A WWE star’s appearance is hugely tied into their on-screen persona and marketing opportunities, so it makes sense that when he was the man in charge of the roster, Vince McMahon wanted to be asked permission before any stars made drastic changes to their outward presentation.
From the time he debuted on WWE’s main roster in 2010 as part of The Nexus, Heath Slater had long red hair. However, in 2015, he made the decision to cut his hair short after separating from Slater Gator partner Titus O’Neil.
Speaking in a new interview with WSI, Slater spoke about the decision to cut his iconic locks and revealed that Vince McMahon wasn’t thrilled with him taking the step without a discussion first.
“I just straight up told him. I said, ‘Vince, I was done with the long hair. I had it for years. It ran its course. I just want something different.’ I guess he understood. He was like, ‘You ever do anything drastic like that again, you gotta let me know first.’ I said, ‘Yeah, totally, sorry, my bad.'”
Heath Slater Said Vince McMahon’s WWE Weren’t Utilizing Him When He Decided To Cut His Hair
Continuing, Slater, real name Heath Miller, explained that the company wasn’t doing much with him at the time he decided to cut his hair and he decided it was time for a change.
“Man, they weren’t doing nothing with me anyway at the time. My career is legit a rollercoaster ride. I’m on the highest of highs and I was on the lowest of lows. That was a time when I was at the lowest of lows. No one’s doing much with me. I’m just doing BS matches that don’t matter, and I said, ‘You know what, scr*w this, man, I’m just gonna change it up.'”
Following the WWE Draft in 2016, Slater would once again find himself used on regular programming when he began a free agent gimmick as he wasn’t drafted to either Raw or SmackDown. He eventually earned a SmackDown contract when he and tag team partner Rhyno won the SmackDown Tag Team Championship in somewhat of a Cinderella story. The pairing continued until Rhyno left the company in 2020, and Slater was released from his contract in July of 2021.
h/t Sportskeeda