GENE
SNISKY
Gene attended Panther Valley High School. While at PVHS he excelled in numerous sports competing in varsity track, basketball and football. His basketball career led him to the Pennsylvania Keystone State Games where he was the starting center for the Northeast region. He was a four-year letterman who led his team in scoring for two straight years, being part of the team that still holds the best record in the history of the school. In football, Gene was a three year letterman leading the team to it's first ever championship. His football skills earned him first team all state, becoming only the third person in the school's history to attain that achievement. After a very successful athletic career in high school, Gene was offered several full athletic scholarships. Ultimately Gene chose to attend the University of Missouri on a Division I full football scholarship.
In college, Gene was a three year letterman in football seeing action his sophomore year and starting during his junior and senior years. While at the University of Missouri, Gene was coached by former Philadelphia Eagles and current Kansas City Chiefs head coach, Andy Reid. After graduating from college, Gene was invited to the NFL Combines and eventually signed as a free agent with the San Diego Chargers where a torn labrum required surgery and prematurely ended his NFL career. After recovering from this surgery he returned to professional football in the CFL, playing with the Birmingham Barracudas, but due to ongoing shoulder issues he was forced to an early retirement. The injury was actually a blessing in disguise as this spawned Gene's wrestling career.
Gene always had professional wrestling in his sights. After a tireless search he found the Wild Samoan Pro Wrestling Training Center in the Lehigh Valley. Gene had to go through a rigorous tryout and evaluation process. Seeing his potential, Afa the Wild Samoan decided to take Gene under his wing. As a mentor and friend, Afa, a WWE Hall of Famer, provided Gene with the valuable learning tools needed to be successful in professional wrestling. While training with Afa, Gene held numerous odd jobs just to get by always knowing someday he would become a WWE Superstar. During these years Gene drove all over the country for little or no money, as what is known in the wrestling world as “paying his dues”. He quickly impressed Afa to the point where he was invited to join Afa's son Samu on a 28-day tour of military bases in Egypt, Afghanistan, Turkey, Uzbekistan, South Korea and Japan. Things picked up after this tour with Gene earning a tryout match for WWE later that year. The tryout went so well that Gene was offered a WWE developmental contract shortly thereafter.
Upon signing the contract with WWE Gene had to relocate to Louisville, Kentucky to attend the WWE training camp located there. While at camp Gene progressed quickly wrestling under the moniker Mean Gene Mondo. He rose rapidly to the top of the developmental system making it to the main WWE live TV roster in only 4 months time. Thus fulfilling his dream of becoming a WWE Superstar. His first major feud was with WWE veteran, Kane. Over the course of the next 4 years Gene would have many memorable feuds with a number of WWE greats. During his tenure in WWE Gene experienced great success as a wrestler, always loving becoming a character that was larger than life.
He has celebrated some historic milestones in his wrestling career, just to name a few:
* 'WWE: Raw 100 - The Top 100 Moments in Raw History'
* Top 10 Royal Rumble Eliminations
* Top 50 OMG Moments in WWE History.
* Induction into into the WXW Hall of Fame as a member of its inaugural Hall of Fame Class.
Gene now focuses his energy on acting and producing. He has been in a number of independent films, infomercials, episodes of ABC’s “What Would You Do?” and most recently has produced his first independent film “100 Acres of Hell” in which he has the lead role, is an Executive Producer, Lead Stunt Coordinator, and writer.
He is very active in charity events and foundations. He is the proud spokesperson for the “Buck Autism” campaign, is a member of Brandon McManus’s “Anti-Bully Squad”, works closely doing appearances and events for “Bustin’ for Autism”, and numerous other charities.
Gene is honored that he has been chosen for induction into the 2018 Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame.
Gene currently resides in Schuylkill Haven with his wife Carolyn and their St. Bernard Hondo.