Anthony Carelli (born March 14, 1974) is a Canadian professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Santino Marella. He is signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where he works as the on-screen director of authority. He also previous appears in partner promotion WWE, on its NXT brand. He is the founder of and instructor at Battle Arts Academy, a martial arts and professional wrestling training facility in Mississauga, Ontario, and the official ambassador of Judo Canada. In addition to being signed to TNA, Carelli also works with various professional wrestling promotions in the independent circuit including Joe Cazana Promotions, Great Lakes Championship Wrestling (GLCW), and Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling (MLP).
He is best known for his 11-year tenure with WWE. Carelli made his WWE debut during a live episode of Raw from Milan, Italy. Under the character of Santino Marella, a fan selected from the audience, he defeated the Intercontinental Champion Umaga, winning the title in his debut match. During the following years, he would win the Intercontinental title one more time, the United States Championship once and the WWE Tag Team Championship once. He was also involved in a storyline where he worked as Santina Marella, Santino's twin sister. Carelli was released from WWE in 2016. After his WWE departure, he opened Battle Arts Academy and worked for Impact Wrestling under his real name. In 2017, he made sporadic matches on the independent circuit, as well as occasional appearances in WWE. In 2023, Carelli made his return to Impact, now under the TNA banner and performing under the Santino Marella name and gimmick. In 2025, with WWE and TNA having a partnership between the two promotions, Carelli returned to WWE on its NXT brand.
Carelli is known for his humorous gimmick as Santino Marella, an Italian stereotype, often being involved in comedic segments, having several on-screen relationships with fellow wrestlers, as well as being crowned "Miss WrestleMania" at WrestleMania XXV disguised as "Santina Marella". The Santino Marella character was awarded Best Gimmick in 2007 and 2008 by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Anthony Carelli was born on March 14, 1974 in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. He is of Italian and Métis descent. His paternal family emigrated from San Fili (in province of Cosenza), Calabria to Canada. Carelli attended St Basil's Catholic Elementary School, and later Philip Pocock Catholic Secondary School and Concordia University. He trained in judo at the age of nine and also competed in high school wrestling, winning the Region of Peel Secondary School Athletic Association (ROPSSAA) Tournament, back-to-back as a junior and a senior.
Independent circuit (2002–2005)
Anthony Carelli started his career on the Ontario independent circuit as Johnny Geo Basco, debuting with a disqualification win over Xhibit in the opening match of a Ring Wars show in Orangeville, Ontario, on August 17, 2002. In the second half of 2004, Carelli wrestled four matches for Battlarts in Japan, as Johnny Geo Basco. By this time he also competed in mixed martial arts, in which he claimed in 2006 to have a 6–1 record, although only one fight is confirmed.
World Wrestling Entertainment/WWE
Ohio Valley Wrestling (2005–2007)
In 2005, Anthony Carelli (as Johnny Geo Basco) began training at Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), a developmental territory for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). At an OVW television taping In July, during a storyline where he was supposed to act afraid of The Boogeyman, but instead laughed, Anthony Carelli was shouted at and slapped by Jim Cornette, OVW's head booker and co-owner. This incident led to Cornette being fired as OVW booker by WWE.
Under OVW's new booker, Paul Heyman, Anthony Carelli adopted the gimmick of Boris Alexiev, a Russian shootfighter/mixed martial artist. On October 29, he lost his debut OVW match, teaming with Aaron Stevens against Chet the Jet and Chris Cage. Alexiev made his TV debut on April 12, 2006, managed by his "comrade", Mr. Strongko and defeating Mo Sexton. He was booked to dominate opponents with stiff strikes and submission style wrestling. He had a 10-second win over a wrestler named Dewey. He signed a developmental contract with WWE on August 11, 2006, and continued training in OVW.
On January 24, 2007, Alexiev won the OVW Television Championship from Mike Kruel, who was defending in place of champion Eddie Kraven. He lost it back to Kruel on February 7, and regained it from him on March 14. Three days later, he dropped it to Shawn Spears. He was called up to the WWE roster a month later.
