Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Gene Snitsky: "It Wasn't My Fault", Punting A Baby On Raw, WWE, Lita, Royal Rumble

Episode Date: June 10, 2025

Snitsky (@therealsnitsky) is a professional wrestler best known for his time in WWE. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet in Indianapolis, IN to discuss his memorable WWE debut angle with Kane and how it led to further appearances, punting a baby on Raw and how that has become part of his legacy, his shaved look in ECW, the foot fetish storyline, the brutal Paul London Royal Rumble elimination, his recent appearance on WWE Raw with Chelsea Green, what he is doing now, if he has stopped wrestling and more!Quote I'm thinking about: “I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it" - Thomas JeffersonPlease support our sponsors!   PURE PLANK: The future of core fitness! Use the code CVV to save 10% on Pure Plank designed by Adam Copeland & Christian: https://gopureplank.com/?ref=tibcloux  SEAT GEEK: Use my code for 10% off your next SeatGeek order*: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/CVV Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $20 discount PRIZEPICKS: Download the app today and use code INSIGHT to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup!  TIMELINE: Go to https://timeline.com/insightto get 10% off your order of Mitopure!   VUORI: Get 20% off your first purchase! Get yourself some of the most comfortable and versatile clothing on the planet at https://vuori.com/cvv   ROCKET MONEY: Join Rocket Money today and experience financial freedom: https://rocketmoney.com/cvv  HUEL: Get 15% off plus a FREE Gift for NEW customers with the code INSIGHT at https://huel.comMIRACLE MADE: Upgrade your sleep with Miracle Made! Go to https://trymiracle.com/CVV and use the code CVV to claim your FREE 3 PIECE TOWEL SET and SAVE over 40% OFF   ZOCDOC: Instantly book a top-rated doctor today at https://zocdoc.com/insight   BONCHARGE: Use the code CVV to save 15% off your infrared sauna blanket at https://boncharge.com/cvv   BLUECHEW: Get your first month of BlueChew for free with the code CVV at https://bluechew.com   PLUNGE: Get $150 off your Plunge with the coupon code CVV150 at https://plunge.com   For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com If you have ever enjoyed any of these episodes, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast or Spotify? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests.    Follow CVV on social media:  Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Fleet. Uh, yes, welcome back to another one here on Insight. I'm CVV, Chris Van Fleet. Thank you for joining us here. And thank you for making Insight the number one wrestling podcast on the planet. Could you do me a favor? Could you hit a big boot on that follow button to support the show and see you don't miss out on any episodes that are coming out? Let me tell you,

We had a blast on Friday night kicking off Money in the Bank weekend in Los Angeles with Insight Live, featuring special guests, the North American champion, Ethan Page. He was absolutely hilarious. Like, this was an all-timer. He's cutting promos on people in the crowd. He's telling amazing stories. So good. And don't worry, if you weren't there, if you weren't part of the sold-out crowd in Hollywood,

it's okay. We'll be posting the episode in the next. week or two here on the podcast and also on YouTube, but you don't want to miss the next one. August 1st, New York City, the day before SummerSlam, get your tickets now at CVVTix.com. That's CVVTX.com. Today on the show, it wasn't his fault. Gene Snitsky is with us here, and his story is so fascinating because he debuted in what was supposed to be a one-off appearance in that Kane and Lita storyline, but it went so well

that he ended up being in WWE for over four years. In that time, we got his catchphrase. It wasn't my fault. We got him punting a baby doll. That story is wild. And we got that very awkward, very interesting promo with Heidenreich. You know if you know, and that's a name we haven't heard in a while, right? Heidenreich. We even saw a series. We even saw a Snitsky back in WWE for an appearance a little over a year ago. He did a backstage segment with Chelsea Green. And the shape he's in now, it's amazing. I mean, he's been doing some stuff with MLW, but maybe we could see him back in WWE. It looks like he could definitely still go. Snap a screenshot. Let us know that you're listening to this episode and tag us. He's at the real

Snitsky. I'm at Chris Van Vleet. Tag me as well. And here we go. Enjoy this conversation with Gene Snitsky. finally doing this. Like they say, Chris, good things come to those who wait. It's been like, I think that two years ago, we were in the same area. And I'm like, we should do an interview at some point in time. You've got such a fascinating story. Ironically, we had spoken about where your relatives live in Pennsylvania.

Yeah. And you were trying to get out there. And I was trying to get out to you. Yes. And logistics. And it just didn't, didn't jive. We weren't on the same level there as far as scheduling. So, but here we are.

Here we are. And I'm glad you made it. So why? Like, you were telling me about what happened yesterday. I had an interesting trip. Basically, a two-hour flight from Philly to Indianapolis turned into a whole day of hoping that I make it to Indianapolis alive because we had a fire emergency landing in Pittsburgh. And that's the last thing you really want to hear.

when you're flying someone so you're on the plane just having a normal flight and out of nowhere i was actually watching varsity blues the movie i have my headphones on just chilling what a movie yeah and uh i can see the store just like doing these brace for impact things and i'm like they don't not usually do that let me so i pulled my earphone and i'm like uh we may be having a crash landing and blah blah I'm like, what? So like, you know, your mind starts like racing and you're like, it was crazy, dude. Like never in all my life I thought I'd be in that situation on a little two hour flight. You know, we literally took off from Philly, emergency landed in Pittsburgh.

And your mind starts racing, right? Dude, it was like, who, yeah. Like, everything goes through your mind. Like I texted my wife. She's a mess. Like, oh, I can't even imagine sending that text to my wife. We're having an emergency landing because there's a fire on the plane. Yeah. Dude, it was like, yeah.

Yeah, like, I don't know. You know, it's crazy. Yeah, it makes you think about a lot of things. Not to get emotional, but. Wow. Well, I'm glad you made it here. Me too. Wow.

Wearing your best Batman shirt, too. Well, look at that. There is no best Batman shirt. All Batman shirts are amazing. But yes, this happens to be one of my all-time favorites. from the, I actually got this about 20 some years ago at the, I think it's called the Steentown Mall in St. Louis, the one, no, the Grand Station Mall, the one under the train station there in St. Louis. We were wrestling there. And I got this one and a Spider-Man one. So they've lasted

the test of time. They've held up well. But yes, I am a big Batman fan. And I don't think we can see it on camera, but your shoes are the Batman logo, the vintage Batman logo, logo, Batman, but it says Snitsky instead of Batman. Well, it is my official logo now because I'm such a big Batman guy physically and realistically. Who's your favorite Batman? Adam West. Okay.

I used to run home from school to see the show. With a pow, bam. Oh, it's tremendous. Splat! And it was always like the cliffhanger ending. Of course. They dangled that carrot. So I had like, I'd literally run home so I wouldn't miss any of the episode.

Will the. Cape Crusader. Yeah. Same bad time. Same bad channel. It was like, oh. And I used to hate the cliffhanger ending, but it was like, that's why I said. Like, I'd run home for the next episode after school to make sure I didn't miss a single

minute of it because at the start, they would show you how they escaped. So you can't miss the start. So how much of this is just pure nostalgia for you? You know, I'm a big Batman collector, as we were talking about before we started filming. And I have a lot of like one-off. things that are super cool. And it's, uh, it's more of like a hobby, I guess. But I've just always like, you know, as a kid, I would put my Spider-Man wrist slinger on and run through the house. Hey, mom, watch this. Like, it's just always doing stuff like that and Batman and Superman,

like all the superheroes. Just loved all that stuff. I loved like just the gadgets. Like Batman's my favorite because he has the coolest gadgets. I like he's like, you know, multimillionaire. Yeah. He's all the cool stuff. He's got the bad. Batmobile. Like, the Batmobile's freaking awesome. Like, that's, yeah, you know, the car. Whenever you hear Batman, that's generally what people think. I love the line when Ben Affleck is Batman. It's like, what's your superpower? I'm rich. Yeah, like, literally. It's cool. And he has a mansion. And, you know, what's funny about the TV show is they had like the red telephone and it'd be like, Anne Harriet. The only guy, she thought, though he was Batman. Come on. Come on, Ann Harriet. Golly. It was always so funny to be like, how does she? You not know, it's it? What's your favorite Batman movie?

Ooh, that's a tough one. I got a lot of cool collectible 1989 Batman stuff. Okay. So probably that one. Yeah, Michael Keith. Yeah. I just got a, actually just got a big metal die cast one.

Mm-hmm. Not too long ago. That's probably the most recent one of those. I actually have the old school remote control one. I think, uh, toy biz, I think it was. Wow. Yeah. And it works.

