Marella embarked on a comedic yet entertaining run in the WWE and had many ups and downs, but most importantly, he had the fans all in on his antics and was a real crowd-pleaser.
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It is not every day that a fan from the stands gets invited to the ring and is put in a match for the Intercontinental title. That’s what happened to Santino Marella when Vince McMahon called him to the ring and asked him to take on Umaga for the Intercontinental championship. Everyone thought it would be a normal squash match for Umaga but then Bobby Lashley interfered and Santino picked up the unlikely win and in the process made history as being one of the very few to win a title on their debut. From then on, Marella embarked on a comedic yet entertaining run in the WWE and had many ups and downs, but most importantly, he had the fans all in on his antics and was a real crowd-pleaser. He also had his fair share of rivals. In this article, we will look at some of them.
Santino Marella won a few titles in the WWE but his best moment apart from his debut when he won the Intercontinental title was when he defeated Jack Swagger for the United States title. Because of his massive connection with the fans, Santino was given an unlikely push. He was granted a shot at Jack Swagger’s United States Championship and he did not disappoint. Much to everyone’s surprise, Santino was able to defeat Swagger and capture his first United States Championship in the process. He then went on to successfully defend the title against a host of wrestlers before finally dropping it to Cesaro.
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One simply does not make Stone Cold Steve Austin angry and Santino learnt it the hard way. After riding a wave of euphoria and success with the fans, Marella turned heel in 2007. He then took shots at the movie The Condemned, which featured Austin. Austin finally confronted Santino to see if he would talk smack to his face but in typical Stone Cold style, the Texas Rattlesnake responded by spraying Marella as well as his girlfriend Maria with a beer bath.
When Sheamus lost his WWE title in 2010, he went on a rather surprising losing streak. Then he challenged Santino to a match thinking that it would be an easy match and also because he desperately wanted to get back in the win column. What happened next shocked the entire WWE universe. The Milan Miracle went on to defeat the former WWE Champion with a roll-up in a surprising turn of events much to Sheamus’ dismay. The two men continued to feud for a while after this match and had a lot of comedic segments along the way which kept the fans interested.
