Gene Snitsky

Eugene Alan Snisky (born January 14, 1970) is an American professional wrestler and actor, better known by his ring name Gene Snitsky, who is best known for his time with World Wrestling Entertainment.

Upon graduating in 1988, Snitsky signed a full scholarship to the University of Missouri where he played under offensive lineman coach and future Kansas City Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid.

After playing for the Missouri Tigers, Snitsky attended training camps with the goal of playing professional football.

He eventually signed with the San Diego Chargers.

During training, Snitsky re-aggravated a shoulder injury that was previously misdiagnosed from his college years.

The injury effectively ended his NFL aspirations.

Snisky trained with the Allentown, Pennsylvania-based World Xtreme Wrestling (WXW) and competed in the promotion under the name "Mean" Gene Snitsky.

He won the tag-team championship along with his partner Robb Harper as the Twin Tackles, under a football gimmick.

When he entered singles competition, he won the WXW Heavyweight Championship.

He played college football at the University of Missouri and was on the pre-season roster in 1995 for the Birmingham Barracudas of the Canadian Football League.

Snitsky attended Panther Valley High School where he played football.

While in high school, Snitsky played as a punter.

During his senior year, he was named All-State.

Snisky had a tryout match with the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) the day after winning the WXW Championship on October 20, 2003, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania at a Raw taping.

Snisky, wrestling as Gene Snitsky, was defeated by fellow WXW wrestler "Smooth" Tommy Suede.

It was following this match that he was signed to a developmental deal and sent to Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW).

Snisky wrestled in OVW as "Mean" Gene Mondo (a name inspired by "Mean" Gene Okerlund), and was presented as the kayfabe brother of Mike Mondo.

He made his WWE debut on the September 13, 2004, edition of Raw against Kane in a no-disqualification match.

As Kane, a heel at the time, prepared to injure Snitsky, he was distracted by Lita, who was (kayfabe) pregnant with Kane's child.

Snitsky used the distraction to hit Kane from behind with the chair, causing Kane to fall on Lita, and causing Lita to miscarry her unborn baby.

When interviewed about the incident, he claimed "it wasn't my fault" (which became his catchphrase).

This facilitated a face turn for Kane and quickly established Snitsky as a full-time heel wrestler.

Snitsky, who had debuted against Kane as an apparent jobber, said years later that he was originally only supposed to make a one-night appearance, then return for OVW for more training before being called back up to the main roster on a full-time basis.

The angle with Kane and Lita had gone over so well that WWE made a last-minute decision to promote him to the main roster full-time and flew him in to Raw on the company's corporate jet.

He was then situated in a major feud with Kane, which led to a match at Taboo Tuesday.

In this match, Snitsky used a steel chair and crushed Kane's larynx.

WWE used this angle as an excuse for Kane's absence, when in reality he was going to film the WWE-produced movie See No Evil.

This feud resumed at the New Year's Revolution pay-per-view, when Kane returned and defeated Snitsky.

On the January 31 edition of Raw, Snitsky lost a steel cage match to Kane to end the feud.

At Survivor Series, Snitsky had an encounter with a character similar to his own, Heidenreich, in which they both exchanged their views on each other – "I like .. your poetry."; "I .. like what you do.. to babies." — while breathing hard, both their trademark ways of talking.

Snitsky was then in the main event as part of Team Triple H and facing Team Orton.

During the match he was busted open by Maven before being disqualified for attacking him with a steel chair.

At the 2005 Royal Rumble, the two met up again as Snitsky secretly partnered with Heidenreich, planning to interfere in Heidenreich's casket match with The Undertaker.

It was later revealed that Kane was hidden in the casket, who pounced on both Snitsky and Heidenreich.

They continued their fight in the crowd, before letting the casket match continue.

Later that night, Snitsky competed in the Royal Rumble match in which he eliminated Paul London, before being eliminated himself by Batista.

When his rivalry with Kane ended, Snitsky had a shot at the Intercontinental Championship, which then was held by Shelton Benjamin.

Snitsky lost by disqualification after hitting Benjamin with a steel chair.

He was absent from WWE television between April and May 2005 due to a blood clot in his stomach.

In 2013, Snitsky was inducted into the WXW Hall of Fame.