I just don't ever drive it. It just sits on my show. But I got a really cool from the justice. League. I have the big giant Batman and it has the action figure in the cockpit and you could actually there's an app that you can watch it and it smokes and lights. Oh, it's crazy. A guy gave it to me for my wedding, a wedding gift. Man. It's freaking awesome. What's the prize possession in your Batman collection? It's probably two things. I have a artist print from Bob Kane and I have my giant Batman who greets everybody at the Snitsky compound. Look right when you walk in. Yeah.

Yeah, he's bigger than me. The big molded. foam, whatever it is. But yeah, he's pretty awesome. And if he's bigger than you, that's big. He's tall. He's about 6-8. But, yeah, that's like my prize position. I told you guys the funny story before we got on camera,

but I got it at a Comic-Con as part of my pay. And I started putting it in my car. And my wife's like, what are you doing? I'm like, I'm taking it home. What do you mean you're taking home? I'm like, yeah, part of my pay for the gig. And she's like, where are you going with that? I was like, right in the living room.

And she's like, And I showed you guys a picture. So it's right in the living room. So your wife is in on this too. Well, she has no choice. She's guilty by association. But I get her a lot of cool Wonder Woman stuff. She's got a lot of cool, like one-off Wonder Woman things.

And like, I'm always looking for that unique item that I've never seen before. And then if I, you know, I come across it, I'll grab it and bring it home. But, yeah, I'm in the unique stuff. So yeah well you showed me your wedding photo before we started rolling well my awesome wife caroline and i got married as badman robin vintage batman robin in 1966 but yeah it's funny my friend was the judge excuse me just had a big breakfast and uh so i called him like hey jimmy can i you know come by and get married with the wife on Halloween he's like sure you know never telling him the the gig you know so her i show up the full costume i'm hiding by the chamber he comes out of at

he's like, I'm not surprised. He shook his head. It's kind of funny because like I said, everybody knows that I'm a big Batman guy. And like fan semi stuff. And it's kind of taken on a life of its own, but it's cool because it's like, you know, as a kid, you're seeing all these cool toys.

And like I had the back cave when I was a kid. I'm trying to find a vintage one of those. Anybody out there watching if they have a vintage? Oh. With a working bat signal. That's the hard part. Okay. You can find them, but they don't have the working bat signal.

But anyways, I play with that stuff for hours as kids. And just as always like, you know, I'm a pro wrestler. So we're larger than life characters. We like, you know, think of ourselves as superheroes, stuntman, actors, you know. So it's kind of, you know, it fit my personality as a kid. And then I just evolved into, you know, amazing Snitsky now. Have you thought about buying a Batmobile? Yeah.

Okay. I have a guy in Jersey I was telling you guys about earlier. that has them, he makes them. I'll have one someday. Okay. My wife just doesn't know it yet. Are you in better shape now than you, when you were wrestling? You're jacked now.

Aesthetically, probably. Okay. I mean, I'm still, I've always kept myself in pretty good cardio, like, condition, wrestling shape, you know. But I'm one of those guys, man. I was, like, I played football at a young age. basketball, baseball. I was always playing sports.

And I always wanted to be the best and look the best. And, you know, I'm very competitive. My wife, she'll tell you some horror stories. Even with my wife, I can't, you know, I hate losing it anything. Like anything. I'm just sometimes too competitive. So, you know, I always like to look good. I like to perform well.

So it just kind of, that's just how I've always been, you know. Like I said, I had a, you know, football background. Was first team Allstate in Pennsylvania back when they still did the whole state. Now it's like a small school, big school thing. But I was like Allstate for the whole state. First team, defensive end, got a full scholarship. Went off to Missouri. Played for Andy Reed.

He was my offensive line coach in Missouri. That's wild. And then went off to the Chargers, went to camp with them, tore my labor room. Took a year off to rehab, got my surgery, came back, played for the Birmingham Barracudas and the CFO. That was 95. And then retired that year. I've got into wrestling in 96 and trained at the Wild Samoan Pro Wrestling Training Center in Allentown, Pennsylvania. And to make a 29-year career short, here we are.

How different would your career look if you had not got injured and continued down the football path? Well, hindsight's always 2020. Sure. And, I mean, I considered myself an elite athlete at the time. I was playing offensive tackle. I went to the NFL Combines, the whole nine yards. I ran 40-40. I was going to say I ran a 4-9, 840 at 320 pounds.

So I was moving pretty good. I played a lot of basketball. Yeah. So I always had good feet. And I actually got a lot of Division I want offers for basketball, too. But I figured, you know, with my size, 6-6, have a better chance to go on pro football and pro-basket. Because I played in the Keystone State games. I was a starting center for the Northeast region of Pennsylvania, believe it or not,

as a 6-6 white guy. So I could hoop. I was always really good at basketball. Just came natural. Like, I was always good at basketball and baseball and football. But I was, you know, I always wanted to be a professional athlete. So I was like, well, I'll stick with football. It's my best chance.

But, I mean, not to sound arrogant or anything, but I could, I could have probably went pro in all the sports because I was pretty good. I just got inducted into Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in 2018. Hey, congrats. Yeah, thanks. Wow. It's pretty cool. Yeah.

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Don't wait. Download the Rocket Money app today and tell them you heard about it right here on the show. What an incredible beard you have. Look at this. Well, it's slightly incredible today, Chris, because I've had a long day of traveling. I didn't get a chance to refluff it like they say in the industry. What industry is that? But thank you for noticing. How could you not notice it?

Look at this thing. Like it's down to your belly button. It's due for a trim. It's starting to get caught on my belt. And that's when the wife knows it's time to trim it. But yeah, my wife braids it for me. She takes care of it. It's like, you know, her project, so to speak.

Okay. Because I started growing in. I didn't think anything of it because, you know, I don't need to shave. I don't, you know, nobody's, you know, I don't have an office job. So just kind of kept growing and growing. Literally grew on me. Oh. A haw.

And she liked it. Started braiding it. And I was like, yeah, it looks pretty cool. So. But when you have a beard like that, it becomes. becomes part of your personality. Like, you are, to people who don't know who you are and don't know what you've done in your career,

you're the guy with the big beard. Ironically, it is part of my logo. The Snitsky Batman logo has my, you can't see it on the sneakers, but my t-shirt, my merch, my 8x10s. All the official Snitsky stuff has that logo on it,

but it has, instead of the Batman face in the middle of the Batman logo, it's got my face with my beard. So, yeah. Yeah, it's like when someone has a beard like that, Like, that is... It is pretty majestic, if I say so much. So when it's not braided, it's like, it's pretty hard to tame.

Maybe you should have had this in WWA. You were starting it. We could have did a lot of things at WWW that we didn't do. Not to beat a dead horse, but I think I was very underutilized for the talents that I had and the performances that I gave because they pretty much gave me shit. And I turned it into roses every single time. So I mean, be quite honest. Where did it start with WWA? How did you even get that opportunity with Kane?

So like I said, I trained at the Wild Samoan Foresting Training Center in Allentown. Pops, Alpha, was my mentor. He brought me up to Wilkesboro at the time for a house show. And myself and another gentleman had a dark match. Tommy Swade, he was also a training. He was also training at the Smolins. and him and I had our dark match. That was October of 2003. I see, the January March 8th, May. About May of 2004, Johnny Ace called me.

He's like, hey, we're going to bring you in. We're going to have you move to Louisville, blah, blah, blah. And I was literally sitting in my underwear. And I was like, I'm running around the house with my underwear. My mom's like, what the hell is wrong with you? I'm like, I just got signed. He was like winning a lottery.

It was crazy. Sure. Yeah. Like, I can still vividly see it in my head, like, sitting there in my underwear on the phone with Johnny and, like, running down the steps and around the house. So, then June, I moved to Louisville, started Louisville as me and Gene Mondo. I was Mike Mondo's little brother. And we did a gimmick together. And then just one day, Finley came down to OVW on a Wednesday and worked me out in the ring.

and I did, I wrestled probably 30 matches that thing. You know, one is the heel, one's a baby, worked the arm, worked the shoulder, work the neck, blah, blah, blah, like every single scenario you could think of I had a match to show fit what I could do. So fit, I guess, apparently liked what he saw, went back to the office and gave me the thumbs up. And that weekend, Howard, the awesome Howard Finkel called me

and told me I'd be traveling to Seattle. I was like, sweet. And I didn't know what I'd be doing. I had no idea. They just told me I needed to be a TV. So that's what I did. Went to TV, hung out and catering, waited until somebody came to get me. D. Melancho came over and he's like, God, Vince needs you at the ring.

