Mid 20th Century
147-555: Allen Ray Sarven (born July 18, 1963) is an American professional wrestler , better known by his ring name Al Snow . He is best known for his tenures in Extreme Championship Wrestling and WWF/E . Snow has also held various backstage positions for professional wrestling promotions. Snow worked as a road agent for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA, later Impact Wrestling) from 2010 to 2017 and has owned Ohio Valley Wrestling since 2018 (first as majority owner, and
294-435: A bona fide athletic contest or competition. Professional wrestling is not a combative sport. Wrestling constituting bona fide athletic contests and competitions, which may be professional or amateur combative sport, shall not be deemed professional wrestling under this Part. Professional wrestling as used in this Part shall not depend on whether the individual wrestlers are paid or have been paid for their performance in
441-411: A bridging German suplex . Kong then performed an Uraken Punch on Blayze to win the match and become the survivor from Bertha Faye's team. The next match was a singles match between Bam Bam Bigelow and Goldust . Goldust controlled most of the match against Bigelow while Bigelow performed poorly throughout the match and did not perform any high-impact moves that jeopardized his character during
588-455: A four-on-four Survivor Series elimination match , The Darkside ( The Undertaker , Savio Vega , Fatu , and Henry Godwinn ) versus The Royals ( King Mabel , Jerry Lawler , Isaac Yankem and Hunter Hearst Helmsley ) in a four-on-four Survivor Series elimination match, Goldust versus Bam Bam Bigelow and Bertha Faye , Aja Kong , Tomoko Watanabe, and Lioness Asuka versus Alundra Blayze , Kyoko Inoue , Sakie Hasegawa, and Chaparita Asari in
735-431: A hardcore match (which he won by putting himself through a table) and his short lived comedy tag team with Steve Blackman . Snow received some mainstream publicity in 1999 when Wal-Mart pulled his action figure from their shelves after Sabrena Parton, a professor at Kennesaw State University , complained that "Head" was a "decapitated woman's head" that sent an inappropriate message about violence towards women. Parton
882-598: A ninja -style masked gimmick . He wrestled in the November 19, 1994, tournament for the vacant NWA World Heavyweight Championship, but he lost to Chris Candido , the eventual winner of the tournament. From 1995 to 1997, Snow operated a professional wrestling school called "Body Slammers" in Lima, Ohio , hiring D'Lo Brown as an assistant trainer. It has since branched out with one of his trainers running "Bodyslammers" in Ottawa . After
1029-415: A performing art evolved from the common practice of match-fixing among American wrestlers in the 19th century, who later sought to make matches shorter, more entertaining, and less physically taxing. As the public gradually realized and accepted that matches were predetermined, wrestlers responded by increasingly adding melodrama, gimmickry, and outlandish stunt work to their performances to further enhance
1176-415: A professional wrestling exhibition. All engagements of professional wrestling shall be referred to as exhibitions, and not as matches. In the industry's slang, a fixed match is referred to as a worked match, derived from the slang word for manipulation, as in "working the crowd". A shoot match is a genuine contest where both wrestlers fight to win and are therefore "straight shooters", which comes from
1323-533: A sitout double underhook powerbomb , which he called the Pearl River Plunge . Ramon battled for his team and performed a crucifix powerbomb on Johnson, which he called the Razor's Edge . However, Bulldog tagged Johnson which meant that Johnson could not be eliminated. Ramon was distracted by Sycho Sid, 1-2-3 Kid and Ted DiBiase, allowing Bulldog to perform a running powerslam for the elimination. Yokozuna battled
1470-647: A "Kennel from Hell" match at Unforgiven , which consisted of a regular cage which was surrounded by a Hell in a Cell structure, with "a trained pack of wild dogs" in between the two, and the objective was to escape both cages without being attacked by the dogs. Snow won the match. Snow would later team with real life friend Mick Foley and became tag team champions with him for a short amount of time, but turned heel by betraying him due to Foley's jokes about him in his autobiography , Have A Nice Day , and his growing jealousy of Foley's tag team partner, The Rock . He would later turn face again due to fan reaction. Snow
1617-494: A "tweener" saying that he would accept the support of fans who liked him, but didn't care about the fans that didn't. This attitude remained until shortly before In Your House 6 when Diesel lost a steel cage match against Bret Hart due to interference by The Undertaker . Not long after, Diesel broke ties with Shawn Michaels and remained a "heel" for the remainder of his WWF run. Since 1-2-3 Kid had turned on Razor Ramon during his match against Sycho Sid by helping Sid win
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#17328757739821764-413: A background in authentic wrestling no longer mattered. After this time, matches became more outlandish and gimmicky and any semblance professional wrestling had to catch wrestling faded. The personas of the wrestlers likewise grew more outlandish. Gorgeous George , who performed throughout the 1940s and 1950s, was the first wrestler whose entrance into the arena was accompanied by a theme song played over
1911-520: A carny term for a shooting gallery gun whose sights were not deliberately misaligned. Wrestling in the United States blossomed in popularity after the Civil War , with catch wrestling eventually becoming the most popular style. At first, professional wrestlers were genuine competitive fighters, but they struggled to draw audiences because Americans did not find real wrestling to be very entertaining, so
2058-488: A celebration of hardcore wrestling and a final farewell to the company. At the event Snow was defeated by Rhino in a three-way match, which also included Brother Runt . After that, he appeared onscreen in his real-life role as company agent on multiple occasions, often alongside fellow agents Ace "D'Lo Brown" Conner and Pat Kenney. Sarven currently holds the title of producer for the company. In Spring 2011, Snow returned to OVW, dividing his time between his TNA duties and work as
2205-513: A central authority. Nor could any of them stomach the idea of leaving the NWA themselves to compete directly with McMahon, for that would mean their territories would become fair game for the other NWA members. McMahon also had a creative flair for TV that his rivals lacked. For instance, the AWA's TV productions during the 1980s were amateurish, low-budget, and out-of-touch with contemporary culture, which lead to
2352-574: A champion that Curley put forth: Dick Shikat . The National Wrestling Association shut down in 1980. In 1948, a number of promoters from across the country came together to form the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). The NWA recognized one "world champion", voted on by its members, but allowed member promoters to crown their own local champions in their territories. If a member poached wrestlers from another member, or held matches in another member's territory, they risked being ejected from
2499-660: A coach on WWE Tough Enough (then called WWF Tough Enough ) during the show's first three seasons. On November 10, 2012, Snow, along with several other TNA workers, was featured in an episode of MTV 's Made . Snow completed his work as the "Man in Black" for the independent horror film Lake Eerie on October 23, 2013. The film stars Lance Henriksen , Betsy Baker and was released in Summer 2015. Snow also played "Henchman" in Jessica Sonneborn 's horror film Alice D . Al Snow
2646-688: A contract for a match, the two met on October 14 at Bound for Glory , where Snow wrestled only his second match for TNA, losing to Ryan, following interference from Matt Morgan . On January 12, 2013, Snow took part in Joker's Wild (which aired May 3, 2013), teaming with recent rival Joey Ryan , in a loss against Matt Morgan and Robbie T . On the August 7, 2014, edition of Impact Wrestling , Snow returned to team with Team 3D ( Bully Ray and Devon ) and Tommy Dreamer against Ethan Carter III , Rhino , Big Rycklon and Gene Snitsky in an eight-man Hardcore War in
