Santino Marella
Anthony Carelli is a Canadian professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Santino Marella. He is signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, where he works as the on-screen director of authority. He also appears in partner promotion WWE, on its NXT brand. He is the founder of and instructor at Battle Arts Academy, a martial arts and professional wrestling training facility in Mississauga, Ontario, and the official ambassador of Judo Canada.
He is best known for his 11-year tenure with WWE. Carelli made his WWE debut during a live episode of Raw from Milan, Italy. Under the character of Santino Marella, a fan selected from the audience, he defeated the Intercontinental Champion Umaga, winning the title in his debut match. During the following years, he would win the Intercontinental title one more time, the United States Championship once and the WWE Tag Team Championship once. He was also involved in a storyline where he worked as Santina Marella, Santino's twin sister. Carelli was released from WWE in 2016. After his WWE departure, he opened Battle Arts Academy and worked for Impact Wrestling under his real name. In 2017, he made sporadic matches on the independent circuit, as well as occasional appearances in WWE. In 2023, Carelli made his return to Impact, now under the TNA banner and performing under the Santino Marella name and gimmick. In 2025, with WWE and TNA having a partnership between the two promotions, Carelli returned to WWE on its NXT brand.
Carelli is known for his humorous gimmick as Santino Marella, an Italian stereotype, often being involved in comedic segments, having several on-screen relationships with fellow wrestlers, as well as being crowned "Miss WrestleMania" at WrestleMania XXV disguised as "Santina Marella." The Santino Marella character was awarded Best Gimmick in 2007 and 2008 by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Early life
Anthony Carelli was born on March 14, 1974 in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. He is of Italian and Métis descent. His paternal family emigrated from San Fili, Calabria to Canada. Carelli attended St Basil's Catholic Elementary School, and later Philip Pocock Catholic Secondary School and Concordia University. He trained in judo at the age of nine and also competed in high school wrestling, winning the Region of Peel Secondary School Athletic Association Tournament, back-to-back as a junior and a senior.Professional wrestling career
Independent circuit (2002–2005)
Anthony Carelli started his career on the Ontario independent circuit as Johnny Geo Basco, debuting with a disqualification win over Xhibit in the opening match of a Ring Wars show in Orangeville, Ontario, on August 17, 2002. In the second half of 2004, Carelli wrestled four matches for Battlarts in Japan, as Johnny Geo Basco. By this time he also competed in mixed martial arts, in which he claimed in 2006 to have a 6–1 record, although only one fight is confirmed.World Wrestling Entertainment/WWE
Ohio Valley Wrestling (2005–2007)
In 2005, Anthony Carelli began training at Ohio Valley Wrestling, a developmental territory for World Wrestling Entertainment. In July, during a storyline where he was supposed to act afraid of The Boogeyman, but instead laughed, Anthony Carelli was shouted at and slapped by Jim Cornette, OVW's head booker and co-owner. This incident led to Cornette being fired as OVW booker by WWE.Under OVW's new booker, Paul Heyman, Anthony Carelli adopted the gimmick of Boris Alexiev, a Russian shootfighter/mixed martial artist. On October 29, he lost his debut OVW match, teaming with Aaron Stevens against Chet the Jet and Chris Cage. Alexiev made his TV debut on April 12, 2006, managed by his "comrade", Mr. Strongko and defeating Mo Sexton. He was booked to dominate opponents with stiff strikes and submission style wrestling. He had a 10-second win over a wrestler named Dewey. He signed a developmental contract with WWE on August 11, 2006, and continued training in OVW.
On January 24, 2007, Alexiev won the OVW Television Championship from Mike Kruel, who was defending in place of champion Eddie Kraven. He lost it back to Kruel on February 7, and regained it from him on March 14. Three days later, he dropped it to Shawn Spears. He was called up to the WWE roster a month later.
Intercontinental Champion (2007–2009)
Anthony Carelli debuted as Santino Marella on the April 16, 2007 episode of Raw from Milan, Italy. He was presented as a fan that Vince McMahon selected as an opponent for Umaga. The unknown Marella scored a surprising upset, and won the WWE Intercontinental Championship with an assist from Bobby Lashley. The next day, WWE.com posted a profile on Marella, saying he was an Italian national who moved to Canada as a child and returned to his native country a few times each year to visit family. The profile claimed that he moved to the United States to pursue a wrestling career with WWE. Shortly after winning the Intercontinental title, Marella feuded with Chris Masters, narrowly retaining the title in his first defenses. On July 2, he dropped the title to Umaga, after defeating him on June 24, at Vengeance: Night of Champions, by disqualification.File:Santinomarellamaria.jpg|thumb|upright|Marella with his kayfabe girlfriend Maria in September 2007
Marella then began a gradual heel turn and became increasingly jealous of his girlfriend, Maria. Over several weeks, they appeared together in a series of segments on Raw, including two "game show" skits, hosted by General Manager William Regal, which resulted in retired wrestler Ron Simmons winning a date with Maria, to Santino's dismay. Marella began a publicity campaign against the WWE Films production, The Condemned, as its DVD release neared. He was eventually confronted by the film's star, Steve Austin, who argued the film's merits before delivering a Stone Cold Stunner to Marella and hosing him and Maria with beer. During the Austin angle, Marella repeatedly mocked him and his catchphrases in humorously broken English, starting a new comedic trend in his gimmick. After a short angle with Jerry Lawler, which included Lawler hitting his signature fist drop maneuver after Marella lost a match to the returning Chris Jericho on the November 26 episode of Raw, Marella formed a tag team with Carlito.