I'm like, okay. Go out. I walked to him. Like, this is kind of cool. So it's me, Lita Kane, Vince, you know, the producers, and, like, we're walking through this scenario of, you know, the match and blah, blah, blah. And then, you know, and then you're going to hit him with a chair. He's going to fall in Lita, you know, carry.

You're going to miscarriage and da-da. I'm like, I'm not thinking anything of it. I'm just happy to be there. Yeah. You know, I'm like, this is great. Was this supposed to just be a one-off thing? That's what I had heard. They never, like, came out and told me that.

Excuse me. But in past tense, that's what I had heard. But apparently it probably was because the next week I'm at training and we're doing our drills. And freaking Tommy Dreamers, like, hey, Vince just called. They're wondering where you're at. Like, okay. I think he's ribbing me. Yeah.

You know. Can we curse? Sure. Say whatever you want. Like, why the fuck would Vince want to be calling looking for me? Like, that's what I'm thinking. And he's like, no, you got to get the wrong. I'm like, yeah, okay.

So I'm still doing it. And he's finally come up to the ring. He's like, you have to go. I'm like, are you fucking ribbing me? He's like, no, you got to get to the airport. I'm like, okay. So I go like literally to the, we're staying at this hotel and shut back to my room, got all my shit together.

and I'm like literally OJing it through the airport running. I'm soaked through my clothes. I get to the door. They're starting to close the door. I'm like, I got to get on that flight. So I get on that flight, which I got all sweated for nothing because I ran there and get on that flight.

That flight's delayed. So we're sitting there. I'm soaked through my clothes. I'm like, I'm not going to make my connection. So I'm calling the office. I'm like, hey, you know, I don't think I'm going to make my connection in Dallas.

They're like, okay, we'll call us when you get there. I'm like, all right. I get the Dallas. I call them. missed the connection. They're like, take the shuttle over to the private jet area. They're going to fly to WW corporate jet to get you. I was like, sweet.

I'm glad I missed the flight. So I take the shuttle over. I'm sitting there at the, you know, the corporate jet area. Well, here comes the WWJet. I'm like, this is freaking cool. Like they sent it just for you? Wow. So I don't know if somebody got fired over that,

But it was a very costly mistake for not getting my travel that week. But, yeah, so I get on the WD corporate jet. Dave Lagana was the agent they sent to get me. So he's going over all the stuff we're going to do, blah, blah, blah. So I ultimately get to Arizona and I just do an interview with JR. And that's kind of where to catchphrase started because he was like, you know, you're in the ring, you know, don't you feel bad that, you know, lead to lost her baby, blah, blah, blah.

I'm like, no, it's not my fault. She was in there. She's been in the ring. literally that's just out the top of my head it wasn't written no and then that just took off stepheny came to me the next week she's like we're gonna have you cut a promo every time before you do a match and always say it's not your fault i'm like okay that's literally how it started it's crazy and now every day of my life i get it at least 10 times a day i wish i had a dollar every time i heard seriously it's nuts like at the shop people will come ah it's not my fault

I'm like, so it just kind of took a life of its own. Well, and it's fitting for every scenario. Well, that's the beauty of it, Chris, because, you know, organically, when things happen, they're usually the best. Like, they always tell you in wrestling, try to be a character as close as yourself as possible, because that's, you know, more believable. So I just kind of went out, did my thing.

It's funny because, you know, going back to the thing with Cain, I can vividly remember him saying, Now when you hit me with the chair, hit me. Like, hit me. I'm like, okay, I will, don't worry. Yeah. Like, that was his, like, he wanted it to look as real as possible. So that when he, you know, fell on her.

And dude, it's, he's amazing. Like, just the timing of it, the way he fell on her to, like, the body language. Like, watching it back, it's crazy. Like, that, how good that came out. Like, I've never worked with him before. That could have been a disaster. Sure. Like, literally, we're on live TV.

that could have been a disaster. Like, who the fuck's this Snitsky guy? Get him the fuck out of here, you know? Like, anything could have happened. And I can just remember, like, I'm laying there, and I see him going over to Lita, and I'm like, grab the chair, and I'm like, I'm going to hit this motherfucker's arm.

I was like, I whacked him. He's like, after he hit me, just disappear. I'm like, okay. I fucking whacked him. Down he goes. Literally, by the time I roll out of the ring and start, like, incognitoing out of the area, I could hear, baby.

Coolers. Like chat start and I'm like, this is great. Because obviously there's a heel. Yeah. That's what you want. So when I heard that, I was like, ooh, this might be pretty good. I can't believe they had you punt a baby. Well, here's the thing, Chris.

Going back to like I was saying about football and all that, I was actually in all area punter, my junior high school. I averaged like 37 yards as a junior high school. So I had always had the leg to do it. And ironically, like all these years later, like, that's one of the things I'm known for. It's kind of funny because I was a legit area punter back in the day. So it's kind of funny. Did they know this when they were setting that up?

No, no. Like I said, man, I sat catering and just waited for somebody to come and get me. And DeMalanko came and got me and said they need you in the ring. Like that's literally, you know, for the first shot. But when we were doing a baby thing, like Vince was there as well with that. And a little bit of a funny story. We're walking through it. And, you know, Vince was like,

then you're going to kick the baby into the crowd. I'm like, cool. And I'm thinking to myself, I'm going to try to kick it as high as I could to hit the, the tron thing up top. And then they give me this, the baby. I'm like,

man, that's going to be kind of hard to do. Because, you know, have you ever tried to kick a baby, though? It's not easy. I can't say. Well, you should.

You should give it a try. I can't say I've tried. But it's crazy, man. Like, you think. You know, it shouldn't be that hard. But it's actually pretty hard to kick a baby, though. But anyways, so in my head, I'm thinking, I'm going to whack the shit at this thing.

I'm going to kick it as high as I can. And then Vince is like, whatever you do, don't miss the baby. Make sure you kick it. I'm like, listen, Mr. McMahon. I was already a punter in high school. This is going to be fucking amazing. And he just looked at me like, ah, yeah, yeah. I'm like, and then just left it at that.

And then we went out, we did it in the whole spiel. Back to the curtain, he gives me a big hug, he's like, that was great. I'm like, I told you. Like, I don't have a confidence issue. I'm pretty confident in my ability, so I know it was going to be great. I wonder if the fan who caught it still has the baby. I don't think he does because ironically, Chris, if you watch the footage back, I'm kind of giving lead to the evil eye, and I kind of go like this, he threw it back at me.

And it skimmed right over the top of my head. So, man, he didn't like it. The poor baby. Didn't you recently kick a baby? Well, I don't want to talk about it. Oh, a fake baby. A baby doll? Well, only when they deserve it.

The real ones. It's not your fault. Yeah. It's funny when one of my friends came to me, he's like, hey, we should do this baby pony competition. I'm like, okay. Like, I don't care. It's like, I was always a class clown kind of guy. And it's your thing.

Just want to have fun and goof around, you know. So I'm like, sure, that's great. So yeah, we started doing baby punting competition. He went all out and got a belt made and it was freaking awesome, dude. Like, to me it's funny because, like, I didn't think anything of it at the time, you know. And 21 years later, I'm sitting here with the amazing Chris Van Vlent. Close. Van Vleet.

I always. That's okay. We should have practiced that before. We should have. But it's not my fault. Just saying. Ah. See, I told you.

It works for everything. But yes. So here I am with you now. And 21 years later, still talking about it, still making money off it, still people wanting to hear about it. So as a performer, that's great because as a performer, you want to, you know, touch someone's emotions enough to where they care that much about it. Well, it's become your legacy. It's crazy, dude. Yeah.

Like, I don't really know how to, like, respond to that. It's just like, when I got into wrestling, I never in a million years would have thought, you know, that whole storyline just being thrown into it. it because I had never done a dark match. I was never like, nobody knew who I was. I was just there. And then all of a sudden, I'm the biggest heel on the show. It's crazy. Like literally that quick.

How does that morph from that storyline into the foot fetish storyline? Well, in real life, I like ladies' feet. And it's funny because my wife, when we first got together, and I was like, you got to take your shoes off. I have to see your feet because there won't be a second date if you have ugly feet. This is the first date? Yeah. Take your shoes off.

Yeah. I get right to the point, Chris. There's no. Okay. There's no beating around the bush. You like what you like. Yeah. Well, I'm not going to stay with somebody those ugly feet just because.

