Vince McMahon made the decision for Kurt Angle to go bald, becoming “The Wrestling Machine” and a Hall of Fame career. But before that decision was made, McMahon had chosen to have some fun with another wrestler who he knew would do well under those circumstances.
With the two scheduled to face at the next pay-per-view, pay per view, World Wrestling Entertainment Judgement Day 2002 in a “Half Head vs. Full head of hair” match, McMahon’s plan all along was to have Angle lose the almost-bald half head and have Edge win, but that wasn’t always the plan.
Speaking on a recent episode of The Kurt Angle Show, WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle revealed that Vince McMahon originally wanted to play a joke on Edge. McMahon had the WWE superstar positioned to lose the match and put fear into his head of losing his long hair. Angle detailed how Vince played the joke on Edge for the entire build to their match at Judgment Day, letting him know at the last second that he would ultimately be getting his head shaved instead.
Vince pulled me into his office and he said, ‘Listen, we’re going to have another match with Edge at the next pay per view. I want Edge to go over, starting to push him really good and I want to make him a huge star. But, what we’re going to do is we’re going to have a hair vs. hair match and Edge is going to shave your head. You’re going bald anyway, your receding so I’m doing you a favor.’ That’s what he said to me,” Angle mentioned. “So he said, ‘But don’t tell Edge, don’t tell him because I have something planned for him.’ And I didn’t understand what he meant but he said, ‘Please don’t say a word to anybody.’ … We get to the pay-per-view and Vince sits us both down and he says, ‘Listen, we have a hair vs. hair match tonight and Angle, you’re going over. You’re going to shave Edge’s head.’
“And Edge was like, ‘Uhhh, holy sh**.’ He couldn’t believe it. After the meeting, he came to me and said, ‘Hey Kurt, I’m a little nervous about getting my head shaved because my head isn’t shaped right.’ He said, ‘It’s not going to look good bald.’ And the thing is, Vince kept this from him, he pulled a prank on him up until right before we went out to compete, to perform. And at the last second, he said, ‘Edge I’m just kidding, you’re going to shave Kurt’s head. Change the finish now.’ We literally had two minutes to change the finish and we went out there, so Vince pulled a rib on Edge. It was awesome and it was one of the funniest things I have ever seen.”
Angle continued talking about their match and how terrified Edge was of losing his hair, and what he did to cope with the situation.
“He was up in the rafters of the arena with a boo-boo face all day,” Angle said. “He didn’t want to talk to anybody, he was trying to convince himself that everything would be okay if his head was shaved bald. That’s what he was trying to do, it was just really funny. It was the funniest prank I ever pulled on anyone.”
Edge, the creator of two factions of the WWE, is serving as the leader of a new faction called “Judgment Day” which may be a nod to the old pay-per-view when Edge almost lost his hair. Additionally, Edge has also announced that he is changing his hairstyle as part of his current persona. Out of six people teased to join him, WWE Hall of Famers Edge and Rhea Ripley are the only confirmed official members.
