Aron Stevens, Formerly WWE's Damien Sandow, Recalls Working Under Al Snow In OVW

Former WWE star Al Snow is the head trainer at Ohio Valley Wrestling, which was the focus of a 2023 Netflix docuseries titled "Wrestlers." Long before that, however, OVW served as a developmental system for WWE, with Snow taking over from Rip Rogers during the tail end of that partnership. One successful wrestler who studied under Snow is NWA star Aron Stevens, who was known in WWE as Damien Sandow. Appearing on "Developmentally Speaking," Stevens offered his assessment of Snow's training style.

"Al Snow [was] hybriding that old-school style but then tying it all together," Stevens said. "Al is still the trainer at OVW and ... if you're interested in learning how to do this, I would encourage you to go to OVW."

Stevens had two separate stints in OVW — first from 2003 to 2006, and then again following the WWE partnership, in 2008 and 2009. Looking back on his time with the promotion, Stevens feels that it had an indelible effect on his wrestling career and others, with Snow partially responsible for the success of many performers.

"Al — he had this way of being very relatable, and at the same time, he was definitely the authority figure," Stevens continued. "He was very good at kind of putting you at ease, if you knew what you were talking about. There were some people that were just stupid. ... I give Al more respect than I would a lot of other people for that reason."

Though he started off as a trainer and booker, Snow eventually became a co-owner of the promotion. Snow has spoken at length about his mentality while running OVW, and the former WWE star believes he is providing students with a wrestling education that they won't be able to get anywhere else in the modern era.

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