WWF Tough Enough 2: (Re)Introducing Trainer Al Snow

Al Snow (Allan Sarven) grew up in Lima, Ohio, (also home of Beanie the Lima Bean) where he became a wrestling fan at age 14. As soon as he was old enough, he started looking for wrestling schools. He sold his 1968 Dodge Monaco to go to tryouts at the Anderson brothers’ camp, but he was told by the Andersons that he would never make it. He was trained by Jim Lancaster, Lima-based promoter of Midwest Championship Wrestling.

Al wrestled various independent promotions for 10 years, and finally found a home in the Smokey Mountain promotion, one of the larger independents in the late-80’s to early 90’s. During this time he wrestled mostly tag team matches and won various championships with different partners. His biggest success came with a wrestler named “Unabomb” against the Rock ‘n’ Roll Express

In ‘real life’ he owned a gym and trained quite a few potential wrestlers. Al was one of Dan Severn’s trainers when Dan competed in the fourth Ultimate Fighting Championship (a competition where ‘real fighters’ from various martial arts disciplines compete in a single-elimination tournament). Al had the best line of the night, after a boneheaded reporter asked Dan after a match if he was going to go back to the dressing room and rest up for his next fight. Al snapped, on mike, “No, he’s going to go back and tire himself out by having sex.”

When Smokey Mountain Wrestling went out of business in 1995, Al had the opportunity to join the WWF. His early gimmicks were, to put it mildly, not huge successes. He wrestled as the masked Avatar (a superhero character) and Shinobi the ninja, as well as in a tag team (as ‘Leif Cassidy’) called ‘The New Rockers’ with wrestler Marty Janetty at various points over the next two years. Whatever Al’s character, he remained a jobber, a wrestler who ‘does the job’ of losing to the more successful wrestlers.

In 1997, Al asked to be sent to ECW (Extreme Championship Wrestling), an independent promotion that was in financial partnership with the WWF. ECW was, in a word, extreme, introducing a faster-paced, more violent “Hardcore” style to the world of wrestling. Unfortunately, Al remained a jobber until one fateful night, when he was introduced to…Head.

Head was simply a mannequin head that one of the other wrestlers had used as a weapon that night (did I mention they were extreme?). Al started to come out for interviews carrying Head, claiming that his past gimmicks had driven him crazy and he was now taking career advice directly from Head (who of course only Al could hear). Sometimes he would consult Head during a match; more frequently Al would just whack the other guy upside the head with Her. He also would write "Help Me” backwards (so that it could be read in a mirror) on his and Head’s foreheads.

The fans absolutely LOVED it. Al became one of the most popular wrestlers in ECW until finally one night he pinned ECW Champion Shane Douglas in a tag team match on Pay-Per-View, which earned Al a Title match at the next PPV event. Al lost, but the new gimmick had gotten the attention of the WWF and Al was again called up to wrestle in the “big leagues.”

His return did not make a huge splash, even with the Head gimmick. So he started the J.O.B. Squad along with fellow jobbers “Spark Plug” Bob Holly (you can find Bob’s bio on the site tomorrow), The Blue Meanie (an overweight wrestler with blue hair), Flash Funk (who danced a lot. Really), and Gillberg (a pale, scrawny imitation of WCW’s Goldberg). Then, the WWF created the Hardcore Division.

The Hardcore Division was the WWF’s answer to ECW’s popularity. It mimicked ECW’s more violent matches, only with less lethal weapons and less blood. Al seemed to be a perfect fit and became known as the Crown Prince of Hardcore. He began an eight-month series of matches and angles that contained some of the best and worst ideas the WWF ever had.

