WNS Column: Gimmick Street - The Miracle From Milan

Hello wrestling fans!
Thanks for joining me once again for my new feature which I am calling 'Gimmick Street'. Once a month I am going to talk about the gimmick of a superstar, including their background and growth into it, as well as my thoughts on the current programme and a look to the future and where the character can go. If you have any superstars you would like me to talk about then feel free to get in touch on the Twitter (@iHux). So let's get into it!

As you may or may not have guessed from the title of today's piece I am going to be focusing on The Milan Miracle, The Italian Stallion, a crowd favourite who is currently wrestling as Santino Marella in WWE. One of my favourites of the PG-Era, Santino plays his character perfectly to the crowd, and always gets the biggest pops every time he comes out, with his amazing power walk which cracks me up every time, whichever town he may be wrestling in that night. Not only that but his in-ring ability is often under shadowed by his gimmick and comedy value. Let's take a look at Anthony Carelli, otherwise known as Santino Marella.

Born in 1979 in Ontario, Carelli began his wrestling career on the independent circuit. He won his first match by DQ. I was surprised to find he only debuted around 10 years ago, and that he hasn't really won anything until his infamous debut in the WWE. He did have a short stint in Mixed Martial Arts which proved successful as he won six out of seven matches, losing only one (which happened to be his last fight!). If he decides he has had enough of wrestling, I'd love to see him in UFC. Maybe leave the cobra in the dressing room though!

He moved on to Ohio Valley Wrestling in 2005 and was known as Johnny Geo Basco. He continued to train here with the aim of getting to the WWE main roster but after an altercation with Jim Cornette (which ended up with Jim being fired as the booker for OVW) he was given a better gimmick and repackaged as Boris Alexiev the Russian, by Paul Heyman. Even Santino is an original Paul Heyman guy! This character gave him a chance to show off his wrestling talent and perform technical moves which he had been taught through OVW. He continued to build his character and moveset for 2 years before winning the OVW Television Championship. Finally, he was called up to the main roster and as a homage to Robert 'Gorilla Monsoon' Marella - our beloved Santino Marella was born.

The night Marella debuted, any wrestling fan or smark knew that he wasn't just 'a member of the audience' selected by Vince (donning a pork pie hat due to his recent WrestleMania hair shaving) in Milan, Italy. But it was pure genius by Vince making it seem that he was just a regular wrestling fan watching a show in his home country. It was against Umaga and involved Bobby Lashley running in a No DQ match, spearing Umaga and pulling Marella onto him for the win, and NEW Intercontinental Champion! The crowd were chanting Santino's name after only just finding it out! I thoroughly enjoyed that debut, and it's definitely up there with the most memorable of all time.

Shortly after this debut he went on to feud with Chris Masters then eventually teamed up with Maria and turned heel, becoming the jealous boyfriend of anyone who interacted with Maria. Even William Regal got involved hosting a game show. Brilliant TV! It was around this time he started to develop his comedy persona, including a run in with the Texas Rattlesnake just after The Condemned was released. In the end, Marella and Maria ended up soaked in beer and, of course, Santino got stunnered!

Soon after Maria dumped him, he moved onto Beth Phoenix in a team nicknamed 'Glamerella'. This was one of my favourite moments as they were such an odd couple it was one of those that worked, because it shouldn't. After Santino became Intercontinental champion for a second time, it was then he began to mock The Honky Tonk man's record and how he was going to overtake him. 64 weeks was what he had to beat and this was tracked by the Honk-O-Meter weekly. It only took 12 weeks for Marella to lose the title, to William Regal.

It seems to be the bigger PPV's in which he has his greatest comedy moments. One of my highlights was his Royal Rumble appearance in which he came running down to the ring, climbed in, was instantly clotheslined over the top rope by Kane. He lasted all of 1.9 seconds! A record in WWE for shortest appearance.
We can't forget the famous Miss WrestleMania battle royal either, in which 'Santina' competed in a 25 diva battle royale!

His next move was a tag team with Vladimir Kozlov which also had some funny backstage segments. Mainly due to the language barrier between the two. They did go on to become Tag Team Champions on Raw. After an injury he returned to successfully beat Jack Swagger and win the United States Championship. A short lived run losing to an upcoming wrestler known as Antonio Cesaro.

Since then he has slowed down momentum, maybe the writers feel they have given as much as they can and I feel sorry for Santino. We still haven't seen his best up to now as it's always been about the comedy. Don't get me wrong I love his gimmick, his Italian/English is always funny and his backstage segments have me laughing out loud. The Cobra is a finishing move which is essentially nothing but a fist to the face, but I love it.

I'm not sure what the future holds for Santino but I just hope they can get him in a feud for either the Intercontinental or U.S. Championships again with perhaps a heel turn, which will not only show us more of a darker side to his character but a chance to show off some the wrestling skills which he has learnt in OVW and throughout his career. One idea is that he could ditch the Italian accent and music because he wants to prove to his fellow Canadians that he is true to where he was born. A big ask I know and it could go totally wrong. Maybe he could even have a run as a Paul Heyman guy? He has feuded with Cesaro once already, but it feel he may be too high up the WWE ladder now. Whatever the outcome I'm sure I will still be waiting to see that power-walk down to the ring, the bad English on the mic, and of course The Cobra being used to the roar of the crowd.

Thanks for reading and any gimmicks you wish to put forward leave below or hit me up on the Twitter!