Al Snow, European Champion – WWF, 2000
History
After the breakup of Head Cheese, Al Snow had a brief feud with Steve Blackman and then started wandering. He had no direction…
…until August 31st’s edition of Smackdown. On this episode, Al took on Perry Saturn. The dragon sleeper put Saturn away, and gave Al Snow the European title. Al then disappeared from WWF TV for a week, but when he came back, he came back in style.
On September 11th, Tazz was taking on Al Snow for the European title. However, this was not an Al Snow we’d ever seen before. Instead of his normal music, a polka started playing. Interestingly enough, the polka still contained Al’s normal lyrics, but they were in German. Al’s Titantron video alternated between a picture of Germany (labeled as Germany), Herr Snow holding a German flag, and the word Kopf (Head). Al came out in lederhosen, was carrying a chain of sausages and a photo of David Hasselhoff, and he (and Head) wore jaunty German caps. Tazz spent most of the match destroying Snow. Fortunately for Snow’s title reign, Tazz was feuding with Jerry Lawler at the time. Lawler took advantage of a downed referee to grab the Hasselhoff photo and smash Tazz in the head with it. Al made the pin and retained the belt.
The next week on Smackdown, Al was taking on former tag team partner Steve Blackman for the Hardcore title. This week, Al came out to a flamenco tune (singing about Cabeza). Senor Snow was wearing a cape and carrying a piñata, a picture of Ricardo Montalban, and Head was wearing a sombrero. Anyway, it didn’t take this long to completely collapse. You see, the Hardcore title was under 24/7 rules – that means you could win the title at any time and any place; all you needed was a referee to count the pinfall. Saturn was the first person to show up (armed with a stop sign). After that, Test came out with a garbage can. Then Albert came out. Did I mention that each one of these guys had their own referee? Well, they did. Next it was Crash’s turn, and he was armed with a handicapped parking sign. Then Kaientai (Taka Michinoku and Funaki) came out armed with flags. Blackman finally pinned Taka and cleared out.
On Smackdown the next week, Al had a title defense against X-Pac. This week, he was from France. His Titantron was flashing up Tete. Tonight, Al had a poodle, a loaf of French bread, French fries, and a picture of Pepe Le Pew. I wasn’t able to find confirmation, but I strongly suspect that berets figured in here as well. Just as X-Pac was getting ready for his broncobuster, Stone Cold Steve Austin’s music hit. Unfortunately for Monsieur Snow and Mr. Pac, Austin was on one of his periodic rampages. He stunnered both of them and then swaggered to the back.
The next week, Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler were joined at ringside by a new member of the roster – William Regal. Regal was thrilled to see the man who was the living embodiment of Europe as he defended the belt in a rematch against X-Pac. This week, Al was from Transylvania. Al’s lyrics were in Romanian and set against a spooky haunted house tape. Al was wearing a Dracula outfit (complete with cape), was carrying a photo of Eddie Munster, and throwing Count Chocula to the crowd. Head had a black pompadour complete with a widow’s peak and fangs. As Regal ranted about the true history of Transylvania (pronounced Romania), the match got underway. X-Pac took early control, even throwing Snow out (and Regal helpfully assisted Snow back into the ring). Fortunately for Snow, X-Pac was feuding with Billy Gunn. Gunn hit Pac with his finisher and rolled him back into the ring for Snow to make the pin. Snow celebrated as Regal ranted about how Snow had gone further than besmirching just Regal, now he had besmirched all of Europe.
Regal again joined Lawler and Ross on Raw as Al took on Test on Monday night. This time Al was from Greece. Unfortunately, Al had misunderstood and was wearing a black leather jacket with a white T-shirt and a black wig styled to look like a pompadour. He was throwing combs to the crowd, carrying soap on a rope, and this week’s photo was of John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. Head had a stylin’ beehive. Regal went apoplectic and started ranting about the rich history of Greece. Al won after clocking Test with Head, and Regal began ranting about how unsportsmanlike it was for Snow to win like that.
Regal got even madder on Smackdown. Regal joined the commentary team, only to have Mr. Snow come out representing Hong Kong. Al had apparently checked the Big Book o’ Stereotypes for his outfit, as he came out in “traditional Chinese garb,” was throwing fortune cookies to the crowd, and carrying a picture of Hong Kong Fooey. Meanwhile, Lawler put 2 and 2 together and explained that Al must believe that Hong Kong was still a British colony. His opponent tonight? Test’s tag team partner Albert. Al finally managed to lock on a headscissors and get the 3. After the match, Al fought off an attack from Albert by utilizing Head, which brought Regal in to attack him.
On the 16th’s edition of Raw, Regal was out for revenge. The night before on Heat, Snow had attacked him. Now Regal had a Euro title shot of his own. This week, Al was from England. Mr. Snow, Esq., looked quite dapper. He wore a bowler and jacket, and was carrying an umbrella (or “brolly”). Head wore a monocle, and the picture this week was of William Regal. The Regal Stretch finished the match, and just like that we had a new European champion.
Analysis
Well, if this angle’s purpose was to get Al over, it failed miserably. There was nothing aimed at escalating him in the booking whatsoever. Instead, we pushed the Lawler-Tazz feud, had more 24/7 Hardcore fun, brought in Stone Cold, built up the X-Pac-Billy Gunn feud, and then had Al lose a mini-feud to William Regal. Regal came out of this much better than Al.
Still, all things considered, this was a comedy angle, and all comedy angles need to have cut off points when they’ve run their course. Look at WCW’s Positively Kanyon – funny while he feuded with Page; not funny when he feuded with Buff Bagwell (although I still chuckle at the thought of Bagwell’s mother getting hoisted up on that forklift). Building up Regal as a proud European was about as good of an idea as any (and much much better than the Man’s Man).
Where Are They Now?
We covered Al’s current whereabouts last week, but just to recap – he’s currently working with OVW for the WWE.
Next Week
By request, we take a look at a very important question. Who’s first?
