Elimination Chamber 2012: WWE failed to capitalize on Santino Marella

[NegativeFeedback]

[YOUTUBE]cUyEsiGlW7k[/YOUTUBE]

At the 37:40 mark, World Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan headbutts Wade Barrett off the top rope. Santino, who was just thrown from the top rope himself, rushes towards Wade and gets the pin. He then crawls to his corner, gasping for air, soaking in that he's in the final 2 with Daniel Bryan.

The finish was great. I only wish it had been 5 minutes longer. The crowd erupted for Santino. The way he kept crawling towards Bryan even though he kept getting beat down was great. He played to the crowd perfectly and they WANTED to see him be World Champion. Hell, at the time, I was a BIG Daniel fan and even I was thinking "Fuck it, GO SANTINO!!" He had that Mankind vibe where the combination of his charming innocence and his badass relentlessness just forced you to root for him.

Now at the time, DB was viewed as an underdog himself because he kept getting in the ring with giants and finding ways to beat them. It was no wonder Bryan failed to get the heat that he needed. He made up for it by getting over HUGE as a fan favorite forcing the writers to turn him face, but if they wanted him to get over as a heel, Santino was the way to do it. At this moment, in this match, DB wasn't an underdog. He was the arrogant champion who laughed at his underdog challenger. Santino's performance not only got himself over with the crowd, but got Bryan over as a heel. What more can you ask from someone in the main event?

Had they capitalized on this, they could have made a huge star out of him. Maybe all the mat-wrestling purists out there would balk at the idea, but I would have paid to see Santino be built up to take on Daniel Bryan the arrogant World Champ one-on-one.

I don't know how EXACTLY they should have capitalized on it, considering Sheamus was set-in-stone to take on Bryan at Mania. But after the 18 second screwjob where Sheamus cheapshoted his way to the World title, I think it would have been best to turn Sheamus heel AGAINST Santino. Now THAT could have been a great feud, especially considering Santino and Sheamus have AWESOME chemistry.

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[Odisho]

I agree with you 100%, i love goofy characters such as santino/eric young. they give you great comedic relief, esspecially when matches are boring.

I dont remember that EC match as much, but i do remember being bored and Santino marella making the match. Its really exciting to see unexpected wins. Especially when they have jobber status. Thats what made Zack ryder so fun to follow.

I believe Santino should get a push but it has to be a reason behind it. Maybe ryback bullies him , but Santino fights back and shows how weak bullies are with big wins over him. Because before Santino can get a push he deserves, he needs to get the fans behind him again: and beating the town bully whos much bigger than him may do that.

Sidenote: when Santino Marella was second last in the RR, i had a mark out moment. Till ADR eleminated him. Now that i look back, i really wish santino would have won.

 

[PingPongBundy]

I totally agree with both of you. With the Royal Rumble, there had to be very few people watching that didn't "suspend their disbelief" , for a few seconds, and think that Santino was going to pull it off. That would have been the biggest swerve WWE had ever pulled. It would have been epic, albeit incredibly derided down the line. The way that Ryback has been going lately, Santino beating him is quite feasible, were they do decide to do it.

 

[Aquaman6686]

Absolutely not. Joke characters belong at the bottom of the card or not there at all, not in top feuds with top stars. Alberto Del Rio's victory in the 2011 Royal Rumble was heavily tainted because the guy he eliminated was Santino Marella - it made his victory in the biggest RR of all time mean so much less than it should have. Same with Daniel Bryan's victory in the Elimination Chamber the following year. The fact that they have given Santino so many championship reigns already is an insult to wrestling. Just because a guy gets an incredible crowd reaction doesn't mean he should be pushed if he doesn't have the talent to go along with it. At best, Santino Marella should be wrestling on Superstars and picking up an occasional win here and there.

 

[RicSpade]

Here is the thing, Santino is comedic relief I will give you that, but they could've used this match as a turning point match for Santino to elevate him, now I know this sounds illogical, but think about it Santino had the best match of his WWE career and was in the main event, there was something special from Santino and if the next night on Raw he had come out and said, if I was serious Daniel I could beat you, and that match he did nothing but technical skill and less comedy he could've scored a win over Daniel Bryan non title on Raw, and maybe then lost the real title match on Smackdown to lead into Wrestlemania with Sheamus, Santino would be elevated and maybe even relegated back to a US or IC storyline where he shows this mean streak and maybe turned heel, I mean possibilities are endless, but like how many licks to the center of a tootsie pop the world may never know.

