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You only need to scroll through a list of current WWE Superstars to notice that many of the male performers on RAW and SmackDown have changed their appearances over the last decade by growing beards.
In-ring talent obviously plays a big role in how far someone will progress in the pro wrestling/sports entertainment industry, but it is just as important for WWE Superstars to create compelling characters and interesting looks if they are to connect with audiences all around the world.
Daniel Bryan’s beard even became the focus of a storyline in 2013 when Vince McMahon ordered him to shave his facial hair if he ever wanted the WWE Chairman’s backing to win the WWE Championship.
“The Leader of the Yes Movement” was one of the few WWE Superstars who sported a beard at the time, so it made sense for his unique appearance to be brought up by his boss on television. Nowadays, however, there are bearded Superstars up and down on almost every match card that WWE produces.
With that in mind, let’s count down 10 WWE Superstars to find out what they look like without their famous beards.
#10 Sheamus (WWE SmackDown)
Prior to joining WWE in 2007, the majority of Sheamus’ matches took place in Ireland and the United Kingdom.
He competed for Irish Whip Wrestling between 2004-2005, winning the promotion’s World Heavyweight Championship on two occasions, and a DVD of his best moments with the company was even released.
The picture above, taken from the DVD Irish Whip Wrestling: The Best Of S.O.S. - Sheamus O'Shaunessy, shows the Irishman as a fresh-faced rookie in his mid-20s.
During this time, he was involved in title rivalries with D’Lo Brown and Drew Galloway (now known as Drew McIntyre), but it was clear that he would go on to achieve much greater things in his career.
Sheamus has had facial hair throughout his WWE run, and long-term WWE viewers will know that he has never been one to take his appearance too seriously. After all, this is a man who returned to WWE television in 2015 with a mohawk and braids in his beard, prompting chants of “You look stupid! You look stupid!” from the WWE Universe.
Sheamus appeared to enjoy the chants and he often signalled for fans to raise their voices even louder.
#9 Elias (WWE SmackDown)
Elias’ hair has not exactly undergone a drastic change throughout his wrestling career, but his facial hair definitely has. Formerly known as Logan Shulo on the independent scene, Elias (real name Jeffrey Sciullo) was rejected by WWE on four occasions before signing with the company in 2014.
The picture above is from a 2012 promo ahead of two International Wrestling Cartel (IWC) matches that Elias was set to have against Michael Facade and Jimmy Demarco. As you can see, the up-and-comer had a very different look compared to the beard that he has sported in NXT and WWE.
The man himself set his sights on joining WWE from the start of his wrestling career, which began in 2008, and he made it clear that he would do whatever it took on the independent scene until he finally received a WWE offer.
“I made my mind up a long time ago that this is where I wanted to be. I wanted to be at the top of this, being the main guy. I’ve still got a way to go but, yes, once I started training independently, I said, ‘How do I get to WWE?’” [H/T The National]
WWE Superstars often mention in media interviews how they were told to grow their hair by the higher-ups within WWE. In this case, it appears that Elias chose to grow a beard.
#8 Aleister Black (WWE RAW)
If you search for Tommy End on YouTube, it will not take long to find old footage of Aleister Black before he made his way to WWE.
Black (real name Tom Budgen) worked for promotions all around the world between 2002 and 2016, meaning he was already somewhat of a veteran before he signed with WWE and joined the NXT roster in early 2017.
“The Dutch Destroyer” went on to have a huge amount of success in NXT, winning the NXT Championship in 2018, before moving to both the WWE RAW and WWE SmackDown rosters in 2019.
When you think of Black’s unique look, his tattoos are probably the first thing that come to mind. However, interviews from his pre-WWE days show that the dark and mysterious Superstar did not have much facial hair, if any, before he joined Vince McMahon’s company.
The picture above comes from an interview that Black took part in alongside his tag team partner at the time, Michael Dante, with wrestling promotion HCW Hungary. You can check it out here.
#7 The Big Show (WWE RAW)
Unlike some of the names in this list, regular WWE viewers are likely to have seen The Big Show with and without facial hair throughout his legendary WWE career.
The 7-footer had a goatee for most of his time in WWE before he decided to grow a full beard in 2013.
In fact, you might even remember that his first televised appearance with the beard came as an analyst on the Payback 2013 kickoff show.
Why would that be memorable? Well, during The Big Show’s appearance as a kickoff show analyst, the WWE Universe was so taken aback by his new facial hair that #BigShowsBeard became a hashtag during the first hour of the pay-per-view!
As you can see above, The Big Show had a fresh-faced look for his steel cage match against Braun Strowman on an episode of RAW in September 2017.
Show spent one year away from the ring after this match, allowing him time to undergo hip surgery and, perhaps more importantly, grow his beard back!
#6 Otis (WWE SmackDown)
Before joining WWE, Otis was a pretty big deal in the amateur wrestling world. Like Tommy End/Aleister Black, you can find interviews with the man behind the Otis character if you type his real name – Nikola Bogojevic – into a search engine.
The picture above is from an interview that Otis gave to GoThunderWolves in 2015, one year before he officially signed with WWE. Check out the full video here.
Otis actually mentioned WWE during the interview and made it clear that he loved the theatrical side of sports entertainment when he used to watch as a child.
