Former WWE star Al Snow was recently interviewed by Wrestling Inc. to talk about several professional wrestling topics. Snow discussed purchasing OVW, seeing OVW as both a promotion and a school, and the big names OVW has produced.
Here are the highlights:
Purchasing OVW: “Last year I bought Ohio Valley Wrestling and I believe today we are getting our accreditation for trade school. We have a two-year curriculum for the trade school so athletes can come to not only learn the skills and psychology of the in-ring performance, but all aspects of sports entertainment and broadcasting,” Snow said before listing many of the things which OVW will teach.
“Camera work, lighting, sounds, how to direct, how to produce, live event production and management, writing, formatting TV shows, broadcasting, hosting – they get every possible aspect. Pro wrestling is great in that it teaches you a lot of skills to get you in, but it doesn’t give these young men and women skills to have another career beyond the ring.
“That’s a big problem with athletes. Even the NFL has taken note and addressed it by starting a program that teaches their players basically how to have a life and not be an NFL player.”
Seeing OVW as both a promotion and school: “I foresee OVW becoming a standalone promotion alongside having the school itself,” said Snow. “It works synergistically because by developing and creating these athletes, we’re creating our own product which now allows us to grow as a promotion and TV product.
“A lot of people don’t realize that we have a weekly TV show in Louisville, Kentucky that is on episode #1,041. Not many TV shows can brag about that and the only other wrestling company that can come close to matching that is WWE with Raw and SmackDown.”
Big names OVW has produced: “Cena, Batista, Beth Phoenix, Alicia Fox and more… We probably have an alumni of about 250 that have been in the WWE or major promotions around the world. Probably a third of those alumni were in main events at WrestleMania,” said Snow.
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