In 2002, a decision was made by Vince McMahon for Kurt Angle to go bald.

However, before the decision was made, Angle revealed that McMahon chose to have some fun with another wrestler.

Before the moment where Angle’s head was shaved, the Olympic Gold Medalist defeated Edge at WWE Backlash in 2002 in the first match of their rivalry.

The pair were scheduled to go head-to-head at the next PPV Judgement Day in a “Hair vs. Hair match.” 

At first, it looked as if McMahon’s plan was to have the almost-bald Angle lose to the full-head of hair Edge, but Angle revealed that wasn’t always the plan.

Speaking on ‘The Kurt Angle Show', he revealed that Vince originally wanted to play a joke on Edge, having the WWE Superstar positioned to lose the match, putting fear into his head of losing his long hair. 

Angle explained how Vince played the joke on Edge for the entire build to their match at Judgement Day, letting him know at the last second that Angle would ultimately be getting his head shaved instead.

Edge & Kurt Angle

“Vince pulled me into his office and he said, ‘Listen, we’re going to have another match with Edge at the next pay per view. I want Edge to go over, starting to push him really good and I want to make him a huge star. But, what we’re going to do is we’re going to have a hair vs. hair match and Edge is going to shave your head. You’re going bald anyway, your receding so I’m doing you a favour.’ That’s what he said to me.

“So he said, ‘But don’t tell Edge, don’t tell him because I have something planned for him.’ And I didn’t understand what he meant but he said, ‘Please don’t say a word to anybody.’ … We get to the pay-per-view and Vince sits us both down and he says, ‘Listen, we have a hair vs. hair match tonight and Angle, you’re going over. You’re going to shave Edge’s head.’

“And Edge was like, ‘Uhhh, holy s***.’ He couldn’t believe it.

"After the meeting, he came to me and said, ‘Hey Kurt, I’m a little nervous about getting my head shaved because my head isn’t shaped right.’ He said, ‘It’s not going to look good bald.’ And the thing is, Vince kept this from him, he pulled a prank on him up until right before we went out to compete, to perform. And at the last second, he said, ‘Edge I’m just kidding, you’re going to shave Kurt’s head. Change the finish now.’

"We literally had two minutes to change the finish and we went out there, so Vince pulled a rib on Edge. It was awesome and it was one of the funniest things I have ever seen.”

Angle went on to explain that Edge was terrified of the prospect of losing his hair. 

“He was up in the rafters of the arena with a boo-boo face all day,” Angle said. “He didn’t want to talk to anybody, he was trying to convince himself that everything would be okay if his head was shaved bald. That’s what he was trying to do, it was just really funny. It was the funniest prank I ever pulled on anyone.”