Santino Retires

[Deezy]

Another neck injury, too bad. He had his role and played it well. Had a hell of a run and would be one of those guys who come back for nostalgic pops every once in a while.

Glammarella and the Honk-A-Meter were highlights for me.

 

[Keith]

If he does retire good luck to him, he has done well for himself.

 

[Defiant]

Well holy crap. I had no idea Santino had health issues or that past injuries had caught up with him already. I watched the video just because I knew it would be touching. And hell yeah, the Honk-A-Meter was the best thing he ever did. He was consistently funny as a comedy heel.

It sounded like Santino implied he's keen on being the GM or some another on-screen role which I guess is logical.

 

[The Cork]

Loved Santino, and loved how he made it despite Jim Cornette being a dick to him in developmental, but honestly thought he retired years ago.

No big deal, every guy has a shelf life, for a comedy guy he had a long run.

 

[ThatGuyFromNukemHigh]

guess Tyson Kidd gets repackaged as a comedy character now. Put a mask on him, team him up with El Locale, and set them up with Los Matadores for a Survivor Series team.

Hopefully Santino can find a job with the company, he would make a decent back stage interviewer/GM, or the even better route of getting King off commentary and replacing him with someone people actually find funny.

 

[Twitchy]

I wonder if they will do anything on Raw for him.

 

[Gimmick]

Shame to hear, I always liked Santino. He was a very good comedic wrestler who a lot of times turned shit into gold.

 

[Chris]

A lot more Santino praise in this thread than I expected. I always liked the guy for the most part, but I was getting pretty tired of him as of late just because he wasn't doing anything but wrestling Fandango every week. I don't think I'll miss him too much, but I hope they find something else for him because he's versatile. I think he'd even make for a good heel commentator even if he's been a face for awhile now.

 

[Kiffy Lube]

His comedy character was decent filler at times but I never really cared. He can easily transition into a backstage hand.

 

[Deezy]

He has a pretty good gym to run. He can always be used for WWE network shows where they need talking heads.

Always have to wonder if he would even have this long of a career if not for the goof ball antics, like if he was actually the "shooter| character he was in OVW, would he have gotten over? I tend to think not, because serious characters are met with apathy.

 

[Dale]

Yeah like people have already said, his work from years ago with Beth and Honky Tonk man stuff was amazing but he's not been as interesting for seemingly years.

Would also like to give honorable mentions to his stuff with Stone Cold and his Elimination Chamber performance with Bryan, holy fuck that was good

 

[Chris]

The only real stand-out stuff to me of his face run was his Elimination Chamber and Royal Rumble performances in 2011 and those were great, just about all of his heel stuff was amazing too.

 

[SanSooFighter]

Pretty sad to hear his career has to end early due to injury, but at the same time glad he is seeing this early enough to where he can walk away rather than stretchered away. It would have been cool to see him in a more serious role before he retired, but the role he played was pretty well done for the most part and he had a pretty lengthy career behind it. His earlier years with the gimmick were definitely the most enjoyable as his initial heel work was great!

 

[Deezy]

- Mick Foley posted the following on Facebook yesterday:

THANK YOU SANTINO

I heard that Santino Marella announced last night in Toronto that his in-ring days might be winding down due to another neck injury. If so, I’d like to send out a special thank you.

Thank you Santino, for making me run upstairs to find the source of my children’s huge waves of laughter, to see your dance off with Vladimir Koslov – reminding me what it was I loved about wrestling, at a time when I had briefly stopped watching.

Thank you Santino, for making me jump up from Chris Giordano’s couch and cheer you on out loud while watching the 2012 Elimination Chamber,

Thank you for giving me one last great in-ring moment when The Sock met The Cobra – a clash for the ages.

Thank you Santino Marella – WWE Universe – you entertaining somanagun!

Feel free to share your favorite Santino moment.` I, for one, will be eagerly awaiting a “Best of Santino” on #WWECountdown.


:foley:

 

[Kiffy Lube]

Good it wasn't just an ode to his comedic stuff and he actually added his performance in the 2012 Elimination Chamber.