Former WWE star Al Snow recently spoke with Memorabilia Guy, and below is what Snow had to say regarding bullying in pro wrestling amidst recent accusations against JBL in WWE:
I don’t even know where to start. It’s nowhere near like what it used to be. I’ll speak about that. I’ve never truly done that – I’ve never truly bullied anyone, and don’t condone or appreciate people if they do.
When I got into professional wrestling, in 1982, the business was propagated with wrestlers who were tough, grown men. And it kind of harkens back to what I’ve spoken about, how you have to be really driven and passionate about wanting to be a professional wrestler. Basically, the older wrestlers would constantly test you, and initially they would test you physically, to see if they could crack you, or break you, and send you home. And then they would do it mentally and emotionally, on a pretty regular basis – just so you had to earn your spot in the locker room, for a very long time. That’s why I say you have to be pretty mentally and emotionally tough.
I’m not condoning or excusing or anything like that, but it’s a pretty tough business. That being said, I know that to some degree that still goes on and if you’re going to get into this type of environment, you have to be, whether it’s overt bullying, or subverted bullying, it’s still bullying, and you’ve got to truly understand who you are, and what you want and be mentally and emotionally tough and passionate enough to be able to stand up and compete with these people. Because ultimately they are wanting to try and break you so they can get whatever you have.
One time I wrestled a guy in St Louis on TV, and he physically beat me in the back of the head so many times – rabbit punched me in the back of the head so many times, that I couldn’t see out of my left eye for half an hour. So if anybody’s got stories of physical, mental or emotional abuse, trust me, I’ve got plenty as far as these circumstances in regards to bullying guys in professional wrestling. That kind of stuff doesn’t happen to that degree in any manner now, and I don’t say that it should, but be aware. This is a physical, mental and emotional business. Making a decision to get into it you now accept part and parcel what it’s gonna take to be in it.
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And that allows me to address another issue, and that’s wrestlers who cry and moan and whine and complain about the physical stresses of being a professional wrestler and using those as justification to now condone their drug abuse. I may have made a lot of mistakes, but I’m not using it as an excuse to take drugs, abuse drugs. If you take drugs I don’t care. I don’t make a personal judgement as far as people’s drug use – do whatever you want to do, if you wanna squirt peanut butter up your ass, do whatever you wanna do. Do it on your time in your room where is doesn’t affect other people, but don’t use professional wrestling and dog on it as an excuse and the same goes when guys are hard on you and they’re trying to push you out. Push back! Stand up for yourself. A bully, I promise you, will cave like a house of cards the second you stand up to him and if you can’t take it, and again I’m not condoning any of it, but you have to be passionate about wanting to be a professional wrestler and you have to believe in yourself.
We are becoming too soft as a society. We have become a society of victims. We no longer take personal responsibility for ourselves and our decisions, because we all want to make some excuse and justify – we’re not personally responsible for that decision. “It was somebody else”, “the devil made me do it”, “this situation made me do it”, “my job made me do it”. And it’s an uber-competitive job and it’s kind of athletic jocks and they have a tendency to see if they can bully a little bit to see if they can push you out. You didn’t stand up for yourself, you left? “Well that’s all his fault”. Well it’s also your fault cause you made the choice to let him push you out. You don’t get a participation award. That’s not the real world. That’s not the way life works.
The belief is now that wrestlers get fired. Wrestlers can’t get fired. Wrestlers are never hired. They’re not employees, it’s not a job, it’s not Tesco or Wal-Mart. Wrestlers are products and their matches are advertisements to allow them to sell themselves. The relationship they have with the wrestling promoter is a business relationship.
Every other wrestler is trying to advertise themselves too and they’re doing absolutely everything they can to compete with you for anything you get, so they can take it away and take advantage of it. It’s never going to change. You can’t make it a kinder, gentler place. You can make it a more respectful place, but in order for you to get respect you’ve got to be willing to respect yourself.
Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
