The Hair of Jericho: Cut it off, maaan!
It’s not exactly breaking news that WWE Superstar and Fozzy frontman Chris Jericho cut off his trademark long, golden locks and now sports a higher-and-tighter look — after all, that happened, like, 10 years ago. Well, TheWrap wanted to talk about hair anyway with the United States Champion when we caught up with him last week, so we did.
This reporter asked the heavy metal singer and Codebreaker delivery machine whether it was weirder for his on-stage career or the in-ring one when he ditched the classic rocker and wrestler look. Don’t waste one more decade without finding out the answer, just scroll down.
“I think in the mid-90s when [Metallica singer] James Hetfield and [Iron Maiden’s] Bruce Dickinson cut their hair, it was a huge outrage,” Jericho began in what turned into a detailed response. (You can tell he’s thought deeply on the topic.) “Then you realized, ‘Well, if those guys cut their hair, how rock ‘n’ roll is long hair now?”
“At the point when I cut it, it was like, ‘Well, the only people that have long hair are older wrestlers,’” he continued, citing Shawn Michaels and Triple H as some of the last living legends to hold on to the look. The former Hunter Hearst Helmsley now has a shorn skull; Michaels is hanging onto his mane for dear life.
“It was probably a little bit weirder for wrestling because it was so associated [with the sport] — the way your body looks when you have longer hair,” Jericho went on. “Music, I think, is probably much smarter, more contemporary, more stylish.”
“It was kinda cool having long hair once in a while, when you’re head-banging or something like that. But it was time to cut it after 20-odd years of having it,” the “I Am Jericho” podcast host added. “Plus, I live in Florida — so when you live in the humidity, it just kills your hair. It makes it super curly and you’re wearing it in a ponytail all the time, and it just looked stupid.”
He added: “The funny thing is, I made the same mistake most guys do when they cut their hair. You can’t go from long to short, so you have that uncomfortable middle stage, which is the worst of them all… I think it was WrestleMania 20 maybe; I was working [with then-WWE wrestler] Christian; I had this bowl-cut, shoulder-length hair. It was like, ‘It just doesn’t work. Get rid of it, man.’”
Catch Jericho’s trim dome tonight at 8 p.m. on USA Network’s “Monday Night Raw” and Sunday at 7/6c on the WWE Network for WrestleMania 33. At ‘Mania, the self-described “Greatest of All Time” will put his title on the line versus former “best friend” Kevin Owens.