The Steve Austin Show Recap w/ Al Snow – Developing A Relationship with McMahon, Getting Yourself Over, Matt Hardy’s Reinvention, More!

Austin welcomes Al Snow to the show.

Snow informs that he just recently parted ways with TNA after working with them as a Producer for a number of years. He’s now focusing on his Al Snow Academy training schools and his clothing company, COLLARxELBOW. He also informs that he’s currently in negotiations with a new wrestling startup in Malaysia, who are interested in hiring him as their Head Trainer and Head Producer.

Snow believes that professional wrestlers all around the world have gotten so far away from what the business used to represent, in the sense that a wrestling match is a physical competition in which wins and losses matter. Nowadays performers seem to be focused on putting on athletic performances, and that’s not what made the business successful.

Austin points out that performers are working at a faster pace now than ever before, and while nobody was selling offence a few years ago, now he’s noticing that some performers are overselling. Snow agrees and feels that this is happening because nobody knows how to sell properly. They think that grabbing their face after getting punched is the only way to sell.

Austin mentions that he’s been very impressed by Matt and Jeff Hardy’s career, especially after Matt has reinvented himself again with this ‘Broken/Woken’ character over the last couple of years. Snow agrees entirely and points out that while Matt was always a steady worker in the ring, he was always in Jeff’s shadow.

It’s been very cool to see Matt step into the forefront over the last couple of years, and he was the centre of attention during his final few months in TNA. Snow points out that wrestlers complain that kayfabe is dead when they’re the ones killing it, and a huge part of Broken Matt Hardy’s success came from the fact that he never broke character.

Austin mentions that Snow was over huge in the late 1990’s, while working with the “Head” gimmick. Snow points out that performers need to have constant motivation to get themselves over, make more money, and then work even harder in order to stay in that position. He believes that guaranteed contracts have prevented today’s performers from taking risks in the ring and on the mic because they have something to lose now.

Austin mentions that developing a relationship with Vince McMahon is critical for anyone who works in WWE. He mentions that around ’95-’96, WWE would film two episodes of RAW back to back on Monday nights. Austin began noticing that his promos were being edited on the taped episode that went through post-production, and one day he got the nerve up to ask McMahon about that.

Austin was basically still a nobody in the company at that time but McMahon answered Austin’s question, saying that they were editing his promos because he was ‘popping the guys in the truck’ as a heel, and they didn’t want him getting those reactions from fans at home or in the live audience. Austin told McMahon that he wasn’t as big or as strong as some of the other guys on the roster, so if WWE took away his personality he wouldn’t be able to compete. McMahon agreed and that was the last time his promos were edited.

Both Austin and Snow agree that while McMahon can give certain performers an opportunity or a ‘push’, it’s ultimately up to the performer to get themselves over. When the show goes live and you’re out in the ring, there’s nothing that McMahon can do to enhance or decrease your ability to get over.

Snow mentions that his son in law is a professional wrestler and a few years ago he turned down an indie booking because the promoter was only willing to pay $40 when he wanted $50 for the appearance. Snow told him that was a mistake because he was an unknown name in the business, and probably wouldn’t even draw one person to the building. In reality, the promoter was offering him $40 when his true value was $0, so he should have taken that money and worked the show.

Snow informs that he’s been working since 1982, and some part of his body hurts everyday at this point. He mentions that he broke his neck in Japan while taking a piledriver and he didn’t even know it until years later when he had a cat scan. He informs that he actually had two minor strokes while he was working in WWE as well.

That sums up today’s episode of The Steve Austin Show. You can listen to the show yourself anytime here, and I’ll catch ya on Thursday for a recap of part 2 of this interview.