Santino Marella Explains the Creation of His Cobra Finisher

– The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling Podcast recently interviewed former WWE Superstar Santino Marella aka Anthony Carelli. Santino discussed his career in WWE, his thoughts on John Cena, coming up with his Cobra finisher, and more. Below are some highlights and a clip of the interview.

Marella on playing Santina and if he thought competing in a Divas match was detrimental to his character: “I’m always up for a challenge and when you get a role like that some people would be concerned like “oh GOD” this is the end of his career because once you dress like a woman that’s it. I thought I was going to do a good job and knock this out of the park, do a good job and kind of reverse the joke. Well like if the joke was supposed to be on me well I did a good job it’s like I got praised for it. I know the girls were pissed. But I was given the job by the boss and you just do the best you can”.

On his pairing with Emma: “At that point I was pretty established and she was a pretty up and coming young girl and was really sweet and very funny. It was kind of for her to get her going but she was just taking the ball and running with it.”

Marella on how he created his Cobra finisher: “There was a guy who showed me this cobra move a long time ago at a bar in Japan and I just did it one time and tried it in a match and I asked John Cena to watch and tell me what he thought of it and when I came back because the crowd laughed immediately when I did it we kept it and it just took on a life of its own. It’s an entertaining move. It’s a little bit silly but the people loved it so you gotta give them what they love.”

Marella on how John Cena is a locker room leader: “Well, he definitely was the locker room leader. But what happens is when guys like get their own bus they are not in the locker room anymore. He has his own bus, Randy has a bus, Big Show has got their buses and you literally don’t see them in the locker room because they have a different bus. But on European tours he’s still in the locker room, but that being said he was definitely the locker room leader or at least I saw him like that and the reason I saw him there was because of his work ethic and he is just a good guy, really good principles and morals and values. Just a standup guy and he works so damn hard. You could not be but awe inspired that this guy can just go and go and go and not complain or whine and he leads by example and that is what a real locker room leader is supposed to be.”

Santino on if he thought he and Vladimir Kozlov were underused in the WWE: “Was I underused no. I was on TV for many, many years and yes I wasn’t the tough guy but I’m also 5’10” and I know you can have bad asses at that size that could kick everyone’s ass like Benoit and Malenko and Eddie they were tough guys and had the ability and Kurt Angle for sure. Kozlov was almost such a monster that it was actually not going to be believable because I can’t do anything to him, he’s a monster. He’s a 300lb, ripped, SAMBO machine and if at one point in a match I am going to be on him and I have the advantage then it looks fake because I can’t hurt this guy. Guys like Shelton Benjamin, with what he did when you had any offense in a match it looked like just your turn because it was so obvious that he could easily dominate you physically because of his physical abilities. But I think pro wrestling is evolving to a point where we can utilize these guys now that have this shoot background because guys are doing triangle chokes and arm locks and Kimora’s. They are able to work a little more realistically. With Kozlov every time there is a big monster like Rusev or Kozlov once they lose it’s just like a glow stick that doesn’t glow anymore it’s just a stick. It’s tough to keep these monster guys fresh once they have lost because they lose their whole mystique.”