 

[NegativeFeedback]

Just because a guy gets an incredible crowd reaction doesn't mean he should be pushed if he doesn't have the talent to go along with it. At best, Santino Marella should be wrestling on Superstars and picking up an occasional win here and there.

Santino isn't talented? Are you for real? Everything he touches turns to gold. Amazing mic skills, superior comedic skills and fantastic in the ring too. You don't get to see much of the last one because he has to portray a goofball who doesn't know how to wrestle, but the dude can GO and he was an unstoppable force as Boris Alexiev. Had he been called up as Boris instead, he would've been main eventing with Cena in no time.

And as for your point that guys shouldn't be pushed because they get incredible crowd reactions, you're just wrong. That's EXACTLY why they should be pushed.

 

[Chococat]

If I recall, Santino was only placed in this match because someone else was injured or suspended. He was a filler. Like Daniel Bryan was for the WWE title matches.

Why does nearly EVERYONE on here think that you need a title to be any worth? Santino's merchandise sales only secure his job for years to come, so he doesn't need a belt to become more popular. He wasn't made to pander to the adults obviously.

Santino will never get a character change, gimmick change, or even another title reign except maybe tag team because he doesn't need it.

The only people who need belts are the ones who can't get noticed without them which was never the case with Santino.

 

[MrMojoRisin]

They could have ran with Santino as the Rocky style underdog, while quietly cutting out the more over the top comedy aspects of his character to give that new underdog character more depth... but the question remains. How would Santino have faired afterwards once he had to take the next step from being the Rocky style underdog? Would he have been able to sustain his momentum enough that it was worthwhile to both himself and the company to keep him in the main event, or is he better off with his current position as the comic relief of the show?

Keep in mind, that not everyone needs to be a champion, and Santino is a great example of that. That guy is set for years, and he will be if he never wins another match in his life. He'll always be involved in the shows. His merchandise will always sell. He doesn't have to worry about his job. He's got an amazing position in the company.

But say they did go with Santino as a main eventer at that time, and seriously built on that EC performance. WWE's main competition these days is MMA, and as a result, they try to keep the over the top gimmicky stuff to a minimum in their main event scene to compete with that. Do they hold viewers with a champion that marches around the ring tooting an invisible horn? Do they hold viewers with a champion who's finish includes using a manufactured sock puppet that he puts on with an overly elaborate ritual? Sure, Mankind got over with a sock puppet too, but the big contrast there is that it was a lot more organic (the guy used a dirty sock with a homemade face painted on it), and the ritual wasn't nearly so time consuming and elaborate that it took you right out of the match.

All that works great in the comedy role that he plays, but it's completely out of place in the main event. To stick there, Santino would have absolutely had to tone down the comedy aspects to develop a more serious side, and I honestly don't know if he works as well in the long run by doing that... or is at least as successful professionally if he does.

The dudes got a great spot right now, and is probably the envy of many guys backstage who understand that it's less about the number of title belts you win, and more about the number of dollars you make, and how long you make them for.

 

[Aquaman6686]

Santino isn't talented? Are you for real? Everything he touches turns to gold. Amazing mic skills, superior comedic skills and fantastic in the ring too. You don't get to see much of the last one because he has to portray a goofball who doesn't know how to wrestle, but the dude can GO and he was an unstoppable force as Boris Alexiev. Had he been called up as Boris instead, he would've been main eventing with Cena in no time.

And as for your point that guys shouldn't be pushed because they get incredible crowd reactions, you're just wrong. That's EXACTLY why they should be pushed.

You're absolutely nuts. Santino has never had the slightest bit of talent in the ring, and the only time in his career he was even SLIGHTLY funny was during his 2nd run as Intercontinental Champion, when he had the Honk-a-Meter. That was amusing. He brings nothing to the table.


