IC Champion's Bio

[dude extreme]

Carelli has practiced Judo at Shin Bu Kan, competitively since his youth, winning several tournaments. In 1994 he captured the Canadian Men's Under-21 Championship. He also wrestled for Concordia University in Montreal. He also had been an MMA fighter in Japan for several years before signing a WWE developmental contract in 2007.


In July 2005, while working under the name Johnny Geo Basco, he was planted in the audience of an Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) show. He was intended to show fear during an angle featuring the Boogeyman, but instead laughed -- breaching kayfabe. Upon returning backstage he was reportedly yelled at and slapped multiple times by OVW part-owner and booker Jim Cornette. Cornette was removed from his position as booker in OVW by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). [4] [5]

Paul Heyman was appointed OVW booker to replace Cornette and renamed Carelli "Boris Alexiev", giving him a Russian shoot fighter gimmick.[6] Carelli made his debut under the new name on April 12, 2006 along with his manager and "comrade", Mr. Strongko.[7] He began dominating opponents with stiff strikes and submission style wrestling[1], and defeated a wrestler named Dewey in 10 seconds.[7] He signed a developmental deal with WWE on August 11, 2006[6], and continued working in OVW.

On January 24, 2007, Carelli won the OVW Television Championship, defeating Bad Kompany (Mike Kruel and Shawn Osbourne) who were holding the title simultaneously. Kruel regained the title on February 7, but lost to Carelli once again on March 14. Carelli's second reign ended on March 17.07.



RAW

Carrelli made his WWE debut on the April 16, 2007 edition of WWE RAW in Milan, Italy as a fan named Santino Marella. This is probably a tribute by Vince McMahon to the late wrestler/announcer/booker Gorilla Monsoon whose real name was Robert Otto "Gino" Marella. At the beginning of the show he was chosen from the crowd by Vince McMahon to wrestle Umaga for his WWE Intercontinental Championship after no wrestler answered an open challenge. Carrelli was fighting well on his own until Mr. McMahon stopped the match and made it a No Holds Barred match. The Milan miracle then occurred as Carrelli defeated Umaga with assistance from Bobby Lashley in the No Holds Barred match.[9] The next day WWE.com posted a profile on Marella which claimed that he was an Italian national who had moved to Canada as a child and returned to his native country a few times each year to visit his family. It went on to claim that he later moved to the U.S. to begin training with the goal of breaking into professional wrestling, and ultimately WWE.[2]

In Marella's first Intercontinental Championship defense on May 7, 2007, he would defeat Chris Masters via a cradle roll-up to retain his title. The next week, he defeated Masters yet again with another roll-up. Santino Marella is currently undefeated on RAW.