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By Sean Radican, PWTorch columnist

PWTorch.com DVD review
RF Video Shoot with Al Snow 2008
By Sean Radican, PWTorch columnist

Al Snow of ECW, WWE, and Tough Enough fame, recently sat down with RF Video for nearly three hours for his first shoot with the company in 10 years. Snow comes off as a very knowledgeable person, who is completely different from the person he was when he conducted his last shoot with RF Video 10 years prior. As Snow explained during the course of the interview, he buried Vince McMahon and the WWE when he was first released by the company at the time of his first shoot because he didn’t know any better and realizes now that McMahon gave him a tremendous opportunity that he completely screwed up.

The interviewer, Rob Feinstein, constantly tries to plow through his list of questions for Snow instead of just letting him talk about his theories on pro wrestling. Snow, to his credit, fends off insignificant questions about feuding with Steve Blackman to discuss his philosophy on pro wrestling.

One of the big themes of the interview is Snow talks about being in the ring as an opportunity and not a job. He sets the framework for this philosophy by talking about the rates for a 30 second ad on television. Snow believes that when you get six minutes in the ring on Raw, it is a tremendous opportunity for wrestlers to market themselves and become valuable commodity the company.

The philosophy of wrestling that Snow lays out for the viewer on this release is when wrestlers are given an opportunity to wrestle on television, they should do all they can to get themselves and their opponent over for the benefit of the company. Snow’s discussion of his time in the WWE spotlight is if he had known then what he knows now, things might be different.

Snow says instead of viewing his time in the ring as an opportunity to market his personality, he spent too much time worrying about having a great match or doing certain spots. It is admirable to hear Snow say that he holds no grudges against anyone in the business for his lack of top tier success in the industry, but instead, blames himself. Snow goes on to talk about several specific matches where he was given an opportunity, but blew it.

Snow doesn’t just talk about himself in this interview, as he has a great deal of experience working with WWE developmental talent as a trainer and booker in OVW. Snow talks about his time in OVW in great detail. He worked with what he feels is the next generation of talent and gives his thoughts about wrestlers such as C.M. Punk and Cody Rhodes.

A highlight of this shoot is Snow’s discussion of how every show can only build to one pop. Snow gives the analogy of a man sleeping with a woman and doing all the right things to lead to a big climax. It might not be the most tasteful discussion of booking philosophy, but Snow’s analogy makes sense. Snow uses several examples of wrestlers on the independent scene that believe their job is have the best match on the card and discusses how that philosophy is wrong in his eyes, as each match in theory should build to that one pop on the show at the end of the night.

Overall thoughts: I would give this release a strong recommendation. It’s one of the better shoots I’ve seen in recent months, especially if you’re big into wrestling philosophy. Snow has been just about everywhere in the business and talks in-depth about Tough Enough, OVW, and of course, his own career (mostly ECW and WWE). Snow’s discussion of building a wrestling card, his own shortcomings in wrestling, and working in OVW are all well-worth going out of your way to sit down and listen to. Of course, Snow comes off as a little too nice when it comes to burying other people in the industry, as he has nothing but nice things to say about those in power in the WWE, but that doesn’t take away from a shoot that hopefully doesn’t get overlooked.

Check out the Sean Radican Audio Showcase Starring Sean Radican with Derek Burgan next weekend for an audio review of this release, plus so much more including the latest on ROH, TNA, and WWE!

You can purchase this release at RFVideo.com.

Email Sean Radican.

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