Gene Snitsky is not a guy who needs a confidence boost.
Snitsky was part of one of the most infamous segments in WWE history when he punted a baby into the crowd. The shocking segment took place on the November 8, 2004 episode of WWE RAW during Chris Jericho’s Highlight Reel segment. Snitsky came to the ring holding a fake baby and mocked Lita for having a miscarriage. (As if that wasn’t bizarre enough, Lita was storyline pregnant with Kane’s baby, who she was in a “relationship” with against her will, and Snitsky accidentally caused the miscarriage, which led to a feud with Kane in the first place. Yeah…)
Snitsky recently appeared on Insight with Chris Van Vliet and recalled how they practiced the segment before going live on TV. He had a good idea of how it would go, but Vince McMahon implored him to make sure it was a good kick.
“We’re walking through [the rehearsal] and then Vince is like, ‘So then you’re going to kick the baby in the crowd…’ and I’m like, ‘Cool.’ And I’m thinking that I’m going to try and kick it as high as I could so that I hit the [top of the Titantron]. And then they give me the baby and I’m thinking, ‘Man, that’s going to be hard to do.’ Have you ever tried to kick a baby? It’s not easy.
“It’s crazy because you think it shouldn’t be that hard, but it’s actually pretty hard. But anyways, I’m thinking, ‘I’m going to whack the shit out of 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 an all-area punter in high school. This is going to be fuckin’ amazing.’ And he just looked at me like [OK, Gene…]. And we just left it at that.”
Snitsky shares Vince McMahon’s reaction to the punt
Snitsky said he went out and did the segment, which got a great reaction from the crowd — and McMahon, who was waiting backstage.
“I go through the curtain and he gives me this big hug. ‘That was great!’ I [said], ‘I told ya!’ I don’t have a confidence issue, I knew it was going to be great.”
Van Vliet wondered if the fan who caught the baby would still have it. Snitsky doubted it, revealing that the fan whipped it back at him, noting it narrowly missed his head.
At least you know if Snitsky did screw up the kick, it wasn’t his fault.
Read More: Snitsky Punts A Baby During ‘The Last Match’