2793-523: A contract in August 1995. During his tenure in the company, Sarven wrestled under numerous gimmicks , such as Avatar , which saw him come to the ring unmasked, putting on a mask to wrestle, then removing it afterwards. The gimmick was based on Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and Mortal Kombat 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
2940-483: A degree. Vince Russo, the boss of WCW in 2000, completely disregarded kayfabe by routinely discussing business matters and office politics in public, which alienated fans. I watch championship wrestling from Florida with wrestling commentator Gordon Solie . Is this all "fake"? If so, they deserve an Oscar . Survivor Series (1995) The 1995 Survivor Series was the ninth annual Survivor Series professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by
3087-404: A distinct vernacular . It has achieved mainstream success and influence within popular culture , with many terms, tropes , and concepts being referenced in everyday language as well as in film , music , television , and video games . Likewise, numerous professional wrestlers have become national or international icons with recognition by the broader public. In the United States, wrestling
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#17328757739823234-410: A fee, a visitor could challenge the wrestler to a quick match. If the challenger defeated the champion in a short time frame, usually 15 minutes, he won a prize. To encourage challenges, the carnival operators staged rigged matches in which an accomplice posing as a visitor challenged the champion and won, giving the audience the impression that the champion was easy to beat. This practice taught wrestlers
3381-504: A four-on-four Survivor Series elimination match and The BodyDonnas ( Skip , Rad Radford , Dr. Tom Prichard and 1-2-3 Kid ) versus The Underdogs ( Marty Jannetty , Hakushi , Barry Horowitz and Bob Holly ) in a four-on-four Survivor Series elimination match. Survivor Series is an annual gimmick pay-per-view (PPV), produced every November by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) since 1987. In what has become
3528-405: A legitimate sport. Firstly, wrestling was more entertaining when it was faked, whereas fakery did not make boxing any more entertaining. Secondly, in a rigged boxing match, the designated loser must take a real beating for his "defeat" to be convincing, but wrestling holds can be faked convincingly without inflicting injury. This meant that boxers were less willing to "take dives"; they wanted to have
3675-660: A little head" (meaning he had to be willing to sleep with/have sex with the booker ). Snow, however took this literally, and thus he started coming to the ring with the mannequin head (with the words "Help Me" written backwards on its forehead, an action Snow himself began to do) whom he talked to as if it were a real person, which prompted ECW crowds to chant "We want Head" , an intentional double entendre . ECW promoters handed out styrofoam mannequin heads at wrestling shows, and audience members started waving them and shouting, "Head! Head! Head!" in time to " Breathe " by The Prodigy, his entrance music. The entire audience would then throw
3822-465: A long time and fight hard to prove themselves worthy back then. He invited Mahabali Shera to the ring and apologized to him for attacking him and Grado, breaking Grado's arm in the process. Shera shook hands with him, only for Al Snow to betray and attack him once they went out of the ring. At a backstage segment, Al Snow said angrily he doesn't need to apologize and explain himself to rookies and if they want his apology and respect they need to defeat him in
3969-560: A losing effort, after which he would then go on to shake Grado's hand turning face in the process. Afterwards, the Beat Down Clan (BDC) would go on to attack both Snow and Grado, but were saved by the debuting Drew Galloway , would fend off the BDC and who would then stand tall in the ring alongside Al Snow and his friend, Grado. At Bound for Glory 2015 Snow competed in the Bound for Gold Gauntlet. On
4116-754: A match against Gus Sonnenberg in January 1929. Bowser then broke away from the trust to form his own cartel, the American Wrestling Association (AWA), in September 1930, and he declared Sonnenberg to be the AWA champion. This AWA should not be confused with Wally Kadbo's AWA founded in 1960. Curley reacted to this move by convincing the National Boxing Association to form the National Wrestling Association , which in turn crowned
4263-608: A match between Bigelow and Goldust at Survivor Series. Before the event aired live on pay-per-view, the Smoking Gunns ( Billy Gunn and Bart Gunn ) defeated the Public Enemy ( Rocco Rock and Johnny Grunge ) in a non-televised match . As the event commenced, the first match that aired was a four-on-four Survivor Series elimination match between the Underdogs ( Marty Jannetty , Hakushi , Barry Horowitz and Bob Holly ) and
4410-560: A match. A week after, Al Snow had a match with Shera in which before and a bit during the match he has blamed the wrestling changes on the fans and said they are cowards for sitting behind the barricades and not coming to the ring to face him. Shera gave a good fight, but Al Snow eventually won the match. In the May 10 episode of Impact! , Shera and Snow had a rematch where Al Snow played games and almost won with his cheating tactics, however, he eventually failed to win due to Grado involving himself in
4557-400: A minority owner since 2021). Sarven attended a professional wrestling tryout camp held by Ole and Gene Anderson . 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". He made his debut on May 22, 1982. Sarven defeated Lancaster on May 5, 1985, for
Al Snow - Misplaced Pages Continue
4704-424: A more literal meaning in those places. A notable example is India's Pro Wrestling League . In numerous American states, professional wrestling is legally defined as a non-sport. For instance, New York defines professional wrestling as: Professional wrestling means an activity in which participants struggle hand-in-hand primarily for the purpose of providing entertainment to spectators and which does not comprise
4851-440: A new city, attendance was high because there was a waiting fanbase cultivated in advance by the cable TV shows. The NWA's traditional anti-competitive tricks were no match for this. The NWA attempted to centralize and create their own national cable television shows to counter McMahon's rogue promotion, but it failed in part because the members of the NWA, ever protective of their territories, could not stomach submitting themselves to
4998-454: A potential pin. Earlier in 1995 at the Royal Rumble , Diesel made the first pay-per-view defense of his title against Hart, but the match ended in a no contest after Shawn Michaels , Owen Hart, and Backlund all interfered. With those two matches both ending in disqualifications, Monsoon added a No Disqualification stipulation to this rematch. Another predominant rivalry heading into the event
5145-536: A result of the circumstances, on October 30 edition of Raw , the WWF President Gorilla Monsoon signed a WWF World Heavyweight Championship match between Diesel and Hart to take place at Survivor Series. Diesel and Hart had faced off for the title two times before. At the 1994 King of the Ring , Bret defended against Diesel and lost by disqualification when his cornerman Jim Neidhart interfered to break up
5292-496: A result, at In Your House 4, Michaels forfeited the title to Douglas. However, Douglas was forced to defend his newly won title against Ramon, who defeated Douglas for the title. Michaels and Sid's rivalry dated back to the February 20 edition of Raw , when Michaels introduced Sid as his new bodyguard for his WWF World Heavyweight Championship title shot against Diesel at WrestleMania XI . However, despite Sid's interference, Michaels
5439-499: A roll-up. Sid was next on Michaels' team to dominate Ramon and grabbed him for Michaels to perform a superkick , which Michaels called Sweet Chin Music . Michaels tried to hit the move but Ramon ducked and Sid was hit instead, allowing Ramon to pin Sid for the elimination. Sid retaliated by performing a powerbomb on Michaels. Johnson would then control the match as he eliminated Hart by performing
