How Snitsky Hung On For So Long
In light of Gene Snitsky's release from World Wrestling Entertainment this past Thursday, you could say that the company really gave up on pushing him as a money player over a year ago.
While Snitsky garnered a number of victories on episodes of Heat, house shows and dark matches (although, he did his fair share of jobbing as well), he had not garnered a pinfall victory on an episode of Raw in over a year. Snitsky's last pinfall victory on an episode of Raw took place on November 5, 2007 in a win over a local wrestler (former XPW & WSX wrestler Kid Kaos).
After serving for months virtually exclusively for Heat and seemingly at the end of his rope in the company (he lost to Umaga in about a minute in his last singles match in 2006 on Raw under his former look), officials gave him second chance and repackaged him under a new gimmick as a psychotic madman. Promos would begin to air on ECW on Sci Fi in early 2007, signaling Snitsky's renewed push in the organization. Snitsky would debut a bizarre fully-shaved look with dark yellow stained teeth soon after and enjoy a virtually loss-free run before returning to Raw following the 2007 WWE Draft. Snitsky's loss-free streak continued on Raw and he didn't suffer a pinfall loss until a whopping ten months into his push in a loss to Jeff Hardy on December 3, 2007.
Following his clean pinfall loss to Hardy, Snitsky's push in WWE was for all intents and purposes, over. Snitsky lost the majority of his television matches, but was usually put over on the Internet-based show WWE Heat in a half-hearted attempt to keep him as a monstrous threat. He actually did manage to garner at least one pinfall victory in 2008, which took place on the 3/25 edition ECW as he pinned Tommy Dreamer in a 24-Man Tag Team Match promoting the 24-Man Interpromotional Battle Royal at WrestleMania. Although, Snitsky was squashed by Batista in about a minute during the SmackDown portion of the show later that night. Following the match, Batista assaulted Snitsky with a steel chair.
As the months wore on, Snitsky was progessively used less and less on Raw, often going weeks at a time without wrestling on the show. By this point, Snitsky was primarily used to put over talent getting pushes of their own. It's interesting to note that in his two encounters with CM Punk, it took several minutes for Punk to finish off Snitsky (even when Punk was the World Heavyweight Champion), whereas in the case of Santino Marella, it only took him about 90 seconds in their one match.
If you're wondering why Snitsky received countless opportunities to get over (which most wrestlers don't receive) and managed to evade multiple talent purges despite the audience's repeated apathy towards him, it is because head honcho Vince McMahon was at one point a huge supporter of the yellow-toothed grappler, according to a November 2007 issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. At the time of the report, Snitsky was in the midst of his seemingly never-ending push. Also, McMahon has a well known fetish for big, muscle-bound wrestlers, and there's not too many wrestlers out there larger than Snitsky. Despite Snitsky's huge physical stature, it would appear that McMahon eventually lost interest in trying to push him as a big player in WWE, hence his sporadic appearances and frequent losses on Raw in 2008.
Here is Snitsky's television record since his last pinfall victory on November 5, 2007 (not including Heat). In the seventeen television matches since his last pinfall victory on Raw, he only managed to get one pinfall victory on either of the three main shows.
11-26-07: Loss to Triple H and Jeff Hardy when Triple H pinned Umaga
12-03-07: Pinfall loss to Intercontinental Champion Jeff Hardy
01-07-08: Loss to Chris Jericho via disqualification when JBL hits Chris Jericho with the ring bell (2-on-1 Handicap Match)
01-14-08: Defeats Triple H via disqualification due to Triple H attacking him with a steel chair
01-21-08: Loss to Triple H after being thrown over the top rope (Over-the-Top Rope Gauntlet Match)
01-28-08: Pinfall loss to Triple H in tag match with Umaga vs. Triple H & Shawn Michaels
02-04-08: Pinfall loss to Jeff Hardy in tag match with JBL & Umaga vs. Jeff Hardy, Chris Jericho & Shawn Michaels
02-18-08: Pinfall loss to Jeff Hardy(Money in the Bank Qualifying Match)
03-17-08: Loss to John Cena & Randy Orton via disqualification in match vs. "Entire Raw Roster"
03-24-08: Pinfall victory over Tommy Dreamer (24-Man Tag Team Match) (ECW)
03-28-08: Pinfall loss to Batista (SmackDown)
05-12-08: Pinfall loss to Mr. Kennedy
06-09-08: Defeats Cody Rhodes & Hardcore Holly when Umaga pins Rhodes
07-08-08: Pinfall loss to World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk
09-08-08: Pinfall loss to Intercontinental Champion Santino Marella
10-20-08: Pinfall loss to Rey Mysterio
11-24-08: Pinfall loss to CM Punk (Intercontinental Championship Tournament Match)
While Snitsky garnered a number of victories on episodes of Heat, house shows and dark matches (although, he did his fair share of jobbing as well), he had not garnered a pinfall victory on an episode of Raw in over a year. Snitsky's last pinfall victory on an episode of Raw took place on November 5, 2007 in a win over a local wrestler (former XPW & WSX wrestler Kid Kaos).
