Envisioning a New Santino Marella

Santino Marella is an entertaining fan favorite, but with the right gimmick, he could be gold.

It wouldn’t be that difficult either. A shaved head and a suit would do him wonders.

Taking advantage of his Italian heritage and the company’s humble New York City roots, Marella could be the resident mafioso in the WWE.

Say goodbye to The Cobra and hello to the Dragon Sleeper. Marella could call it “Sleeping with da fishes.”

The way it could all go down is simple, too. When Marella comes back, have him debut his new look and cut a promo that says his days of doing shine jobs are over; he wants the respect a former U.S., Intercontinental and Tag Team Champion deserves.

Enter a big guy with a wise mouth, someone the likes of Wade Barrett, Big E. Langston or even Ryback. Once they get in Marella’s face, the little guy goes for the short cut and quick chops the guy in the throat. Once they clutch their voice box in pain, Marella pulls out some piano wire from his pants and wraps it around their throat. With the wire in place, Marella slaps on the Dragon Sleeper. If his victim can sell it well enough, the marks on their necks will be awesome.

A tight pan on the camera via instant replay and Marella can become a one man APA. you have a problem with someone, call Marella. He may not get it done in the ring or legally, but he’ll “fix” it.

A later “blessing” and kiss in the Hall of Fame ring on Raw from “The Italian Stallion” himself, Bruno Sammartino could even legitimize the character. A run with the Intercontinental Championship, dethroning the now snooze-inducing combo of Curtis Axel and Paul Heyman could make him a fan favorite. Extending the angle for a period of time would be a nice way to make the IC title meaningful again.

Add some snazzy music and a sexy valet and Marella could be so much more than a mid-card face. The vignettes could be priceless, playing off all the great Scorsese films. While his character would be a serious one, it would be funny enough for people to enjoy and get a kick out of as well.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13821 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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