Booker T was not going to lose his hair without a fight.
The WWE Superstar wrestled Edge at WrestleMania X8, in one of the silliest feuds in WWE history. The two men battled over a shampoo commercial. Edge stole the chance to be the face of a Japanese shampoo brand from under Booker T’s nose.
It was hardly the makings of a blood feud, but it gave a decent reason for the pair to face off at WrestleMania. The match was supposed to reference that fact and be a “Hair vs Hair match”, but Booker T refused to have his hair cut at WrestleMania.
Booker T spoke with Chris Van Vliet about his match with Edge. He said there was nothing they could have done to make him cut his hair, and Edge felt the same.
“I wouldn’t want to cut my hair at that time for anything”
“It was one of those things where we had to do something because the match actually was supposed to be a hair match. It was supposed to be I cut my hair or Edge was gonna cut his hair. That was what they approached us with at first. At least they approached me with that. I don’t know if they approached Edge with that, but they approached me with it. The first thing I said was ‘Is Edge cutting his hair? Because I’m not cutting mine.’”
“I just grew out my dreads. And I really had become attached to them. I think they could have fired me before I cut my hair. I wouldn’t want to cut my hair at that time for anything. They couldn’t give me a big enough payoff to cut my hair at that time. They couldn’t have just told me to do it, so they squashed it and then they came up with this idea of a shampoo commercial because Edge wasn’t cutting his hair. It still was a moment, I look back on it and it was cool working Edge more than anything.”
One part of the match they couldn’t figure out was Edge doing Booker T’s famous Spinaroonie. Booker said Edge couldn’t do the move, despite trying his best before the show.
“He was all bruised up trying to do the Spinaroonie”
Booker T reflected on the match during an interview with WrestleZone Managing Editor Bill Pritchard. Booker was asked if he ever thought about trying to market a shampoo himself since product endorsements are more common today.
“It’s something I did think about for a second, especially since I have the long hair. It was crazy, most of the white guys, back then, had long hair and I had short hair, and now they’re bald and I got long hair. [laughs] So, it’s something that I thought about, but that was a WrestleMania moment, for me, with Edge. But I’ll tell you, behind the scenes, I think, I didn’t take that match as seriously as I should have because of what we were competing for.
“I didn’t think about that, with Edge, that could’ve been my WrestleMania moment. I think Edge was worried about doing the Spinaroonie more than anything, so he was practicing all day and he couldn’t do it,” Booker noted. “He had strawberries from the bruises all over his back from doing it all day, he was all bruised up trying to do the Spinaroonie. But I do remember that as a great time and it was in his hometown.”
