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Jeff Zito
All right, here we go. Happy New Year everybody. It's Jeff Zito and thanks for checking out another episode of the Celebrity Jobber podcast streaming on Spotify, I heart Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. You can go back in time and check out past guests and episodes online@celebrityjobber.com and if you wouldn't mind, please hit that subscribe button if you like. The podcast would love a five star rating and please leave a review. Where did it all start? The big question that I have for all of these celebrities because sometimes it was a complete accident, sometimes it was a goal of theirs when they were a little kid and they worked hard and finally achieved their goal and got their big break. So it's kind of interesting the origin story of celebrities and how they got started. I happen to be a big fan of professional wrestling. I first got obsessed with it in the early to mid-80s. Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, Rowdy, Roddy Piper. You know wrestling used to be a little small independent promotions in regions all throughout the country and the WWF and Vince McMahon went national back in the early to mid 80s and that's when the wrestling explosion pretty much happened. My guest this week is Allen Ray Sarvin, but you know him best by his ring name Al Snow and came up with a pretty classic in ring gimmick where he portrayed a schizophrenic and talked to a mannequin head which he called Head. He's been in the wrestling business for over 40 years and he's actually one of the owners of Ohio Valley Wrestling ovw. You might Remember, remember Al from that docu series which aired on Netflix a couple of years ago titled Wrestlers all about the ovw, and partnered with this guy, Matt Jones, who's a pretty popular sports broadcaster based out of Lexington, Kentucky, and founded Kentucky sports radio ksr, which pretty much focuses on the University of Kentucky Wildcats. And this guy is a pretty polarizing figure to say the least, if you ask me. Regardless, we're going to talk to Al about how he got his start, what his parents did for work and what was his first job, and the big break that pretty much changed everything as far as his life's trajectory was concerned. And he's also got a new project. He's in a movie, which I believe is coming out next week. I don't want to say former because I still think he gets in the squared circle on occasion. Professional wrestler Al Snow is my guest this week on Celebrity Jobber, the Celebrity.
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Jobber podcast with Jeff Zito. If you like what you hear, please subscribe, give a five star rating and leave a review. Check out all our past episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you put. What if these celebrities weren't famous? What would they have become? What was their first job? We're about to find out.
Jeff Zito
Hey, Al.
Al Snow
Hi, Jeff.
Jeff Zito
How are you, man?
Al Snow
Better. I'd be jealous of myself, Jeff.
Jeff Zito
Right. So I did this today, you know, the guy putting this on, it's like, hey, you want, you want, you want to zoom? And I was like, listen, if there's by chance, you know, the chance that Al is sitting there with head, I'm.
Al Snow
Going, I don't, I don't have head right here there in the bedroom. It's still early. They don't like to wake up early, and they'd be pretty cranky anyway. But I do have like, you know, the action figure that got banned from Walmart.
Jeff Zito
Right.
Al Snow
So there it is. Yeah, yeah.
Jeff Zito
So the story, the story with that, Al, was that some tight ass, you know, maybe a school teacher, saw head as being maybe disrespectful or in encouraging kids to hurt women somehow, and she actually got. Got them to pull off, pull the action figure out of everywhere. Right in the height.
Al Snow
Yeah, yeah. She was a, she was a assistant professor of all things communications at Kennesaw State College in Georgia. And, you know, because if you're a professor of communications, why would you ever do homework or research on the topic that you're going to, you know, have your opinion about in a public forum? But she showed up at a Walmart, saw the action figure thought it was a decapitated woman's head and then said wrote a letter to Walmart that the Atlanta Constitution, of course published stating that it was a training manual for future spousal abusers.
Jeff Zito
I was like, wow, training manual.
Al Snow
And then Walmart pulled them from the shelves. And then of course, literally nationwide, every other retail store pulled them off. And it was great for me because I was literally a major news event for like about a week and a half, two weeks. I mean, Jay Leno had it included in his, you know, his monologue. They did a store. I still have the magazine. I did. They did like a two page story in Time magazine on it. So I was getting canceled before cancel culture was even a thing. I've always true. I've been ahead of the curve.
