Why WWE Alum Al Snow Likens Death Match Wrestling To A Snake Eating Its Own Tail

Few styles of pro wrestling generate as much controversy as death matches. Someone who's garnered some attention for being outspoken against the style is former WWE star and OVW owner Al Snow. Speaking on a recent installment of "Insight with Chris Van Vliet," Snow explained why he feels death match wrestling is inferior.

"What we're really selling — what an audience is wanting to believe in — is that we're prize fighters, [and] ... we're under a governing organization," Snow said. "There's no governing body that would do a sporting event that would allow you to use a cinder block and hit another man in the testicles to allow a win."

Snow also feels the vast majority of wrestling audiences, primarily families, want to see action similar to WWE. If they were to show up to an independent promotion and witness a death match, Snow thinks there's a very strong chance they won't attend another wrestling show.

Additionally, Snow dislikes death matches because he feels they set an impossible standard. The former ECW performer recalled a conversation with Sabu in the 1990s, with Snow telling him that if he kept going out and breaking tables every night, the crowd would eventually demand more. Snow referred to himself as "prophetic," feeling that wrestling has continued to get more extreme to the point where performers are risking their well-being.

Where things stand now, Snow doesn't seem to think performers can push the limit much farther. Additionally, these matches could put members of the audience in danger, and Snow stated that most death match wrestlers look the way he feels these performers should.

"I think it is a phase," Snow continued. "It's a very, very niche audience. ... It's very entropic. It's a snake eating its own tail because, at some point, you can't keep raising the bar."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Insight with Chris Van Vliet" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.