Alright, here we go. Happy New Year, everybody. It's Jeff Zito, and thanks for checking out another episode of the Celebrity Jobber Podcast. Streaming on Spotify, IHard, Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen to podcasts. You can go back in time and check out past guests and episodes online at celebrityjobber.com, and if you wouldn't mind, please hit that subscribe button, if you like the podcast with love of five star rating, and please leave a review. Where did it all start? The big question that I have for all of these celebrities, because sometimes it was a complete accident. Sometimes it was a goal of theirs when they were a little kid, and they worked hard, and finally achieved their goal and got their big break. So it's kind of interesting, the origin story of celebrities and how they got started. I happen to be a big fan of professional wrestling. I first got obsessed with it in the early to mid 80s. Hulk Hogan, Andre the giant, Rowdy Roddy Piper, you know, wrestling used to be a little small independent promotions in regions all throughout the country. And by the WWF and Vince McMahon, went national back in the early to mid 80s, and that's when the wrestling explosion pretty much happened. My guess this week is Alan Ray Sarvin, but you know him best by his ring name Al Snow, and came up with a pretty classic in ring gimmick, where he portrayed a schizophrenic and talked to a mannequin head, which he called head. He's been in the wrestling business for over 40 years, and he's actually one of the owners of Ohio Valley Wrestling, OVW. You might remember Al from that docuseries, which aired on Netflix a couple of years ago titled wrestlers, all about the OVW, and partnered with this guy Matt Jones, who's a pretty popular sports broadcaster, based at Lexington, Kentucky, and founded Kentucky Sports Radio KSR, which pretty much focuses on the University of Kentucky Wildcats. And this guy is a pretty polarizing figure to say the least, if you ask me. Regardless, we're going to talk to Al about how he got his start, what his parents did for work, and what was his first job, and the big break that pretty much changed everything, as far as his life's trajectory was concerned. And he's also got a new project, he's in a movie, which I believe is coming out next week. I don't want to say former, because I still think he gets in the squared circle on occasion. Professional wrestler, Al Snow is my guest this week on Celebrity Jobber. Celebrities weren't famous. What would they have become? What was their first job? We're about to find out. Hey Al. How are you, man? So I did this today, you know, the guy putting this on, it's like, hey, you want, you want to zoom, and I was like, listen, if there's by chance, you know, the chance that Al is sitting there with head, I'm going. I don't have a head right here. They're in the bedroom. It's still early. They don't like to wake up early. They'd be pretty crunchy anyway. But I do have like, you know, the actual figure that got banned from Walmart. Right. There it is. Yeah. Yeah. So this story, the story with that Al was that some tight ass, you know, to maybe a school teacher, the saw head as being maybe disrespectful or encouraging kids to hurt women somehow. And she actually got them to pull off, pull the action figure out of everywhere, right in the height. Yeah. Yeah. She was a professor of all things, communications at Kinesle State College in Georgia. And you know, this way, if you're a professor of communications, why would you ever do homework or research on the topic of it? You're going to have your opinion about it in a public forum. But she showed up in a Walmart, saw the action figure thought it was a decapitated woman's head. And then said, wrote a letter to Walmart that the Atlanta Constitution, of course, published stating that, you know, it was a training manual for future spousal abusers. Wow. Training manual. Yeah. And then Walmart pulled them from the shelves and then, of course, literally nationwide, every other retail store pulled them off. And it was great for me because I was literally a major news event for like about a week and a half, two weeks. I mean, Jay Leno had it included in his, you know, his monologue. They did a store. I still have the magazine. They did like a two page story and time magazine on it. So I was getting canceled before cancel culture was even a thing. I've always been ahead of the curve. You are definitely ahead of the curve. Celebrity jobber. The celebrity jobber podcast with Jeff Zeta. I guess the last I heard from you was just a few years ago. Great show. I forgot where it was. Maybe on Netflix. It was all about. You owned you and this guy Matt Jones, who's a radio play play guy for the university Kentucky Wildcats. He kind of came in. You were you