This is a script for my YouTube channel. You can view the video here: https://youtu.be/cCzoN9Dwjek
In the Mid 2000's WWE would occasionally host Raw and Smackdown from countries outside North America. In 2005 they would have episodes in Saitama Japan, twice annually they would have tapings in the UK, and on April 16th 2007, Raw would take place from Milan Italy. Though most of the show came across as a typical episode of Raw, one quite unusual moment happened involving a member of the crowd.
Before I get into what happened a bit of context is needed. In April 2007 we were fresh off Wrestlemania 23, and the Battle of the Billionaires match pitting Donald Trump's representative Bobby Lashley against Vince McMahon's chosen representative, Umaga. At this point you can rest easy in knowing that not all of us Englishmen pronounce it "Youmanga" like William Regal used to. On that night Lashley managed to defeat Youmanga, sorry, I couldn't resist, resulting in Vince having to be shaved bald in the middle of the ring.
Following this public humiliation Vince went on a tear in the following months, as a way of punishing Lashley he would go as far as to defeat him for the ECW championship and attempt to pull this look off, but that comes later. Whats important here is that Vince continued to use Umaga to batter people who weren't on the Chairmans good side. It being Vince McMahon we're talking about, he's not always been known for making the most rational decisions, and he would make a very rash one in Milan.
Vince would walk out still attempting to hide his bald head from the world by wearing a daft looking trilby. All he needs is that moustache he has today and and a tommy gun and he'd look like an extra in the Godfather. In an impressive own goal, Vince reminds us that Milan is supposed to be the fashion capital of the world. The thing is though, while Vince criticises the crowd for not being fashionable, the cameras cut to a sea of fans wearing their apparently unfashionable WWE merchandise. After dissing his own product, Vince gets to the point and brings out his hired gun Umaga, who is also the intercontinental champion.
Vince shows us a recap of last week, where Vince, Shane McMahon and Umaga beat up Lashley with a chair on the way to Backlash where Lashley was set to defend his ECW title against all three in a handicap match. He noted that as a result of the attack Lashley isn't here, so Umaga is looking for someone else to fight. He issues an open challenge to the locker room , he even offers to put Umaga's IC title on the line, but weirdly nobody answers the call. Remember that rash decision I mentioned earlier, well now we're here as Vince offers up the opportunity to anyone in the audience. Despite none of the trained professional wrestlers in the locker room wanting to accept the challenge, one man in the crowd is seen raiding his hand. Vince spots him and allows him into the ring, making me think all the WWE lawyers must be back in America, although Vince makes the man agree that he won't sue after Umaga destroys him. Finally, Vince asks the man for his name, and he replies Santino Marella, and the Italian crowd rally behind him.
With Vince calling for a referee to come into the ring, this becomes an official match, as Santino Marella from the crowd gets to challenge Umaga for the Intercontinental title. From the opening bell Santino goes on the attack, and quickly dodges every attempt Umaga makes to fight back. Not enjoying seeing this, Vince makes perhaps his biggest mistake, by getting back in the ring and making the match no holds barred, so there are now no disqualifications. While Santino is distracted by Armando Estrada, Umaga cheap shots him and goes on the attack, and it's not looking good for the local hero.
After a couple of minutes of Umaga beating up Marella, Vince's mistake becomes clear as Bobby Lashley runs down the ramp to get revenge for last week, and he can since the match now has no DQ's. Lashley throws Umaga off the top rope. He hits Umaga with three chair shots and a Spear, and in a final insult to McMahon, drags the unlikely challenger on top of Umaga, allowing Santino to win the match and the title while the crowd erupts. Watching live at the time this was truly a shocking moment, but we would soon come to learn that the Miracle in Milan wasn't quite as we first thought. Obviously Santino was actually a wrestler they were debuting, that much was clear. But Santino wasn't just not a fan picked out of the crowd, but he wasn't even Italian. To make matters more confusing, in WWE developmental he played a Russian.
Anthony Carelli, age thirty three at the time was actually a Canadian born in Mississagua Ontario. Aside from pro wrestling he also had a background in Judo having started training as a child, with this very much being part of his pre-Santino wrestling character. Even in WWE's developmental territory for the time Ohio Valley Wrestling he would have a Jodoka inspired character, but more on OVW in a bit... Even after the change in gimmick Santino would sometimes incorporate Judo throws into his offence as a nod to his past. Following his WWE career among other things Carelli became a Judo instructor at a school he and two others founded called Battle Arts, named after a promotion he wrestled for in Japan in his early career. In 2017 he won a bronze medal in Judo and in 2019 was made an ambassador for Judo Canada, and has done interviews on his love for the sport, without his Italian accent by the way...