Jeff Zito
You are definitely ahead of the curve.
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Jeff Zito
I guess the last I heard from you was just a few years ago. Great show. I forgot where it was. Maybe on Netflix. It was all about wrestling. You owned. You and this guy Matt Jones, who's a radio play by play guy for the University of Kentucky Wildcats. He kind of came in. You were. You owned the Ohio Valley Wrestling OVW and, and this guy who I didn't, I didn't like. Okay.
Al Snow
Yeah, well, nobody does.
Jeff Zito
So it seemed like you had that kind of relationship too. So can you tell me about OVW now? Are you still involved? What's the deal? Matt Jones, all that.
Al Snow
Still. Still involved, still going. We produce live television. Outside of AW and wb, we're the only other company, I think in the world that does live television every single week. And we still produce live television. We still are operational. We're still running and, and doing our thing. We're still running. We have a training academy that is the only one that is certified by the state office. Proprietary education as a trade school for professional wrestling and broadcasting in the world. Very proud of that. And yeah, we're still going on. And Matt's kind of moved to the periphery and you know, still around, but doesn't really come around. I think, you know, the shine wore off and, and now he's not as.
Jeff Zito
Heavily involved anymore, is still financially involved.
Al Snow
Or just indirectly just kind of, kind of there, you know, probably the best thing, honestly. I think so for him too. You know, you know, Matt's an acquired taste. Some, some of us just haven't acquired it yet. But, you know.
Jeff Zito
Yes, I mean, look, you know, all you need is to watch a few episodes of any kind of reality show to see what kind of, you know, the guy's personality was off putting. Let's just say that. And then when you mix in the investment into the wrestling, I mean, and it's something that you've done forever, you, you've got experience in this. He walks in, he's a fan of it and walks in and thinks that he can make it successful. You know, I, I get it why it didn't work because I, I wanted.
Al Snow
A lot of it. It made for great tv. It made a great story between, you know, the two of us. It was not, that was never intended, but it just, it was, you know, a real documentary. The, you know, the director, you know, was like, hey, I, I just, you guys be you. I just want to capture what you do. And I'm like, don't you worry, I'll be me. And you know, I'm going to be the same me before you get that. You, I was before you got here and I'll be the same one after. And, and you know, they, they did an amazing job. You know, he, the director just put it, knew how to put it together and tell the stories of not just the company but the wrestlers themselves. And you know, one of the wrestlers that was featured on that Cash flow is now a series regular on Tulsa King with Sylvester.
Jeff Zito
Oh, really?
Al Snow
Yeah, yeah. He plays Bigfoot on Tulsa King, right?
Jeff Zito
Oh, yes, I, I, him, yes, I've seen it. He reminds me of Big John Stud a little bit from the old bit.
Al Snow
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you mentioned that. You're right. He does kind of carry that. He's not as tall.
Jeff Zito
Right.
Al Snow
But he's just as big and yeah. You know, so it opened up a door of opportunities for him and you know, really happy for him as well. Yeah.
Jeff Zito
Because, you know, in his storyline in the documentary, you know, times were tough. He was a tough time making ends meet at one particular point. So it looks like that might have been a really great situation.
Al Snow
That's great. Yeah. And it's, it helped us as far as the company is concerned and you know, we're we're just keep plugging. We're actually, and I point this out, that we are the second longest running weekly episodic television show in the history of the medium. The only other one that's ran longer is WWE's RAW is in front of us. You know, other than broadcast news programs, there's Raw, there's us, and then there's smackdown. As far as the longest episodic television shows, wow. Weekly. Wow. You know, we're coming up on our 1400th episode this year.
Jeff Zito
People don't realize this that don't live in Ohio, you know, so.
Al Snow
Yeah.
