Santino Marella is usually fondly recalled for his comedic character in WWE, and notably had an attention-grabbing debut in WWE, when he was “chosen” from the gang and defeated then-WWE Intercontinental Champion, Umaga.
In a latest interview with “Developmentally Talking,” Marella recalled his journey to turning into a WWE Celebrity. When requested why he determined to get into wrestling, Marella merely said that he thought it might be a cool job whereas his athletic historical past additionally performed a component in it.
“I assumed that this could be a fairly cool job, beats numerous different forms of jobs, and I assumed that I might be good at it, you realize? Simply based mostly on my curiosity, my athletic potential, I used to be on the nationwide Judo group, and I wrestled in Excessive Faculty and College,” stated Marella.
He nonetheless famous that he solely started his professional wrestling coaching at 28 and had six indie matches earlier than going to wrestle in Japan. Apparently, he defined that he had much more of a tradition shock going to Louisville, Kentucky than Japan, as a Canadian.
“I used to be gonna try to break in there, have some success, and be recruited again to North America, that was my plan. However on the finish of the 12 months, I overstayed my vacationer Visas, and I used to be banned for a 12 months and that is once I went to OVW,” stated the previous WWE star. “It was simply so totally different, so weird down there [in Louisville, Kentucky]. I had no publicity to America like that. I simply noticed what you see on TV.”
Moreover, he praised retired veteran Rip Rogers for giving him the information to make a profession out of wrestling and alter his life.
In the event you use any quotes from this text, please credit score “Developmentally Talking” and supply a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.