Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
In 1995, Al Snow was one of the hottest free agents in all of professional wrestling. WCW was just starting to try and legitimately compete with the World Wrestling Federation. Each promotion was signing top wrestling talent from all over the country. One of those wrestlers was Al Snow, who had made a name for himself in various territories including Jim Cornette’s Smoky Mountain Wrestling. Snow had great charisma and could flat out wrestle.
WCW was first to bring him in for a try out match in Atlanta. Bookers Kevin Sullivan and Terry Taylor weren’t big Al Snow fans and tried to sabotage him. Snow would then get flown to Stamford, Connecticut and get wined and dined by Vince McMahon. Snow immediately saw the difference between the two companies and decided to sign with the WWF. Al Snow would then embark on a somewhat lackluster career with the WWF, He went under various gimmick changes like Shinobi, Avatar and Leif Cassidy. He was also used primarily as a jobber to other talent within the company.
Snow had become despondent and dissatisfied with his position and wanted a full release from the WWF. A request that was quickly turned down by WWF producer Bruce Prichard. Snow would continue to complain to management that he was disgusted and wanted out, but to no avail. Chris Candido who was a good friend of Snow’s and was currently working in Extreme Championship Wrestling…heard that Snow was not happy with his role in he WWF and reached out to him. Candido offered to talk to ECW boss Paul Heyman about the possibility of going down to Philadelphia and working for Heyman. At the time in 1997, ECW had a working relationship with the WWF. Paul Heyman really had no interest in bringing in Al Snow, but Candido convinced Heyman to give Snow a shot. Paul Heyman agreed and met with Vince McMahon to “loan” Al Snow to ECW for a period of time to try some new gimmicks.
Snow admits that every idea that Heyman came up with wasn’t really working for him. It was Snow who remembered that his last WWF match had his character Leif Cassidy have a sort of breakdown after losing another match and chasing after Jim Ross. Al Snow wanted to continue that angle on ECW television where Snow would continue to have a mental breakdown. Snow would find a Styrofoam head that was leftover from a traditional New Year’s Day parade in Philadelphia and decided to use it as a prop for his gimmick. To introduce the mannequin head in storyline….Snow asked Mick Foley what was the secret to getting over. Foley responded by telling Snow to “get a little head”….meaning have a sexual relations with a booker or promoter. Snow would take that advice literally and introduce ‘Head’ to ECW fans.
The Styrofoam head would eventually be replaced with a mannequin head. Despite rumors to the contrary, the gimmick and storyline was all Al Snow’s idea and slowly but surely got over with the finicky fans in Philly. During this time, Snow suffered a shoulder injury and could not wrestle for a few weeks. In the interim, he would just film a series of vignettes with him and his mannequin head. While Al Snow envisioned the character to be a heel….Heyman told him that he was going to become one of the biggest babyfaces in the company. Snow thought Heyman was crazy, but sure enough….once Snow entered the arena for the first time after his injury….he was greeted with a huge ovation. Fans would be handed Styrofoam heads and they would shower Snow with them in the middle of the ring.
Just like that, Al Snow was indeed one of the most popular stars in ECW. So much so, he was booked to challenge Shane Douglas for the ECW world title at Wrestlepalooza ’98. Snow was convinced he would win the title that night…but was booked to lose instead. Snow knew something was up and when he saw the new video opening for ECW following that show…he noticed he wasn’t included in it.
Apparently, Heyman didn’t want to totally invest in Snow as a champion even though was insanely popular. The reasoning was because Snow was still property to the WWF. Seeing the writing on the wall, Snow asked to return to the WWF and did so…ending an unbelievable run with ECW. While Al Snow’s career never made the heights of popularity in the WWF/E as it did in ECW…there is no question that Snow made his mark in pro wrestling.