In a 2006 interview with 411 Mania from around the time he was in OVW, Santino also claimed to have an MMA background with six wins and one loss. Try as we might, I and seemingly nobody else been able to find any evidence for this except for the one loss. That fight happened in Tokyo Japan and lasted 26 seconds, with Carelli losing to what he referred to in the 411 interview as "one lucky punch".
Carelli's time in OVW is only really known for one rather famous moment in 2005, two years before his call up and just one month into his time there. On this particular night Carelli was sat in the crowd watching the show with his young daughter, and his role that night was to act scared when they were approached by another future star, the Boogeyman. Instead of the reaction he was supposed to give to make the Boogeyman appear more menacing, Carelli was smiling watching his Daughters reaction, raising the ire of a member of OVW's management at the time, Jim Cornette. Carelli claims in an interview with RF Video in 2016 that he was called backstage, where Cornette would yell at him, then proceed to slap him across the face. This outburst would be the final straw for WWE, and they would fire Cornette as a result.
This also appeared to be the final straw for Jim Cornette too, as he has gone on record many times as stating that while he was in OVW, WWE would make his life a living hell. Many times Cornette would have pre-booked a big match or storyline only for WWE to call a wrestler he needed up without notice, or they would send him talent he had to then find a use for. On one such occasion Jim had a top feud between two wrestlers, and WWE would not just call them both up to Smackdown, but would team them up as the Basham Brothers, making Cornette have to explain why these two men who were feuding are now working together. All of that is to say, it's easy to see that Cornette was going to explode at some point, and unfortunately Carelli was the one he would explode at.
In Carelli's own words in the RF interview, he was told by John Laryngitis (as Santino in character might call him,) that this incident would get him no special treatment, and when the time came for him to be evaluated for a potential call up he would be treated fairly. Well, the former Dynamic Dude Johnny Ace sort of lived up to this, as by the time Carelli was called up WWE management had completely forgotten that he was the guy Cornette slapped, so it can't have had any bearing on him being called up.
By the time of his call up after wrestling under a few names by this point Carelli was playing Boris Alexiev, a Russian fighter. According to Carelli the Boris part was given to him by Rip Rogers, a former wrestler and long time trainer who was helping train at OVW at the time. The surname was given to him by Paul Heyman, who for a brief time took replaced Jim Cornette after he left. Heyman based the name 'Alexiev' on a Russian powerlifter named Alekseyev, who Vince McMahon was a fan of. This is why we know him as the wise man. The internet tells me that the name 'Santino' translates in Italian to mean 'little saint', and the 'Marella' surname was given as a tribute to Robert and Joey Marella. Robert is better known as WWE legend Gorilla Monsoon, and Joey is his son, who was a referee for WWE, working for the company for eleven years until his tragic death in 1994, age 31.
Here's where we dive into the Wrestling Observer. Dave Meltzer wrote upon Santino's debut that the original idea was for Carelli to debut in the Russian gimmick on the ECW brand, and he would go on a Taz-esque rampage, choking out heels in only a few minutes. He attributed this idea to Dusty Rhodes, but as Dave writes, on the flight over to Milan, Vince himself came up with the idea for an Italian star, and so Carelli was flown in to make his Raw debut as soon as possible. If the story Dave wrote is true, then it should come as no surprise to you that on Tuesday, the day after the Miracle in Milan, there were said to be no future plans in place for Santino, just the initial debut. Why am I not shocked? Dave did however note that the whole twenty four minutes as a stand alone segment could be considered a big success, and he's right there, as it's still considered a memorable Raw moment.
If you're watching this video and you made it this far I'm sure you're aware of the peaks of Santino's nine year run on WWE's main roster. Of all the new characters WWE introduced in this era Santino would stick around longer than most. He would attempt to beat the Honky Tonk Man's record sixty four weeks as Intercontinental champion with the help of his Honk-a-meter to remind us how much progress he had made. Santino would fail by a long shot, making it just twelve. Then we would enter the era of the Cobra, the highlight of which being a duel with Mick Foley and Mr. Socko during the 2012 Royal Rumble match. Speaking of Royal Rumbles, one of his biggest moments came in the 2011 Rumble match, where he would through sheer luck almost win that match, before being thrown out last by Alberto Del Rio. He also holds a dubious Royal Rumble record, as in 2009 he was eliminated in just one point nine seconds at the hands, or really hand or Kane, which will likely forever be the shortest royal rumble appearance ever.
In a truly bizarre turn of events, Santino recently returned to pro wrestling as the new Director of Authority for Impact Wrestling, a show that often has a mid 2000's WWE vibe, but that might just be for me. He even got to use his WWE name, as the trademark on it held by WWE had been allowed to expire. It's fair to say that Anthony Carelli had a pretty successful run in WWE and continues to be involved in wrestling today, and the massive success of the Miracle in Milan played a big part in launching what might well end up being a Hall of Fame career some day. if you've gotten to the end and noticed I never mentioned Santina Marella, you're welcome...
No comments:
Post a Comment