Ex superstar Santino Marella has admitted his family and friends were worried about his career when he took on a drag persona on screen.
The former Intercontinental Champion, who, infamously became Miss WrestleMania in 2009 when he won a 25-Woman Battle Royal while dressed as his character’s twin sister Santina.
He exclusively told Metro.co.uk: ‘A lot of friends and family were concerned, they’re thinking, “Oh that usually signifies the end of someone’s career when they dress them in drag”.
‘I’ve always been of the mindset, you give me lemons and I’ll make lemonade. I actually dove into it. There’s certain moments of Santina where I thought it was my best acting, and best performances.
‘I had to superimpose the Santino accent, the female accent, and come up with this unique accent – there was layers on top of one another.’
It’s an alter ego fans still remember today, and while it’s a character that left fan opinion split, Santino is happy to play along.
He laughed: ‘Everywhere I go, someone’s gonna go, “Hey! How’s your sister?” And I always respond, “Well you just missed her actually, she’s here, just over there.” People are like, “What? What the hell?!”
‘On TV we never said it’s me dressed as her. On the programming, we said it was a real person, so I’ll just go with that.’
He admitted the Santina stint is one of the main things people want to talk to him about at conventions, along with his run in the 2012 Elimination Chamber when it appeared he might actually dethrone in an all-time upset.
‘It’s funny – there’s a few things when people come up to me at a convention or something. They’ll say, “How’s your sister?” “You should have won the Elimination Chamber”, and, “You should have won the Royal Rumble and main evented WrestleMania that year,”‘ he said.
‘Even Mick Foley said he was jumping up and down and it brought the wrestling fan out in him again. There wasn’t a doubt in anyone’s mind that I was winning that night.
‘I think that’s the biggest swerve, there was no doubt in anyone’s mind i was winning and then when I didn’t it was the biggest let down ever. I didn’t even realise at the time, you know. I had to go back and watch it and talk to some people and realise how significant that moment was actually.’
Despite not being presented as a serious competitor and instead , Santino insisted his portrayal on screen never really bothered him too much.
‘You can’t take the programming too serious, but as a performer you want to take your performance serious and do the best you can,’ he explained.
‘It’s a weird juxtaposition, this business, because you have to take it serious, you have to take the discipline required to be successful very serious. Your training, your regime, your ethics, your mindset, it’s all very serious!
‘It’s a nearly impossible task that you’re going after, in terms of the percentage of success to make it to the highest level, very few people make it. But at the same time, it’s entertainment, right?’
It’s a mentality he still holds today, and he quoted legendary commentator Jim Ross as he summed it all up.
‘We have to remember that we’re pretending we’re fighting, it’s a soap opera,’ he smiled. ‘”Broadway with bodyslams,” that’s how JR put it.’
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