10 Wrestling Facts We Didn’t Know Last Week (Oct 19)

3. Hulk Hogan Wanted AJ Styles To Bleach His Hair

AJ Styles, Ric Flair
ImpactWrestling.com

As aforementioned, Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff brought a major sea change to the way TNA operated when they joined in late-2009. By the following year, the product was almost unrecognisable, and stalwarts such as AJ Styles were pushed into new roles. Namely, they tried to make AJ the second coming of Ric Flair.

Woooooo-oops. Yeah, it didn't work, and that's not AJ's fault.

Vince Russo, then a creative mind for the company, told this week on his Truth With Consequences podcast that Hulk wanted to go further with the Styles experiment. Not content to have Flair talk up AJ in promos or accompany him to the ring, he was the one who pushed for Styles to wear 'Nature Boy' robes and start saying 'Woo'.

It could've been worse though, because Hogan also wanted AJ to bleach his hair blonde like Flair always had. Russo-isms should always be taken with a pinch of salt, and yet this is totally believable. No wonder AJ wasn't exactly happy looking during that spell.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.