Santino Marella
Anthony Carelli  | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | March 6, 1974 New York City, New York |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Johnny GeoBasco Boris Alexiev Santino Marella |
| Billed height | 6 ft 0 in (183 cm) |
| Billed weight | 227 lb (103.18 kg) |
| Billed from | Russia (OVW) Calabria, Italy (WWE) Paterson, New Jersey (WWE) |
| Trained by | OVW staff |
| Debut | 2004 |
Anthony John Carelli (born March 6, 1974) is an American professional wrestler better known by his ring names, Boris Alexiev and currently, Santino Marella. He is currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment wrestling on the RAW brand[1].
Career
Before Wrestling
Although it is true that he hails from New York Careli actually comes from the small town of Penetanguishene, Ontario, Canada which is located two hours north of Toronto. Carelli has practiced Judo at Shin Bu Kan, competitively since his youth, winning several tournaments. In 1994 he captured the Canadian Men's Under-21 Championship. He also wrestled for Concordia University in Montreal. He also had been an MMA fighter in Japan for several years before signing a WWE developmental contract in 2006.
World Wrestling Entertainment
Ohio Valley Wrestling
In July 2005, while working under the name Johnny Geo Basco, he was planted in the audience of an Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) show. He was intended to show fear during an angle featuring The Boogeyman, but instead laughed -- breaking kayfabe. Upon returning backstage he was reportedly yelled at and slapped multiple times by OVW part-owner and booker Jim Cornette. Cornette was removed from his position as booker in OVW by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).[2][3]
Paul Heyman was appointed OVW booker to replace Cornette and renamed Carelli Boris Alexiev, giving him a Russian shoot fighter gimmick.[4] Carelli made his debut under the new name on April 12, 2006 along with his manager and "comrade", Mr. Strongko.[5] He began dominating opponents with stiff strikes and submission style wrestling, and defeated a wrestler named Dewey in 10 seconds.[5] He signed a developmental deal with WWE on August 11, 2006,[4] and continued working in OVW.
On January 24, 2007, Carelli won the OVW Television Championship, defeating Bad Kompany (Mike Kruel and Shawn Osbourne) who were holding the title simultaneously. Kruel regained the title on February 7, but lost to Carelli once again on March 14. Carelli's second reign ended on March 17 2007 when he lost to Shawn Spears.[6]
RAW
Carrelli made his WWE debut on the April 16, 2007 edition of WWE RAW in Milan, Italy as a fan named Santino Marella. At the beginning of the show he was chosen from the crowd by Vince McMahon to wrestle Umaga for his WWE Intercontinental Championship after no wrestler answered an open challenge. Carrelli was fighting well on his own until Mr. McMahon stopped the match and made it a No Holds Barred match. The "Milan miracle" then occurred as Carelli defeated Umaga with assistance from Bobby Lashley.[7] The next day WWE.com posted a profile on Marella which claimed that he was an Italian national who had moved to Canada as a child and returned to his native country a few times each year to visit his family. It went on to claim that he later moved to the U.S. to begin training with the goal of breaking into professional wrestling, and ultimately WWE.[1]
Shortly after winning the Intercontinental title, Marella started a feud with Chris Masters. In Marella's first Intercontinental Championship defense on May 7, 2007, he would defeat Masters via a cradle roll-up to retain his title. In their next encounter, he would defeat Masters once more in a similar manner. Marella experienced his first defeat on the June 11, 2007 edition of RAW featuring the Draft via Playmaker by MVP. At Vengeance 2007, Santino defeated Umaga by disqualification in less than three minutes, thus retaining his title; he did not get much offense in and was destroyed after the match. On July 2, Santino lost the WWE Intercontinental Championship to Umaga on RAW in a squash match and lost his rematch on the July 11 edition of RAW.
On the July 23 edition of RAW, Marella's (kayfabe) girlfriend, Maria, competed in a tag team match. Teaming up with Mickie James against Melina and Beth Phoenix, this match saw the first entrance of Maria's in which Santino participated. After escorting her to the ring, Santino pulled up a chair at the announce table, proceeding to commentate lovingly on Maria's behalf. Maria picked up the win after interference by Marella, who tripped both Melina and Phoenix. Maria then hit Melina with a running bulldog to pick up the win.
Wrestling facts
- Finishing and signature moves
- As Santino Marella
- As Boris Alexiev
- Managers
- Nicknames
- "The Milan Miracle"
Championships and accomplishments
References
- ^ a b "Superstars > Raw > Santino Marella > Bio". WWE.com. Retrieved 2007-04-18.
- ^ Waldman, J. (July 8, 2005). "Jim Cornette released from WWE". Canadian Online Explorer.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Unknown parameter|accessmonthday=ignored (help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ Milner, J. "The Boogeyman". Canadian Online Explorer.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|accessmonthday=ignored (help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ a b Pollock, J. (August 11, 2006). "Friday Update". TheFightNetwork.com.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Unknown parameter|accessmonthday=ignored (help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ a b "OVW results - 2006". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-04-18.
- ^ a b "OVW Television Championship". Solie.org.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|accessmonthday=ignored (help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ Zeigler, Zack. "Santino Marella wins Intercontinental Championship". WWE.com. Retrieved 2007-04-18.