Anthony Carelli

On July 22, 2019, Marella appeared at the Raw Reunion show in a backstage skit. Carelli would make a surprise appearance during the 2020 Women's Royal Rumble match under his character of Santina Marella, where he entered at 29, becoming the first male to enter a Women's Royal Rumble match before shenanigans ensued when he eliminated himself via "The Cobra" after being startled and intimidated by Natalya and Beth Phoenix.

On June 17, 2017, Marella announced that he would come out of retirement for one last match for Destiny World Wrestling, which operates out of his Battle Arts Academy facilities, on August 27. Marella had announced that he would be teaming up with Alberto El Patrón against RJ City and Stone Rockwell. In light of El Patron's legal troubles, he was announced to be replaced in the match by Chavo Guerrero Jr. After the match, Marella formally announced the end of his in-ring career. On November 5, 2017, he appeared in the audience for Impact Wrestling's Bound for Glory event. Carelli still collaborating with Impact Wrestling, co-hosting the program Behind the Lights on Twitch. On July 23, 2018, he appeared at an Impact Wrestling TV taping, in the corner of Dustin Quicksilver (representing his Battle Arts Academy). Quicksilver lost to Austin Aries after Carelli threw in the towel on his behalf. Following this he got in a confrontation with Aries, resulting in Carelli hitting Aries with a low blow. In July 2019, Marella returned to the ring at a Battle Arts Academy show, wrestling in a MMA inspired gimmick. on 14 September 2019, he appeared live in Josh Barnett's Bloodsport II as himself, Anthony Carelli.

Being a Shodan for more than 30 years, Carelli is the judo instructor in Battle Arts Academy. Aside from being a commentator for the International Judo Federation, he was named Judo Canada's first official ambassador in November 2019.

Early in his professional wrestling career, Carelli trained and wrestled at the original Battlarts in Japan. He, along with kung fu practitioner Steven J. Wong and fitness magazine publisher Terry Frendo, opened a 15,000 square foot multi-use facility and gym in Mississauga, Ontario called ‘Battle Arts Academy‘ in September 2013. It is for general strength and conditioning, as well as for training in mixed martial arts and professional wrestling taught by the original Battlarts founder, Yuki Ishikawa. In 2015, Carelli trained athletes from Venezuela for the Panamerican Games 2015.

In November 2016, Carelli joined the Sportsnet 360 Aftermath panel as an analyst. On May 2, 2018, Carelli debuted the weekly show Behind the Lights, alongside co-host, Destiny World Wrestling owner George Iceman on the official Impact Wrestling Twitch channel.

Marella made several appearances throughout 2014 and 2015, including one appearance on the November 24 episode of Raw to promote his new movie, Jingle All the Way 2 with co-star Larry the Cable Guy, serving as the Guest General Manager for the December 5 episode of SmackDown and hosted his own Royal Rumble lottery on the 20 January, exclusively on the WWE Network. Marella made his return to WWE television on the December 21 episode of Raw to present an award at the Slammy Awards. The next night, on Super SmackDown, Marella became angry when Stardust and The Ascension ruined his Christmas Party and vowed revenge, receiving the help of Neville and Titus O'Neil. On May 6, 2016, after not appearing on WWE television in 2016, Marella was released from WWE along with seven other superstars; the reason was due to an injury.

On February 3, 2014, Marella returned to television and invited Emma into the ring from the crowd to have a "dance-off" with Summer Rae, starting a feud with her and Fandango. Emma would go on to win the dance competition against Summer Rae the February 21 episode of SmackDown. Santino participated in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania XXX, eliminating The Miz, before being eliminated by Alberto Del Rio. On May 5, Santino participated in a 20-man battle royal for Dean Ambrose's WWE United States Championship, but he was eliminated by RybAxel (Ryback and Curtis Axel).

After a third neck injury, Marella declared his retirement on July 6 at a house show in Toronto, Ontario. On September 16, 2014, Marella underwent successful surgery on his neck.

Carelli has a daughter, Bianca, who won the Miss Teen Ontario-World pageant in 2013. Carelli married bikini fitness competitor Anna Babij, in November 2015.

