Molly Holly Had To Shave Her Head To Wrestle At WWE WrestleMania
Molly Holly made history by becoming the first woman to get her head shaved as part of a stipulation in WWE. The infamous moment came at WrestleMania 20 during a Women’s Championship match between Molly and Victoria. A lot of interesting backstage layers added to this story when looking back at what caused a hair vs title match on the biggest stage.
WWE witnessed multiple changes to the women’s division, causing concern for the title not being on the WrestleMania 20 card. Holly getting her head shaved ended up being a must for the women to get true representation on the biggest night of the year. The following story dictates why Molly lost her hair to help the women’s division out and get herself on the card.
WWE Did Not Have Plans For The Women's Championship At WrestleMania 20
The most interesting thing about the Molly Holly vs Victoria backstory for WrestleMania 20 was how much they had to fight to get on the card. WWE used to be hit or miss when it came to defending the Women’s Championship at WrestleMania. Trish Stratus being involved from 2002-2006 saw WrestleMania 20 as the only year in that time frame where she wasn’t in the Women’s Championship match on the biggest stage.
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WWE had Stratus in a bigger storyline with Chris Jericho and Christian around this time. The big plan for Trish to turn on Jericho for Christian took her out of the title picture. Lita was the second biggest female name, but she was dealing with minor injuries at that time. Molly Holly was coming off a strong title reign before dropping the belt to Victoria.
Both women were still the main names involved in the Women’s Championship program. WWE didn’t feel Holly and Victoria had the star power and was going to have them miss the card. The eye candy evening gown match of Sable and Torrie Wilson vs Stacy Keibler and Miss Jackie was meant to be the only women’s match until Molly took a big risk.
Molly Holly Took A Risk To Help The Women's Division
Trish Stratus and Lita both playing face characters for quite some time made Molly Holly the top women’s heel in early 2004. Jazz’s push slowing down and Victoria getting a face push made Molly’s work more important as a rare women’s division talent who got actual heat. Holly felt that it would be a missed opportunity in her career to not take part on the WrestleMania 20 show as the top contender.
The bigger reason for Molly pitching a rare idea here was not just helping herself benefit from her great heel heat, but she wanted to ensure the Women’s Championship was represented on the biggest stage. Holly revealed that she was the one to pitch losing her hair to get on the card:
"It was just pretty much, they said they weren't going to have a Women's Title match at WrestleMania, they said there was no room for it. I was like, 'drastic times call for drastic measures.' I made a plan, I had a whole book, I took photos of myself in a bald cap, I wrote a few storylines, all including major stars to help build me up."
Vince McMahon, Stephanie McMahon, Brian Gewirtz and Ed Koskey all showed excitement for the pitch and agreed to book it.
Molly Holly Vs Victoria Was An Underrated Match And Storyline
WWE didn’t give enough time to the Molly Holly vs Victoria storyline to get talked about much all these years later, but it was still an underrated concept. The hair vs title match was a long tradition in wrestling for decades with WWE rarely using it. Molly was the first woman to have this storyline play out in a major promotion and on their biggest event.
WrestleMania 20 was considered a massively successful night, even more so for taking place in WWE’s home venue Madison Square Garden. Molly spent months playing a dastardly heel that fans wanted to see get embarrassed for all her evil actions towards face characters.
Holly shared that she also wanted Victoria to benefit from the win since Victoria had just turned face with minimal character development. Both ladies creating enough of a desire for fans to root for the face and against the heel made the story work. Victoria defeated Molly in an underrated match and received a huge pop for shaving the heel’s head afterwards. Holly deserves the most credit for her creative pitch and unselfish nature to help the women's division get on the card.