owned the Ohio Valley wrestling OVW. And and this guy who I didn't I didn't like. Okay. It's like, it seemed like you had that kind of relationship to so can you tell me about OVW now? Are you still involved? What's the news that Jones all that still still involved? Still going. We produce live television outside of AW and WV, one of the only other company I think in the world that does live television every single week. And we still produce live television. We still are operational. We're still running and and doing our thing. We're still running. We have a training academy that is the only one that is certified by the state office proprietary education as a trade school for professional wrestling and broadcasting in the world. Very proud of that. And yeah, we're still going on and Matt's kind of moved to the periphery and you know, still around, but doesn't really come around. I think, you know, it'd be a shy moral off. And now he's not as heavily involved anymore. It's still financially involved or just indirectly just kind of there. You know, probably the best thing. Honestly. Yeah. I think so for him too, you know, I, you know, you maxed in acquired taste. Some of us just haven't acquired it yet, but you know, yes. I mean, look, you know, all you need is to watch a few episodes of any kind of reality show to see what kind of, you know, the guy's personality was off putting. Let's just say that. And then when you mix in the investment into wrestling, I mean, and it's something that you've done forever. You've got experience in this. He walks in. He's a fan of it and walks in and thinks that he can make it successful. You know, I get it. That's why it didn't work because I made a lot of it. It made for great TV. It made a great story between, you know, it was, it was, that was never intended, but it just, was, you know, a real documentary. The, you know, the director was like, hey, I, I just, you guys be you. I just want to capture what you do. And I'm like, don't you worry. I'll be me. You know, I'm going to be the same me before you get that you, I was before you got here. I'll be the same one after. And, and you know, they, they did an amazing job. You know, he, the director just put it new, how to put it together and tell the stories of not just the company, but the wrestlers themselves. And, you know, one of the wrestlers that was featured on that, Cash Flow is now a series regular on TulsiKate with so much. Oh, really? Yeah. Yeah. He plays Bigfoot on TulsiKate. Right? Oh, yes. I, I, and yes, I've seen it. He reminds, he reminds me of Big John stud a little bit from the old. A little bit. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mentioned that. You're right. He does kind of carry that. He's not as tall. Right. But he's just as big. And, uh, yeah, you know, it is, so it, it opened up a door of opportunities for him. And, uh, you know, really happy for him as well. Yeah. Because, you know, in his storyline in the documentary, you know, times were tough. He was, you know, tough time making ends meet at one particular point. So it looks like that might, might have been a really great situation. That's, yeah. Yeah. And it's, it helped us, as far as the company is concerned. And, you know, we're, we're just, he plug in, we're, uh, actually, um, and I point this out, we're the second longest running, uh, weekly episodic television show in the history of the medium. The only other one that's brand longer is, uh, W.W.E.s Raw is, uh, in front of us, um, you know, um, other than broadcast news programs. Uh, there's, uh, Raw, there's us. And then there's Smackdown as far as the longest episodic television shows. Wow. Weekly. Wow. You know, we're coming up on our 1400th episode this year. People don't realize this that don't live in Ohio, you know, so. Yeah. The Celebrity Jobber podcast with Jeff Cito. Celebrity Jobber. I want to ask how I, the movie, this, uh, I didn't, uh, I just watched the trailer. And I was like, wow, this is heavy. No, it's very powerful. Are you an actor? Have you always dabbled in, in acting? How did you get involved with this? I have, uh, I'm, I don't consider myself an actor, uh, because what I don't think I can do it very well and two, um, other people seem to think so, but hey, um, and, uh, I don't do it for a living, you know, so like, I can go to, I can go to lows in my opinion and I can change a faucet in my bathroom, but I don't think I'm a plumber. But, you know, so I'm an entertainer, and I get opportunities to be an actor and then try to create these characters. Um, and I've done a lot of acting. Um, some of it good, some of it, not so good. Um, but I've gotten those opportunities in much like with this. I, uh, no people in that world, the lead actor, John Wells, who is an amazing actor. He's, it really genuinely