The biggest news of the day in professional wrestling may have been the WWE Hall of fame induction ceremonies in New Orleans, but famed retired wrestler Al Snow had his own news to share. Snow announced he has purchased Ohio Valley Wrestling, one of the biggest wrestling development territories in the business.
Per wrestlingnewssourceinc.com, “During Impact Wrestling’s Twitch stream at WrestleCon this morning, Al Snow announced he has purchased developmental territory, Ohio Valley Wrestling.
Al Snow has been linked with the promotion for a number years having worked there as a trainer and was also the head train MTV series Tough Enough.”
The territory has been a breeding ground for John Cena, Randy Orton, Brock Lesnar and CM Punk amongst others who go their starts in the business. It was once used by WWE for bringing along talent.
The 54-year-old Snow has been a regional star, having worked as professional wrestler, color commentator, training coach and promoter better known by his ring name of Al Snow. He is best known for his work in Extreme Championship Wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment and Impact Wrestling. From 2010 to 2017, Snow had worked as a road agent for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling and with its former developmental territory, Ohio Valley Wrestling, as a show producer. Now, Al Snow owns one of professional wrestling’s most important sanctuaries.
Ohio Valley wrestling got its start in 1997 when “The Nightmare” Danny Davis opened it to help neophytes learn the business. OVW was initially a member promotion of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) from its inception in 1997 until 2000, when it became the primary developmental territory for the World Wrestling Federation (now WWE). OVW remained in this role from 2000 until 2008.
The promotion was unaffiliated from February 7, 2008 until November 2011, and was run by Dean Hill. Now Al Snow will put his stamp on the company. In 2012, OVW became the farm territory for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) (now Impact Wrestling). However, the relationship ended on November 2, 2013. It is reported that over 100 WWE alumni have walked through its doors before appearing on the company’s main roster.