The Young and the Wrestling

The Young and the Wrestling


Part of an Article from the Detroit News Television writer Tim Kiska,April 9,1999

Even some wrestlers would agree with Cohoon. One of those is Al Snow of the WWF, who has a son of his own.

    In the ring, Snow would rank as moderately outrageous. He carries a severed head (well, it looks like the real thing) with him into the ring, and has private chats with it from time to time.

    Out of the ring, he is articulate about why he got into wrestling, why it's successful and the need to explain things to children. Snow, a trained martial arts expert, got hooked on wrestling 17 years ago.

    "Wrestling has always been, is, and always will be a mirror of what society is," he maintains. "During certain times in our history we had German guys and Japanese guys as the bad guys. During the 1960s, it was hippies. The kids are more sophisticated now than they've ever been. The world is far more open to them than it was even when I was growing up. And wrestling has to be much more sophisticated to grab an audience. As with anything, you have to be better."

    Snow watches wrestling with his own son at home in Lima, Ohio. "If a particular situation comes up, I'm there to explain, 'That's not correct behavior.' The other thing to remember is the worst stuff comes on after 10 p.m."