Gene Snitsky was a Ruthless Aggression Era talent who is better remembered for the whole “It Wasn’t My Fault” catchphrase. That only made up for his very early run on the main roster. You’ve got to remember, Snitsky was in WWE for five years and he would end up being one of those guys that the company would try to involve in something but just couldn’t make waves.
Snitsky in WWE
Snitsky’s debut in WWE was actually tied to the Kane-Matt Hardy feud as he was spanked by Kane after coming out of developmental. While Kane is distracted by maybe baby mama Lita, Gene Snitsky blasted the Big L Machine with a chair causing the big man to fall onto Matt Hardy’s former girl and kill the child.
That’s where we get his memorable catchphrase. Then everything becomes a big red blur. He puts Kane out of commission in a feud so that Kane can go film See No Evil. Then he teams up with Heidenreich to deal with The Undertaker—which pulls Kane into the story.
He and Kane were tied for a while as storylines that Snitsky was involved in often crossed paths with the Big Red Machine. Following a brief feud with Benoit—if you forgot about it, don’t worry, most did—before being brought in as a goon for Edge.
Yes, Edge who still has beef with Kane after he snatched Lita away. That was after new goon Gene Snitsky fell on Lita and killed the baby. The WWE Universe is a small world, folks.
Snitsky was involved in a tag team with Tyson Tomko—remember him—and Goldust. There was nothing else of note from Snitsky until he appeared on the ECW brand with a new, more menacing look.
I actually enjoyed Snitsky’s run on ECW. It seemed like he found a place there within WWE. Snitsky was shuttled back to RAW where he got lost in the shuffle. Oh, he won matches but there was just nothing there creatively.
Salvaging Gene Snitsky
This is a pretty easy salvage job. Snitsky had a good run on the ECW brand. He wasn’t totally in the mix of things but he seemed in place there both skill-wise and as a character. Snitsky was never the best in the ring but I noticed that he was good at just destroying someone and he’d always had a penchant for brawling—even back in Afa’s WXW promotion.
In-ring, Snitsky would’ve been fine as a generic power brawler. I believe that he could’ve been a horror movie heel like Kane, Taker, or to a degree Mordecai. After his ECW makeover—which should’ve had some kind of to-do prior to it—he looked like a psychotic monster.
It was as if they mixed ex-con Nailz with Heidenreich or something—but it worked. With more theatrics, this guy could’ve been on to something. Hell, he’d already been feuding with Kane for his first few years.
In something of a breakaway from the tag team solution, I’d run Snitsky as just a reoccurring horror movie heel. While it was too early in his main roster run, the angle with Lita and Matt Hardy could’ve been a creature double feature with damsel Lita being stuck between creepy kidnapper Kane and Snitsky who has his own history with Lita or Kane.
Oddly enough, Gene Snitsky was a generic enough big guy that there was some creative possibility with him.
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