Santino Marella says a piece of advice from Dusty Rhodes during his time in WWE developmental was the catalyst for his call-up to the main roster in 2007.
Appearing on the August 12 episode of Cody Rhodes’ What Do You Wanna Talk About?, Marella recounted the story of “Fearless” Jack Bull and explained how he learned that whenever an opportunity came up in WWE, the answer should always be “yes.”
“The call came largely in part because of your (Cody Rhodes’) dad. Because of the ‘Fearless’ Jack Bull incident. It’s a great lesson. Your dad taught us this lesson – I implemented it one month later and changed my life.
“So ‘Fearless’ Jack Bull, who we love, was an incredible gimmick, it was like a passed-his-prime washed-up alocholic Evel Knievel, it was hilarious.
“Your dad called and said, ‘Can you ride a motorcycle?’ He thought it was somebody doing an impression of your dad, didn’t believe it was your dad, so he’s like, ‘Nope.’ And (Dusty’s) like, ‘Well, can you learn to ride a motorcycle?’ ‘Nope.’
“And then he looked and saw ‘203’ and was like, ‘Oh my god, that was Dusty Rhodes.’
“Then your dad came to OVW and was talking to the class, and near the end of the session, he’s like, ‘Is Jack Bull here?’ And they had a chuckle – the chuckle was fine, but the opportunity never came around again.
“He said, ‘Look. If they ever ask you if you can do anything, the answer’s yes. And then you better learn how to do it.’
“I think your dad used the example of a unicycle. ‘If they ask you if you can ride a unicycle, the answer’s yes, and then you better learn how to ride a unicycle in the next couple of days.’
“Literally, they called me, and they were like, ‘Can you speak Italian?’ And I’m like, ‘Yes.’ They said, ‘Okay, you’re on speakerphone,’ and I said a couple of lines, because I used to listen to this tourist tape and I’d memorized a couple of lines, really super basic, and they were like, ‘Okay that sounds good.’
“Then I went to Borders, and I downloaded eight DVDs or CDs of Italian lessons. Put it on my iPod, and then the whole flight there I’m trying to learn Italian on a flight over. I didn’t learn it that time, but since then, I studied Italian and I was able to go and do a live television interview at my peak of Italian – I actually got Italian citizenship after I became Santino, I really just dove into the culture, my dad’s from Italy.
“But yeah, talk about learning a lesson and then implementing it immediately. It was incredible. If that didn’t happen, I might have said, ‘Not really that well.’ Crazy.” h/t Wrestletalk
Marella has shared versions of this story in past interviews. In 2021, he revealed that he was on his way to an OVW event when the call came in and used a few memorized lines from a tourist tape to convince the writers he could speak Italian.
Shortly after, on April 16, 2007, he appeared as a fan picked from the crowd on the first-ever RAW held in Italy and defeated Umaga with an assist from Bobby Lashley, capturing the Intercontinental Championship in his debut. The moment became known as the “Milan Miracle.”
Marella currently remains with TNA as Director of Authority.