Intercontinental Champion (2007–2009)
Anthony Carelli debuted as Santino Marella (an homage to WWE Hall of Famer Robert "Gorilla Monsoon" Marella) on the April 16, 2007 episode of Raw from Milan, Italy. He was presented as a fan that Vince McMahon selected as an opponent for Umaga. The unknown Marella scored a surprising upset, and won the WWE Intercontinental Championship with an assist from Bobby Lashley. The next day, WWE.com posted a profile on Marella, saying he was an Italian national who moved to Canada as a child and returned to his native country a few times each year to visit family. The profile claimed that he moved to the United States to pursue a wrestling career with WWE. Shortly after winning the Intercontinental title, Marella feuded with Chris Masters, narrowly retaining the title in his first defenses. On July 2, he dropped the title to Umaga, after defeating him on June 24, at Vengeance: Night of Champions, by disqualification.
Marella then began a gradual heel turn and became increasingly jealous of his girlfriend, Maria. Over several weeks, they appeared together in a series of segments on Raw, including two "game show" skits, hosted by General Manager William Regal, which resulted in retired wrestler Ron Simmons winning a date with Maria, to Santino's dismay. Marella began a publicity campaign against the WWE Films production, The Condemned, as its DVD release neared. He was eventually confronted by the film's star, Steve Austin, who argued the film's merits before delivering a Stone Cold Stunner to Marella and hosing him and Maria with beer. During the Austin angle, Marella repeatedly mocked him and his catchphrases in humorously broken English, starting a new comedic trend in his gimmick. After a short angle with Jerry Lawler, which included Lawler hitting his signature fist drop maneuver after Marella lost a match to the returning Chris Jericho on the November 26 episode of Raw, Marella formed a tag team with Carlito.
Around this time, Maria was offered a photo shoot for Playboy magazine. After unsuccessfully persuading her to decline it, Marella tried to sabotage the cover unveiling (an in-ring segment of Raw), causing Maria to dump him. The next night on Raw, during one of Maria's bikini shows, Santino challenged Maria while she was wearing a pink bikini. However, no matter what he tried, she always countered perfectly, taunting him after each counter. Maria performed a body slam, suplex and leg drop on Santino. One of the more memorable moments of the match was when Maria slapped her behind and told Santino, "Kiss my behind, baby." before tossing him into the corner and doing a Stink Face on him. Throughout the entire match, Maria was smiling and laughing as she dominated Santino with ease. Eventually, Maria overwhelmed him with her lips and kiss, which counted as a submission hold. Maria continued to kiss Santino until he tapped out, but even after that, she continued to kiss him, intending to fully humiliate him.
On the July 14, 2008 episode of Raw, Marella lost to Beth Phoenix, who had answered his open challenge. On the next episode, after he lost another open challenge to the returning D'Lo Brown, Marella and Phoenix kissed, both looking confused afterward. Over the next few weeks, they became a parody of a "power couple", soon called "Glamarella" (a portmanteau of Phoenix's nickname, "Glamazon", and "Marella"). At SummerSlam, they wrestled Intercontinental champion Kofi Kingston and WWE Women's Champion Mickie James in a mixed-tag match with both titles on the line. Phoenix pinned James after hitting her finisher, the Glam Slam, giving Marella his second Intercontinental championship. Marella then sought to become the "greatest Intercontinental champion of all the times" by beating The Honky Tonk Man's record 64-week reign. Over the weeks, a "Honk-A-Meter" graphic informed viewers of his progress during his matches and segments (at one point Marella even used a "Honk-a-Perfect-Mountie-Meter" comparing his reign to the combination of The Honky Tonk Man, Mr Perfect and The Mountie's reigns). At Cyber Sunday, Marella was disqualified in a title match with The Honky Tonk Man (who fans voted for over other former champions Roddy Piper and Goldust). On the November 10 episode of Raw, after a reign of twelve weeks and one day, Marella lost the title to William Regal.