Carmella: I Wanted My Character To Be From Boston, But Sasha Banks Is From Boston

Carmella is known as the Princess of Staten Island, but she almost ruled over another town. Signed by WWE in 2013, Carmella has been the fabulous Staten Island princess since her debut alongside Enzo Amore & Big Cass. But before she came up with the Staten Island character, she wanted to try out a different accent.

Speaking to The Wrap, Carmella revealed the origin story and inspiration behind her Princess of Staten Island character.

“When I was first coming up with this Carmella character, I wanted her to be from Boston,” she recalled. “However, Sasha Banks was from Boston, so we had to come up with something else. So [the Princess of Staten Island] was what we came up with. From that point on I was religiously watching ‘Mob Wives’ and ‘Real Housewives of New Jersey.’ Man, I just did so much character research — ‘The Sopranos,’ everything. It’s funny, the Impractical Jokers, Sal and [Brian ‘Q’ Quinn] and them, they’re from Staten Island, obviously. And they’re like ‘Oh my gosh, you do that so good!’ And that makes me feel good. I’m like cool, I can convince people from Staten Island that I’m from Staten Island.”

Carmella is currently on the SmackDown brand, but not currently announced as one of the thirty participants in the Women’s Royal Rumble. You can find the current list of competitors by clicking here.