5586-449: A show producer for OVW. In November of that year, OVW became TNA's official developmental territory. In May 2012, Snow began appearing as a judge in the monthly Gut Check segment on Impact Wrestling . The following July, Snow started a storyline rivalry with Joey Ryan , who had been denied a spot on the TNA roster, following his appearance on TNA Gut Check. After Snow tricked Ryan into signing
5733-642: A tour of Japan , Sarven wrestled a match in Michigan against Sabu , an Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) regular, who suggested he try ECW. After making his debut against The Tazmaniac and losing via pinfall on February 4, 1995, Sarven faced Chris Benoit as Al Snow, in a 15-minute match that was hailed as one of the best of the year. Sarven was also being courted by Jim Cornette for his Smoky Mountain Wrestling federation. ECW booker Paul Heyman agreed to let him work for both companies. Sarven soon found that he
5880-548: A tryout as an agent for TNA Wrestling. He made his return to television on the July 15, 2010, edition of Impact! , aligning himself with fellow ECW alumni Tommy Dreamer , Raven , Stevie Richards , Rhino , Brother Devon , Pat Kenney and Mick Foley in their invitation by Dixie Carter to TNA. The following week, TNA president Dixie Carter agreed to give the ECW alumni their own reunion pay–per–view event, Hardcore Justice: The Last Stand , as
6027-497: A typical American household only received four national channels by antenna, and ten to twelve local channels via UHF broadcasting . But cable television could carry a much larger selection of channels and therefore had room for niche interests. The WWF started with a show called All-American Wrestling airing on the USA Network in September 1983. McMahon's TV shows made his wrestlers national celebrities, so when he held matches in
Al Snow - Misplaced Pages Continue
6174-575: A victory for all the pain to which they subjected themselves. In the 1910s, promotional cartels for professional wrestling emerged in the East Coast (outside its traditional heartland in the Midwest ). These promoters sought to make long-term plans with their wrestlers, and to ensure their more charismatic and crowd-pleasing wrestlers received championships, further entrenching the desire for worked matches. The primary rationale for shoot matches at this point
6321-536: A winning effort. On the February 13, 2015, edition of Impact Wrestling (which was taped on January 29), Snow returned to TV as a heel, where he was seen in the SSE Hydro , calling out Scottish wrestler and British Boot Camp 2 contestant, Grado . Grado would come out to the ring where Snow would give him the opportunity to retire from wrestling, Grado would not take the offer. On the February 20 edition of Impact Wrestling (also taped January 29) Snow would face Grado in
6468-436: Is a form of athletic theater that combines mock combat with drama , with the premise that the performers are competitive wrestlers. Professional wrestling is distinguished by its scripted outcomes and emphasis on entertainment and showmanship . The staged nature of matches is an open secret , with both wrestlers and spectators nonetheless maintaining the pretense that performances are bona fide competitions, which
6615-410: Is a true sport. Wrestlers would at all times flatly deny allegations that they fixed their matches, and they often remained in-character in public even when not performing. When in public, wrestlers would sometimes say the word kayfabe to each other as a coded signal that there were fans present and they needed to be in character. Professional wrestlers in the past strongly believed that if they admitted
6762-427: Is generally practiced in an amateur context. No professional league for competitive wrestling exists due to a lack of popularity. For example, Real Pro Wrestling , an American professional freestyle wrestling league, dissolved in 2007 after just two seasons. In other countries, such as Iran and India , wrestling enjoys widespread popularity as a genuine sport, and the phrase "professional wrestling" therefore has
6909-470: Is likened to the suspension of disbelief employed when engaging with fiction . Professional wrestlers perform as characters and usually maintain a " gimmick " consisting of a specific persona , stage name , entrance theme , and other distinguishing traits. Matches are the primary vehicle for advancing storylines, which typically center on interpersonal conflicts, or feuds , between heroic " faces " and villainous " heels ". A wrestling ring , akin to
7056-592: Is the co-founder of "Collar X Elbow", a clothing brand for independent wrestling fans. Near the end of 2015, Al Snow and Simon Van Der Wolf started a training academy, originally based in the UK but since expanded to include branches in many other countries. They along with other professional wrestlers (including Joe E. Legend , Doug Williams , Phil Powers, Jonny Storm, John Klinger, and many more) held tryouts in February 2016. In April 2019, local media in Louisville reported that
7203-609: The New Jersey State Athletic Control Board that professional wrestling is not a real sport because its matches have predetermined outcomes. Shortly thereafter, New Jersey deregulated professional wrestling. The WWF then rebranded itself as a " sports entertainment " company. In the early years of the 20th century, the style of wrestling used in professional wrestling matches was catch wrestling . Promoters wanted their matches to look realistic and so preferred to recruit wrestlers with real grappling skills. In
7350-617: The Raw announce table after a victory at Unforgiven in 2003. When Tough Enough IV came to SmackDown! , Snow was on the scene and turned face once again. On April 12, 2004, episode of Raw, Snow dressed up as the Five Star Ninja a portray of Shinobi which he lost to Tajiri . In September 2004 Snow left Sunday Night Heat as a commentator and went to Velocity . He continued to coach for WWE Tough Enough season 4. He did not wrestle any matches for WWE in 2005. Instead, he continued working in
7497-508: The World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It took place on November 19, 1995, at the USAir Arena in Landover, Maryland , and was the first Survivor Series to take place on a Sunday night. Each previous edition had taken place either on Thanksgiving or Thanksgiving Eve; the company would not do another non-weekend pay-per-view event until 2004, when Taboo Tuesday debuted. The main event
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#17328757739827644-543: The independent circuit , to internationally broadcast events at major arenas. The largest and most influential promotions are in the United States , Mexico , Japan , and northwest Europe (the United Kingdom , Germany/Austria and France ), which have each developed distinct styles, traditions, and subgenres within professional wrestling. Professional wrestling has developed its own culture and community , including
7791-476: The special guest enforcer for the match between Kurt Angle and Rhino . Angle said he had hired "another former World Champion" and someone who had co-held a world tag team title with Foley. This person would debut during Angle's match to "take care of Foley". And on the night in question, Al Snow revealed himself to be the mystery ally of Angle, who interrupted the match by slapping Foley. The distraction allowed Angle to beat Rhino. In March 2010, Sarven received
7938-431: The spectacle . By at least the early 20th century, professional wrestling had diverged from the competitive sport to become an artform and genre of sports entertainment . Professional wrestling is performed around the world through various " promotions ", which are roughly analogous to production companies or sports leagues . Promotions vary considerably in size, scope, and creative approach, ranging from local shows on
8085-491: The tag team partner of Marty Jannetty in February 1996. The duo were promoted as The New Rockers, a throwback to the original Rockers team of Jannetty and Shawn Michaels . Eventually, Jannetty left in December 1996, and Sarven was reduced to jobbing for mid-carders in January 1997. In the late 1990s, WWF and ECW began to cross-promote their organizations to counteract the success of World Championship Wrestling (WCW); Sarven
