PRO WRESTLING: TNA’s Al Snow heads up competition at Ronin Pro Wrestling at Magic City Comic Con

You could say Al Snow keeps his head in the game, literally and figuratively.

Fans who attended the Magic City Comic Con at the Miami Airport Convention Center could see the former ECW original and WWE superstar and current TNA Impact Wrestling agent remains in tremendous shape. Snow credits working out the right way and eating better.

“That’s it,” he said. “I’m trying to keep up with all the young guys.

He hasn’t aged in appearance and neither has the trademark mannequin head the 51-year-old has carried to the ring for almost 18 years. Head helped Snow stand out and gain a following in front of the rabid ECW audiences. After getting lost in the shuffle during his initial WWE run as Leif Cassidy in the New Rockers tag team, he was given a chance to explore a new character in the “Land of Extreme.”

“I was trying to demonstrate that I was having a nervous breakdown,” Snow explained. “I was reading books on abnormal psychology. There was a case study in there about a lady who had paranoid schizophrenia. She heard voices and transferred the disorder onto the voices she heard from inanimate objects. She thought the table she heard voices from was crazy and not her...That’s the one thing about Paul Heyman. He would let the talent be the talent. It’s missing today. It’s over-produced today.”

After perfecting his persona in the Philadelphia-based promotion, Snow returned to WWE with his new tag team partner. Besides being the punch line of many Mick Foley jokes, the veteran had a successful career working the gimmick. He was an important part of WWE’s hardcore division during the “Attitude Era.”

Now he is lending his knowledge and experience to a young and hungry TNA locker room. He is impressed with the product they are producing, as the company made the move from Spike TV to Destination America in 2015.

“TNA has a lot of new talent,” Snow said. “They have a new direction. I think it’s a very compatible situation with Destination America. Spike was a great partner and terrific, but they definitely didn’t promote TNA. It was literally their number one show on the network, but you never really saw or heard things about it on the network. Discovery is really promoting and pushing the fact that TNA is on their network. They have already done more in a short time than Spike has done in years. I think they’re hoping that fan base will motivate cable carriers to carry the channel. I think it will work well for both TNA and Destination America.”

Before TNA made their announcement of a new television deal, there were a lot of questions regarding the company’s future. Many predicted doom and gloom. Snow remained confident that things would work out.

“People out there have been wondering if TNA will survive since its inception,” he said. “When are they going to stop wondering? There was a point where we were wondering if WWE would survive. That comes down to that comparison to WWE and TNA. You can’t really compare the two. WWE is an iconic brand like Harley Davidson, Band Aid and Kleenex. They’ve been around for decades, literally decades.

“It’s been a track record of decades doing business. With TNA, it has just been just over a decade. Watch what you see on TV. That is done with a margin of the personnel, staff and production. It’s a quarter of what WWE has. I’ve always said this, not because I work there. I could care less about that. I’m not kissing ass or anything. Everyone that works there talent-wise, backstage, I’ve always been impressed with how hard everybody works.”

Ethan Carter III is among the names on the TNA roster Snow believes has a bright future. His transition from WWE’s developmental system to TNA has been remarkable.

“I really think he is going to be a major star,” Snow said. “He just continues to develop and come more into his own. Rockstar Spud is also great. I just think he is an amazing performer. Despite his size, I think he is an attraction and a draw. I think we are seeing another side of Bobby Lashley. There has been a new dimension with James Storm with a new character. Bobby Roode is another amazing performer. They are all incredibly talented kids that are getting an opportunity to become what they need to be, which is stars.”

Before the guys and girls who step through the curtain. He often tells them to look at their performance like a commercial. Showing your personality is key.

“It’s a commercial,” he said. “It’s not a wrestling match, but a commercial to sell themselves and look like stars. Don’t just try to have a great match, but try to have a match that motivates a person sitting on their ass to get up out of their comfortable chair and drive to a building where they will sit in an uncomfortable chair for two or so hours to see you.”

Fans have seen Snow wrestling on independent shows and occasionally on TNA television.

“I love it,” Snow said. “If I didn’t love it, I wouldn’t do it. I have a match with Grado on the UK tour. I get to be heel again. I like that. I prefer that. The big thing is I get to lead the match. I don’t have to rely on the other person. All I have to do is make him look like a million bucks. I can make him look like a million bucks and get heat. I can do that. Most of the young guys don’t have the experience to do that when you are on the other side of the fence.

“They are too busy trying to make themselves look good. That’s not what a heel’s job is. A bad guys job is in any medium of story-telling is to make the audience want to be the good guy. So that when the story progresses and anything the bad guy does to the good guy, the audience now wants to turn the page and continue to watch to see the good guy overcome the odds.”

Of course, whenever Snow goes to travel, Head usually isn’t far behind. This can create some interesting travel memories.

“One time at the Dayton International Airport my bag went through before I went to the other side. The security lady unzipped the bag and screamed,” he said. “She thought it was a decapitated head. The police came running over. I was like, ‘Whoa, its part of my job.’ I had to explain to them.”

- On top of his pro wrestling commitments, Snow also has work as an actor. Roles in movies such as “Lost Prevention” and “The Body Sculptor” are two of the latest on his resume. He also gives back by doing magic for charity.

Follow him on Twitter @TheRealAlSnow

Follow me on Twitter @smFISHMAN

- Catch TNA Impact Wrestling’s flagship show 9 p.m. EST Fridays on Destination America.

Visit www.ImpactWrestling.com for the latest news on TNA and information on its expanded programming.

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This story was originally published January 29, 2015 at 11:37 PM with the headline "PRO WRESTLING: TNA’s Al Snow heads up competition at Ronin Pro Wrestling at Magic City Comic Con."