In a recent interview with Metro, former WWE Superstar and current Director Of Authority for Impact Wrestling, Santino Marella recalled pitching a hypnosis storyline to WWE in order to become a more serious and legitimate wrestler.
Santino was a comedy act for the majority of his WWE run and picked up two Intercontinental Title reigns as well as a maiden US Title reign.
You can check out some highlights from the interview below:
On pitching a hypnosis story: “I pitched one story where I wanted to have a hypnotist hypnotize Santino. When he was under the hypnosis, he was this killer and then the hypnosis was removed and he started losing again. And then he had that moment where someone talked to him, that speech in the movie like, ‘Even though you were under hypnosis that was you, you did that stuff,’ and then we can transition to a little more legitimate fighter.”
On the idea perhaps being too highbrow for WWE: “But you know, you can make the best steak in the world but if it’s a bologna sandwich market, well, you better make bologna sandwich, right?”
On turning heel early on and becoming a comedy character: “The audience didn’t really like the fact that they were being force-fed this character, so then we turned heel and it became funny. Once it became funny, I was comfortable with that.”
