Nova: Jim Cornette Blew A Gasket When I Got A Haircut Without Clearing It With Him

Nova recalls how Jim Cornette got upset when he cut his hair.

Nova recalls how Jim Cornette got upset when he cut his hair.

Nova, also known as Simon Dean and Mike Bucci, previously had prominent runs in ECW and WWE. Among other highlights, he was Hollywood Nova in the Blue World Order during his time in ECW.

In an interview with Fightful, Nova discussed getting his haircut in the early days of his WWE run, which was a stark departure from his previous look. He noted that he was doing dark matches, and some people in creative thought he looked similar to other wrestlers, so he decided to cut his hair. In doing so, he hoped to stand out and boost his chances of making it to the main roster. Nova then recalled how Jim Cornette got upset because he didn’t clear the haircut with him first.

“I always heard that, too. That’s funny you say that, the biggest blowback from that was I went up there doing dark matches. There were a couple of people creatively that maybe thought that I did look similar to other guys. I was like, ‘Well, I’m down to do whatever you guys want me to do. If you want me to cut my hair, or this or that, I don’t care what I do.’ I just wanted to get on the main roster. So I eventually cut it and I remember going back to Ohio Valley Wrestling and I remember Cornette blowing a gasket because I changed my look. He was like, ‘You know what? We should have done a haircut match. We could have done this, we could have done that,’ and we didn’t. So that was the biggest fallout of that, that I didn’t clear it with him first. But I wasn’t gonna tell them no,” Nova said.

Nova continued by noting that WWE told him to cut his hair, so he did. Years later, even as he has transitioned away from his wrestling career, he has maintained the short hairstyle. 

“I mean, I’m sitting there backstage in WWE and they’re telling me to cut my hair. There’s no way I’m not gonna do that. Then I went corporate and I’ve been short ever since,” Nova said.

Nova recently competed in his last match. More information is available here.

In the same interview, Nova discussed the RetroMania Wrestling game. Check out his comments here. [Update when the article is live]

Click here to see what Nova had to say about his post-wrestling transformation.