Arda Ocal and Jimmy Korderas recently interviewed TNA producer Al Snow. Here are the highlights of what Snow said about:
– Thoughts on wrestlers using Twitter to air grievances: “It shouldn’t be a venue to air gripes or complaints, by no means. The wrestling business was a closed business for a very long time (Jimmy can attest to this). It’s kinda like remember when you were a kid, and you were at home and something would happen within your family and it was never spoken outside of the house because it was your family. It was nobody else’s business because nobody else could appreciate or understand the situation, and therefore, would pass judgment on something they really didn’t have a part in. Because at the end of the day, the only people who are gonna have to go to bed with it and wake up with it are you and your family – and that’s kinda like the wrestling business.”
– On TNA talent using social forums (via Twitter) to comment on the competition: “We’re the ones who rely on and depend on the wrestling business for our livelihood and how we’re gonna feed our families. So why throw dirt on each other and throw muck around, or air out our grievances or talk about the competition in a public forum. It’s okay to do all of those things amongst ourselves, but once it goes outside those doors, and goes into an area where people don’t have a real stake in what happens or what it being said then it’s like your cousin Jim who went to jail – you don’t want to share that with anybody because he’s your cousin – he’s your family.”
– On his job description as a producer for TNA: “A communicator who conveys message from an agents meeting to determine what type of business we want to accomplish from a particular match – pushing a storyline, getting a babyface over, make a character, put heat on a heel, or start teaching the audience (6-montsh out) that a certain guy could be a champion so that 6-months later he becomes a viable threat/contender to the title (in the eyes of the audience).”
– “The most oxymoronic term out there is a ‘smart-mark’. Just doesn’t exist. Because how can you be smart at something – knowing somebody is lying to you, while actually believing the lie. It’s a term created by fans who believe they’re on the inside of something that they’re not really on the inside of. They’re not a part of the business because they don’t have a real stake in it.”
– “A great example is if you ask what was the best match of WrestleMania 3. Most people would say Savage/Steamboat. But it was Hogan/Andre because 93,000 people paid to see Hogan/Andre. The best match isn’t about ‘working’ or ‘taking the best bumps’, it’s the match that draws the most people and makes the most money. That’s the best match.”
– Also Al Snow discusses ring psychology, internet smart-marks (and the irony of the term), lack of guidance in present day wrestling scene, his upcoming movie roles and much much more. The twenty-minute interview can be heard here.
