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Former WWE Intercontinental Champion Santino Marella arrived this morning in Houston for the 2020 Royal Rumble. While WWE is scheduled to film WWE Network material today, he could easily be used for either the Men's or Women's Royal Rumble (reprising his short-lived Santina character) for a comedy spot.
Marella officially announced he was retiring from WWE in July 2014 and was officially released in 2016, although he has made cameos for the company. Marella has also wrestled on a number of independent wrestling events since that time. He last wrestled this past September, defeating Simon Grimm on a GCW Bloodsport event, wrestling under his real name, Anthony Carelli.
Marella signed a WWE developmental deal in 2005 after fighting in MMA and doing some Canadian independents. He debuted in 2007 on a live Raw broadcast from Italy as a "fan" coming out of the crowd to challenge and upset then-WWE Intercontinental champion Umaga for the title. In the years that followed, the Marella character would morph into the company's most popular comedy character of the current WWE era, holding the United States and Tag Team championship and becoming so beloved that he would get massive crowd reactions going to the end of the 2011 Royal Rumble before losing to Alberto Del Rio and coming close to winning an Elimination Chamber bout in 2012. He starred in WWE Studios "Jingle All the Way 2" and at one point, was planned as the star of a WWE sitcom that was later scrapped.
Since departing WWE, Marella has also been running a wrestling and MMA school, The Battle Arts Academy, in Mississauga, Ontario.
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