Wrestlers Episode Seven Recap: The Big One

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Al Snow opens the episode with an introspective look at his career, over the backdrop of Ric Flair’s “Last Match” on July 31, 2022. A cavalcade of wrestlers of years past descended on Nashville, Tennessee to honor “The Nature Boy” in a special Pay-Per-View event. Fans at the event are constantly asking to take pictures with Al. Flair’s match is interspersed through this segment, including a “You still got it” chant, while Flair wrestles. A producer asked Al why he decided to become a wrestler, to which he responds, “I have no f****** clue.” He reflects on decisions he made, to where he could have been a bigger star, but he also thinks that the stories/moments he’s created in OVW will be his legacy.

Everything starts gearing up for OVW’s biggest Pay-Per-View, “The Big One.” Matt and Craig Greenberg have a meeting with the OVW agents. The ticket price of the show was increased from $10 to $20, as Matt’s optimistic that Al vs. Shannon will be a huge draw. They go over the upcoming card, which has one big question mark: will Haley be back from Los Angeles to be a part of the show? Matt asks Al to come up with an alternative idea in case she’s able to get back in time.

In a sweet moment, we get to see Ca$h Flo sit down with his family, including his dad Ricky, to watch his appearance on AEW Dark. AEW Dark was a YouTube wrestling show to highlight AEW wrestlers in matches against indy or less established talent. OVW sent down Ca$h, Ryan Howe (Von Rockit), and Omar Amir, among others. Ca$h notes he makes more money working for AEW than OVW, but mostly he was disappointed he didn’t get to chop anyone. Ever the optimist, Ca$h says he’s excited about this new vision of OVW, morale is high and people are getting paid. He’s hopeful that post-summer, everyone is working with their heads above water.

In our final moment before “The Big One,” Al visits the TalkRadio 1080 studio to have a promo battle with Shannon The Dude. It’s an all-timer segment, including Al’s best line, “If I had 100 of you and stuck you on a stick, you’d look like a hairbrush.” Shannon gets Al so fired up that he actually has to use the dump button. After the showdown, Matt and Shannon agree that it went so well that the Shannon/Al feud should go beyond the PPV.

I won’t recap the entire segment, but you can watch the full Al Snow series in the video below (while you’re watching, subscribe to the KSR YouTube channel…)

The night before the show, Al and his wife, Jessica, are talking about the event. She’s a little worried about Al going in and getting hurt. Al tries to convince her otherwise, both in that he knows how to protect himself and if he starts to worry, he’ll hold back in his performance. They’re hopeful they’ll sell out the show, otherwise, Al has “overestimated his opinion of himself.” There’s a 400-seat arena to fill, and he’s terrified of losing any ground with the audience he’s worked to achieve.

“The Big One” is here and everyone is prepping for show night. Chairs are being set out, pre-taped segments are taking place, and we get one final meeting between Al and Matt before the show. Matt commends him on how well the radio spot went and connects all of “The Big One” prep to how Matt and Al can work positively together. Al notes that he’s seen a change in Matt from the beginning to now in how he approaches the business and talent in a more positive/less adversarial way. While Matt hoped back in episode four that Al would finally say “good job,” in a way this serves as that fulfillment for Matt.

It’s finally time for the Pay-Per-View, a show the series has been hyping up for seven episodes. Here’s a quick rundown of how “The Big One” matches went before the main event:

Hollyhood Haley J makes a surprise return, seemingly fresh from Louisville Muhammed Ali International Airport with her luggage, to save Dream Girl Ellie in a 2v1 beatdown. Haley’s return got a huge ovation from the crowd and saw Haley go from absolute heel to babyface. Everyone in the back commended her on her performance
Mr. Pec-Tacular steals a win over Tony Gunn with a foreign object shot.
Ca$h Flo and crew defeat The Fallen in a “Hell’s Gate” match, which saw a finish with a barbed wire steel char. There were lots of great shots of Matt’s mom’s reactions during this match.
Leila Grey defeated Freya the Slaya when the referee was knocked out and referee Aaron Grider comes down, rejects Freya, and counts her down for the pin. (There was a pre-taped segment where Aaron finds out Freya’s been using him to win matches.)

We now cut to the MAIN EVENT – Al Snow and Doug Basham vs. Adam Revolver and “Immaculate” Joe Mack. If Al’s team wins, he gets five minutes in the ring with Shannon. Al looks fantastic in the ring, both physically and in wrestling form. After his first move, he goes and chases Shannon around the ring. Al and Doug fight from behind for most of the match until Al gets a great hero’s moment “hot tag.” Snow hits Revolver with his finisher, “The Snowplow,” but Shannon whacks him with a steel chair. However, Al and Doug get the victory, and Al earns five minutes with Shannon.

The moment the bell rings the crowd ERUPTS. It was the exact reaction everyone hoped would take place when Shannon/Al was discussed weeks ago. After Shannon gives Al a low blow, the crowd rises to get behind Al Snow. Al works his way back to not only return the favor to Shannon but also wallop him with the iconic mannequin head. As Al celebrates in the ring, the crowd goes wild and starts a “You still got it” chant, a call-back to Ric Flair’s last match. The build-up to that match and PPV during the entire series paid off so well.

Wrestlers gives one last moment of Matt turning from heel to face, this time at the post-show party for “The Big One.” Apparently, Matt told the bar to only give the crew Miller Lite and Old Forrester, BUT he turns it around and gives them an open bar! If you think Matt learned nothing in his journey over this series, let this show you otherwise!

We get a final beautiful little bow on the series with a couple of voiceovers from Matt and Al, as well as seeing how some of the wrestlers progressed. Leila Grey got signed to an AEW contract, Bryan Kennison got to keep his job, Ca$h Flo is ready to continue, and Haley and Darkstorm are together, but not together, but are together. Al finishes off the series by noting that for some people AEW/WWE is the sign of success, but if you’re passionate about what you do, and it gives you purpose, then you’re successful. Then we see him get ready for the next episode of OVW television saying, “I hope all this works,” as the show must go on.

We don’t know yet if Wrestlers will get picked up for a second season. But, if it doesn’t, I think it’s easy to say that this turned out to be a fantastic series. Take the KSR part out of it, as a wrestling fan in Kentucky, it has been amazing to see so many parts of the state on display in a very positive light. I don’t think that’s something that we get to experience too often and to have that cemented in a universally well-reviewed Netflix show is something special.