Dan Severn Hid This From Vince McMahon When Signing With WWE

Dan Severn was a master of many things when it came to his decades-long fighting career. But when it came time for WWF to sign him to a contract in the 1990s, the former MMA champion said in a recent interview that his sly approach to not fully revealing his age is what allowed him to slip into the locker room.

After more than a decade of amateur wrestling and MMA, including what became a Hall of Fame career in the early days of UFC, Dan Severn shifted to the world of professional wrestling. He was nearly 40 years old at the time he signed with WWF in 1997, yet, despite holding the NWA World Heavyweight Championship at the time, he knew that such a deal would have never come to fruition if Vince McMahon knew the truth about one thing. 

"I knew that Vince did not know how old I was," Severn, now 64, recently told Sportskeeda's "WrestleBinge." "If Vince McMahon knew how old I was, he probably wouldn't have been interested in me, because I was way past the age that he normally would've invested into talent. He literally found out the day the contract had just got signed."

Severn, who said he'd been coloring his hair since his early 30s to mask his graying, recalled that once McMahon found out his age, the WWF owner asked Jim Ross who was the company's oldest rookie ever. Ross replied that it was Severn, who they had just signed.

The NWA Hall of Famer enjoyed a healthy run in WWF before leaving in 1999. However, he has continued to step into the squared circle to wrestle in decades since his exit, winning 14 championships throughout his career and being inducted into the Halls of Fame of three different promotions.