Source: Alan J. Wojcik
In their last few releases Kayfabe Commentaries have brought to the viewer some of the best storytellers in the history of wrestling like Sabu & Jim Cornette. Former ECW/WWE and current TNA producer/agent Al Snow joins the list of Greg Gagne, Kevin Sullivan, Buckwhacker Luke, Gabe Sapolsky and the late Gary Hart by sitting down for the Guest Booker series.
Al Snow is brought in to be part of the continuing booking experiment Sean Oliver & associates have created, take a real situation and re-book it. Al is charged with turning the current WWE TV programming that is PG rated and return it to the 1997-98 WWF of TV-MA. Before we get even near that area, Al and Sean begin with a great conversation about the numerous bookers Al has worked for since the 1980’s. If you saw him on the Jim Cornette Ring Roast, you know Al is a great storyteller. If you are like me and watched him as the lead trainer of seasons 1-3 of WWE Tough Enough, so you know Al has tremendous love for the wrestling business & knowledge to share with other wrestlers and the viewer.
Al lays down the smack on the bookers he has worked for that sucked and nearly killed promotions, the Tough Enough haters he faced in WWF, the smart marks (a term he despises), how he came to be the booker for Ohio Valley Wrestling (the former WWE developmental territory) and his current role in TNA Wrestling . Al breaks down how Vince Russo and others helped WWF (it was called WWF back then so deal with it) crafted the “Attitude Era” that led WWF to recover after World Championship Wrestling had dominated the ratings and box office receipts for nearly 88 weeks.
Al has a definite mindset that talent should go out and have the best match that draws people back each week and no one is going do disagree with that. Al also addresses how the wrestlers who started with him have different agendas than this generation who are heading to training schools. Al takes WWE to task about their current developmental project out of Tampa, FL and how he would run it is an interesting spin. There is an interesting “Behind the Scenes” segment with Al on who bookers write for & how comic books films draw a new audience while keeping its fanbase happy.
Having recently interviewed Mr. Oliver for Online World of Wrestling Radio with my colleagues Mase & Spug (www.owwradio.com for the cheap plug), we addressed the cosmetic issue of lighting behind the two gentlemen on screen that nearly caused blindness to my Australian colleague. We also addressed Al’s disagreement with nearly everything that comes out of Sean’s mouth. Lastly we addressed with Sean once again the person who sits in the booker chair doesn’t really do that much booking, Al admits he has not watched wrestling in a good 10 years. In our previous conversations Sean has said that it’s up to the person in the chair so I will not take offense to that. I wish Al had chosen different people to use in the booking portion of the DVD, but I am not that creative. I also wish Al didn’t look like he was having his time wasted by Sean’s questions and his issue with people like Dave Meltzer and others who critique matches and storylines. So bottom line, buy this one if you are a fan of Al Snow.
Next on the Kayfabe Commentaries listing is Timeline History of the WWE: 1985 with Greg “the Hammer” Valentine, Guest Booker with Bill Eadie who books the Demolition breakup and a new series called Wrestling’s Most.., that will debut with Controversial Moments. All these releases can be purchased through www.kayfabecommentaries.com.