Could we have seen a comedic character turn into a cold-blooded killer in WWE? If a former Intercontinental Champion had it his way we could have.
Santino Marella had an exclusive interview with Metro UK and revealed that he proposed a way for himself to get out of the usual squared circle slapstick fans were so accustomed to seeing from him back in the 2000s and 2010s.
“I pitched one story where I wanted to have a hypnotist hypnotize Santino. When he was under the hypnosis, he was this killer and then the hypnosis was removed and he started losing again.
“And then he had that moment where someone talked to him, that speech in the movie like, ‘Even though you were under hypnosis that was you, you did that stuff,’ and then we can transition to a little more legitimate fighter.”
Why The Intercontinental Champion Could Do ‘Steak’ Or ‘Bologna Sandwich’
Even though the wild angle never came to fruition, Marella did know there was value in what he was doing for the WWE product at the time with his over-the-top Italian persona.
You can make the best steak in the world but if it’s a bologna sandwich market, well, you better make bologna sandwich, right?’
Marella now serves as the on-air “Director of Authority” for IMPACT Wrestling and did admit that he found ultimately found his groove when his persona became more comedic despite having a legitimate background in Judo.
“Yeah, I would’ve liked to have been a tougher, [more] in your face wrestler, but at the end of the day, the Santino character, he’s made a lot of people laugh and shared that family times in people’s living rooms.”
The former Intercontinental Champion almost certainly hopes that his daughter, Arianna Grace, will have further opportunity presented to her as she’s currently in NXT, but is right now out with injury.