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What's the story?
Former WWE Intercontinental Champion Santino Marella has finally broken his silence on his recent altercation with Jim Cornette. Marella, real name Anthony Carelli, sent a lengthy statement into The Fight Network's Live Audio Wrestling to give his side of the story and set a few things straight regarding his storied history with Cornette.
In case you didn't know...
Up until Marella's statement, only one side of this history has been known. The original story goes that years ago when Marella was working in OVW (which itself was then WWE developmental), he was caught laughing at The Boogeyman during a show. All talent had been told to act scared of Boogeyman, so Marella's reaction did not go down well.
Jim Cornette proceeded to slap Marella, an assault that ultimately cost Cornette his job with WWE. The two had largely been kept apart in the 12 years since, but the rivalry continued at an XICW Convention this past weekend in Detroit.
At the convention, Marella and Cornette had a heated altercation that was caught on camera by a fan. Cornette has spoken on the situation already, but until now Marella had been completely silent.
The heart of the matter
The lengthy statement, which can be read at this link, traces the story all the way back to that fateful night in OVW. Marella claims that he was at the show primarily as a fan, and wasn't aware of any preferred reaction to Boogeyman. He was an excited father looking forward to his daughter being a part of the show, and Cornette subsequently took advantage of his naivety with the assault.
"He knew I couldn't do anything; he took complete advantage of the situation and he assaulted someone, period"
Marella goes on to talk about his career as a comedy wrestler, a style of pro wrestling that Cornette has derided on a number of occasions, before bringing the statement back to the contentious incident in Detroit. Marella states that the two were sitting close to each other before meeting in a hallway, where Marella attempted to make peace only for Cornette to immediately bring up the OVW incident.
"I said to him that I was hoping we could walk away from this with a newfound respect for each other... He laughed and said he had no respect for me, called me a joke and that he should slap me again"
Marella finishes by apologising to the fans at the convention and commenting on the fleeting nature of the wrestling business.
What's next?
It is utterly unthinkable that Jim Cornette will let Marella have the last word on the situation, so expect a reply from the Louisville Lip sooner rather than later. This incident may well have legs yet.
Author's take
Unless further visual evidence comes forward, this is going to be a story with two very different sides. Marella and Cornette are obviously not on each other's Christmas card list, and as such should probably find a way to create an indy wrestling angle in order to make a lot of money.
This is professional wrestling after all.
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