SmackDown Wrestler Says WWE Didn’t Allow Her To Use Her Natural Hair On TV

By AG

Posted on August 25, 2020

• ON THIS DAY IN WWF HISTORY (August 25, 1984) – WWF Superstars of Wrestling

On this day in 1984, the World Wrestling Federation aired an episode of their weekly TV show ‘WWF Superstars of Wrestling’.

This was the original third nationally syndicated show that later became known as “WWF Wrestling Spotlight” after the August 30, 1986 episode.

NOT to be confused with the famous weekly “WWF Superstars of Wrestling” TV show, that eventually took over WWF Championship Wrestling in September 1986 and ran until 1997 (before becoming a recap/highlights show that ran till 2001).

Here’s the match-card:

– Mad Dog Vachon vs. Scrub

– Jimmy Snuka vs. Rene Goulet

– Paul Orndorff vs. Scrub

• SmackDown Wrestler Says WWE Didn’t Allow Her To Use Her Natural Hair On TV

Former SmackDown Women’s Champion Naomi was a guest on the latest edition of New Day’s Feel The Power podcast.

She revealed that WWE didn’t want her to wear her natural hair when she debuted in 2009, about which she said:

“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.”