5 Times Vince McMahon changed a WWE star's look before their debut

#3 Vince McMahon changed Lance Archer’s appearance

Vance Archer in WWE (left); Lance Archer in AEW (right)

After a five-month stint in WWE’s Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) developmental territory, Lance Archer (then known as Vance Archer) began performing for Vince McMahon’s revamped ECW brand in November 2009.

Archer, who now works for AEW, said on Chris Jericho’s Talk Is Jericho podcast in 2020 that he was waiting around with his opponent, Logan Jones, as well as Vince McMahon and John Laurinaitis, before his ECW debut.

Following a private conversation with Vince McMahon, Laurinaitis approached Archer and told him that he needed to cut his long hair and braided goatee.

“And all of a sudden, Johnny’s like, ‘Kid, come here.’ ‘What’s up, Johnny?’ ‘We’re cutting your hair.’ I was like, ‘Alright, on TV tonight?’ And he goes, ‘Yeah.’ I was like, ‘Alright.’ They literally took me to the hairdresser and she chopped my hair and they told them to shave my face and leave the jacket and all these different things.” [H/T 411mania]

Archer said he reluctantly went along with the haircut because he had heard horror stories about people, including Frankie Kazarian, who were let go from WWE after refusing to cut their hair.