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"I'd hate to end your career tonight— well, not really."
Al Snow, addressing The Rock 'n' Roll Express in SMW.

"WHAT DOES EVERYBODY WANT? WHAT DOES EVERYBODY NEED?"

Allen Ray Sarven (born July 18, 1963) is a semi-retired American Professional Wrestler, promoter and trainer from Lima, Ohio as Al Snow. He debuted in 1982 in the Ohio independent scene and would spend the next decade working in a variety of territories, independents and in Japan either under the Snow name or as the masked Ninja Shinobi. He first caught on in SMW in 1994-1995 as a Heel. He also competed for ECW. As Steve Moore in 1993, he started a long tradition of being a TV Jobber for WWE. In 1995, WWE turned him into Avatar, where the gimmick was that he would walk to the ring holding a mask, put the mask on to wrestle, and took the mask off after the match. In 1996, he was repackaged as Leif Cassidy of the Tag Team the New Rockers with Marty Jannetty, and more jobbing. In 1997, WWE sent him down to ECW, which was where he started the "Head" gimmick. It was during this run that he received his one-and-only shot at a World Title on PPV, losing to ECW World Heavyweight Champion Shane Douglas at ECW WrestlePalooza 98. He returned to WWE later that year and was thrown into a feud with Jerry "The King" Lawler with the angle being that Al was trying to get a meeting with Vince McMahon. This led to a match at the King of the Ring PPV where Al and Head faced Too Much (Brian Christopher and Scott Taylor), which Too Much won when Christopher (Lawler's son) attached a bottle of Head and Shoulders Shampoo to Head so he could pin it. Al later formed The J.O.B. Squad and, after The Blue Meanie and 2 Cold Scorpio were fired, Al went on to compete in the Hardcore Division, becoming a 6x WWE Hardcore Champion. He and Mankind (Mick Foley) were 1x WWE World Tag Team Champions. He also worked as one of the main trainers for WWE Tough Enough and for WWE's developmental program OVW. He currently works in a similar role in TNA. He has also competed for CHIKARA, Juggalo Championship Wrestling, TNA and many independent promotions.

He is in no way connected to Avatar.


"The T.R.O.P.E. Squad":