is, plays the father in this movie, uh, approach me about the opportunity to be the bear, no bear, um, the son who suffers from, you know, has autism, has that challenge. Um, he has a small child had a stuff there that's a mascot for a polar bear for a mascot for a high-socky team. And then I become the figment of the, uh, John, the father's, uh, imagination and kind of operate like, uh, Jiminy Cricket, kind of like a conscience can help direct a guy to him in dealing with the challenges with his son throughout the movie. And it's, and times can be a little intense. And it, because it doesn't shy away from the real challenges, I think that people encounter, uh, in these situations. Um, but, uh, using the bear's character, I, it's my hope that it alleviates or lightens it up and adds some levity and, and throughout the story. So, and the, the film is called the learning way. It's in theaters everywhere on January 16th and 100% of the proceeds go to support families with children with autism. I think that's absolutely, yeah. You know, just supporting the great cause. I mean, I, and I wouldn't say it if, if I didn't really need it, you're actually going to go and watch it and enjoy a movie and have a real uplifting, uh, story that there are a lot of people out there that can relate to it right now. And did, did me the correct, but it's called learning you the title. Oh, I'm sorry, the learning you, yes, sorry, sorry, yes. I'm not, you know, I'm not, but dyslexic. But there's, you know, it's, it's about the single father who is, uh, facing both the personal and professional challenges, uh, of his regular life and then trying to deal with and give his son the best life that he can and, and give those experiences to him as best he can. And it's in theaters again, January 16th, the learning you, Al, can you take me all the way back before wrestling? I mean, can you tell us a little bit about growing up in Ohio? Can you tell me about what your parents did for work? How the hell did you end up in wrestling? Celebrity jobber, the celebrity jobber podcast with Jeff Cito. Al, can you take me all the way back before wrestling? I mean, can you tell us a little bit about growing up in Ohio? Can you tell me about what your parents did for work? How the hell did you end up in wrestling? Well, uh, I definitely among the family, I'm the only one that ran away with the circus, uh, all of my family, both on both sides, you know, we're just blue collar workers, uh, you know, um, just working and, and, different things. My father worked in maintenance at a green elevator in Limelow, Ohio, and, you know, my mother worked in the courts as a stenographer and those court secretary and, um, for a judge, and, uh, you know, and, and I was around 14 and I proclaimed to all of my family that, very probably that I wanted to be a professional wrestler and they all looked at me like I had four or five heads and, uh, we're all, all of them summarily said, uh, why do you want to do that? That's fake. And I was just a gas, I was like, what? I was appalled. And, um, you know, and then I made that decision to do it, started pursuing it, which of course, you know, like 14, uh, was not going to happen. By the time I was graduating high school, things fell into place and really took a lot to convince this guy to train me and mentor me in a 1982 May 11, I think. I always thought it was May 22, but I saw somebody sent me a copy of the poster. It was apparently May 11, 1982. I had my first match in Springfield, Ohio and the two ring 20 man battle royale and I was off to the races. Wow. Was there another job before wrestling? Did you ever do anything? Take your first job and maybe some of the other day. I mean, I took on a job at an Italian restaurant. I was a dishwasher and I watched dishes to earn money to go to a tryout in Charlotte, North Carolina, um, and basically, um, get the crap beat out of me. Um, I have my nose broken and sent back home. So, uh, yeah, we're done in Italian restaurant. Any other jobs you can remember having throughout your career, maybe if you needed to pretty much it. That was it. I was kind of wrestling at Italian restaurant. It was named, uh, Parasons family restaurant in the American mall in Limel, Ohio. I was a dishwasher back in the day. And, um, back there just scrubbing, scrubbing plates and, you know, and, you know, an Italian restaurant, heavy on the cheese. So heavy. Uh, those dishes were tough to come clean. And a big break. Can you think of a moment where everything changed for you? Owl? Was it the gimmick with head? I mean, what was your, the big break that kind of launched you to become a WWE superstar? I think, uh, you know, the one real moment that things started to kind of turn because I had, at that point in time, I had been doing it for the professional