8232-452: The 15th-Anniversary special on December 10, 2007, Snow participated in the 15th Anniversary Battle Royal where he eliminted Doink the Clown and Gangrel . He was eliminated by Flash Funk . After WWE ceased affiliations with Ohio Valley Wrestling in February 2008, Sarven was released from his position as a trainer. Snow was allowed to compete on the independent circuit while under contract with
8379-577: The 1920s, a group of wrestlers and promoters known as the Gold Dust Trio introduced moves which have since become staples of the mock combat of professional wrestling, such as body slams, suplexes , punches, finishing moves, and out-of-ring count-outs. By the early 1930s, most wrestlers had adopted personas to generate public interest. These personas could broadly be characterized as either faces (likeable) or heels (villainous). Native Americans, cowboys, and English aristocrats were staple characters in
8526-400: The 1930s and 1940s. Before the age of television, some wrestlers played different personas depending on the region they were performing in. This eventually came to an end in the age of national television wrestling shows, which forced wrestlers to stick to one persona. Wrestlers also often used some sort of gimmick, such as a finishing move, eccentric mannerisms, or out-of-control behavior (in
8673-506: The 1990s, WCW became a credible rival to the WWF, but by end it suffered from a series of creative missteps that led to its failure and purchase by the WWF. One of its mistakes was that it diminished the glamor of its World Heavyweight Championship . Between January 2000 and March 2001, the title changed hands eighteen times, which sapped fan enthusiasm, particularly for the climactic pay-per-view matches. In professional wrestling, two factors decide
8820-641: The Atlantic Athletic Corporation (AAC). The AAC shut down in 1960. In 1958, Omaha promoter and NWA member Joe Dusek recognized Verne Gagne as the world champion without the approval of the NWA. Gagne asked for a match against the recognized NWA champion Pat O'Connor. The NWA refused to honor the request, so Gagne and Minneapolis promoter Wally Karbo established the American Wrestling Association in 1960. This AWA should not be confused with Paul Bowser's AWA, which ceased operations just two months prior. Gagne's AWA operated out of Minnesota . Unlike
8967-489: The Bodydonnas ( Skip , Rad Radford , Dr. Tom Prichard and 1-2-3 Kid ). Kid substituted for Jean-Pierre Lafitte on the Bodydonnas team and Holly substituted for Avatar on the Underdogs team. Underdogs scored the first elimination when Holly performed a flying crossbody on Prichard. Skip then eliminated Holly by pinning him with a roll-up . Kid performed a spinning heel kick on Hakushi, allowing Radford to pin him for
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#17328757739829114-622: The March 29, 2016 Impact Wrestling Snow returned as a heel attacking Grado backstage. On the April 5, 2016 Impact Wrestling TNA Management Director Billy Corgan suspended Al Snow for the week without pay and said next week he must apologise. When Al Snow returned from his suspension week, he entered the ring and said the ease new talents get today with earning respect and a name in the professional wrestling business, drove him crazy as he and others of his and generations before him needed to get some for quite
9261-661: The Midwest Championship Wrestling title. 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 Marty Jannetty and The Undertaker under the name Steve Moore . He gained a reputation as "the best-kept secret in wrestling". Sarven helped train future Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Hall of Fame member and NWA World Heavyweight Champion Dan Severn . During this time he would sometimes wrestle as Shinobi,
9408-408: The NWA, at which point his territory became fair game for everyone. The NWA would blacklist wrestlers who worked for independent promoters or who publicly criticized an NWA promoter or who did not throw a match on command. If an independent promoter tried to establish himself in a certain area, the NWA would send their star performers to perform for the local NWA promoter to draw the customers away from
9555-477: The NWA, which only allowed faces to be champions, Gagne occasionally allowed heels to win the AWA championship so that they could serve as foils for him. In August 1983, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), a promotion in the north-east , withdrew from the NWA. Vince K. McMahon then took over as its boss. No longer bound by the territorial pact of the NWA, McMahon began expanding his promotion into
9702-556: The October 23, 1995, episode of Monday Night RAW , defeating Bryan Walsh. About a month after his debut, he was scheduled to be the third man for The Underdogs at Survivor Series but for reasons unknown, was replaced by Bob Holly . After this, he started teaming with Aldo Montoya . His two final matches as Avatar were against Sycho Sid & 1-2-3 Kid . He was also to partake in the 1996 Royal Rumble match but once again, due to unknown reasons, never appeared. His final match in February
9849-516: The September 11 edition of Raw when Douglas interfered in Ramon's match with British Bulldog. At In Your House 3 , Douglas defeated Ramon in a standard wrestling match . On the September 25 edition of Raw , Douglas was made the #1 contender for Shawn Michaels' WWF Intercontinental Championship . A week before their match at In Your House 4, Michaels had been attacked in a club in Syracuse, New York . As
9996-578: The U.S. and Europe, especially in the U.K. and Germany. In March 2009, he made an appearance in Chikara 's King of Trios tournament, teaming up with Glacier and D'Lo Brown . On October 21, 2022, Snow and Kal Herro won the OFE Tag Team as the Newest Rockers. Snow wore attire that he wore as Leif Cassidy. In the lead-up to the December 7, 2008, TNA show Final Resolution , Mick Foley assigned himself as
10143-896: The WWE. Snow would feud with Chris Candido for Northeast Wrestling in Connecticut in the fall of 2004. On May 7, 2005, Snow teamed with D'Lo Brown losing to Mick Foley and Shane Douglas at Mark Curtis Memorial Reunion in Johnson City, Tennessee. In 2006, Snow was pinned by the Millennium Wrestling Federation (MWF) Heavyweight Champion "Sudden Impact" Dylan Kage of Paul Bearer 's Trifecta stable at MWF Fireworks On The 4th . Snow would return to WWE's active roster full time in June 2006. After being released in February 2008 by WWE, Snow has regularly competed in several independent promotions in
10290-464: The academy had applied to the Kentucky Department of Education for formal accreditation as a vocational school. The academy has developed a two-year, 60-credit hour program (on the semester system) in all aspects of the wrestling business, ranging from in-ring performance to writing and TV production. Assuming state approval is received, the Louisville academy will start accepting applications for
10437-536: The annual King of the Ring tournament , when Mabel defeated Undertaker in the quarter-final round. On the September 25 edition of Raw , King Mabel interfered in Undertaker's match with British Bulldog, setting up a match between Undertaker and King Mabel at In Your House 4. However, on the October 9 edition of Raw , King Mabel attacked Undertaker during a Six-man tag team match pitting Diesel, Shawn Michaels and Undertaker against Bulldog, Owen Hart and Yokozuna. Due to
10584-461: The apron. Undertaker eliminated Helmsley by performing a chokeslam from apron to the other side of the ring. Mabel dominated Undertaker by performing a belly-to-belly suplex and a leg drop . However, Undertaker immediately sat up which scared Mabel and he escaped the ring and got counted out . As a result, the Darkside won the match with the entire team surviving. The final match on the undercard
10731-401: The arena's loudspeakers, his being Pomp and Circumstance . He also wore a costume: a robe and hairnet, which he removed after getting in the ring. He also had a pre-match ritual where his "butler" would spray the ring with perfume. In the 1980s, Vince McMahon made entrance songs, costumes, and rituals standard for his star wrestlers. For instance, McMahon's top star Hulk Hogan would delight
