Former WWE Star Santino Marella Recalls Beginning Of Wrestling Journey

Santino Marella is often fondly recalled for his comedic character in WWE, and notably had an interesting debut in WWE, when he was "selected" from the crowd and defeated then-WWE Intercontinental Champion, Umaga. 

In a recent interview with "Developmentally Speaking," Marella recalled his journey to becoming a WWE Superstar. When asked why he decided to get into wrestling, Marella simply stated that he thought it would be a cool job while his athletic history also played a part in it.

"I thought that this would be a pretty cool job, beats a lot of other types of jobs, and I thought that I'd be good at it, you know? Just based on my interest, my athletic ability, I was on the national Judo team, and I wrestled in High School and University," said Marella.

He however noted that he only began his pro wrestling training at 28 and had six indie matches before going to wrestle in Japan. Interestingly, he explained that he had far more of a culture shock going to Louisville, Kentucky than Japan, as a Canadian.

"I was gonna try and break in there, have some success, and be recruited back to North America, that was my plan. But at the end of the year, I overstayed my tourist Visas, and I was banned for a year and that's when I went to OVW," said the former WWE star. "It was just so different, so bizarre down there [in Louisville, Kentucky]. I had no exposure to America like that. I just saw what you see on TV." 

Additionally, he praised retired veteran Rip Rogers for giving him the knowledge to make a career out of wrestling and change his life.

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "Developmentally Speaking" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.