And no, a push shouldn't be based solely on crowd reaction, because if the superstar doesn't have the talent to go along with it, the reaction doesn't last and then the company is in a lose-lose situation. Zack Ryder, Bobby Lashley, Brodus Clay, Ryback, etc.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Santino earnt a place in the World Heavyweight Championship match at Mania that year with that performance. But that's about it.

He's a comedy character and you should never have comedy world champions, only world champions who can use comedy e.g. Angle & Austin.

 

[Loveless]

I said this at the time and I still believe that the WWE really missed out on a big moment, a feud to remember and the chance to get Santino away from his goofy character. If you give him the belt, you set up an ultimate underdog matchup and 6/7 weeks of Rockyesque training montages. It would have been a vast improvement on what actually happened.

 

[saint_edward]

I remember this, and remember being pleasantly surprised and also annoyed at the way the Big E puts their product out there. Santino is a good wrestler, you've got to be good at something in order to play the fool like he does. The way he went at the end of that EC match with Bryan was awesome, and some of the best proper wrestling in ages. The crowd popped BIG and it was great to watch, it's just a shame that it was a one off and not the norm.

If it'd carried on as a storyline, then it could have been great. Santino (much like Young) can really go in the ring, they're great wrestlers with brilliant crowd chemistry but shamefully they're underused, given ridiculous moves (cobra... C'mon.) and buried. Make them wrestle, give them meaning, let them flourish and most of all, let them wrestle!

 

[outerfox]

It takes a very talented person to play that kind of "stupid" comedy. Jim Varney was a super intelligent actor and he pulled off stupid and simple extremely well in Ernest P. Worrell. Santino is a pretty decent wrestler, he has the crowd behind him and while he may seem silly/stupid, that's the gimmick that he was given and he pulls it off great. I remember that EC and I thought Santino was going to actually win. The same way I though Jeff Hardy was actually going to win against Taker in that ladder match years ago. Deep down I knew they weren't, but at the moment it was going on, it suspended belief and I was thinking "WOW, they're actually going to let it happen!". Moments like that don't happen too often.

I don't see why we can't have a comedic wrestler who was a top champion, if it was done correctly.

 

[cm ben]

You're absolutely nuts. Santino has never had the slightest bit of talent in the ring,

Stopped reading here. Your opinion on wrestling is as respected as Aquaman is as a superhero (not very much in most circles). Whether or not Santino should be a World Champion/upper-carder is up for debate; whether or not he's good is not. He has amazing awareness of his audience, which allows him to create some great comic moments: going to the top rope, then deciding to go to the middle rope, then thinking about it again and going to the first rope before jumping off; recently he had a match with Emma in NXT, in which he kept really slowly rolling away from his opponent, who was forced to run from corner to corner to attempt a top-rope maneuver.

His current position in WWE might not allow him to do crazy flashy awesome technical lucha puro moves, but with what he does accomplish in the ring, it should be clear to most wrestling fans that he is a very gifted performer.

You're treading water here, Aquaman!

 

[Aquaman6686]

Stopped reading here. Your opinion on wrestling is as respected as Aquaman is as a superhero (not very much in most circles). Whether or not Santino should be a World Champion/upper-carder is up for debate; whether or not he's good is not. He has amazing awareness of his audience, which allows him to create some great comic moments: going to the top rope, then deciding to go to the middle rope, then thinking about it again and going to the first rope before jumping off; recently he had a match with Emma in NXT, in which he kept really slowly rolling away from his opponent, who was forced to run from corner to corner to attempt a top-rope maneuver.

His current position in WWE might not allow him to do crazy flashy awesome technical lucha puro moves, but with what he does accomplish in the ring, it should be clear to most wrestling fans that he is a very gifted performer.

You're treading water here, Aquaman!

Santino Marella is not talented. I've seen nearly every match he's ever had in WWE, and I've never seen anyone pull a good match out of him. He's clumsy and awkward in the ring, and his "comedy" always feels incredibly forced, because comedy has no place in a wrestling ring. The best thing Santino ever did was his brief heel run. That was the only time he was even remotely interesting.