What's an ugly foot? Well, beauty's in the eye to behold her. Okay. So I would have to behold some feet to make a proper judgment. Like we don't like bunions. Well, I don't have any pictures of my wife's feet or I'd show you. I'm okay. That's the, that's the foot.

Okay. So, and she's tall. She's 6'1. She played college volleyball. Nice size 10. What a tall couple you guys are. I was joking or I'm like, man, I wish I would have met you 30 years ago. I'd be retired.

I would have five kids, a basketball team, and I'd never do anything. Because her one daughter from her first husband is six two. Her daughter. Now imagine if she had my amazing sperm. The kid would be seven foot, no doubt about it. And jacked and ruggedly handsome. Of course. And a great personality.

So who in WWE found out that you had a foot fetish and made it? I went to Vince. I went right to Vince. Because they were like, coming us with ideas, come to us with, you know, storylines, blah, blah, blah. And I know Vince. He's kind of off the wall. He's a little wacky.

So I was like, yeah, I'm going to tell him about the foot fetters and see if we could incorporate it in the characters. And I was like, Mr. McMahon, I got this idea, blah, blah, blah. Told him my idea. And he was like, in a second. He's like, that's great. We'll do it. We'll start corporate it in.

Like literally that quick. Yeah. So that's kind of how that's. Sorry. Just trying to be different, trying to stand out a little bit. Because at the time, it was just kind of like, you know, revolving door, guys were coming and going. I mean, I was there for five years, but I saw a lot of guys come and go.

So just to differentiate, you know, and the baby thing was kind of off the wall. So, you know, let's keep the string going. And then I did the tag team thing with Gold does for a while. And we're like all the audities and all that kind of stuff. Got to suck May Young's toes in WrestleMania. I remember that? She loved it. How'd you feel about it?

It was a job. You licked Maria Canales's feet? Sort of. We were playing It's the little piggy Wants to the Market thing, I think it is. Is that what they call it? Yeah.

This little piggy went to the market. This little Piggy stayed home. Yeah. One poor Piggy didn't get any real speed. Terrible. Poor guy. Probably just run to the litter. But, yeah, so, you know,

just trying to differentiate at TV time. Because, I mean, no offense, but if the writers can't do something with this, they shouldn't be writing pro wrestling. Because I'm a walking character. Good guy, bad guy, I could do it all. Just give me something to work with, and I'll make it work. Is this going back to what you were saying earlier, like that you were not given great opportunities, but you did the best? Yeah, I mean, it just, the, the Kane storyline was so hot. Like, I don't know.

I don't think they knew where to go from there. You know what I'm saying? Because I'm the new guy. Nobody knew me. I came in right away, top heel. you know, over like Rover, everywhere we went. And I think it was just one of those things where you get lost in the shuffle, the storyline ran its course, and they're like, oh, now what do we do with them?

Yeah. You know what I'm saying? And there was a few things like, you know, with the gold dust thing. Like, he had some personal issues at the time that he was dealing with. So that was like going really well. We're like doing really well. And then he had to step away. So now I was back to, you know, now what?

But then they did the thing with ECW with me. I was like, oh, good, we got some momentum now. Because, you know, I ran out squash Lashley, squash punk. Like, I'm taking out all the top guys. And I'm like, this is great. I had my new look, my character changed. I was more sadistic and psychotic. And then, you know, walking in the hall and stuff comes up to me,

hey, we're going to draft you back to Monday Night Raw. My dad thinks you're just doing such a great job. I'm like, well, yeah, so why don't I just stay at least? Like, I didn't say it to her, but I'm thinking of myself, like, why don't I just stay at ECW then? Like I was making, you know, some headway there. But yeah, I think that was the, that was the turning point. Because it was like I was doing so good on ECW.

And then they brought me back to Raw. And I was looking like Vince had me shave all my hair off, my eyebrows, like everything. And like I would put Vaseline all over myself to look even creepier. And like basically what Glenn was doing, you know. So I was like, well, you do realize I'm going to be looking just like Glenn. And then, you know, Vince was like, I got it. How did they even pitch you this idea of like, you're going to shave your eyebrows? You're going to shave everything, including your eyebrows.

It wasn't really pitched. It's kind of weird. Like, I'm out at the ring working out. And Vince was to wait me over. I'm like, hey, Mr. Man. And he's like, hey, go home and shave all your hair off, even your eyebrows. And go over to the makeup lady and see if she could get something to make your teeth look nasty. I'm like, okay.

Like, I wasn't feeling it, but you don't tell Vince McMahon, no. And there's no explanation for this? No. No. I guess maybe because of the ECW thing coming up and he knew they were going to be drafting me to ECW, that's the only thing I could think of. Because I got like a whole, you know, new character. I got a new action figure, you know, a whole nine yards.

So I was like, oh, I'll just, you know, I'll go with it. But I literally had to get my teeth, like, dry, paint the shit on my teeth every night. You had to do that? Yeah. What were you painting in your teeth? I don't know. Hopefully it doesn't cause cancer. But it's like in a little nail polish jar, like ladies nail polish.

And I would like take it out and paint it on my teeth. I forget exactly what it's called, but it's like from a makeup company in the order. Yeah, your teeth were janky. Yeah. But it was cool because I got a centerfold in the magazine that they sent me. I have it framed up my house. So that's kind of cool. And like I said, I got the action figures.

You know, I mean. In hindsight, I still got to do a lot of cool shit, but I think I could have done a lot more cool shit. Well, that version of your character in ECW was, you were unnerving. Like, it was hard to look at you. It's funny because I actually had somebody say that to me the other day. They were like, man, when I was a kid, I was so scared to you, but you're such a nice guy. Thanks. Because that's, you know, as a performer, you're portraying a character.

Yeah. If I had that much effect on somebody, then I know I was doing it. a good job of it. Well, people still remember that backstage segment you had with Hydenreich. Oh, dude. Why were you guys so close to each other? I don't know what? I don't know. Like, they came to me and you got this segment with Heinerich. I'm like, sweet. And Paul, Paulie was with Hydenreich at the time. And we're going towards the angle with me and him and Glenn and Mark. And, dude, I don't even know. It just turned into like creepy, homoerotic shit. But it was kind of, I mean, it got the.

point across it did what we wanted to do yeah there was a lot of like sexual tension in that it's kind of weird like watching it back i like doing it i didn't think anything of it but watching it back i'm like that's kind of creepy but that's what we were going for so but it's funny because he's like i like you're i like what you do to babies like i like your poetry this is funny though and then like the uh the uh the poem i did for edge and leader's wedding that's pretty good too do you still remember it oh yeah most of it yeah but i But another funny story with Vince. They get me this tuxedo to wear.

So I'm like, wow, I can't just wear a tuxedo. That's too plain. So I'm like, ripped the arms off it. They're like, well, we have to clear it with Vince. I'm like, okay. So we go in and I'm like, I'm like, him's a rickman, blah, blah, blah. And it was a rental. And he's like, okay.

So off went to sleeves. There goes to rentals. So I don't know what that end up costing the company, but it was pretty funny. Because it was a rental tucks. And they cut the ripped the sleeves right off. It was great. Did you write that poem? No, I would.

It was pretty good. Let me see if I can remember. Yeah, it's sick. If you give me the first line, I remember. I don't know. I know. That's what I'm saying. But anyway, one of the lines was,

it's not my fault what love can do to us, just like it's not my fault that you had a dead baby in your uterus. That was one of the lines of the poem. Yeah. But there's another one, too. It's not my fault. Love chose this direction. my fault, King can't get an erection.

It's like the best poem ever. Like, all this shit I did was so fun. Like, inside I'm laughing. Like, I'm having to blast. I try to stay in character. Like, I know the lines coming up with the erection. And I'm like, this is freaky weird. Like, where else can you do that?

Like, on live TV. It's tremendous. You had that match with Maven. Does he bust you up and by? That's an accident, right? Yeah, that was a, that was a. the hard way. He was supposed to come flying off

with a flying forearm to my chest. The flying forearm turned into a flying elbow into my eye socket, and I just heard a crunch. And I was like, fuck. And by the time I rolled over, I already had blood squirting out of my fucking eye. I can't see straight. I'm seeing it,

like, triple. I'm blinking, like trying to see. Because I had to hit him with a chair, Jericho with a chair, and Orton with a chair after that. And I can't see. Well, there's a huge gash above your eye. It makes for good television, but man, that, that was fucking nasty. Like, I had a big chunk of skin just hanging down.

