2022 USA Mullet Championships: Meet the finalists and their fitting names

Epic Orta, Rustin Alphin, and Landry Turpin are just some of the 25 finalists competing in this year’s USA Mullet Championships

There are three unalienable rights granted in the United States: life, liberty, and the pursuit of mullets.

The business in the front, party in the back hairstyle gained popularity in the 1980s for its rebellious look, and was worn by celebrities from David Bowie to Kurt Russell to even Florence Henderson from The Brady Bunch. The iconic mullet made a comeback in 2020 as salons closed their doors and forced people to DIY their own hair during lockdown. The mullet has become such a mainstay in American culture that now there’s even a competition for it.

The USA Mullet Championships selected its finalists in the kids and teens categories earlier this week, and online voters can decide who wins the honour of best mullet before polls close on Friday, 19 August.

The mullet contest to end all mullet contests began in 2020 as an adult competition to market a local men’s shop in Michigan, according to event organisers. To compete for the best mullet, contestants paid a $10 entry fee which will be donated to the Michigan Wig Foundation for kids, CBS reported. The winner of this year’s USA Mullet Championships will also take home a $2,500 prize.

Among the 25 finalists selected in the kids and teens categories, contestants sported a wide range of mullet hairstyles, with American flags shaved into the sides and curly locks reaching down their back.

But it wasn’t just the contestants’ dedication to the shag that caught the attention of social media. Their names seemed very fitting too. One Twitter user went viral on Tuesday when they shared pictures of four Mullet Championship finalists, along with their elite names: Rustin Alphin, Landry Turpin, William Dale Ramsey, and Epic Orta.

Soon enough, the rest of the country was casting their votes for this year’s mullet champion.

“We support Big Willy in this house,” one person said.

“Rustin is the clear winner here,” another user chimed in. “That is the perfect mullet. Classic form. Landry is trying too hard. William has something else going on. Epic has a great mullet, and he should sign back up next year.”

“Rustin has a perfect mullet no doubt, but Epic is exuding pure mullet energy from his very being,” argued someone else. “Mullets are 50 per cent style and 60 per cent attitude and Epic is the mullet personified. I mean he has two pairs of gas station sunglasses.”

Even actor and comedian David Spade, who rocked a mullet in the 2001 film Joe Dirt, casted his vote. “They all look like winners to me,” he said.

Who should win the 2022 USA Mullet Championships? Vote here.