Santino Marella on His WWE Debut, His Gimmick, Jim Cornette Slapping Him

Former WWE Superstar Santino Marella was recently interviewed on the Jordan Garber NOW podcast, you can check out the highlights here:

The Jim Cornette incident:

“Jim Cornette was upset because of The Boogeyman malfunction. Cornette was really pissed some people were laughing and this was like his big debut basically I have a smirk on my face because I thought The Boogeyman was going to scare my daughter so Cornette thought I was being disrespectful so he called me to the back and slapped me in the face.”

His WWE debut:

“I got signed in August in 06. I went home for a few months to get my work visa. I was on my way to Elizabethtown, KY for a live OVW event I get a call from the office they were saying ‘you’re Italian right?’ I said, ‘yeah my dad’s from Italy’ and they are like, ‘can you speak Italian?’ I said yeah, so they bought it flew me down and I made my debut two days later.”

How he got his comedy gimmick:

“They lost faith in the gimmick so they turned me heel. When I did the heel voice with the accent I guess so much more personality came out of it and Vince loved it.”

Working with Vince McMahon:

“I love Vince. Vince is the man, he doesn’t even know how much of a mentor he is to me. When I watch him work and the hustles he has it’s unparalleled it’s amazing. He’s just the man.”

 (All transcribed quotes courtesy of Wrestling Inc.)

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