10878-418: The art of staging rigged matches and fostered a mentality that spectators were marks to be duped. The term kayfabe comes from carny slang. By the turn of the 20th century, most professional wrestling matches were "worked" and some journalists exposed the practice: American wrestlers are notorious for the amount of faking they do. It is because of this fact that suspicion attaches to so many bouts that
11025-483: The attack, Undertaker was sidelined and was replaced by Yokozuna as King Mabel's opponent. On the November 6 edition of Raw , it was announced that Undertaker's The Darkside team would compete against King Mabel's The Royals team in a Survivor Series elimination match at Survivor Series. Goldust made his WWF debut at In Your House 4, defeating Marty Jannetty . On the November 4 edition of Superstars , Bam Bam Bigelow interrupted an interview of Goldust, setting up
11172-550: The audience by tearing his shirt off before each match. The first major promoter cartel emerged on the East Coast, although up to that point, wrestling's heartland had been in the Midwest. Notable members of this cartel included Jack Curley , Lou Daro, Paul Bowser and Tom and Tony Packs. The promoters colluded to solve a number of problems that hurt their profits. Firstly, they could force their wrestlers to perform for less money. As
11319-566: The brutal serial killer Grim, also known as "The Reaper's", in Feathered Italian Films latest slasher films The Legacy and Hell House . Head also cameos in "The Legacy". He was one of the leads in the sci-fi/action/comedy film Overtime (2011) by director Matt Niehoff. Snow had a quick line in the wrestling documentary Beyond the Mat . He also participated in the wrestling documentary, Bloodstained Memoirs . Al Snow also appeared as
11466-484: The cameras. There are so many stories from the road—things that only seem to happen to me—that have made me who I am today. I've always considered every new situation as a potential learning experience and this book will give me the opportunity to share that, for better or for worse." Professional wrestler 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s Professional wrestling (often referred to as pro wrestling , or simply, wrestling )
11613-424: The cartel grew, there were fewer independent promoters where independent wrestlers could find work, and many were forced to sign a contract with the cartel to receive steady work. The contracts forbade them from performing at independent venues. A wrestler who refused to play by the cartel's rules was barred from performing at its venues. A second goal of the wrestling cartels was to establish an authority to decide who
11760-418: The case of heels). The matches could also be gimmicky sometimes, with wrestlers fighting in mud and piles of tomatoes and so forth. The most successful and enduring gimmick to emerge from the 1930s were tag-team matches. Promoters noticed that matches slowed down as the wrestlers in the ring tired, so they gave them partners to relieve them. It also gave heels another way to misbehave by double-teaming. Towards
11907-423: The character in shows must be considered fictional, wholly separate from the life of the performer. This is similar to other entertainers who perform with a persona that shares their own name. Some wrestlers also incorporate elements of their real-life personalities into their characters, even if they and their in-ring persona have different names. Kayfabe is the practice of pretending that professional wrestling
12054-461: The commission. The Commission did on very rare occasions hand out such authorizations, such as for a championship match between Jim Londos and Jim Browning in June 1934. This decree did not apply to amateur wrestling, which the commission had no authority over. Wrestling fans widely suspected that professional wrestling was fake, but they did not care as long as it entertained. In 1933, a wrestling promoter named Jack Pfefer started talking about
12201-540: The current fashion of wrestling is the universal discussion as to the honesty of the matches. And certainly the most interesting phrase of this discussion is the unanimous agreement: "Who cares if they're fixed or not—the show is good." Newspapers tended to shun professional wrestling, as journalists saw its theatrical pretense to being a legitimate sport as untruthful. Eventually promoters resorted to publishing their own magazines in order to get press coverage and communicate with fans. The first professional wrestling magazine
12348-400: The discussion shortly after his debut on the October 23, 1995 edition of Monday Night Raw when he became the second person after Lex Luger to bodyslam Yokozuna, thus starting a rivalry with him. The rivalry between The Darkside ( The Undertaker , Savio Vega , Fatu and Henry Godwinn ) and The Royals ( King Mabel , Jerry Lawler , Isaac Yankem and Hunter Hearst Helmsley ) dated back to
12495-536: The dog if Snow defeated him in a match for the Hardcore title; however, after losing the match he reneged and kept the dog. Later, in a segment on WWF SmackDown! , Big Boss Man invited Snow to his hotel room to discuss the situation, before serving Snow dinner which was then revealed to be Pepper. (In a 2008 interview, Snow said that this angle had been based on a story of Mr. Fuji having done something similar with his partner Professor Tanaka's dog.) The feud culminated at
12642-470: The elimination. BodyDonnas suffered the next elimination when Horowitz pinned Radford with a small package . Kid performed a leg drop on Horowitz for the elimination. Jannetty then eliminated Skip by performing a Superbomb . Jannetty had dominated the match as he climbed the top rope to perform a high-flying move on Kid, but Kid's manager Ted DiBiase distracted the referee , allowing Kid's Million Dollar Corporation teammate Sycho Sid to interfere in
12789-405: The end of the 1930s, faced with declining revenues, promoters chose to focus on grooming charismatic wrestlers with no regard for their skill because it was charisma that drew the crowds, and wrestlers who were both skilled at grappling and charismatic were hard to come by. Since most of the public by this time knew and accepted that professional wrestling was fake, realism was no longer paramount and
12936-597: The facade of kayfabe as best as they could. In 1989, Vince McMahon testified before the New Jersey government that professional wrestling was not a true sport and therefore should be exempted from sports-related taxes. Many wrestlers and fans resented McMahon for this, but Lou Thesz accepted it as the smart move as it gave the industry more freedom to do as it pleased, and because by that point professional wrestling no longer attempted to appear real. The demise of WCW in 2001 provided some evidence that kayfabe still mattered to
13083-612: The feature film Dorothy and the Witches of Oz (2012) with Christopher Lloyd , as well as starring in the action film Overtime , and the comedy film Agua Caliente . He had an uncredited role in the drama film Rudy (1993). Snow also appeared in They're Just My Friends (2006) and co-stars alongside Tiger Chung Lee in Mountain Mafia (2009). In 2006, he played himself in the independent feature film The Still Life . Snow can also be seen as
13230-497: The first elimination when she pinned Asuka after performing a German suplex . Kong then dominated the match as she eliminated Hasegawa by performing a belly-to-back suplex , Asari by performing a diving splash and Inoue by performing a seated senton , which she called the Banzai Drop . Blayze then dominated the opposing team as she eliminated Watanabe by performing a Piledriver and then eliminated opposing leader Faye by performing
13377-470: The first place. "Double-crosses", where a wrestler agreed to lose a match but nevertheless fought to win, remained a problem in the early cartel days. At times a promoter would even award a victorious double-crosser the title of champion to preserve the facade of sport. But promoters punished such wrestlers by blacklisting them, making it quite challenging to find work. Double-crossers could also be sued for breach of contract, such as Dick Shikat in 1936. In
13524-610: The game is not popular here. Nine out of ten bouts, it has been said, are pre-arranged affairs, and it would be no surprise if the ratio of fixed matches to honest ones was really so high. The wrestler Lou Thesz recalled that between 1915 and 1920, a series of exposés in the newspapers about the integrity of professional wrestling alienated a lot of fans, sending the industry "into a tailspin". But rather than perform more shoot matches, professional wrestlers instead committed themselves wholesale to fakery. Several reasons explain why professional wrestling became fake whereas boxing endured as