  • Affably Evil: He was the "face" commentator on Sunday Night Heat after Coach let becoming Eric Bischoff's "employee of the month" go to his head. Even after he and Coach forced Jerry Lawler and Jim Ross off of Raw, cementing them both as heels, Al Snow remained the face commentator, Al's only mean spirited statements being his mocking of King's love for puppies.
  • Amazon Chaser: Chaser not so much, but he was admitted to being attracted to fighting female athletes.
  • Author Appeal: During the periods he was Ohio Valley's booker, the women's segments where the wrestlers were mostly depicted as being just as salty as their male counterparts and most of the eye candy was limited to the non wrestling roles, took on a much more burlesque tone. Snow's been vocal about how the women wrestlers on any given show have to be portrayed differently so they don't come off as "men with breasts". All the same, Snow made sure women on Ohio Valley Shows actually had something to do besides be "the boobs on the show".
  • Badass Teacher: To the WWE Tough Enough kids on seasons 1-4. He's been a trainer for a long time for promotions such as OVW through its affiliation with both WWE and TNA. Among the wrestlers he worked with are Kane, D'Lo Brown, the Blue Meanie and Dan "The Beast" Severn.
  • Beware the Silly Ones: As nutty as Al could be, he could also be dangerously unhinged when provoked. Raven took the Hardcore Title from him by smashing him in the head with a cinderblock and giving him a concussion. When Al returned from his injury, he challenged Raven to a rematch. During the match, Al viciously beat Raven with a canoe paddle while angrily screaming that he wasn't hardcore, just a piece of garbage. Snow pinned Raven to regain the title, but he only had it for a few seconds before Raven's female accomplice nailed him In the Back with a two-by-four and allowed Raven to pin him and retake the belt.
  • Biting-the-Hand Humor: The message behind the Head gimmick was that Al was implying that it is necessary to "give a little Head" to succeed in wrestling. Cactus Jack had suggested as much about bookers before hand but Al Snow had misinterpreted him.
  • Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: His team with Steve Blackman was named "Head Cheese" because Al carried around Head and Blackman initially wore a block of cheese on his head. Amazingly, it actually got over!
  • Bullying a Dragon: During a match with Masaaki Mochizuki at Kitao Dojo, a shoot style promotion, Mochizuki was supposed to do a kick to Al's chest (and he'd done it flawlessly several times while working out). Well, Mochizuki decided to change things a bit and nailed him in the jaw. Al rolled out of the ring and barely made it back in by the twenty count. He was legitimately dazed and when he got back up, he was pissed. Al finished the match by german suplexing Mochizuki on his head and then really cranked on the armbar and later stated that Mochizuki couldn't move his neck for a few days afterwards.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: When he was doing the Head gimmick, since he was treating a mannequin as a living thing. Al also tended to get really out there when he was a commentator on Sunday Heat. He would call all of the jobbers by different names than what they were announced as and insisted they all hailed from the same clan, for example.
  • Double Entendre: The message behind the Head gimmick was that Al was implying that it is necessary to "give a little Head" to succeed in wrestling. Cactus Jack had suggested as much about bookers before hand but Al Snow had misinterpreted him.
  • Green-Eyed Monster: Him and Jonathan Coachman, stuck on Heat, were envious of Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler's positions on Raw, or were after Eric Bischoff helped build up their egos by giving Coach a match of the year award and booking Lawler to wrestle Al. They would even temporarily get to switch shows for a time.
  • Hidden Depths: He's a trained martial artist who cornered his friend Dan Severn in Ultimate Fighting Championship. It's rumored that they even had a dojo fight to see who would compete in the event.
  • Hired Guns: Shinobi was brought in by Jim Cornette to take out Shawn Michaels. Kurt Angle brought him into TNA to handle Mick Foley.
  • I Have Many Names: Leif Cassidy, Steve Moore, Shinobi, Avatar, Texas Chain Gang #1 (May 19, 1982 only). During his time in WWE competing in the Hardcore division, he was also sometimes called "the crown prince of hardcore".
  • I Know Karate: Inverted. He has a Japanese jiu-jitsu background, but it was never used or mentioned in kayfabe.
  • Leaning on the Fourth Wall: In Snow's promo about the debut of The J.O.B. Squad (himself, 2 Cold Scorpio and Bob Holly) on the August 23 (taped August 11), 1998 episode of Sunday Night Heat, Snow said that they are a secret organization "fighting against the evil organization PUSH, 'cause none of us are getting one!"
  • Mask of Power: The entire point of the Avatar character was he would wear a mask that gave him his athletic abilities.
  • Merchandise-Driven: Mocked when Al Snow went into depression for Wallmart pulling his and Head's action figures after receiving complaints that Al's use of head promoted violence against women. Al Snow even asked his mother why the store would sell shotguns and ammo but not his toys.
  • My Friends... and Zoidberg: Mick Foley managed to do this to him twice.
    FLIGHT ATTENDANT: "We'd like to welcome all the WWF Superstars, and Al Snow!"