 

[NegativeFeedback]

Santino Marella is not talented. I've seen nearly every match he's ever had in WWE, and I've never seen anyone pull a good match out of him. He's clumsy and awkward in the ring, and his "comedy" always feels incredibly forced, because comedy has no place in a wrestling ring. The best thing Santino ever did was his brief heel run. That was the only time he was even remotely interesting.

The dude can go. This isn't his BEST work, but it's a good example that showcases his moveset. He got even better in OVW as Boris, and sure, it's sad that he didn't get to show his skills on Raw, but he probably got more over with Santino than he ever would have being a technical genius in the ring.

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[shafe_41]

No. Santino being taken as a serious character because of one match would never been able to happen. He had been a goofball for how long before that? You just can't. They TRULY missed the boat on Santino when he returned earlier this year coming back from injury. Coming back after 6-8 months off or however long it was, you could have capitalized on him being a serious character then.

The only problem with that is that the fans love his screwball comedy routine and that's how he's over. He would need to develop a whole new personality. I know it's professional wrestling and you could say "Well he can still be goofy, but just kick ass in the ring." Not really. Your personality in the ring reflects your promo personality and you can't be goofy and taken seriously at the same time. Santino was/is/always will be pigeonholed into this gimmick he currently has for the rest of time. Unless they run something cheesy where Santino gets his head knocked off/bell rung, and that somehow changes his personality.

Until then... Santino never had a chance to be taken seriously. Not after the RR. Not after the Chamber. Even though I said earlier this year when he returned, he was just a comedy guy for too long... he wouldn't have been able to be taken seriously either.

 

[NegativeFeedback]

I know it's professional wrestling and you could say "Well he can still be goofy, but just kick ass in the ring." Not really. Your personality in the ring reflects your promo personality and you can't be goofy and taken seriously at the same time.

Mankind? Kane? Goldust? Daniel Bryan? Kurt Angle? Lots of guys ended up having really goofy characters and ended up kicking ass in the ring. Bryan's schtick was looking like a goat and screaming NO at the top of his lungs. Look at him now. Kane becomes a comedy character once every 2 years.

Even Booker T (Remember Obi-Boo-Kenobi playing with a lightsaber?), William Regal and Chris Jericho have had ridiculous goofball runs. Brodus Clay debuted as a dancing dinosaur who beat up people. Vito won every match he ever had as a cross-dressing weirdo.

Comedic characters can be badasses in the ring. It's happened lots of times before.

 

[Raptor93]

Santino might be good in the ring, but we all know thats not enough. He does a good goofy character but problem is its not great or amazing. Even if it where when you take a gamble on someone why choose wrestlemania whc match of all places? this would have been the one and only time they had him as a serious character and the likes of swaggar and khali who got the title and flopped just tarnishes its credit. It wasn't worth the risk, maybe he could have gone into another storyline but he sure didn't need the title or a big wrestlemania match

 

[shafe_41]

Mankind? Kane? Goldust? Daniel Bryan? Kurt Angle? Lots of guys ended up having really goofy characters and ended up kicking ass in the ring. Bryan's schtick was looking like a goat and screaming NO at the top of his lungs. Look at him now. Kane becomes a comedy character once every 2 years.

Even Booker T (Remember Obi-Boo-Kenobi playing with a lightsaber?), William Regal and Chris Jericho have had ridiculous goofball runs. Brodus Clay debuted as a dancing dinosaur who beat up people. Vito won every match he ever had as a cross-dressing weirdo.

Comedic characters can be badasses in the ring. It's happened lots of times before.

I see what you mean. But Santino is just more over the top than all of those guys. Every single one of those guys debuted and had ring talent to go along with their character. Not a single one of them came into the WWE and was just a comedy piece from the word go. Don't get me wrong, I love Santino. I know he can go. But the chance is just over for him. It has been for a long long time.

For cryin out loud... he won the IC title in his debut match... by having Bobby Lashley lay out Umaga. You could argue he was doomed from the start. So he didn't really "win" that title. Summerslam 2008, Beth Pheonix pinned Mickie James to beat Kofi and her to win the winner take all match for Beth and Santino. He didn't get the pin there. I don't even remember how he became US Champion. I think he beat Zack Ryder? Or he beat whoever went over Ryder. Correct me there if I'm wrong... So in over 7 years, the guys won 3 titles... one where someone else did all the work. One where he didn't even get the pin. And one where he went over a guy that Vince just hates. I think?

