Al Snow recently spoke with Sports Illustrated about various topics. Here are the highlights.
On the difference between OVW and NXT: The difference between OVW and NXT is OVW was a throwback to a very regional territory. It was operated on a very local and regional basis, and under the same premise as what we used to do. I wanted to build it up when I first came in and took over. They were running two or three live events a month, and a weekly television production show every Wednesday night. We ran 186 live events and drew, on average, 400 people. The TV show became the number one rated show on the local network, and several times beat out the local news. For us, that was successful, but NXT operates on a different platform. It’s not regional or local, but it’s more of a sister company to WWE. They tour, run smaller venues, and they’re doing really, really well, which is great. Any success that allows the talent more of an opportunity to perform in front of a live audience is always a boon for the wrestling business as a whole.
On his role in TNA: I still love to perform. I perform any chance I get. An opportunity came up to fill a role to be a piece in the puzzle, and I still love to perform. This gives me a chance to re-invent myself, to recreate myself, and start off in a completely new direction at a different point in my career. I knew, instinctually, I had to go someplace else and change my appearance, change my approach, and think differently. If I didn’t change my physical appearance, people would still view me as the same exact product. I needed to make a new product, and part of that is the packaging and the label. I cut my hair, let my gray hair show, and developed this new outside packaging to provide a new opportunity and a new lease on life. Now I can come across as this bitter, salty veteran–and now I also look the part. I run the whole gamut–I’m a producer, I’m an agent, I am a coach, trainer, in-ring talent, on-air manager. You name it, and I’m pretty much doing it. If anybody wants to watch and see me do the wonderful things that I do, you can tune in every Thursday night on Pop TV at 8pm ET.
Snow also talked about Paul Heyman and more. You can read the entire interview here.