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Jeff Zito
I want to ask Al the movie this didn't. I just watched the trailer and I was like, wow, this is heavy now.
Al Snow
It's very powerful.
Jeff Zito
Are you an actor? Have you always dabbled in, in acting? How did you get involved with this?
Al Snow
I have. I don't consider myself an actor because one, I don't think I can do it very well and two, other people seem to think so, but hey, and I don't do it for a living, you know, so like I could go to, I can go to Lowe's in my opinion and I can change a faucet in my bathroom. But I don't think I'm a plumber. But, you know, so I'm an entertainer and I get opportunities to be an actor and try to create these characters. And I've done a lot of acting, some of it good, some of it not so good. But I've gotten those opportunities. And much like with this, I know people in that world. The lead actor, John Wells, who is an amazing actor, he's. He really genuinely is, plays the father in this movie, approached me about the opportunity to be the Bear Nook Bear. The son who suffers from, you know, has autism, has that challenge. He has a small child, had a stuffed bear that's a mascot for polar bear for a mascot for ice hockey team. And then I become the figment of the John, the father's imagination and kind of operate like Jiminy Cricket, kind of like a Conscience and help direct and guide him in dealing with the challenges with his son throughout the movie. And it's at times can be a little intense because it doesn't shy away from the real challenges I think that people encounter in these situations. But using the bear's character, it's my hope that it alleviates or lightens it up and adds some levity in throughout the story.
Jeff Zito
And the film is called the Learning Way. It's in theaters everywhere on January 16th. And 100% of the proceeds go to support families with children with autism. I think that's absolutely.
Al Snow
Yeah. You're not just supporting the great cause. I mean, and I wouldn't say it if, if I didn't really mean it. You're actually going to go and watch an enjoyable movie and have a real uplifting story that there are a lot of people out there that can relate to it right now. Right. And didn't mean to correct you, but it's called Learning you the title.
Jeff Zito
Oh, I'm sorry. The Learning you. Yes. Sorry, I'm sorry. Yes. But Dyslexic.
Al Snow
There's, you know, it's, it's about the single father who is facing both the personal and professional challenges of his regular life and then trying to deal with and give his son the best life that he can and, and give those experiences to him as best he can.
Jeff Zito
And it's in theaters again January 16th. The learning you. Al, can you take me all the way back before wrestling? I mean, can you tell us a little bit about growing up in Ohio? Can you tell me about what your parents did for work? How the hell did you end up in wrestling?
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Jeff Zito
Al, can you take me all the way back before wrestling? I mean, can you tell us a little bit about growing up in Ohio? Can you tell me about what your parents did for work? How the hell did you end up in wrestling?
Al Snow
Well, I definitely among the family, I'm the only one that ran away with the circus. All of my family, both on both sides, you know, were just blue collar workers, you know, just working in different things. My father worked in maintenance at a grain elevator in Lima, Ohio. And, you know, my mother worked in the courts as a stenographer and as a court secretary and for a judge. And, you know, and then I was around 14 and I proclaimed to all of my family that very proudly that I wanted to be a professional wrestler. And they all looked at me like I had four or five heads. And we're all, all of Them summarily said, why do you want to do that? That's fake. And I was just aghast. I was like, what? I was appalled. And, you know, and then I made the decision to do it, started pursuing it, which, of course, you know, at 14 was not going to happen. By the time I was graduating high school, things fell into place and really took a lot to convince this guy to train me and mentor me in 1982. May 11, I think I always thought it was May 22, but I saw somebody sent me a copy of the poster. It was apparently May 11, 1982. I had my first match in Springfield, Ohio, and the two ring, 20 man battle royal, and I was off to the races.
Jeff Zito
Wow. Was there another job before wrestling? Did you ever do anything else? Tell me about your first job and maybe some of the other jobs.
Al Snow
I mean, I took on a job at an Italian restaurant. I was a dishwasher, and I washed dishes to earn money to go to a tryout in Charlotte, North Carolina, and basically get the crap beat out of me, have my nose broken and sent back home.