After serving for months virtually exclusively for Heat and seemingly at the end of his rope in the company (he lost to Umaga in about a minute in his last singles match in 2006 on Raw under his former look), officials gave him second chance and repackaged him under a new gimmick as a psychotic madman. Promos would begin to air on ECW on Sci Fi in early 2007, signaling Snitsky's renewed push in the organization. Snitsky would debut a bizarre fully-shaved look with dark yellow stained teeth soon after and enjoy a virtually loss-free run before returning to Raw following the 2007 WWE Draft. Snitsky's loss-free streak continued on Raw and he didn't suffer a pinfall loss until a whopping ten months into his push in a loss to Jeff Hardy on December 3, 2007.
Following his clean pinfall loss to Hardy, Snitsky's push in WWE was for all intents and purposes, over. Snitsky lost the majority of his television matches, but was usually put over on the Internet-based show WWE Heat in a half-hearted attempt to keep him as a monstrous threat. He actually did manage to garner at least one pinfall victory in 2008, which took place on the 3/25 edition ECW as he pinned Tommy Dreamer in a 24-Man Tag Team Match promoting the 24-Man Interpromotional Battle Royal at WrestleMania. Although, Snitsky was squashed by Batista in about a minute during the SmackDown portion of the show later that night. Following the match, Batista assaulted Snitsky with a steel chair.
As the months wore on, Snitsky was progessively used less and less on Raw, often going weeks at a time without wrestling on the show. By this point, Snitsky was primarily used to put over talent getting pushes of their own. It's interesting to note that in his two encounters with CM Punk, it took several minutes for Punk to finish off Snitsky (even when Punk was the World Heavyweight Champion), whereas in the case of Santino Marella, it only took him about 90 seconds in their one match.
If you're wondering why Snitsky received countless opportunities to get over (which most wrestlers don't receive) and managed to evade multiple talent purges despite the audience's repeated apathy towards him, it is because head honcho Vince McMahon was at one point a huge supporter of the yellow-toothed grappler, according to a November 2007 issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. At the time of the report, Snitsky was in the midst of his seemingly never-ending push. Also, McMahon has a well known fetish for big, muscle-bound wrestlers, and there's not too many wrestlers out there larger than Snitsky. Despite Snitsky's huge physical stature, it would appear that McMahon eventually lost interest in trying to push him as a big player in WWE, hence his sporadic appearances and frequent losses on Raw in 2008.
Here is Snitsky's television record since his last pinfall victory on November 5, 2007 (not including Heat). In the seventeen television matches since his last pinfall victory on Raw, he only managed to get one pinfall victory on either of the three main shows.
11-26-07: Loss to Triple H and Jeff Hardy when Triple H pinned Umaga
12-03-07: Pinfall loss to Intercontinental Champion Jeff Hardy
01-07-08: Loss to Chris Jericho via disqualification when JBL hits Chris Jericho with the ring bell (2-on-1 Handicap Match)
01-14-08: Defeats Triple H via disqualification due to Triple H attacking him with a steel chair
01-21-08: Loss to Triple H after being thrown over the top rope (Over-the-Top Rope Gauntlet Match)
01-28-08: Pinfall loss to Triple H in tag match with Umaga vs. Triple H & Shawn Michaels
02-04-08: Pinfall loss to Jeff Hardy in tag match with JBL & Umaga vs. Jeff Hardy, Chris Jericho & Shawn Michaels
02-18-08: Pinfall loss to Jeff Hardy(Money in the Bank Qualifying Match)
03-17-08: Loss to John Cena & Randy Orton via disqualification in match vs. "Entire Raw Roster"
03-24-08: Pinfall victory over Tommy Dreamer (24-Man Tag Team Match) (ECW)
03-28-08: Pinfall loss to Batista (SmackDown)
05-12-08: Pinfall loss to Mr. Kennedy
06-09-08: Defeats Cody Rhodes & Hardcore Holly when Umaga pins Rhodes
07-08-08: Pinfall loss to World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk
09-08-08: Pinfall loss to Intercontinental Champion Santino Marella
10-20-08: Pinfall loss to Rey Mysterio
11-24-08: Pinfall loss to CM Punk (Intercontinental Championship Tournament Match)
Labels: gene snitsky