Around this time, Maria was offered a photo shoot for Playboy magazine. After unsuccessfully persuading her to decline it, Marella tried to sabotage the cover unveiling, causing Maria to dump him. At WrestleMania XXIV, Maria had a "Playboy BunnyMania Lumberjack match." Santino interfered near the end of the match, pulling Maria off of a pin, and was punched by Jerry Lawler. After the match, he was clotheslined by guest "Master of Ceremonies", Snoop Dogg. The next night on Raw, Maria wrestled Marella. Seven other women ganged up on him, and held his legs apart for Maria to headbutt his testicles and pin him. This ended their feud. Marella and Carlito then feuded with Hardcore Holly and Cody Rhodes over the World Tag Team Championship. During a title match between them, Roddy Piper distracted Marella, who was then pinned. This sparked a rivalry with Piper, which included a confrontation on Jimmy Kimmel Live!.
On the July 14, 2008 episode of Raw, Marella lost to Beth Phoenix, who had answered his open challenge. On the next episode, after he lost another open challenge to the returning D'Lo Brown, Marella and Phoenix kissed, both looking confused afterward. Over the next few weeks, they became a parody of a "power couple", soon called "Glamarella". At SummerSlam, they wrestled Intercontinental champion Kofi Kingston and WWE Women's Champion Mickie James in a mixed-tag match with both titles on the line. Phoenix pinned James after hitting her finisher, the Glam Slam, giving Marella his second Intercontinental championship. Marella then sought to become the "greatest Intercontinental champion of all the times" by beating The Honky Tonk Man's record 64-week reign. Over the weeks, a "Honk-A-Meter" graphic informed viewers of his progress during his matches and segments. At Cyber Sunday, Marella was disqualified in a title match with The Honky Tonk Man. On the November 10 episode of Raw, after a reign of twelve weeks and one day, Marella lost the title to William Regal.
In January 2009, Marella entered the Royal Rumble, at #28. He was eliminated by Kane after 1.9 seconds, breaking The Warlord's 1989 record for shortest Royal Rumble appearance by a tenth of a second. Marella's humour proved popular with audiences, and he turned face again before WrestleMania 25, expressing his desire to be crowned the inaugural "Miss WrestleMania" in a 25-woman battle royale at the event. He challenged Mickie James to a match with one arm tied behind his back, with a battle royal spot on the line, but he lost. The next week, in order to "prove" his eligibility, he revealed he was wearing a mankini. Instead, he was attacked by most of the female roster. Nevertheless, at WrestleMania, he won the battle royal, competing in drag as Santina Marella, last eliminating Beth Phoenix and Melina. Marella successfully defended the Miss Wrestlemania title against Phoenix at Backlash in three seconds, with help from The Great Khali. On the May 18 Raw, Marella lost the title to Vickie Guerrero, and won it back on June 7, at Extreme Rules, by defeating Vickie and Chavo Guerrero Jr. in a handicap hog pen match. On the June 22 Raw, Raw's new owner, Donald Trump, fired Santina and the Miss WrestleMania title was abandoned.
Teaming with Vladimir Kozlov (2010–2011)
At WrestleMania XXVI, Santino Marella competed in the 26-man battle royale dark match, won by Yoshi Tatsu. He then tried to form a tag team with Vladimir Kozlov, who repeatedly refused the offer. On the May 31 episode of Raw, Kozlov interfered in Marella's match, helping him win. On the July 19 Raw, they finally teamed to defeat William Regal and Zack Ryder. At Night of Champions, Marella and Kozlov wrestled a Tag Team Turmoil match for the Unified Tag Team Championship, won by Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre.On the October 11 Raw, he defeated Zack Ryder to qualify for Team Raw at Bragging Rights, against Team SmackDown. He was the first of seven Team Raw members eliminated, pinned by Tyler Reks. On the October 25 Raw, after Sheamus had called him an "embarrassment" for being the first man eliminated at Bragging Rights, Marella scored an upset victory over the former two-time WWE Champion. They wrestled twice more, both matches ending with John Morrison saving Marella from Sheamus' post-match assault.
On the November 15 Raw, Marella and Kozlov became number one contenders for the WWE Tag Team Championship by defeating The Usos. They unsuccessfully challenged The Nexus for the title at Survivor Series. They won the Tag Team Championship in a four-way elimination tag match on the December 6 Raw, beating The Nexus, The Usos and Mark Henry and Yoshi Tatsu, after John Cena distracted Gabriel, allowing Marella to hit his Cobra finisher. After celebrating in the ring, Tamina kissed Santino, starting a relationship between them. She began accompanying Marella to his matches. Marella and Kozlov retained the Tag Team title at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, when Gabriel and Slater were disqualified after interference from Nexus member Michael McGillicutty. The next night on Raw, Marella and Tamina beat Ted DiBiase Jr. and Maryse in a mixed-tag match. On January 30, 2011, Marella entered the Royal Rumble at number 37. He was one of the final two wrestlers, before being eliminated by Alberto Del Rio. At Elimination Chamber, Marella and Kozlov lost the Tag Team title to Gabriel and Slater. At WrestleMania XXVII, Marella teamed with Big Show, Kane, and Kofi Kingston to defeat The Corre in an eight-man tag match. Marella's relationship with Tamina ended when she was drafted to SmackDown. On August 5, Kozlov was released from WWE, ending the team.