Santino Marella’s Daughter Bianca Carelli Talks Her WWE Tryout In 2019, Being Trained By Her Dad

The daughter of Santino Marella is opening up about her first WWE tryout in 2019 and more.

Santino Marella’s one of the top superstars of the PG era in WWE. His goofy brand of comedy led to several title wins, including multiple Intercontinental Championships, United States Championships, and Tag Team Championships.

Now, his daughter, Bianca Carelli, is looking to follow in her father’s footsteps. Speaking with Spencer Love, Bianca opens up about her father as a trainer and her first WWE tryout in 2019. 

“I remember saying that I didn’t feel like I did have enough time. I know my wrestling wasn’t – I think at that point I’d had 13 matches. So I obviously – I was extremely green. But, at the same time, I was working out every single day, I was preparing for this. I was eating very clean. I’d been trying different diets for a year. My mind was 100% ‘let’s go, let’s do this.’ And I knew, okay, maybe I’m not gonna be the best wrestler. But you know what? I’m good on the mic and I’m willing to put in the work. For me, I was kind of hoping they would see ‘oh, wow, she works really hard. She doesn’t give up.’ I know a lot of the stuff that they do in tryouts is meant to wear you down to see mentally how strong you are. That was my biggest thing. I wanted to show my mental strength, I wanted to show my toughness, that you make me run until I throw up, and I will throw up, and I will keep on running. And then, I will throw up again and I will keep on running. You’re gonna have to call an ambulance before I stop running. That’s what I wanted to show is that animal inside.”

She continued, “On top of that, holy, just getting there! I’ll never forget this moment. Once we arrived and we got led into the room where the tryout was gonna take place. I was like, ‘wow, this is so cool!’ I was just taken aback. It was breathtaking. I don’t know if it was meant to be a little intimidating, but it definitely was. Obviously, my dad’s always been hilarious. He’s a funny guy and so, for him to have a character that really shows off how funny he really is, I really appreciate that. That’s what makes him kind of different, maybe, than other wrestlers is that he’s great on the mic, he’s charismatic, he’s fun. As much as Santino’s goofy, it’s really similar to my actual dad, Anthony. Anthony and Santino are very similar. But, at the same time, my dad’s been an athlete his whole life. Wrestling, Judo football, he was on the Canadian national team. He’s gone across the world with judo. He’s an athlete, and he’s a fast learner. He trained under Rip, right, so he has great psychology. When he was at OVW, his character was actually a Russian guy, and his fight style was more like Sambo, badass, and he was great at that, too.”

Santino is Bianca’s father but also her trainer. Opening up about her dad’s technical skills, Bianca highlighted her dad’s versatility and his legitimate ability that is a stark contrast from his silly character.

“That’s one thing that’s really good about my dad is he’s versatile, and he’s naturally a talented athlete. I mean, I wouldn’t say that he didn’t – like, maybe his wrestling style was overlooked. Maybe by fans who have an untrained eye and can’t actually realize how fluid he is. How awesome he is. His arm drags, his hip tosses, everything. Even the way he takes moves is so well executed. He’s well trained, he’s a good athlete and I’m happy to learn from him. Not just as his daughter, but just in terms of the knowledge that he offers as a coach. It’s unbelievable knowledge.”

Credit to Spencer Love for sending the above quotes. You can check out the full interview embedded above.