Anthony Carelli's humorous first-encounter with Edge & Christian.
Anthony Carelli, or better known as "The Milan Miracle" Santino Marella burst on to the WWE scene during an episode of RAW in Italy in 2007 where on his first night on the main roster as an in-ring performer, with the assist of Bobby Lashley Carelli was able to defeat Umaga to capture the WWE Intercontinental Championship.
Prior to his time with WWE he was known as 'Johnny Geo Basco' while working the independent wrestling circuit in his home-country of Canada. During a recent episode of the IMPACT Wrestling Twitch series 'Behind The Lights' Carelli reflected on the beginning stages of his pro wrestling career and went on to tell the story of when he first came in contact with two of his fellow Canadians who were finding their stride as singles wrestlers in WWE during this period of time, former seven-time WWF Tag Team Champions Edge & Christian.
"So, I had one wrestling match. I was in a Battle Royal in 1999, but I hadn’t trained yet. It was at Cayuga Speedway [Now known as ‘Jukasa Motor Speedway’], and a lot of guys, Scott D’Amore was there… I was ‘Johnny Geo Basco’." He continued, “So anyhow, I knew I was gonna do it, I was gonna’ wrestle, I was gonna’ train. I was supposed to start training in 2001…"
Carelli was stopped mid-sentence by the host of the show 'Iceman' and was asked to clarify if he was or was not trained prior to his first wrestling match:
Carelli continued, “A little bit [of training]. I would go to U.F.O. pro wrestling, the school, Don Kolov’s school, and they had an octagon, and a ring. So I’d be in the octagon doing my thing and I kind of would always [be] glancing over and I got in the ring once and he showed me a couple things, but I was not trained. It was a Battle Royal, so I could figure it out. So anyway, in my mind, I’m a professional wrestler, because I’m gonna’ be. So WWE used to come to Gold’s Gym in Mississauga [Ontario]. So I’m at home, phone rings; my buddy goes, ‘Carelli, Edge and Christian are here. They just got here.' I’m on my way. So I get up to the gym and I’m like, ‘Where are they?' He goes, ‘They’re in the corner they were stretching.' I go, ‘S**t, Edge is pretty big, Christian not so much’ because you have to compare yourself, and I thought I was too small." Carelli explained. "Yeah but he’s taller than me but I’m 5’10 and you know I’m like, ‘Sheesh’, but I go, ‘Okay, I think I’m bigger than him.' So anyway, Edge is going to the fountain, in between a set. So, Jimmy brains over here, I’m gonna time it, to go to the fountain, come through the other side of the gym, and he’s having a drink. He gets up and turns, I go, ‘Hey wassup man, I’m a wrestler too,' and he goes, ‘Hey that’s cool man.' I go, ‘Hey let me ask you man; when you speared Jeff Hardy off the ladder, did you practice that?’"
The full episode of 'Behind The Lights' can be watched by heading over to the official IMPACT Twitch TV channel.
If you are going to use the quotes above, please credit 'Behind The Lights' with an H/T to Fightful.com for the transcriptions.
