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Al Snow shoot interview #2 (who needs head)

Author
Louis Joylon West
Published
Wed 20 Dec 2023
Episode Link
https://www.spreaker.com/episode/al-snow-shoot-interview-2-who-needs-head--58067454

Allen Ray Sarven (born July 18, 1963) is an American https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_wrestler, better known by his https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_name Al Snow. He is best known as a wrestler for https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoky_Mountain_Wrestling, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extreme_Championship_Wrestling, and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWE. Snow has also held various backstage positions for professional wrestling promotions. Snow worked as a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_Agent_(professional_wrestling) for https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact_Wrestling (TNA, later Impact Wrestling) from 2010 to 2017 and has owned https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_Valley_Wrestling since 2018 (first as majority owner, and a minority owner since 2021).
Sarven attended a professional wrestling tryout camp held by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ole_Anderson and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Anderson_(wrestler). There he met Jim Lancaster, promoter of Ohio's Midwest Championship Wrestling, who agreed to train him, Lancaster later described Sarven as "a leader in the ring" who "had drive and natural ability".
Sarven wrestled in various independent promotions throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, capturing both tag team and singles titles, but failed to make any big breaks. In 1993 he competed in the WWF as a jobber losing to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marty_Jannetty and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Undertaker under the name Steve Moore. He gained a reputation as "the best-kept secret in wrestling". Sarven was also being courted by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Cornette for his https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoky_Mountain_Wrestling federation. ECW booker https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Heyman agreed to let him work for both companies. Sarven soon found that he was not being utilized by ECW and went to Smoky Mountain full-time. In Smoky Mountain Wrestling, Snow teamed with Unibomb (Glenn Jacobs, later to be known as https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kane_(wrestler)) as https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_Duo_(professional_wrestling) and defeated the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_%27n%27_Roll_Express for the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMW_Tag_Team_Championship. Sarven began working for the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWE (WWF) when he signed a contract in August 1995. During his tenure in the company, Sarven wrestled under numerous https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_professional_wrestling_terms#Gimmick, such as Avatar, which saw him come to the ring unmasked, putting on a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucha_libre#masks to wrestle, then removing it afterwards. The gimmick was based on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mighty_Morphin_Power_Rangers whose popularity the company wanted to capitalize on at that time. During his particularly short run under this gimmick, Sarven's WWF debut as Avatar took place on the October 23, 1995, episode of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monday_Night_RAW, defeating Bryan Walsh. About a month after his debut, he was scheduled to be the third man for The Underdogs at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivor_Series_(1995) but for reasons unknown, was replaced by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardcore_Holly. After this, he started teaming with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justin_Credible. His two final matches as Avatar were against https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sid_Eudy & https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sean_Waltman. He was also to partake in the 1996 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Rumble_(1996) match but once again, due to unknown reasons, never appeared. His final match in February was against https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kane_(wrestler). On February 20, 1996, Sarven wrestled as Shinobi, a "ninja assassin" hired by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Cornette to dispose of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shawn_Michaels, who defeated Shinobi in quick fashion. Avatar returned for one last appearance against...

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