13671-455: The government. They pledged to stop allocating exclusive territories to its promoters, to stop blacklisting wrestlers who worked for outsider promoters, and to admit any promoter into the Alliance. The NWA would flout many of these promises, but its power was nonetheless weakened by the lawsuit. Paul Bowser's AWA joined the NWA in 1949. The AWA withdrew from the Alliance in 1957 and renamed itself
13818-413: The guest commentator during Diesel's title defense against British Bulldog , Hart's former ally who had recently turned on the fans and aligned himself with Bret's brother and nemesis Owen Hart . Bret interfered in the match by attacking Bulldog. As a result, Diesel was disqualified and thus retained the title. This angered Diesel and he argued with Hart, resulting in the two brawling with each other. As
13965-429: The heads into the ring before the match started. The biggest match of his ECW career came when he wrestled for the promotion's World Heavyweight Championship , losing to Shane Douglas at Wrestlepalooza in 1998. Sarven was then recalled to the company in May 1998, where he continued his gimmick of talking to "Head", creating some of the more memorable humorous skits of " The Attitude Era " including fighting himself in
14112-516: The hosting promotion , WWF. Storylines between the characters played out on WWF's primary television program, Monday Night Raw . The main rivalry heading into the event was between Diesel and Bret Hart over the WWF World Heavyweight Championship which Diesel had held since he defeated Bob Backlund three days after Backlund's win over Hart at the previous year's Survivor Series . At In Your House 4 , Hart served as
14259-513: The independent. By 1956, the NWA controlled 38 promotions within the United States, with more in Canada, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand. The NWA's monopolistic practices became so stifling that the independents appealed to the government for help. In October 1956 the US Attorney General's office filed an antitrust lawsuit against the NWA in an Iowa federal district court. The NWA settled with
14406-418: The independents. In June 2006, Snow returned to wrestling full-time as a member of the new ECW brand. His first appearance in the new brand was in the WWE vs ECW Battle Royal at the "WWE vs. ECW Head to Head" special, where he was accompanied by Head. He was eliminated from the match. On the June 13, 2006, debut of ECW on Sci-Fi , Snow participated in an Extreme Battle Royal, which was won by Sabu . Over
14553-471: The industry was anything but a competitive sport. The first wrestling promoter to publicly admit to routinely fixing matches was Jack Pfefer . In 1933, he started talking about the industry's inner workings to the New York Daily Mirror , resulting in a huge exposé. The exposé neither surprised nor alienated most wrestling fans, although some promoters like Jack Curley were furious and tried to restore
14700-487: The industry's inner workings to the New York Daily Mirror , maintaining no pretense that wrestling was real and passing on planned results just before the matches took place. While fans were neither surprised nor alienated, traditionalists like Jack Curley were furious, and most promoters tried to maintain the facade of kayfabe as best they could. Not the least interesting of all the minor phenomena produced by
14847-403: The language of the country, and wearing attire which would suit the stereotype of that country. This continued until he lost the title to William Regal . In 2001, Snow tried to rally support from the fans to vote for him as the new Commissioner of the company following Foley's on-screen firing by Vince McMahon in December 2000. By March 2001, a match was set up between Snow and Regal to determine
14994-424: The life of a child from an ocean riptide at Santa Rosa Beach . On August 29, 2017, Prowrestling.net broke the news that Snow had signed a deal with ECW Press to release an autobiography. Co-written by Ross Owen Williams, who also co-authored Bob Holly 's autobiography The Hardcore Truth , the book was released in April 2019. In the press release, Snow said "we want the book to cover more than what I did in front of
15141-458: The match and drop Jannetty to the ring. Kid then pinned Jannetty to win the match and become the sole survivor from Bodydonnas team. The second match was a four-on-four women's Survivor Series elimination match pitting the WWF Women's Champion Alundra Blayze , Kyoko Inoue , Sakie Hasegawa, and Chaparita Asari against Bertha Faye , Aja Kong , Tomoko Watanabe , and Lioness Asuka . Blayze made
15288-487: The match and join Million Dollar Corporation on the November 13 edition of Raw , Ramon and Kid began a rivalry. Marty Jannetty also got involved in the rivalry as he was screwed out of the victory against 1-2-3 Kid at Survivor Series during Underdogs versus BodyDonnas match. On the November 20 edition of Raw , Jannetty tried to attack Kid and his manager Ted DiBiase but received a Powerbomb by Sid. On
15435-418: The match as he dominated Royals and made the first elimination by pinning Lawler after a Tombstone Piledriver . Undertaker eliminated Yankem next in the same way by performing a Tombstone Piledriver . Helmsley had to compete against Undertaker but he opted to escape the match. As he left the ring, he was chased to the ring by Godwinn, who came out to the ring with his slop bucket. As a result, Helmsley climbed
15582-447: The match, making sure Shera wins. At backstage, a bit later, Al Snow was interviewed and talked angrily, cursing Grado and Shera in the process. On May 24 episode of Impact! , Al Snow went on to win a back and forth street fight against Grado with the help of the debuting Basille Baraka and Baron Dax , thus forming the tag team faction known as The Tribunal . On November 10, episode of Impact , The Tribunal attacked him until Shera made
15729-454: The match. Goldust eventually avoided a corner clothesline by Bigelow and performed a running bulldog to win the match. The fourth match was a four-on-four Survivor Series elimination match pitting the Darkside ( The Undertaker , Savio Vega , Fatu and Henry Godwinn ) against the Royals ( King Mabel , Jerry Lawler , Isaac Yankem and Hunter Hearst Helmsley ). Undertaker controlled most of
15876-498: The members of wrestling cartels as the champion drew big crowds wherever he performed, and this would occasionally lead to schisms. By 1925, this cartel had divided the country up into territories which were the exclusive domains of specific promoters. This system of territories endured until Vince McMahon drove the fragmented cartels out of the market in the 1980s. This cartel fractured in 1929 after one of its members, Paul Bowser , bribed Ed "Strangler" Lewis to lose his championship in
16023-496: The move. Hart applied a figure four leglock on Diesel and then attempted to apply his submission maneuver Sharpshooter but Diesel attacked Hart's face and kicked him into the exposed corner. The match went back and forth with Hart repeatedly attacking Diesel's knee. The action spilled to the outside where both men attacked each other, with Diesel famously throwing Hart through the Spanish announcers table, until Diesel rolled Hart into
16170-633: The new Commissioner, which resulted in Regal winning. Snow then took some time off from the ring in order to commit more time for the reality show Tough Enough . He made his return to the ring in October 2001 during the InVasion era and challenged Christian for the WWF European Championship at Survivor Series , which he lost. Snow's last championship reign came on March 11, 2002, when he defeated Goldust to win his last Hardcore Championship. He lost
16317-461: The next four months, he was used sporadically, mostly as a jobber , losing to people such as Test and Kevin Thorn . Snow was taken off the ECW roster in October 2006. Snow then returned with the company as a trainer at Ohio Valley Wrestling in 2007. On the February 3, 2007 OVW TV tapings, Snow was named the new OVW Troubleshooter by Danny Davis in response to Danny Basham 's WWE release. On Raw XV,