  • Ninja: His gimmick as Shinobi.
  • Papa Wolf: Toward Nidia and Maven. Nidia acknowledged this during her segment on the Divas Undressed DVD, how it was uncomfortable for her for "dad" to be there when she was topless.
  • Power Stable:
  • Precision F-Strike
    • At ECW Hardcore Heaven 97, before his match with Rob Van Dam, he said he wasn't Leif Cassidy, he was Al "Motherfucking" Snow.
    • After the Sabu vs. Rhyno match at ECW One Night Stand 2005, there was a bit with Al talking to Head and blaming it for the WWE SmackDown! guys being there.
    "What were you thinking? This is the [points to sign on the wall] ECW Pay-Per-View, for me, for you, for the fans and for the wrestlers who made ECW what it was, not a bunch of SmackDown! assholes!"
  • Pretender Diss: When Raven beat Snow for the Hardcore Title, he won by smashing Snow over the head with a concrete block and giving him a serious concussion. When Snow returned from injury, he challenged Raven to a rematch for the Title. During the match, an enraged Snow mocked Raven for thinking that he was hardcore when he was really just garbage, all while viciously beating Raven with what looked like a canoe paddle. Snow pinned Raven to regain the Hardcore Title, but then a masked female ninja hit him In the Back with a two-by-four, allowing Raven to pin Snow and regain the belt.
  • Red Baron: "The Snowman," "Simply Sensational," "The Crown Prince of Hardcore."
  • Replacement Goldfish: Al Snow's dog, Pepper, was meant to fill the void while Head was 'recovering' from impaled with a spike by Prince Albert.
  • Ring Oldies: Still in good shape at 51, traveling the foreign circuit and doing moonsaults on it.
  • Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: Head Cheese, his team with Steve Blackman, since Al was portrayed as a Cloudcuckoolander who talked to a mannequin head, and Blackman was a serious martial artist. The improbable team name came from Al's idea to have Steve wear a block of cheese on his head. Amazingly, it got over. Fans took to chanting "Let's go, Head Cheese!" during their matches.
  • Start My Own: Bodyslammers Gym and the Global Wrestling Alliance (later renamed the World Wide Wrestling Alliance) in Lima, Ohio during the 1990s.
  • Tag Team:
    • The Sensationals with Mickey Doyle
    • The Original Fantastics with Rick Sampson and with Rick Ciassio
    • The Wild Bunch which also included Billy Black, "Machine Gun" Mike Kelly and Joel Deaton
    • The Dynamic Duo, with Unabomb (Kane)
    • The New Fabulous Kangaroos with Denny Kass
    • The New Rockers
    • Head Cheese
  • Take That!: At ECW November to Remember 97, November 30th, a mere three weeks after the Kayfabe Montreal Screwjob, Al cut this promo:
    "I didn't screw the Head. THE HEAD SCREWED THE HEAD!"
  • This Means War!: His promo marking the debut of the J.O.B. Squad (Snow, Scorpio and Holly) on the August 23 (taped August 11) Sunday Night Heat:
    "Time for fun and games is over! This business operates on two principals, the carrot and the stick, there's those of us who are tired of getting the stick! That's why there is a secret organization within the WWF, and we are fighting the evil organization PUSH, because none of us are getting one!"
  • Tuckerization: Leif Cassidy's name was a combination of Leif Garrett and David Cassidy.
  • Tweener: He was technically on the side of Raw's corrupt general manager Eric Bischoff, was on good terms with Jonathan Coachman and was even involved in attacks on Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler but he was really less approving of the various dirty tactics and unneeded brutality displayed by many more than Coach was. When not fighting Lawler or Ross he could easily be seen as a good guy, and even then that was mainly just because he was given a chance to have their jobs if he beat them rather than any premeditated malicious intent on his part.
  • Unnecessary Roughness: After Bossman "abducted" Al's dog Pepper, Al went on Raw with a sign with a phone number fans could call if they knew what had "happened" to Pepper. The number was actually for Val Venis' cell phone.
  • Witch with a Capital "B": Upon seeing Ivory back on Sunday Night Heat, he asked if she flew first class or used her broom.
  • Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Not for moral reasons. Witnessing a match where Jazz threw Victoria off the top rope, Al explains he never wants to fight women, since they are tough enough to have kids.
  • WTH, Costuming Department?: Invoked by Al during his issue with Lawler on the June 15, 1998 Raw, as he had shown up dressed as Avatar, complete with Head wearing an Avatar mask.
    "The last time I wore this outfit you could have stuck a magnet up my ass and dragged me through Fort Knox and I still wouldn't have drawn any money." note 
  • Wrestling Doesn't Pay: He worked several second jobs early in his career, most of them legit as wrestling really wasn't paying at first.
  • Wrestling Family: He's married to valet/wrestler Cynthia "Bobcat" Lynch, who had a few seconds of WWE fame as the "Hardcore Ho", after she defeated Crash Holly for the WWE Hardcore Title on the May 15, 2000 Raw, and lost it back to Crash immediately after. His brother wrestled for the Heartland Wrestling Association in Ohio as Logan Caine.
  • Yandere: Toward Mick Foley during the Rock 'n' Sock Connection angle. He really resented Mick's friendship with The Rock, given how The Rock tended to treat everyone like garbage.

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