Comedy is all Santino has got. It's not his fault. I mean the guy takes a green sock out of his pants and does a Cobra finisher. It looks a billion times less vicious than Umaga's thumb to the throat... but I'm supposed to believe it?
Comedy in the realm of Santino's character is far far different than DB shouting "YES" and "NO." Santino has a unibrow.

Considering his original gimmick and idea to debut was to be a protoge of Kurt Angle before Angle left the company, they needed to come up with something else for him. I just think working 5 years as nothing but a comedy character, you can't take the guy seriously in one PPV match. Was the crowd behind him? Sure. But when haven't they been? It would be like taking Barry Horowtiz's win over Skip of the Body Donnas back in the mid-90's and saying that would launch his career. No. He was a well known jobber for years and would never be anything more.

 

[NegativeFeedback]

I see what you mean. But Santino is just more over the top than all of those guys. Every single one of those guys debuted and had ring talent to go along with their character. Not a single one of them came into the WWE and was just a comedy piece from the word go. Don't get me wrong, I love Santino. I know he can go. But the chance is just over for him. It has been for a long long time.

For cryin out loud... he won the IC title in his debut match... by having Bobby Lashley lay out Umaga. You could argue he was doomed from the start. So he didn't really "win" that title. Summerslam 2008, Beth Pheonix pinned Mickie James to beat Kofi and her to win the winner take all match for Beth and Santino. He didn't get the pin there. I don't even remember how he became US Champion. I think he beat Zack Ryder? Or he beat whoever went over Ryder. Correct me there if I'm wrong... So in over 7 years, the guys won 3 titles... one where someone else did all the work. One where he didn't even get the pin. And one where he went over a guy that Vince just hates. I think?

Comedy is all Santino has got. It's not his fault. I mean the guy takes a green sock out of his pants and does a Cobra finisher. It looks a billion times less vicious than Umaga's thumb to the throat... but I'm supposed to believe it?
Comedy in the realm of Santino's character is far far different than DB shouting "YES" and "NO." Santino has a unibrow.

Considering his original gimmick and idea to debut was to be a protoge of Kurt Angle before Angle left the company, they needed to come up with something else for him. I just think working 5 years as nothing but a comedy character, you can't take the guy seriously in one PPV match. Was the crowd behind him? Sure. But when haven't they been? It would be like taking Barry Horowtiz's win over Skip of the Body Donnas back in the mid-90's and saying that would launch his career. No. He was a well known jobber for years and would never be anything more.

Santino got the US title off Swagger, and kept it for a pretty long time. He also won the tag titles with Kozlov, which in my opinion, was a really funny duo and shouldn't have ever been broken up.

They could have brought him up as Boris Alexiev, but they wanted to debut him in Italy so they went with Santino. I think it wasn't a bad idea. Look up his matches with Chris Masters. They were putting on some entertaining matches, but the fans kept booing him for no reason. It wasn't until a dating segment I believe, where Maria had to choose between three guys or something like that, that Santino started playing up to the crowd's boos. The rest is history, he became a big heel right after, and I enjoyed every second of it.

Instead of developing him into a comedy character, they could have used his heel turn to push him up the card. I think it was PWI or the Observer that gave him "Best gimmick" for 2 years straight. He was over, people liked his schtick. He had some good segments with Umaga, Cena, and Jericho. But WWE decided that pairing him with Beth was the best use of Santino, but I disagree.

I thought they had come to their senses at the Rumble, but nothing came out of it. And the next year at the Chamber, they could've had anyone replace Orton, and they went with Santino. I thought that was fantastic. Couldn't wait to see him slowly move up to the main event. And then nope, nothing came out of that either. It's really sad how they've mistreated him.

You might be right that it's probably TOO LATE, but it wasn't by the Chamber. The crowd WANTED him to win the World title so bad. They should've capitalized on that.