wrestler for probably, uh, 10, 11 years. Um, and I had an opportunity that came was born out of a Met Dan Severin who is, uh, UFC legend. And, uh, Dan wanted to be a professional wrestler and I had opened up my own school and limelial and training was training Dan to be a professional wrestler. And then the UFC started. And, uh, Dan wanted to be a part of that. Uh, one thing led to another and wanted somebody to train him, uh, to prepare for UFC. And I did that. It was UFC four out in Tulsa and, uh, was in his corner and, um, uh, uh, they kind of a smart remark after the second fight because remember, back then, you had to fight three times in the same night. Right. It's like a tournament. Right. You know, so Dan had just fought a second fight at one and the commentator, you know, the interview comes over and I knew he was just trying to get Dan to say something to kind of, because the whole thing was about the gray season. It was about hoist, which was good for them, but, uh, you know, he's trying to ask him questions about you just when you're second fight and, you know, what are you going to do now? Like, like trying to get him to really put over hoist, gray season, Dan, at the time, probably not one of the best talkers. And, uh, I just made a smile. He's going to go back in the locker room and have sex. What do you think he's going to do? And the interview just gaited the microphone away and walked away and Jim Cornett, a wrestling legend was at the time owned and operated smoking on wrestling and saw me and saw that remark I made. Get out. And, and then reached out to me and gave me an opportunity and then that led, you know, to meeting Jim Ross who then led to an opportunity with WWF and then, you know, and then me, getting frustrated, going to ECW developing, uh, with some of there and then coming back to WWe. Wow. Yeah. Very, very cool. So it was training Dan Severn, the beast, that thick little clip got the attention of the legendary Jim Cornett. Go ahead. I can't encourage people enough, no matter what you're doing, just go do, go do, do something because you just never know the domino effect of that one little moment that will translate into who knows what. That is it. Um, the film is called The Learning You January 16th, a legendary Al Snow, a pleasure. Thank you so much. Thank you. I really appreciate you to give me the time. Happy New Year. There you go. Al Snow, blue collar guy from a blue collar family and Lima, Ohio. Al says, uh, his father was a maintenance man at a elevator company and his mother was a court stenographer. And Al said, uh, he was the only one in his family that made the decision to, uh, quote, unquote, run away with the circus. He said he announced to everybody at the age of 14 that professional wrestling was what he wanted to do. I thought it was pretty funny. He said he's only really had one job outside of wrestling. And that was, uh, washing dishes had an Italian restaurant. And he was, you know, just kind of still working in wrestling and trying to make ends meet. But he said that was his only real job that, uh, he's ever had outside of the wrestling business. He talked about his big break and when he was training a UFC legend Dan, the beast Severin. And he said he was a professional wrestler for like 10 years at the time. But he's training, uh, Severin and it was on one of the early UFC fights that was televised. And I guess he said something stupid on camera and legendary professional wrestling manager Jim Cornette. You might remember him. He was the guy with the tennis racket. Uh, he ended up seeing that and ended up reaching out to Al and gave him a shot at his promotion. Smoky mountain wrestling, which kind of led to him becoming Al snow with head. I thought it was such a great gimmick too, you know, I thought it was a pretty cool Al like gave a little advice at, uh, at the end there saying like, Hey, look, you just you never know. So just get out there and and do is what Al said because the domino effect and it happened to him. You got to check out this trailer for his new movie. It's called the learning you. You can go to learning you movie dot com to check out the trailer. It's pretty heavy and it hits theaters next week learning you movie dot com. So thank you so much for listening to another episode of the celebrity jobber podcast. Passcass and episodes online celebrity jobber dot com follow on Instagram celebrity underscore jobber underscore podcast and the YouTube channel which is youtube dot com slash the at sign celebrity jobber on apple podcast Spotify iHeart wherever you listen to podcasts please hit that subscribe button with love of five star rating if you like the podcast and please leave a review once again happy new year. Thanks for listening and until next week I'll see you then I'm Jeff Zito.