And it was, yeah, I couldn't see straight for about a month. I broke my orbital bone, actually. So, yeah, it was, it was pretty juicy. But yeah, I pretty much, I got me back with the chair. Yeah, you put a little extra into that chair shot. Well, there is this unwritten rule in wrestling. Chris. This is a receipt.

Yeah. Yeah. I bent the chair pretty good over, said. But he took it. Oh, he knew he was taking it.

He had no choice. And then I think I hit Jericho next. And then Orton. But yeah, I'm just, I'm like thinking of myself, man, I hope I hit them square.

Because I can't see really. Like I got blood in my eye. I'm seeing like three, three Jericho's standing there. And I'm just like, oh, here we go. I'm at,

you know, it is what it is, but I think ultimately it came up pretty good. Yeah. You know. You've had some very memorable moments like that. Ironically,

I did, and it's kind of cool because I'm just a kid from Nesquahoney. So it's kind of cool because I would walk around telling people, you're going to see me on Sunday on the NFL or Monday on Monday,

like as a kid. And they look at me like I had fucking three heads. But they're the same ones that come. Hey, can I get an autograph from my nephew? Yeah. So it was great. I was like,

yeah, I'll get you an autograph. The Royal Rumble elimination. Yeah, that was, I dare say it's the top elimination ever, in my opinion. Not because I was involved in it, but because just the crowd reaction, the bump, like all things taken into consideration, I don't think anything else really matches it. Well, they, we'd never seen something like that before. Yeah. So it's kind of cool because Paul and I kind of, he took me off to the side and we're like, hey, what do you want to do?

You know? And he's like, well, you know, this, this is. this. I'm like, let's try this. And then it evolved into that. And he's like, well, just close line me off. Because I wanted to close line him somehow to make it like impactful. And he's like, well, why don't you just close on me off the apron? I'm like, okay, well, how do you want to do it? He's like, well, you know, I'll miss something, blah, blah, blah. And then just hit me and I'll flip off the apron. I'm like, sweet. But I'm going to have to close on you hard, right? Pretty much in the face to get the momentum. Because if I was lower, he wouldn't have room to fly.

flip. You know what I'm saying? So I had to hit him high so he could get up and still rotate. Up and out. Yeah. Yeah. So it's kind of like, you know, almost like physics, I dare say. But yeah. So I was like, well, I'm going to have to walk you. And it's going to be probably in the face or the throat area or the head. And he was like, fine. So. And I fucking crammed them, dude. I ain't going to lie. I hit, I hit him. But, but. Man, that fucking bump. The crowd just was like, they thought he was dead. And he landed it so perfectly. It literally looked unplanned.

Like, that's how, like, vicious it looked as a fan watching it. Like, even watching it back, I still look, ooh. Because it's like, if you slow it down and see where I hit him, I hit them square, like right where your nose meets your forehead. And I fucking hit him. You could have broke his nose. Yeah. No, but he took it like a champ, man.

He's, he's awesome. Paul's great. And another guy they could have did so much more with. But yeah, I always loved working with Paul. But yeah, that was, that was pretty awesome. Even like all these years later looking back on it, because that was 2005, I think. 20 years ago.

There's so many people during that era where you can, what you just said, that sentence applies to them. There's so much more they could have done with that person. Yeah, it's a shame. Because like nowadays, I think, wrestling so oversaturated that it's like a guy like me or a guy like Paul, we would have been top stars at any of the other companies at that time, if there were so many other options.

But it was pretty much just WWE and that was it. Well, it's a tough era, right? Because WCW had just got bought out. So now you have like the roster was stacked in WWE before that. The roster was stacked in WCW. Well, put them together. Yeah. It's not enough room for everybody.

No. And that's, I mean, that's part of the problem. And like I said, I'm kind of like, I'm a walking character. Like, I'm not your average around a middle Joe blow that's, you know, out on the street. You just pass by and don't think anything else. When I walk places or go places with my wife, my wife always laughs, she's like, I can't believe the way people look at you. Like, I don't notice it. Well, how can they not?

So I'm saying. It's like. But you're also like, you're a larger than life personality. Well, like from the second you walked in here, it's just big energy and a big hug. Well, we do it big in that squaloney. How many people live there? I think about 3,500 people. We do have one stoplight.

One stoplight. How many gas stations? There's a few now. Okay. But when I was growing up, just one, one two, Turkey Hill and another one at the end of town. One stoplight. Yeah, it's funny because, like, as a kid, my mom and dad didn't really drive me anywhere. But, like, as an athlete and being a, you know, recognizable athlete where I grew up,

Like I hitchhike everywhere. So as like a 13 year old, 14 year old, I'm going all over the place hitchhiking. Well, and I get it because when you're driving your car, like, hey, is that Gene? Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's a small town USA. Four towns actually made up in my high school. So that's how, like, not rural, but how like smaller, like, it's typical small town

USA. Everybody knew everybody, like the whole nine yards. But it was great because, like, you know, in that time frame when I was growing up, Like, you know, you had your buddies you hung out with. You weren't on your phone all the time. You weren't on the computer all the time. Like, we actually went out and did stuff. You know, shooting hoops, wiffleball, chase tag.

We're always doing something, you know. So I was, I'm glad I grew up where I did because I helped my athletics, you know, overall. Because when you're playing kickball, wiffle ball, chase tag, running through cemeteries, jumping over tombstones and stuff, you have no choice but to get better athletically running and jumping. Yeah. I mean, the more you do it, the better you're going to get at it. And isn't it such a funny thing when you're a kid? It's like, who's the fastest?

Like, that is such an important thing when you're like 10. Well, we played a lot of Nerf football. And the street in front of our house, the one telephone pole was the end zone. The other telephone pole was the end zone. And it's funny, like, talking about that, like, trying to, you know, run to the end zone to the telephone pole to beat your buddy. You know, the score a touchdown in our football. Yeah. And then, like, you see a car coming in.

You know, car! Everybody just sat there waiting for a car to go by. All right. It was so cool. Like, I love growing up there. It was great. My parents were awesome. Like, all they ever asked me was,

don't get arrested and pass their classes in school. That's literally all they ever told me. Man. And, you know, never made me do this, never made me do that. Like, I had one friend, man, he'd be scared to go home if you didn't get all he's on his report card. It's like, you know,

nothing like putting your kid under that kind of pressure at 16. Yeah. But, yeah, my parents were awesome. Never busted my balls about anything. Like, If I was somewhere and I wasn't getting home, if I called and say, hey, I'm staying at, you know, so-and-so's house, okay, thanks. Like, as long as they knew, I wasn't in trouble or, you know, failing out of school. Yeah.

So, you know, it was a good area to grow up in back in those days. Men, the only thing worse than losing your hair is waiting forever for it to grow back. That's why you need Hymns. You can start seeing your hair grow back in as little as three to six months. Hymns provides you with convenient. and quality access to a range of hair loss treatments that work all from the comfort of your couch. Choose from personalized chewable, oral, spray and serum treatments to find what works best for you. The process is simple and 100% online so there's no uncomfortable doctor visits.

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I'm partnered with a buddy of mine. We have a priority one surplus shop in Hamburg, Pennsylvania. We do like military survival stuff, outdoor gear, ammo, mags. A lot of stuff, like, for the outdoors. people. You look like the exact guy who would own that kind of store. Well, it's, it started. My buddy started it 13 years ago now, and his son's an Army Ranger. So when I got involved with it, his son was leaving to go to the Army. So I kind of, it just kind of happened. It's kind of weird because I was doing some other stuff. And he, I have a degree in hotel restaurant management. So he knew

I did the management thing. So he's like, hey, man, you want to get involved in the store, come around the store, blah, blah, blah. I was like, sure. And then one thing led to another now, you know, pretty much involved with it from, you know, operational standpoint. It's, uh, it's, like, if you would have told me 20 years ago that I'd be involved in a surplus shop, I'd have been like, what? Like, it wasn't on my radar. Yeah.

So when it kind of fell into my lap, I was like, oh, this is cool. Because my brother was in the honor guard. He was in the army. and did like driving around the president and all that kind of stuff so wow yeah and that's like pretty exclusive you got to be a certain height a certain weight you can't do this you can't do that like you know physical like so many push-ups so me says blah blah blah blah and that's what my brother did so so cool and then when we did the tribute to the troop show when i was with wwee like that was the real eye opener man just to see the way the guys live over there and the sacrifices they're making

so we could do this you know we're sitting here talking about you know bad man wrestling and Batman and kicking babies. Yeah. You know, while they're over there living four to a tent, you know, defending our freedom. Yeah, I'm so grateful for that. Yeah. So that's kind of my way of, you know, giving back thanking, however you want to phrase it. Yeah.