One feud involved Head being “pierced” with a railroad spike by Prince Albert, as piercing was Albert’s gimmick. Trying to find a replacement for Head, Al ‘befriended’ a one-eyed stuffed moose named Pierre. Pierre “died” after being destroyed by Bob Holly after Pierre won the Hardcore title from Head. No, I can’t make this stuff up. In any case, it was all worth it as Al’s eulogy for Pierre, where he produced a box full of Pierre’s favorite things, like his Sammy Davis Junior albums and Columbo collection (if you don’t get it, ask your parents) was one of the funniest single interview segments ever on Raw.

On the other side of the coin, there was Pepper. A live Chihuahua, Pepper became Al’s newest confidant until the Big Bossman stole Pepper from ringside as Al was wrestling a match. On the bright side, this led to one of Al’s best practical jokes ever. Al held up a poster, featuring a picture of Pepper and a phone number, with the message “Have you seen me? Call” the number. As it turned out, the phone number was Val Venis’ cell phone, and many hours passed by before he realized how so many WWF fans learned his personal cell phone number.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t the end. Big Bossman promised to return Pepper to Al, but instead fed him a meal supposedly made from the remains of Pepper. Of course, the dog was fine, but that didn’t stop many letters of protest from rolling in and fans declaring it to be a horrible angle… hard to swallow, if you will.

No, this STILL wasn’t the end. After a “doggy bag on a pole” match proved inconclusive, Al challenged Bossman to a “Kennel from Hell” match. A cage would surround the ring itself, with attack dogs outside the ring. They would be contained by a larger cage with a roof. The winner would be the first one to escape from both cages.

The loser turned out to be the fans, as Jim Ross himself called the match “bowling shoe ugly” and it was voted worst match of the year. The dogs were more concerned with urinating everywhere and, in one case, humping each other. The dogs were controlled by handlers, which made the ‘attack dog’ aspect null and void. Besides, Bossman is an atrocious wrestler to begin with.

It should be noted that Mick Foley presents this match as one of his five favorites on his Hard Knocks and Cheap Pops DVD. It is contained on the DVD as a bonus match, with commentary by Kevin Kelley and Foley himself to further humiliate Snow. The DVD also covers the Snow-Foley feud mentioned below, so I would highly recommend it for Foley fans AND Snow fans.

After a period of ‘recovery’ Al became involved in a storyline with his real-life friend Mick Foley and then-WWF Champion and current movie star The Rock. After Mick ‘turned his back on him’ in favor of the Rock, Al tried to find a partner to get even with them. Eventually, he found success in the odd-couple pairing of “The Crown Prince of Hardcore” Al Snow and the “Lethal Weapon” Steve Blackman. Al christened the team “Head Cheese,” due to Blackman’s supposed (according to Al, anyway) fondness for cheese. The team was wildly, unpredictably successful through most of early 2000.

After the inevitable breakup of Head Cheese, Al went on to win the European Title belt. Al took his responsibility to ‘represent Europea’ very seriously, and dedicated all of his title defenses to various countries. For his first defense, for example, he represented Germany, coming to the ring to polka music, dressed in Lederhosen carrying sausages and a picture of David Hasslehoff. On another night, he represented Greece, coming to the ring in 50’s attire and carrying a picture of John Travolta. Englishman William Regal took offense, and defeated Al for the Title soon afterward.

Al took some time off to heal an injury from a car accident, and spent much of his time in 2001 concentrating on Tough Enough 1. He did have a short angle where Al attempted to become WWF Commissioner. Al’s main platform for election was that the WWF didn’t have enough midget wrestlers. Naturally, Al’s stance was opposed by William Regal, and hilarity once again ensued. Regal won the Commissionership in a match with Al.

Al’s wrestling life since early 2001 has almost entirely revolved around the Tough Enough crew, the only real exception being a short yet extremely successful announcing stint on Sunday Night Heat. Most recently, of course, Al assisted in Maven’s Hardcore Title victory against the Undertaker. Considering Al’s history with the Hardcore belt, the fact that his ‘protégé’ would become the Hardcore Champ is very fitting.

E-mail Mike at mikmaria@swbell.net.

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