“When I was a kid, I saw these larger-than-life personalities. I saw ‘Macho Man’ Randy Savage and this was not even when he was wrestling, just commentating on RAW... That’s what I don’t get sometimes when people don’t like pro wrestling. It’s like, ‘Look at that guy, how can you not wanna be those guys?’”
Not only has Otis since become a WWE Superstar, as well as the 2020 Money in the Bank winner, but he now has a classic WWE beard to go along with his over-the-top persona.
#5 Braun Strowman (WWE SmackDown)
If Braun Strowman competed 20-30 years ago, kayfabe-breaking pictures of him would probably never have been available to WWE fans.
Nowadays, though, sports entertainment is a different industry and WWE is a different company to how it has been in decades gone by, which means the likes of Strowman can post about their personal lives on social media without damaging their menacing on-screen personas.
In 2018, “The Monster Among Men” took to Instagram to share the beardless picture at the top of this page. He asked his followers whether or not they liked him without facial hair and revealed that he grew his beard because he thinks he looks like a child if he is clean-shaven.
For the sake of Strowman’s WWE career, it is a good job that he had a beard at the time that he was recruited to The Wyatt Family in 2015.
Would WWE have allowed a facial hair-free Strowman to join three bearded Superstars – Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper and Erick Rowan – as part of The Wyatt Family? Maybe, but maybe not!
#4 Bray Wyatt (WWE SmackDown)
Bray Wyatt has tidied up his facial hair ever since he returned to WWE television as the “Firefly Fun House” version of his character in April 2019. Prior to that, “The Eater of Worlds” had a much, dare we say, scruffier beard during his days with The Wyatt Family.
In 2016, Wyatt even discussed the importance of beard maintenance during an interview with News Leader. He said his long beard was very similar to Braun Strowman’s at the time, but it would have been even longer had it not been for Chris Jericho.
“I’ve had it maybe four to five years now. Chris Jericho ripped a big chunk out of the middle, maybe a couple years ago, four to five inches. It would be maybe much longer than it is. But you gotta go with anything the Amish people produce as far as beard oils, or my main man Big Gene Snitsky has a beard oil that’s very, very good. You gotta take care of this thing, because it’s on your face. That’s just what it is, man. That’s on you.”
Wyatt appeared without much facial hair in the early years of his WWE career, most notably during his time on the NXT game show and as part of The Nexus.
#3 Drew McIntyre (WWE RAW)
Every time 10-year challenges gain traction on social media, you can guarantee that Drew McIntyre’s decade-long transformation will be posted by WWE fans or even by the man himself.
During McIntyre’s first spell with WWE between 2007 and 2014, he did not have anywhere near as much facial hair as he does now. As you can see above, he was completely clean-shaven for many of those seven years.
There was once a time when the Scot tried to mix up his look by growing a beard, but the reaction he received from The Undertaker was not very positive.
“When I tried to grow a beard for the first time, he said, ‘I’ve got more hair on my a** than you’ve got on your face, boy.’” [H/T Lilian Garcia’s Chasing Glory podcast]
With or without facial hair, somebody with McIntyre’s talent and determination was bound to be successful after his 2017 return to WWE, but his current look is certainly a big improvement compared to his 3MB days.
#2 Jinder Mahal (WWE RAW)
Speaking of 3MB, Jinder Mahal had a short beard for most of his run alongside Drew McIntyre and Heath Slater in the three-man group. However, he did not have any facial hair when he debuted on WWE television in 2011.
Back then, the man who went on to become “The Modern Day Maharaja” was involved in a storyline which saw him attempt to bring a more serious side out of The Great Khali.
Ironically, Mahal’s character also ended up going down the comedy route in 2012 before he was released from his WWE contract in 2014, separating 3MB in the process.
Mahal returned to WWE in 2016 and, like McIntyre, he established himself as one of the top guys on the roster by winning the WWE Championship from Randy Orton at the 2017 Backlash pay-per-view.
Since his return, Mahal has had facial hair and a completely different physique compared to his initial run with WWE.
Looking through the roster, there are few Superstars in current-day WWE who have transformed their appearance as much as Mahal over the last decade.
#1 Daniel Bryan (WWE SmackDown)
How can an article about bearded WWE Superstars not end with Daniel Bryan?
The popular Superstar had short hair and no facial hair after he signed with WWE in 2009, but that all changed in 2012 when he began to grow out his beard and hair.
As mentioned in the introduction to this article, Vince McMahon’s villainous Mr. McMahon character even tried to get Bryan to shave his beard off as part of a “Corporate Makeover” on an August 2013 episode of RAW. Bryan refused and the segment ended with him shaving off part of Wade Barrett’s beard instead.
In October 2013, Bryan told The Pitch that he did not originally plan to grow both his beard and hair.
"No. Absolutely not. I just started growing my beard because I was tired of shaving. Then I kept growing it, so I could grow out the hair on the top of my head. When you have a shaved head and you start growing out your hair, it goes through that awkward stage. I was like, 'If I keep growing out my beard, nobody's even going to notice that I'm growing out my hair.'"
He added that nobody even noticed the “awkward stage” that his hair went through because people were so focused on his beard.
One of Samoa Joe's colleagues had harsh words for him HERE