16464-413: The opposing team as he was the remaining member on his team. Johnson powerslammed Yokozuna and tried to pin him but Bulldog broke up the pin to save his ally. This caused Michaels and Johnson to attack Bulldog. Michaels then performed a Sweet Chin Music on Yokozuna and Johnson performed a diving splash on Yokozuna to win the match. Michaels, Johnson and Bulldog survived on their team. The main event
16611-437: The platform used in boxing , serves as the main stage ; additional scenes may be recorded for television in backstage areas of the venue, in a format similar to reality television . Performers generally integrate authentic wrestling techniques and fighting styles with choreography , stunts , improvisation , and dramatic conventions designed to maximize entertainment value and audience engagement. Professional wrestling as
16758-714: The promotion's closing in 1991. In the spring of 1984, the WWF purchased Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW), which had been ailing for some time due to financial mismanagement and internal squabbles. In the deal, the WWF acquired the GCW's timeslot on TBS . McMahon agreed to keep showing Georgia wrestling matches in that timeslot, but he was unable to get his staff to Atlanta every Saturday to fulfill this obligation, so he sold GCW and its TBS timeslot to Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP). JCP started informally calling itself World Championship Wrestling (WCW). In 1988, Ted Turner bought JCP and formally renamed it World Championship Wrestling. During
16905-466: The promotion's day-to-day operations. On August 27, 2022, Snow and Doug Basham defeated Adam Revolver and Joe Mack at OVW The Big One. Snow was heavily featured in the docuseries Wrestlers , a Netflix released series focused on OVW that was released September 13, 2023. Following the series release, OVW had their first Thursday night sold-out show in eight years. He had a cameo as the Nome King in
17052-574: The ring and tried to perform a jackknife powerbomb but Hart was almost knocked out and collapsed. Diesel tried to pick him up again for the jackknife powerbomb but Hart had been playing possum and hooked Diesel's leg and rolled him into a small package, getting the pin and winning the championship. An angry Diesel hit two jackknife powerbombs on Hart after the match. Several departures took place after Survivor Series. Bam Bam Bigelow left WWF after losing to Goldust at Survivor Series and joined ECW later in 1995. The WWF Women's Champion Alundra Blayze
17199-576: The save, turning face once again in the process. On December 8 episode of Impact Wrestling , Snow and Shera defeated The Tribunal in a Double Strap Match to end the feud. On June 19, 2017, Al Snow was released from Impact Wrestling. On April 7, 2018, it was reported Snow purchased Ohio Valley Wrestling . In January 2021, Snow sold a majority interest in OVW to a group led by radio host Matt Jones , and former 21c Museum Hotels CEO and current mayor of Louisville, Kentucky , Craig Greenberg . Snow continues to run
17346-490: The second longest running pay-per-view event in history (behind WWE's WrestleMania ), it is one of the promotion's original four pay-per-views, along with WrestleMania , SummerSlam , and Royal Rumble, and was considered one of the "Big Five" PPVs, along with King of the Ring . The event is traditionally characterized by having Survivor Series matches , which are tag team elimination matches that typically pits teams of four or five wrestlers against each other. The 1995 event
17493-440: The stamina for an hours-long fight. Audiences also preferred short matches. Worked matches also carried less risk of injury, which meant shorter recovery. Altogether, worked matches proved more profitable than shoots. By the end of the 19th century, nearly all professional wrestling matches were worked. A major influence on professional wrestling was carnival culture. Wrestlers in the late 19th century worked in carnival shows. For
17640-587: The street near the ECW Arena during a Mummers Day parade. He got the idea to portray an individual with a schizophrenic disorder using the head as a prop for projection . In this role, Sarven received a lot of fan and management support for his J.O.B. Squad storyline, which promoted him as being driven insane by his years as a jobber for the WWF. In the storyline, Snow, upset at his lot in life, asked Cactus Jack what he had to do to get anywhere in wrestling. Jack said to Snow that to become famous he had to "get
17787-426: The territories of his former NWA peers, now his rivals. By the end of the 1980s, the WWF would become the sole national wrestling promotion in the U.S. This was in part made possible by the rapid spread of cable television in the 1980s. The national broadcast networks generally regarded professional wrestling as too niche an interest, and had not broadcast any national wrestling shows since the 1950s. Before cable TV,
17934-597: The title to his former Tough Enough student, Maven , a few days later. He was drafted to SmackDown! as part of the 2002 Brand Extension , where he teamed up with Maven. After taking time off again for another season of Tough Enough , Snow returned as a member of the Raw roster in October and eventually became a commentator for Sunday Night Heat alongside Jonathan Coachman . When Coachman sided with Eric Bischoff , Snow followed suit, turning heel. The two feuded with Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler , and briefly replaced them at
18081-505: The trial, witnesses testified that most of the "big matches" and all of the championship bouts were fixed. By the 1930s, with the exception of the occasional double-cross or business dispute, shoot matches were essentially nonexistent. In April 1930, the New York State Athletic Commission decreed that all professional wrestling matches held in the state had to be advertised as exhibitions unless certified as contests by
18228-471: The truth, their audiences would desert them. Today's performers don't "protect" the industry like we did, but that's primarily because they've already exposed it by relying on silly or downright ludicrous characters and gimmicks to gain popularity with the fans. It was different in my day, when our product was presented as an authentic, competitive sport. We protected it because we believed it would collapse if we ever so much as implied publicly that it
18375-409: The vocational program in May 2019 and start accredited instruction that August. Snow has been married three times. He married Pam Sarven in 1986 and the couple had two children. They divorced in 2004. His second wife was fellow wrestler Cynthia Lynch who wrestled under the name of Bobcat. They married in 2009 and divorced in 2015. In 2017, he married his third wife, Jessica Gousha. In 2021, Snow saved
18522-535: The way of proceedings: the "in-show" happenings, presented through the shows; and real-life happenings outside the work that have implications, such as performer contracts, legitimate injuries, etc. Because actual life events are often co-opted by writers for incorporation into storylines of performers, the lines between real life and fictional life are often blurred and become confused. Special discern must be taken with people who perform under their own name (such as Kurt Angle and his fictional persona ). The actions of
18669-545: The winner of the WWF World Heavyweight Championship match between Diesel and Bret Hart at Survivor Series would defend the title against British Bulldog . Since Hart won the title at Survivor Series, a title match was set up between Hart and Bulldog at In Your House 5 . At In Your House 5, Hart defeated Bulldog to retain the WWF World Heavyweight title. Following the Survivor Series matchup, Diesel became
18816-420: The wrestlers quietly began faking their matches so that they could give their audiences a satisfying spectacle. Fixing matches was also convenient for scheduling. A real ("shoot") match could sometimes last hours, whereas a fixed ("worked") match can be made short, which was convenient for wrestlers on tour who needed to keep appointments or share venues. It also suited wrestlers who were aging and therefore lacked
