Naomi Reveals WWE Didn’t Want Her To Have Natural Hair At First

When Naomi returned at the Royal Rumble earlier this year, she did it with a different look. She returned with her natural hair, a decision that she had been looking forward to for a long time.

Naomi recently appeared on the New Day: Feel The Power podcast where she revealed that WWE told her they didn’t want her to have her natural hair when she debuted. Here is the full quote, courtesy of Fightful:

“It was a conscious decision. That’s something I’ve always been proud of and have always been aware of, to represent women like me, our culture, and our people. Not just being a feminist or being a woman, but also because I am black and I look the way I look and talk the way I talk, there are people who connect with me differently and identify with me because of those things. I remember when I first came in and I wanted to wear my natural hair and they were like, ‘We want you to look this way.’

I showed them an old picture and I had long, straight hair, and that’s the look they were wanting me to go with, I was like, ‘That’s fine, to get in the door and to get where I need to go, I’ll look the part and be the part, but once I make it, I’m going to be me.’ I finally feel like I got to that point of, ‘I don’t care, like it or don’t like it, I’m rocking my hair like this.’ With everything going on, that’s something I wanted to do, not just for myself, but for the culture, to show we’re beautiful. It was something that needed to be seen and done, a lot was said without being said.”

Naomi debuted on the original NXT back in 2010. She made it to the final two of the competition before losing out to Kaitlyn. Eventually, she made her way to the main roster as part of the Funkadactyls in 2012 and became a singles star years later.

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