But my dad was in the Air Force and my uncle Joe was in the Army. I think he was in the Army as well. He was a dog handler. So pretty much everybody in my family has been in the military. And then, you know, just kind of, it's kind of weird how it just happened with all the stuff, you know, like interlapping and meshing, like my brother, my dad. And then his son, like Army Ranger, it's kind of, you know, it's kind of fascinating to me. They say everything happens for a reason, you know. So it's kind of like, you know, just kind of happened.

What's the hot selling item at the surplus store? Ammo. We sell a lot of ammo, magazines, backpacks, a lot of tactical gear. Because people are into the, you know, the prepping. So we get a lot of preppers. The go bag is a big thing, like a one-day go bag, a three-day go bag, a week. So like that kind of stuff. That's probably the best overall selling items that we have.

And you're done with wrestling now? No, I still wrestle here or there. I just got stem cell shots in my knee, though. on March 29th. I've been dealing with a little bit of a meniscus issue. So I went down to the great people at LifeMed Institute in Maryland, and they gave me an injection with that and did some vitamin infusion with the wife. And it's freaking amazing, dude.

That's stuff. I don't know, like, the science behind it. Yeah. But I've had the best freaking workouts the last few weeks since I went down there. And no more pain? It's still sore and stiff. but like just like like chess workout shoulder workout like jeez it's crazy dude i keep hearing this but i haven't done it myself you got to try it but the one that i the one that i refer people to and

go to is the life med institute they're in uh baltimore and man it like i wasn't very skeptical of things the older i get and like you see these stem cell places in like mexico or you know some crazy place. You know, like, eh. So, like, I wasn't really expecting much. And then when I went there, man, the place is amazing.

Like, they're just amazing. Like, everybody's so friendly, so nice, so helpful. Like, I can't say enough nice things about the place. I couldn't believe how, like, awesome it was.

It's crazy. I got to find one in my area. Yeah. Where do you live at? I'm in Southern California. Yeah, they're mostly on the East Coast. They just opened up a new,

new one in Philly, I think. But I know that, like, there's, and you might know this better than me, outside of the U.S., you can have more stem cells. I'm not sure about the volume of stem cells. I think that's it. So, like, a lot of people go to Tijuana or they'll go to, like, Columbia. Yeah.

Well, I don't really want to fly all the way down there just for a shot. I get it. I could drive to Tijuana in a few hours. Yeah. Maybe that's my move. But definitely look into it. But, yeah. So started just trying to do more.

So you're having a handful of matches a year. Give or take. Yeah. Like, I could be as busy as I want to be. Sure. But how busy do you want to be? It's the question. Yeah.

But with the shop and guys on vacation and, you know, shop comes first, so I got to make sure, you know, we got coverage at the shop before I could go play wrestler. How did this recent return on Raw come about? I just happened to, DeVarri is one of my best friends. I traveled with him at WW. He's one of the road agents now. So he was like, here, you're stopping by the Wilkeshire show?

I'm like, well, I wasn't planning to, Are you going to be there? He's like, yeah. I said, all right, we'll take her right up. So me and a wife took her right up. And we're just sitting and catering with DeVari shooting the shit. John Cohn comes up to me. He's like, hey, they have an idea for a backstage segment with Chelsea Green.

Chelsea Green. I was like, oh, cool. And I've known Chelsea forever. She's, you know, backward pops even. She would come to those shows and Matt, I know, no Matt forever. So I was like, oh, that's cool. Plus, I think she's awesome. Like, the character's great.

Oh, she's crushing. Like, it's just tremendous. Yeah. So I was like, hell, yeah, I'll do it. And then, like, literally one take, and that was it. Yeah. It was crazy, dude. She's just so good.

It's funny. Like, just trying to stay in character is half the battle sometimes, you know? Yeah. Because it was funny. Are you under a legend seal with WWE? No, I wish. But no. Well, put it out there.

Well, you just did. They're signing a lot of people to legend steals. Yeah, no, I mean, I'm not one to, like, blow my own horn or walk around, like, oh, you know, like, even at the shop, like, unless someone says, hey, are you so-and-so? Like, you know, talk about it, but I don't like that. You fixed your teeth. I went to a good dentist. It wasn't Isaac Anchor. There's history there.

It's funny how many people thought that was real, too. Because there was a lot of people that thought the baby was a real baby. No, come on. Dead serious. You can very clearly see that it's a baby doll. Yeah, that's what I thought. Come on, come on. Could you imagine kicking an actual human infant on TV?

People thought that was a real baby? I don't want to, I don't want to by any means talk down about wrestling fans. But there is a small majority of them that see things on TV and whatever they see you think is real. Come on. I'm telling you. I'm telling you. As I'm sitting here right now. with this amazing beard and regularly has some good looks.

I'm telling you, it's crazy. And I'm just like, this TV show is fake. We're not kicking real babies. You can't kick a baby. Come on, man. I have a baby right now. I look at him and I'm like, I can't imagine anything hurting him.

Well, then again, I never would have imagined doing baby punting competitions. You know, anything could happen in this crazy world of wrestling. What a life. But yeah, it's crazy. literally but yeah so and then uh like the the other thing you get a lot was how do you guys get the fake blood are the chairs real like yeah everything's real it's not fake i'm still hitting somebody if i pick you up over my shoulder and throw you down onto the floor it's gonna hurt

i was equated to like because you know we're snow guys we grew up in snow regions yeah i was equated to slipping on the ice. That's a good one. Because you're always like, you're not ready for it, but then you hit and you're like, ooh, that's like how I equated. Yeah. And it's funny because I always tell the story when I was a kid, I had a paper route. I was 12 years old walking up these steps in the winter, put the paper in the door,

start going down the steps, second or third step wipe out all the way down. And I had my paper bag and I stopped to make it so no one saw me just to look around. Because, you know, you can't have anybody see it falling down to step. So I was like, oh, you know, so that's like kind of what I equated to. Like, you're just all of a sudden, duh, because I think somebody did a scientific study on it one time and it says like a wrestler in a year's time is like 500 car accidents. I believe that's like what it equates to with the pounding. Yeah, a lot of whiplash. Yeah.

And it's, you know, it's not something you could prepare for. Like when you first get into wrestling and you're starting to train. Like, because in real life, where do you ever just fall flat onto your back on purpose? Yeah, you don't. Exactly. So getting into that mind frame of like, okay, like, I'm more of a visual guy. I try to visualize things. And like, the first time you ever take a bump, you're like, that doesn't feel good.

Like, you know what I'm saying? It's like, you get jarred. It like, it actually hurts. And yet somehow your body. And you just keep doing it. Yeah. Same with running the ropes the first time. I was just going to say that, running the ropes, man, like, I was black and blue for weeks.

Yeah. And, like, at the Samoan camp, we had to do a thousand bodyweight squads before we even got the privilege to get in the ring. So you wouldn't see a lot of guys around after those. That's a lot. Yeah. And then from there, you get into the ring, and that's when you started learning how to bump. And then you got to learn how to run corner to corner and the ropes. And, like, it's, like, people.

People think wrestling is so easy and this and that. It ain't easy. It's hard. It's probably harder than anything I did in football times 10. Because I don't have like the pads on. You're not hitting someone straight ahead. You're literally falling down over and over and over and over and over and over and over. Like, it's just crazy.

Well, I think if you guys can make it look easy, you're doing your job right. Well, we're theoretically performing. artists, I guess you could say. But I was just always like, I always wanted to make everything as good. Like I said earlier, I'm very competitive and I always wanted everything to be like great. And that's why I never really watched my stuff back because I'm too critical of my stuff. Like it would bother me for days if I saw something that I should have did better or could do better. You know, just kind of how I am. How did you prepare for the choke slam off the stage with Kemp?

That was pretty fun, actually. Because, you know, as kids, we used to do a NSTT plunge. Remember that? What? The NSTT plunge. I better get a free. Oh, the NESTE plunge. I better get some Nestle out of this.

Yeah, where you're standing at the pool with the Nesty ice team and you fall straight back. Yes. That's how I envisioned it. That's right. And then it would be a big giant splash of NSTE. Exactly. Yes. Wow.

That is a deep cut. There you go. That's how I envisioned it. I'm like, Well, I used to do those in the pool. So that's how I'm going to do it. Yeah, because the nest, he was so refreshing on a hot day. Exactly.

Just like falling through a table from 15 feet. Very refreshing. As the wind's blowing by your ears, I felt like a bitting into a York peppermack. Another reference. There's no off position on the genius switch, Chris. Just saying. Is that genius spelled G. E.N.

