A number of former WWE Superstars have returned to the company over the past two months. Beginning with Dakota Kai at SummerSlam, Bray Wyatt, Johnny Gargano, Candice LeRae, Karrion Kross, Braun Strowman, Mia Yim, and several others have since ventured back to the sports entertainment giant..
Though he didn’t appear on the broadcast, it’s reported by Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp that Gene Snitsky was backstage during the broadcast. Snitsky was a regular with WWE throughout the mid-2000s, ultimately requesting and being granted his release in December 2008. There’s no word on why, exactly, the 52-year-old was backstage.
Gene Snitsky was backstage at tonight's WWE Raw.
— Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com (@SeanRossSapp) November 8, 2022
Gene Snitsky Was With WWE For Five Years
First signed to WWE in October 2003, Gene Snitsky was one of the company’s resident big men during the Ruthless Aggression Era. Debuting on the September 13, 2004 Monday Night Raw vs. Kane, Snitsky is perhaps most memorable for his involvement in the pregnancy angle between ‘The Big Red Machine’ and Lita.
Speaking to WWE’s digital team during a Where Are They Now? feature, the Pennsylvanian explained how last-minute his official role in the storyline was. As he stated, it was Tommy Dreamer who informed him of the change in direction, leaving Snitsky with very little time to make it to Arizona for that night’s red brand broadcast:
“On Monday, the next week, doing our drills. Tommy Dreamer comes in, ‘Snitsky! What the hell are you doing?! You got to get to the airport’. I’m like, ‘What are you talking about?’ [Tommy said] ‘Vince [McMahon] just called me, you gotta get to Arizona for Raw’. I’m like, ‘Well, nobody told me’. So there I am like a lunatic, getting all my stuff together, packing up. I remember speeding to the airport, park, and running in there, I’m soaked through my clothes, I got my bag.
I’m just hoping to God I get to the gate in time. I don’t know what happened with the flight or if we left late or got there late or…something happened that I missed my connection. So I’m calling [an unnamed WWE employee], ‘Take the shuttle over to the private jet area. We’re gonna have the WWE jet come and get you’. ‘Yes, sir’. Didn’t anybody think of this during the week, like I’m literally on the plane flying to Arizona and I have an hour to prepare for it.”
Snitsky’s final WWE match was a dark match prior to the December 1, 2008 ECW tapings. He and Shaun Ricker – the now-LA Knight – were felled by Cryme Tyme.
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