Jeff Zito
So worked in an Italian restaurant. Any other jobs you can remember having throughout your career? Maybe, if you needed to pretty much.
Al Snow
It, that was it.
Jeff Zito
Wrestling an Italian restaurant.
Al Snow
It was named Parasan's Family Restaurant in the American Mall in Lima, Ohio. And I was a dishwasher back in the day. And back there, just scrubbing, scrubbing plates and. Right. You know, you know, an Italian restaurant. Heavy on the cheese.
Jeff Zito
So heavy.
Al Snow
Those dishes were tough to come clean.
Jeff Zito
And a big break. Can you think of a moment where everything changed for you, Al? Was it the gimmick with head? I mean, what was your. The big break that kind of launched you to become a WWE Superstar?
Al Snow
I think, you know, the one real moment that things started to kind of turn because I had, at that point in time, I had been doing it for. Been a professional Wrestler for probably 10, 11 years. And I had an opportunity that came. Was born out of. I met Dan Severin, who is a UFC legend, and Dan wanted to be a professional wrestler. And I had opened up my own school in Lime, Ohio, and training was training Dan to be a professional wrestler. And then the UFC started, and Dan wanted to be a part of that. One thing led to another, and he wanted somebody to train him to prepare for UFC. And I did that. It was UFC 4 out in Tulsa, and was in his corner and made kind of a smart remark after the second fight, because, remember, back then, you had to fight three times in the same night. Right. It's like a tournament, right? You know, so Dan had just fought, his second fight, had won. And the commentator, you know, the interviewer comes over. And I knew he was just trying to get Dan to say something to kind of. Because the whole thing was about the gray season. It was about hoist, which was good for them. But, you know, he's trying to ask him questions about, oh, you just won your second fight and, you know, what are you going to do now? Like. Like trying to get him to really put over hoist. Gracie and Dan at the time, probably not one of the best talkers. And I just made us more. I said, well, he's going to go back in the locker room and have sex. What do you think he's going to do? And the interviewer just yanked the microphone away and walked away. And Jim Cornette, a wrestling legend, was at the time owned and operated Smokey Mountain Wrestling and saw me and saw that remark I made. Get out of it. And then reached out to me and gave me an opportunity. And then that led, you know, to meeting Jim Ross, who then led to an opportunity with wwf and then, you know, and then me getting frustrated, going to ecw, developing Persona there, and then coming back to wwe. Wow. Yeah.
Jeff Zito
Very, very cool. So it was training Dan Severin the Beast, that quick little clip got the attention of the legendary Jim Cornett. Go ahead.
Al Snow
I can't encourage people enough. No matter what you're doing, just go do. Go do, do something. Because you just never know the. The domino effect of that one little moment that will translate into who knows.
Jeff Zito
What that is it. The film is called the learning you January 16th. The legendary Al Snow. A pleasure.
Al Snow
Thank you so much, Very much. Thank you. I really appreciate you giving me the time. Happy New Year.
