AEW Star Reveals WWE Made Him Cut His Hair The Day Of His Debut

It was revealed last week that Vince McMahon really liked the beard on Lance Archer. Evidently he didn’t like it too much because Archer has revealed he was told to cut his hair and shave minutes before his WWE debut.

Archer told this story on Talk is Jericho, revealing McMahon and John Laurinaitis changed his whole look five minutes before doors opened for the show.

Here is the full quote, courtesy of Fightful:

“In FCW, you could be something, and when they brought you up, you could be completely different. That’s kind of what happened to me when I got brought up. I was in FCW for six months and they brought me up to ECW. Literally, I showed up with long hair, a braided goatee, and a big ass biker jacket. Five minutes before doors open; it’s me, the guy I’m beating up, Vince [McMahon], and Johnny Ace [John Laurinaitis].

All of a sudden, Johnny calls me over and is like, ‘Kid, we’re cutting your hair.’ ‘Alright, am I on TV tonight?’ ‘Yeah.’ They literally took me to the hairdresser, they chopped my hair and told them to shave my face and leave the jacket. I was still getting the opportunity, but everything I created in my mind as an identity was taken away. It is on me to go, ‘Alright, the ball is in my court,’ but then they take it away five minutes before doors open and yell ‘Go!’

Sometimes, they bring guys up and throw them on a house show loop. That wasn’t my case. I literally got called, ‘Hey, we need you on TV this week.’ I didn’t know what was going on and it wasn’t until the morning of and Joey Styles was there like, ‘We’ll get the info for your bio tonight.’ Okay, I guess I’m debuting. Nobody told me anything.”

McMahon had an interesting reaction to the change in appearance.

“When they took me to Vince, they’re like, ‘Vince, is this okay?’ He goes, ‘We’re gonna break you down to build you up.’ ‘Okay, you like it?’ ‘Yes, now get out.’ Alright, see you later.”

This has been an issue with a number of stars over the years. They will be packaged one way in developmental and then completely changed on the main roster. The Ascension comes to mind.

What do you think of the look of Lance Archer? Let us know on Twitter!

• Lance Archer
• Vince McMahon
• AEW
• wwe

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