On September 1, Carelli injured his left shoulder in a car accident before a house show in Puerto Rico, rendering him inactive for several weeks. Marella returned on the October 3 Raw, defeating Jinder Mahal. On the October 31 episode, Marella defeated Jack Swagger with a roll-up pin after he spit water given to him by special guest, Beaker of The Muppets, in Swagger's face. The following Raw, Swagger defeated Marella by submission. On the January 6, 2012 episode of SmackDown, Marella defeated Drew McIntyre to become Smackdown General Manager Theodore Long's assistant. Marella teamed with Yoshi Tatsu on the January 27 SmackDown and "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan on the February 3 episode to face Tag Team Champions Primo & Epico, losing both times. On the February 17 SmackDown, Marella won a battle royal to replace Randy Orton in the Elimination Chamber match for the World Heavyweight Championship at Elimination Chamber. At the pay-per-view, he was the last man eliminated by Daniel Bryan.

On the debut episode of WWE Main Event on October 3, Marella and Zack Ryder entered a Tag Team Championship tournament, and defeated Justin Gabriel and Tyson Kidd in the quarterfinals. The following week on Raw, they were eliminated in the semifinals by eventual winners Team Rhodes Scholars (Cody Rhodes and Damien Sandow). After this loss Marella and Ryder began a feud with 3MB's members (Heath Slater, Drew McIntyre & Jinder Mahal) which culminated in the Pre-show of Survivor Series, in which Slater and Mahal defeated them. On December 26, 2012, at Main Event, Santino Marella participated in a 20-man battle royal for the 1st contender of Cesaro's U.S. title and split from his partner Zack Ryder, when eliminated him. Successively Marella was eliminated by Wade Barrett from the battle-royal. Marella then took a leave of absence due to a neck injury. Marella returned on January 27, 2013, at the Royal Rumble, entering the Royal Rumble at number five before being the first man eliminated by Cody Rhodes. After a two-month absence, Marella returned to Raw on April 1, losing to Mark Henry.

On the November 15 Raw, Marella and Kozlov became number one contenders for the WWE Tag Team Championship by defeating The Usos. They unsuccessfully challenged The Nexus (Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater) for the title at Survivor Series. They won the Tag Team Championship in a four-way elimination tag match on the December 6 Raw, beating The Nexus, The Usos and Mark Henry and Yoshi Tatsu, after John Cena distracted Gabriel, allowing Marella to hit his Cobra finisher. After celebrating in the ring, Tamina kissed Santino, starting a relationship between them. She began accompanying Marella to his matches. Marella and Kozlov retained the Tag Team title at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, when Gabriel and Slater were disqualified after interference from Nexus member Michael McGillicutty. The next night on Raw, Marella and Tamina beat Ted DiBiase and Maryse in a mixed-tag match. On January 30, 2011, Marella entered the Royal Rumble at number 37. He was one of the final two wrestlers, before being eliminated by Alberto Del Rio. At Elimination Chamber, Marella and Kozlov lost the Tag Team title to Gabriel and Slater. At WrestleMania XXVII, Marella teamed with Big Show, Kane, and Kofi Kingston (replacing the injured Kozlov) to defeat The Corre (Slater, Gabriel, Ezekiel Jackson and Wade Barrett) in an eight-man tag match. Marella's relationship with Tamina ended when she was drafted to SmackDown. On August 5, Kozlov was released from WWE, ending the team.

In January 2009, Marella entered the Royal Rumble, at #28. He was eliminated by Kane after (officially) 1.9 seconds, breaking The Warlord's 1989 record for shortest Royal Rumble appearance by a tenth of a second.

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.

Anthony 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". His character won Carelli Wrestling Observer Newsletter's award for Best Gimmick in 2007 and 2008. During his time in WWE, Carelli won the Intercontinental Championship in his debut. He is also a former WWE Tag Team Champion and United States Champion. Carelli won four championships in WWE before retiring from professional wrestling in 2014.

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.

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 the opponent selected by Vince McMahon for Umaga as a fan. 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. It said he moved to the U.S. to pursue a wrestling career with 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.

In 2005, Anthony Carelli (as Johnny Geo Basco) began training at Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), a developmental territory for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). 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.

Anthony Carelli started his career on the Ontario independent circuit as Johnny Geo Basco, debuting with a disqualification win over Xhibit (now Rico Montana) in the opening match of a Ring Wars show in Orangeville, Ontario, on August 17, 2003. 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.

Anthony Carelli (born March 14, 1974) is a Canadian professional wrestler, sports analyst, web series host, trainer, former mixed martial artist and occasional actor. He most recently worked for Impact Wrestling under his real name. He is perhaps best known for his 11-year tenure with WWE where he wrestled under the ring name Santino Marella. He is the founder of Canadian martial arts and professional wrestling training facility Battle Arts Academy.