18963-425: Was Wrestling As You Like It , which printed its first issue in 1946. These magazines were faithful to kayfabe . Before the advent of television, professional wrestling's fanbase largely consisted of children, the elderly, blue-collar workers and minorities. When television arose in the 1940s, professional wrestling got national exposure on prime-time television and gained widespread popularity. Professional wrestling
19110-534: Was booked for a rivalry against Aja Kong . On the November 27 edition of Raw , Kong and Tomoko Watanabe defeated Blayze and Kyoko Inoue in a tag team match. It would turn out to be Blayze's last appearance in WWF as she made a shocking appearance on the December 18 edition of WCW Monday Nitro and dropped the Women's Championship into a trashcan. On the November 6 edition of Raw , it had been announced by Camp Cornette 's ( kayfabe ) lawyer Clarence Mason that
19257-458: Was a No Disqualification match between Diesel and Bret Hart for the WWF Championship . Hart won the match and the title by pinfall , becoming a three-time champion and ending Diesel's 358-day reign – the longest of the 1990s. The undercard featured Shawn Michaels , Ahmed Johnson , British Bulldog , and Sycho Sid versus Yokozuna , Owen Hart , Razor Ramon , and Dean Douglas in
19404-458: Was a No Disqualification match for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship . Diesel defended the title against Bret Hart . As the match started, both wrestlers each untied a top turnbuckle. Hart focused on Diesel's knee and mainly attacked there. The action spilled to the outside where Diesel dominated Hart until the two returned to the ring, where Diesel tried to perform a jackknife powerbomb but Hart attacked Diesel's knee to get himself out of
19551-618: Was a four-on-four Survivor Series elimination match pitting Shawn Michaels , Ahmed Johnson , British Bulldog and Sycho Sid against Yokozuna , Owen Hart , the WWF Intercontinental Champion Razor Ramon and Dean Douglas . The tension arose between the two teams as heroes and villains were randomly distributed in both teams and the match was dubbed as a "Wildcard" match. The heroes and villains fought their own teammates as Ramon attacked his own teammate Douglas, allowing Michaels to eliminate him by pinning him with
19698-479: Was a voracious eater of cheese and later his attempt to force him to wear a Green Bay Packers " Cheesehead " hat). At WrestleMania 2000 the two suffered a loss against Test and Albert. Also in the same year, Snow won the WWF European Championship from Perry Saturn . He then began a tongue-in-cheek gimmick of entering the ring to various European countries' native music, with his theme song sung in
19845-454: Was against Isaac Yankem . On February 20, 1996, Sarven wrestled as Shinobi , a "ninja assassin" hired by Jim Cornette to dispose of Shawn Michaels , who defeated Shinobi in quick fashion. Avatar returned for one last appearance against Justin Bradshaw at a house show on March 17, 1996, at MSG in a losing effort. Sarven received his first mainstream exposure with the WWF as Leif Cassidy ,
19992-488: Was challenges from independent wrestlers. But a cartelized wrestler, if challenged, could credibly use his contractual obligations to his promoter as an excuse to refuse the challenge. Promotions would sometimes respond to challenges with "policemen": powerful wrestlers who lacked the charisma to become stars, but could defeat and often seriously injure any challenger in a shoot match. As the industry trend continued, there were fewer independent wrestlers to make such challenges in
20139-440: Was defeated by Diesel. As a result, on the April 3 edition of Raw , Michaels informed Sid that he was no longer needed. Sid became angry and he attacked Michaels by powerbombing him three times, putting Michaels out of action for six weeks. This led to an Intercontinental Championship match between Michaels and Sid on the September 11 edition of Raw , which Michaels retained by defeating Sid. Ahmed Johnson, meanwhile, entered into
20286-405: Was impaled with a spike by Prince Albert , Snow replaced Head with a chihuahua named Pepper, who he claimed talked to him. A variety of segments were broadcast showing Snow's interactions with the dog, including bringing Pepper to the ring to either "participate" in matches or be held by the broadcast team. This led to a storyline where Big Boss Man kidnapped Pepper. Big Boss Man agreed to return
20433-564: Was not being utilized by ECW and went to Smoky Mountain full-time. In Smoky Mountain Wrestling, Snow teamed with Unabomb (Glenn Jacobs, later to be known as Kane ) as The Dynamic Duo and defeated the Rock 'n' Roll Express for the SMW Tag Team Championship . Both wrestlers caught the attention of the World Wrestling Federation and were signed by the end of 1995. Sarven began working for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) when he signed
20580-577: Was often the butt of Foley's jokes during Foley's tenure as the Commissioner in 2000. However, they are close friends in real life. Foley continued to use Snow as the butt of many jokes in his second book, Foley Is Good: And the Real World Is Faker than Wrestling . In early 2000, he began to team with Steve Blackman as an "odd couple" tag team called Head Cheese (the "cheese" part being given various explanations, including Snow's claim that Blackman
20727-418: Was one of the wrestlers sent to Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). He left in July of that year and went to ECW. His last appearance in WWF in September 1997 was a loss to Tiger Ali Singh at WWF One Night Only . Sarven found success back in ECW in August 1997, billed once again as Al Snow. Sarven developed a new character gimmick after reading about abnormal psychology and finding a mannequin head on
20874-683: Was over the Wildcard Survivor Series elimination match , pitting Shawn Michaels , British Bulldog, Ahmed Johnson and Sycho Sid against Razor Ramon , Owen Hart , Yokozuna and Dean Douglas . On the October 23 edition of Raw , the WWF President Gorilla Monsoon made the match to make rivals team with each other and teammates compete against each other, forcing Bulldog to compete against his allies in Camp Cornette . Ramon and Douglas had been feuding with each other since
21021-568: Was previously considered a niche interest, but the TV networks at the time were short on content and thus were willing to try some wrestling shows. In the 1960s, however, the networks moved on to more mainstream interests such as baseball, and professional wrestling was dropped. The core audience then shrunk back to a profile similar to that of the 1930s. In 1989, Vince McMahon was looking to exempt his promotion (the World Wrestling Federation ) from sports licensing fees. To achieve this, he testified before
21168-409: Was quoted as saying "What kind of message would this toy send children about brutalization of women?" Sarven used the story as part of an angle in which the controversy caused Al Snow to develop depression. At WrestleMania XV , Snow lost a WWF Hardcore Championship triple threat match involving Hardcore Holly and Billy Gunn . During the summer of 1999, at the conclusion of a storyline where Head
21315-415: Was something other than what it appeared to be. I'm not sure now the fear was ever justified given the fact that the industry is still in existence today, but the point is no one questioned the need then. "Protecting the business" in the face of criticism and skepticism was the first and most important rule a pro wrestler learned. No matter how aggressive or informed the questioner, you never admitted
21462-417: Was the "world champion". Before the cartels, there were multiple wrestlers in the U.S. simultaneously calling themselves the "world champion", and this sapped public enthusiasm for professional wrestling. Likewise, the cartel could agree on a common set of match rules that the fans could keep track of. The issue over who got to be the champion and who controlled said champion was a major point of contention among
21609-460: Was the ninth event in the Survivor Series chronology and was scheduled to be held on November 19, 1995, at the USAir Arena in Landover, Maryland , and was the first Survivor Series to take place on a Sunday night. Each previous edition had taken place either on Thanksgiving or Thanksgiving Eve. The professional wrestling matches at Survivor Series featured professional wrestlers performing as characters in scripted events pre-determined by
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