by Tim Peters

Created on: November 19, 2009

If there's one thing the man best known as Gene Snitsky learned from his 4-year run in WWE from 2004-2008, it's how to get attention. He participated in one of the worst wrestling storylines of the decade. He styled himself as a revolting 6'9" freak of nature. He took a disgusting moment and tried to make it even more disgusting whenever he could. And he did it all with a paint-stained smile, which is why he shined in a role most other wrestlers would never have even thought of taking.

Eugene "Gene" Alan Snisky was born on January 14, 1970, in Nesquehoning, Pennsylvania. The little custom vehicle manufacturing haven is a stone's throw away from Allentown, host to numerous televised WWE events back in the 80's. Unsurprisingly, he grew to love professional wrestling. In college, he played football for the University of Missouri Tigers as an offensive tackle, but too many injuries prevented him from pursuing a career in the sport.

As it turned out, Snisky would enter a completely different career. In 1996, he began training with A.J. Petrucci, AKA Super Destroyer #1 from ECW. He later met up with the legendary Wild Samoan Afa, who took him on as his protege and even an honorary Samoan. Now billed as "Mean" Gene Snitsky, he found tremendous success in World Xtreme Wrestling (Afa's wrestling promotion) from his debut in 2001 until his departure in 2004 to sign a developmental deal with WWE.

After a brief stint in Ohio Valley Wrestling as "Mean" Gene Mondo, Gene Snitsky debuted in a relatively uninteresting match against Kane. With a "pregnant" Lita as his valet, Kane pummeled Snitsky right up until he accidentally caused Lita's miscarriage by hitting Kane with a steel chair, sending him crashing into Lita. After insisting that the miscarriage "wasn't my fault", as he put it, Snitsky later used the incident to taunt Kane by bashing him with a lead pipe from a baby stroller and punting a baby doll into the audience. Kane finally got his revenge in a 2005 steel cage match, after which Snitsky was limited to matches on B-show Heat and a brief series against Shelton Benjamin.

Snitsky's next big WWE appearance in the summer of 2005 (after returning from addressing a stomach blood clot) was as a hired gun for Eric Bischoff's crusade against the invading ECW. It was during this period that Snitsky was revealed as having a foot fetish by Edge and Lita (who had forgiven him for "the whole baby thing" as Lita put it), and Snitsky would repeatedly try to slather his studded

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