013. How many Wrestlers can you name today who have nothing more than a neat army like Hairdo? Granted there are a few, like Mark Henry, The Great Khali, Shawn Michaels (still), Seth Rollins etc etc.

One Wrestler that really stands out to me is Bobby Roode. He cut off his long locks and went short. Did TNA advise him to do it to fit in with the hairstyles of today or did he decide on this himself?

Some men are forced into going short or bald. Take Steve Austin a guy who had long blonde hair. He started to lose it with age and became probably the most popular superstar ever.

Tell me if i'm reading to much into this, but to summarise wrestlers generally had longer hair years ago than they do today. Maybe it was cooler back then to have long hair, and in this day it's smarter to have a shorter look. I think the answer to this could just be that times change and most men these days are doing away with Ponytails or long locks.

The main question here is going back to what i said about Bobby Roode. He may of loved his long, curly dark hair, but maybe TNA told him to go short to fit in with the likes of The Cena's, the Orton's, and The Sheamus's. Triple H has even done the same, i'd like to know wether these Wrestling Companies these days are telling thier Wrestlers to cut it off a bit.

Thoughts?

 

[ABMorales787]

It's a fad. Though funny enough, major hairstyle changes have played major roles on a character's development. Like Kurt Angle who went from the goofy guy with the cowboy hats and milk jokes to the wrestling machine. Or Christian who went from generic to "Captain Charisma". Or Undertaker when he was a biker and turned heel. Then grew it back when he returned to the "Deadman" gimmick. A major hairstyle change can mean a major character change. It's a nice touch for wrestlers to do.

 

[RobstarEWN]

I've always liked people with longer hairstyles like the old Punk and the old Bobby Roode think it was cooler to have long hair that's why somany wrestlers cut it now

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

A hairstyle is often part of a wrestlers gimmick, to fit with the character they are playing. Killjoy touched on this earlier. Undertaker, The Road Warriors etc are examples of this, but you often see more flamboyant wrestlers with long hair.

However, it is also to with with general trends in society. Look at the 80s, early 90s. How many mullets were there in wrestling? Even HBK was rocking a horrible mullet because that was popular then, and then he changed to just regular long hair.

At the moment it seems fewer wrestlers have long hair and it seems cooler to have the shorter style. HHH cutting his hair probably had something to do with him having an office job more now, plus he is getting older and probably wanted to change it for that reason.

Edge/Jericho went short for a change, Roode probably did too. I don't think its a major deal really, just something different.

 

[Cereal Killer]

Now by appearence, I'm reffering to his hairstyle. In the 70's and 80's, a lot of people were focused on having these groovy, funky and retro looks, as the pop culture, media and society was gradually changing, so of course, the wrestler's went along with it, cheifly because professioal wrestling, was changing in to sports-entertainment. So not only did many wrestler's require good wrestling skills, but also an eye-catching look.

Furthermore, and aside from the 80's hair-fashion history (pardon me), former TNA world champion Bobby Roode, was once in the mid-card of the TNA roster. Almost a decade after his career had passed by; he had become the TNA World-heavyweight Champion. Not long after his title win, Roode had changed his hairstyle that everybody was used to, which was long, curly hair, and had evolved into a simple, short-cut. The reason it had changed in my opinion, was so that he could look like more of a world champion, as his hair makes him look smarter, and it goes with his rich-man moniker. Most likely, another reason could have been, is so that he looks like less of a Triple H facsimile. Before he was a world champion, and was in his former tag-team Beer-Money inc, many had compared him to Triple H, and a minority had labeled him a plagarist, for he had moves similar to Triple H, similar motions as him and a similar hair-style.

With the novel hair chic, he looks like more of an original star, smarter and also, a modern-day world champion. Many of today's world champions, have inherited the the style of short hair, for example: John Cena, Sheamus, CM Punk, Randy Orton, etc. So with the short look, he fits in with the trend, and can be easily looked at as world-champion. With his longer hair, I couldn't see him as that, ever since his the transition, that doubt was cleared. Many could say the change was just his own decision, for the sake of having short hair, but that could be because of looking like a star in the main event picture. As far as the rest of the Triple H similarites are concerned; it appears to be, that Bobby Roode has aquired a new move set, as there have been noticible changes in his matches, and has presented his own, unique taunts to the audience over the past 6 months.