Jeff Zito
There you go. Al Snow, blue collar guy from a blue collar family in Lima, Ohio. Al says his father was a maintenance man at a elevator company and his mother was a court stenographer. And Al said he was the only one in his family that made the decision to, quote, unquote, run away with the circus. He said he. He announced to everybody at the age of 14 that professional wrestling was what he wanted to do. I thought it was pretty funny. He said he's only really had one job outside of wrestling, and that was washing dishes at an Italian restaurant. And he was, you know, just kind of still working in wrestling and trying to make ends meet. But he said that was his only real job that he's ever had outside of the wrestling business. He talked about his big break and when he was training UFC legend Dan the Beast Severin and he said he was a professional wrestler for like 10 years at the time, but he's training Severin and it was on one of the early UFC fights that was televised and I guess he said something stupid on camera. And legendary professional wrestling manager Jim Cornett, you might remember him, he was the guy with the tennis racket. He ended up seeing that and ended up reaching out to Al and gave him a shot at his promotion, Smoky Mountain Wrestling, which kind of led to him becoming Al Snow with Head. I thought it was such a great gimmick too, you know, I thought it was pretty cool. Al like gave little advice at at the end there saying like, hey look, you just, you never know. So just get out there and and do is what Al said because the domino effect and it happened to him. You got to check out this trailer for his new movie. It's called the Learning. You, you can go to learningyou movie.com to check out the trailer. It's pretty heavy and it hits theaters next week. Learningyou movie.com so thank you so much for listening to another episode of the Celebrity Jobber podcast. Past guests and episodes online, celebrityjobber.com, follow on Instagram, celebrityjobberpodcast and the YouTube channel, which is YouTube.com the celebrity jobber on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Iheart. Wherever you listen to podcasts, please hit that subscribe button. Would love a five star rating if you like the podcast and please leave a review. Once again, happy New Year. Thanks for listening and until next week. I'll see you then. I'm Jeff Zito.
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In this engaging episode, host Jeff Zito interviews professional wrestling veteran Al Snow. They explore Al's blue-collar Ohio upbringing, his unusual path into wrestling, his notorious “Head” gimmick and controversies, major career breaks—including his transition from the independent wrestling circuit to the WWE—and his recent ventures, including a starring role in an upcoming film benefitting autism-related charities. Throughout, the conversation stays candid and humorous, illustrating Al’s self-deprecating wit and deep love for the wrestling business.
“She showed up at a Walmart, saw the action figure thought it was a decapitated woman's head and then said... it was a training manual for future spousal abusers."
“I was a major news event for like about a week and a half, two weeks. I mean, Jay Leno had it included in his, you know, his monologue... I was getting canceled before cancel culture was even a thing. I've always... been ahead of the curve.”
“Still involved, still going... We have a training academy that is the only one certified... as a trade school for professional wrestling and broadcasting in the world.”
“We are the second longest running weekly episodic television show in the history of the medium. The only other one that's ran longer is WWE's RAW... then there's Smackdown... we're coming up on our 1400th episode this year.”
“I don't consider myself an actor because... I don't think I can do it very well and two, other people seem to think so... But I'm an entertainer, and I get opportunities to be an actor..."
“You're not just supporting a great cause... you're actually going to go and watch an enjoyable movie and have a real uplifting story...”
“Among the family, I'm the only one that ran away with the circus... I proclaimed to all of my family... that I wanted to be a professional wrestler. And they all looked at me like I had four or five heads...”
“I was a dishwasher and I washed dishes to earn money to go to a tryout... basically get the crap beat out of me, have my nose broken and sent back home.”
“I had an opportunity... I met Dan Severn, who is a UFC legend, and Dan wanted to be a professional wrestler. I had opened up my own school... was training Dan... The UFC started, and Dan wanted... to prepare for UFC... (After a fight) I just made a smart remark, I said, ‘Well, he's going to go back in the locker room and have sex. What do you think he's going to do?’ The interviewer just yanked the microphone away and walked away. Jim Cornette... saw that remark... reached out to me and gave me an opportunity...”
"I can't encourage people enough. No matter what you're doing, just go do. Go do, do something. Because you just never know the... domino effect of that one little moment that will translate into who knows what."
“I was getting canceled before cancel culture was even a thing. I've always... been ahead of the curve.” (Al Snow, 06:26)
“Matt's an acquired taste. Some, some of us just haven't acquired it yet.” (Al Snow, 09:14)
“It was named Parasan's Family Restaurant in the American Mall in Lima, Ohio. And I was a dishwasher back in the day... heavy on the cheese. Those dishes were tough to come clean.” (Al Snow, 19:35)
“No matter what you're doing, just go do. Go do, do something. Because you just never know the domino effect of that one little moment.” (Al Snow, 22:49)
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