Yes. I'm glad you picked up on that. You're pretty small. guy, you're okay. I'm liking you a little more to it. So all you did was just fall backwards. Is that what you're saying? We had walked through it and it was, you know, ducked my line, pop me, pop me, pop me, duck another line. And then I end up at the stage and I'm kind of like, oh, and then I turn back and there he is. And it was basically just nesting plunge time. Like I jumped so we could get enough height to go out because I think the tables, if I remember, we're about six or eight feet from the

stage. So we had to kind of jump out a little bit. So I just remember like tucking my chin and just jumping out. And there's no way to really prepare for it. You can't practice it. It's like, that's the thing about WD, man. It was like you get one shot, either fuck it up or you make it amazing. Like literally. Yeah. Because it was live TV and that's how it was. was. So. Well, you made it amazing. That's kind of, you know, my mindset was, man, this is, I've always had the positive mindset. Like, this is going to be great. Like, I've always expected myself to be good. What's the storyline that you think they could have ran with more for you? Well, definitely the ECW character. Because like I said, I was squashing like everybody.

I was, I broke Bob Holly's arm and put him out of commission. At the time, he was one of the, you know, the WWE tough guys and real strong character. there. So that gave me some push. And then, you know, Lashley, punk, you know, everybody. You did something with Sina right before you were let go. Are you referring to the Lumberjack match? Didn't you have a very short match or feud with Sina? From what I had heard, they were going to do that. But I don't really, honestly, I don't remember. I don't remember that one. I remember having a lumberjack.

match England, but that was when I was still on Raw. Maybe that's it. Yeah, I don't remember the ECW stuff with him. But it was weird. Like I said, I was, like, they flew me up to the office, ran all new vignettes. I'm on this turntable thing spinning around. I'm all oiled up and creepy as hell. It was funny because they're putting that on ECW.

Like, you know how they say coming soon? Yeah. And I literally debuted that night. Not soon. Yeah. I don't think they're doing. has ever been a debut like that. No.

Not I think about it. Coming soon and there he is. I mean, they didn't lie. Yeah. They're like, oh, just go out tonight.

I'm like, okay. It was like kind of, a lot of spur of moment things. But it was fun. Like, I enjoyed, I enjoyed the character.

I just didn't enjoy having to paint my teeth everything. WWE brought back so many people. Like you'd get let go and then two, three, four years later they'd bring you back. How did that not happen with you?

I don't know. You have to ask now. Yeah. All right, next interview. But, I mean, like I said, I was trying to keep myself in good shape and good ring condition. I mean, at this point in my life, I probably wouldn't ever consider even a part-time schedule. But what about a one-off at the Royal Rumble? Well, that kind of stuff, absolutely.

Because it keeps my face out there. You know, it's good for a shop. It's good for, you know, my brand is the good, you know, the way the kids are talking. he's day. So, but I'm as you see, man. I haven't changed since I'm a kid. This is me. I've always been like this. I ain't changing now. I ain't going to ever change. My wife, like I tell her all the time, I'm like, I've been like this for 55 years. I ain't changing now. So, because she hates my driving. I'm like, I've been driving since I'm 40. She hates your driving? Can you imagine? Well, I don't know. I haven't been in the car with you. It's terrible. Not my driving. It's terrible that she don't like it.

but I tend to have What doesn't she like about you driving? Well, we've been in an outer and I hate slow pokes if there's a slow poke I'll pass the whole thing. I don't have time for that.

Maybe this is why you need the Batmobile. I need the Bat Copter. Ooh. Now that's what I'm talking about. Yeah. I love helicopter. Yeah. Yeah.

Backcter would be cool. You just have this positive outlook on life, which I think is, it's not common. especially in this day and age. Well, sorry to hear that. But like I said, man, I'm not to get emotional.

What is it? What are you thinking of? You think of my new, my lovely badmine shirt, wait. Just, I always, I always just wanted to, where I grew up, it was work at the factory. Did you check, go to the home. Like, that was the thing.

I just, I knew that, I knew there was a bigger purpose. And to be able to do this kind of stuff is, you know, not everybody gets to do it. And I was, you know, small town, I wasn't supposed to, I wasn't supposed to do all this stuff.

And I just feel like, you know, there was never, people where I grew up never wanted to get out and see, like, we always joke around about it, I call it the Panther Valley bubble. Like, they didn't want to get out of the bubble. And for as long as I can remember, I always just wanted to get out of the bubble. But I always get emotional talking about it.

I, like I said, I was the kid that would tell everybody, you know, I didn't have to, well, you know, the wealthy family or the, you know, all that kind of stuff. So I always had to earn what I got and, you know, work harder. Yeah. You know, so it's just still crazy to me how I'm just, you know, I'm just, you know, I look at my, you know, I look at my, So there's a guy that chased a dream. Yeah. Yeah, you should be really proud of yourself. It's still weird to me.

The way people react just because of that. Just to affect people's lives on that level. It's great. Yeah. And it's something a lot of guys take for granted. But proud to do what I, all the stuff I've done and have that effect on people to wear. you know it affected their life it's crazy to me how like just being a wrestler people will be

like you know so enamored and like so it's just like the star things is kind of crazy to me sometimes like just i've had people come out to me and like oh you know my mom was your you know biggest fan and you know we watched wrestling together and she's not here anymore. It's crazy to me the connection that wrestling fans have with us. What do you think it was that allowed you to get out of that bubble? A lot of people have a dream, but not everybody accomplishes it. I think just determination.

I'm one of those kind of people that if you tell me I can't do something. I'll work to my dying breath to prove you wrong. Stubberness. no, you know, not taking no for an answer. I mean, I just, I always knew I could do it. Like, I always had confidence in myself. I always knew I could do what I wanted to do. And I just wanted to get out in the world and do,

I knew there was a bigger purpose, you know, to what I was doing. Yeah. And, you know, like I said, man, people get caught up in the 9 to 5 and then they go out drinking on the weekend. And that's like the way it was where I grew up. Like people didn't have anything to look forward to. I don't think. Like, to me, that's not a life.

You know, I didn't want to, I didn't want to be that guy. And it just always remember, like I said, as a kid, I always wanted to be a professional athlete. And I always knew after football was going to get into wrestling. That was like my plan. So it's just crazy to me that I, you know, how everything worked out exactly how I said. That's beautiful. there's like that crabs in the bucket mentality sometimes in a small town you know what i'm talking about you know one crab starts to crawl out and the other crabs go no come back in here well it's like

you know where i grew up old coal mining town you know coal's pretty much trying to make a resurgence in my area but you know let's be realistic to the the coal companies kind of left yeah but you know so that was the thing back in the day. It was the coal region. You worked hard. You know, went home, got your pay, you know, same thing the next day. I'm not that type of person. I'm, like, I have a short attention span. I want to, I need to be stimulated with other things. But I just always, you know, in the back of my mind, I knew I could do it. I was going to do it. And it's a matter of time until I did it. Like, I could, like, I had 10 bucks in my pocket when I got signed at WW. And I was borrowing money to get supplements and, you know,

gym memberships and stuff and you know it's just like it's hard to put in the words but like nobody not not 100% of the people but I don't think anybody thought I was ever going to do any of the stuff I said I was going to do you know what I'm saying especially from where I came from and the most rewarding thing to me is just being able to prove everybody wrong yeah sadly but it's a big motivator well it's also proving yourself right like if you have to had this in you that you, you already saw it, you knew it was going to happen. It's just a matter of time. You proved yourself right. Yeah, it's crazy. Like, like I said, man, I'm from a small town. Another funny story. When I first got announced on Raw, Lillian came up to me. She's like,

well, where are you from? And I'm like, I'm from Nesquiloning. She's like, where the hell is that? I'm like, it's in Pennsylvania. She's like, well, we have to clear that with Vince. So we're going to Vince's office and she's like, Mr. McMahon, where was she like, Gene to be announced from? And he looks at me, he goes, where are you from? And I'm like, I'm from Nuscohoney, Pennsylvania. And he looks at Lillian, he goes, well, there you have it, Lily. Like, it's almost too funny.

Like, you couldn't even write it. Because I'm like, yeah. Because, like, where I grew up, it's like Philly or Allentown. Sure. Because the nasty boys are from Whitehall. They're, like, right up the street from me. I'm not saying Allentown. I'm not from Allentown.

Yep. From Nesquahoney. So that's what's cool. to me, like, that's on the video games. It's on my cards. It's on all my shit. That's cool. So, like, it'll always be there forever.