Prior to winning the title, he resided with the lengthy hair, perceptibly the hairstyle changed for the sake of looking like the TNA world champion, as it had changed shortly after the title win, which I find ironic. So, I'm going to have to articulate, that this hair change wasn't because he was "just asked to do so", or "because he wanted a new hairstyle", but to give the impression of being The It Factor of professional wrestling, The Leader of the Selfish-Generation, and as TNA's new, World Heavyweight Champion.

 

[ヒュー　G.　レックション]

One Wrestler that really stands out to me is Bobby Roode. He cut off his long locks and went short. Did TNA advise him to do it to fit in with the hairstyles of today or did he decide on this himself?

Roode cut his hair after Lockdown 2012. The reason why is because he had to have several stitches along the top of his head as a result of his pretty brutal match with James Storm. So he cut his hair. You could still see the stitches when he debuted the new look.

Roode said in a later interview (I think with the Mirror) that he wanted to keep the short hair anyway as he felt it fit his character more, and also because whenever he had long matches his hair would get dry and very puffy (just watch some of his first matches with Styles when Roode got the belt).

 

[Dirk]

Old Punk looked great with the long hair and imo he looked shittier every time he cut it shorter. I do believe that this is due to a developing bald spot.

Next up: Ziggler. I love how he has this smooth and slick hairstyle that disappears as the match goes on - he becomes frustrated and desperate (and so does his hair). It fits his character beautifully.

The man with the worst hair has got to be the Hulkster. Everybody knows you're bald, brother! He even straightens the remaining bit at the back. It's not like Paul Heyman, where he plays this greasy slimeball, but I do believe Hogan thinks it makes him look cool.

 

[Spinebreaker]

It often comes as part of a turn. Roode, 'taker, Punk, I *think* Jericho all changed appearance alongside a heel turn, in many ways it's one of the easiest things to do that makes a lot of visual impact.

In Roode's case too, it made him look like the polar opposite of James Storm.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

It's an interesting point, hair doesn't really seem important but image is crucial.

There have been a few cases where a change of do comes with a push - Davey Boy cut his locks when he went heel against Diesel, but to be fair the previous curly locks were an abomination. When he was face, his beaded/dreads were actually one of the big attractions of the character - they made him stand out from the crowd and is perhaps his "iconic" look, but I always remember the short do better (he did have more success with it after all)

Christian cut his when he got the IC title in 93, I remember him winning the belt and then showing up the next night with a whole new image and it really worked to take him out of the E&C era into his own character, but it was also how he dressed as well that came into play, his whole image was upscaled with the push.

I don't think there is a particular requirement for short hair in workers at the moment, just that a lot of guys find it easier to work with and manage on the road. Longer hair takes time to manage, especially when it's soaked in sweat every night and exposed to dirty rings - for many wrestlers it's gonna be a case of time spent on that or on the tanning, workouts, eating, sleeping, driving and PR commitments that make the job near 24/7. There was a time where nearly everyone was shaving bald and that became the "standard" look but even that takes time to maintain, Austin famously said that he had managed to get his routine down to 7 minutes but even that was 7 minutes out of his day he didn't have. Most guys with longer hair just wet it down before they go out like Punk, Ziggler or Barrett, it's easier than actually managing it.

For some, it is more of a change in their life - both Edge and Jericho went short when they were "done" with the business, it was perhaps a way of "shedding the skin" of their wrestling personas and getting back to being themselves or creating new media personas. It made sense for Jericho as he was going on the singing and later the dancing show and shorter hair would again be better for that.... To be honest now I couldn't imagine Jericho ever going back - when he did return with the current look, it made him seem fresh and fit the fact that he is now a 40 something veteran rather than the "poodle top knot" upstart he was in 99.

I take the point of Ziggler and his hair going "desperate" but so did Curt Hennig's in the same way, you could tell if Perfect was having a "hell of a match" cos he'd go frizzy.

At the end of the day though, Hair is only part of the package - if done right it can add something to a character - Hawk and Animal were prime examples of this... if done wrong it can make a wrestler seem dumb - Curly Bulldog or Hogan's Blonde mullet/black beard/bald spot combo for example. One guy who REALLY should have just gone bald was Shawn... his hair has looked bad for years...

At the moment, the best all round image is probably Jericho's... he's a veteran guy who still looks very young compared to other guys near his age, easily someone who could sell a Wrestlemania main event.