Yeah. You know, that's the crazy thing about it. Like, I'll be dead and gone. And somebody's going to be sitting somewhere talking about, remember that guy to kick the baby? Like, it's just crazy to me. Like, it's kind of, like, I still get, like, emotional, obviously, like, talking about it. But it's just like, I don't know. I mean, you did it.

Like, it's crazy. What a story you have. You did it. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you so much for this. I'm so glad we finally made this thing happen. Yeah, me too.

I wish I wouldn't have got tears all over my band, I mean. No, I get, you know. I think it's a beautiful thing to be able to realize that, like, what you were saying means so much to you. I got tears in my eyes. It's uh I used to go to my grandmother's to watch I tell her I told her that

you're going to watch me do that I was wrestling in Japan and she passed away so she never got to see me so sorry I know she was watching yeah I'm sure she still saw it said always watch at her house

like I'm gonna be on her something yeah and then you know unfortunately she didn't get to see it but you know just stinks but that's you know it was shekness on me i think when someone sees someone who's as big as you

in touch with their emotions it makes people realize that it's okay to show your emotions yeah well i'm uh definitely an emotional guy but that works for me and it gets me sometimes A little too passionate. Sometimes when it comes to arguing or proving a point. Just ask my wife. But no, it's just, I'm living a dream, man. You certainly are. I've done things that I've dreamt about and that people will never get to do.

And I've seen things that, you know, I imagined as a kid. Like, I got to go to the pyramids in Egypt because of wrestling. I've been to Hawaii, Japan, saw the pipeline. Like, I'd never be able to do that. without wrestling. Yeah. You know? Yeah.

Because I'm, you know, I can't imagine, hey, you want to go to Egypt and check out the pyramids? Like, I would have never done that, like, without wrestling. So it's cool to be able to, you know, fulfill all those, you know, bucket list items. And I got to meet a lot of cool people along the way, friends with, like, you know, got that.

I was on stage for Oz Fest with Ozzy. It was like, how, like, how do you beat that? Yeah. I'm a 12-year-old kid walking out of a boombox. I'm freaking listen to Die of a Man Man so much I wore off the letters of the cassette, you know, and there I am on stage with him, like, as an adult, only because of wrestling, because of WWE. Like, how do you beat that?

Yeah. Like, that's just the coolest thing to me. And there I was as a 12-year-old sitting in my yard throwing a tennis ball off the wall, catching it with my baseball glove, listening to Ozzy on the boombox. You know, it's just crazy. Yeah. From freaking Nesquihonning. Who would have found it?

So this guy. You guys know that when it comes to health and well-being, I'm always looking for an edge. And that's why I've been taking mitopure for months now. Because I want to be the healthiest version of myself for as long as possible. Like, I want to be in my 90s and still going on hikes or like still playing with the grandkids. Or I guess at that point in time, it might be great grandkids. Here's how this works. Mitochondria is our cells power generators.

They're a key influence in how we age. But as the years past, mitochondrial efficiency starts to decline. and it starts to represent this big gap between the quality of life we expect when we're older and the one we actually experience. One way to think about mitopure is like they're the little Pac-Men in your cells chomping up the damage mitochondria that make you feel old and tired, and we're cycling it into new healthy ones. For me, taking mitopure is really helped with recovering after a workout.

I'd start to feel myself getting stronger with more energy and experiencing less inflammation. I think it's worth you checking out as well. Timeline is offering 10% off your first order of mitopure. Just go to timeline.com slash insight. That's timeline.com slash insight. The question I ask at the end, gratitude means so much to me.

I have such an appreciation for the things that we have versus focusing on the things that we don't have. What are three things in your life that you're grateful for as we sit here right now? I'm grateful for everything. That's tough. Three things to pick out. Well, my health, my wife, and still having my mom around, probably the three top things.

But my dog, Hondo is probably the close fourth. Wow. I got a big giant St. Bernard at home waiting for me. He's, uh, he misses daddy. Yeah, we named him after the John Wayne film. Yeah. I like John Wayne, too. So, but he's a 200-pound St. Bernard.

I just flew here out of John Wayne Airport. Oh, yeah? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. In Santa Ana, California. That's funny. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. So he's, he's my big baby because we don't have any kids or anything. So he's my, he's my fluffy, furry kid. 200 pounds? Oh, yeah. W weighs more. If my freaking phone would ever been able to work.

Ways more than me. He, uh, we actually rescued him. So he was a little rough around the edges when we first got him. But he's, you know, he's a big teddy bear. Oh. You don't have to show me after. I'll pull up some pictures. Then if my friend allows me to.

But yeah, so they're probably the top three things. We'll make it for for Honda. But yeah, I'm just, I think of all the abuse I've put my body through over the last 45 years. You know, because I started playing football when I was 10, went straight through until I was 25, and it got into wrestling when I was 26. So for 45 years, I mean, I've been pounding this shit out of myself. Yeah. So I always, you know, all things considered, I still feel pretty damn good.

Yeah. You know, able to function. I'm able to do what I want to do. I mean, there's always discomfort or something. But, you know, like I said, all things considered, I'm feeling pretty damn good. Yeah. And, you know. And you look great.

Like, you're not walking around hunched over. Thanks. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it's sad when you see somebody older guys. It just, it makes me wonder like, so, well, not, I guess one, there's a bad choice of words, but like, in the scope of things, is it all really worth it? And then I think to myself, well, you know, that one fan that'll say, hey, man, you know,

you were my favorite and you did, you know, like, that makes it all worth it. Because to me, that's what's important, the entertainment of the fans and making sure that they're happy at the end of the day because they're spending their harder money to come and see us perform. Yeah. They could spend their money on anything. There's a million things to spend your money on these days. Yeah. But they chose to come see me wrestle.

So it's to this day still flattering and like, I love my fans. And I think a lot of guys get lost in the concept that there would be no pro wrestling or Snitsky or anybody without the fans. So I never refuse the autograph. I never freeze a picture. It's just not my thing, man. Because I can remember when I was a fan. And if somebody was like, to me, I'd be like, what a dick.

Yeah. You know? And I probably wouldn't be our fan. So I think a lot of guys lose that. But yeah. I just want to, I just want to enjoy life and have fun. And I tell my wife every day, I'm like, man, life's too short. You got to, you know, got to have fun.

That's what it ultimately comes down to. Because you're always going to have bills. You're always going to have a car payment. You're always going to have something, you know, don't dwell on it. It's have fun, man. And that's what you're doing. Every day. except for when I'm on planes that are on fire.

But yeah, no. Yeah, I'm thrilled to be on, man. It's an honor. You've done pretty many of all the top guys. And I've been planning on this one for a while, like we talked about. And you've been on the list for a while, so we finally did it. No, it's cool, man. I see all the work you do.

And, you know, I'm happy for you with your success and all that kind of, you know, you're hit killing it with the podcast. And thank you. I'm like, man. It's going to be cool to be on. So, no, thanks for having me. No, I appreciate you. It's not your fault.

You finally realized that great guest. All right, my friends, thank you for listening to this episode with Gene Snitsky. And thank you for listening all the way until the end here. Snap a screenshot. Let us know what you thought of this episode. Amazing how he just opened up about so much. You could tell how powerful it was to him to be able to be able to, to live his dream or accomplish things well beyond his wildest dream.

But snap a screenshot and let us know what you thought of this episode. He's at the real Snitsky. I'm at Chris Van Fleet. And I just appreciate how he wasn't afraid to show his emotions. Wasn't afraid to open up and be like, yeah, this is how I feel. And he could have said, you know what? Stop the camera or, hey, could you grab a tissue? I don't want to, I don't want people to see me like this.

But he just lent it all out there. And I have a tremendous amount of respect for, I already had a ton of respect for Gene Sinsky, but just the way that I have so much respect for just the way he handled that. And was like, yep, this is who I am. Amazing. I'll leave you with this quote from Thomas Jefferson. I'm a great believer in luck. And I find the harder I work, the more of it I have.

Be great and be grateful. We'll see you on the next one for some. more insight. Jim Rome takes on sports. Why? Because I have a job to do. With rapid fire takes. So I don't want to hear from you lava pigs on this notion today. No idea what you're talking about.

You're complaining more than you like to breathe air. It's like you get up in the morning only to complain and cry and moan on social media about things that you don't even understand. He's the spitfire of sports smack. Take advantage of it. Get up in here. The Jim Rome Show podcast. What's your beef? Follow and listen on your favorite platform.

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