Important Advice For All WWE Stars & Wrestlers

WWE

Former WWE star Santino Marella has passed on some important advice from the legendary Dusty Rhodes for all aspiring wrestlers.

While he was in WWE developmental, Santino Marella wrestled under the name Boris Alexiev with a character based on a legitimate MMA and fighting background.

That is of course very different to the Italian comedy character he became known as when he was called up to the WWE main roster.

While he wasn’t exactly a serious main event talent or WrestleMania headliner, Marella did become one of the most loved comedy characters in WWE history, and amassed two Intercontinental Title reigns, a United States Title reign, and a Tag Team Title reign alongside Vladimir Kozlov.

Putting Dusty Rhodes’ Advice Into Action

That all came because Marella followed some advice that was given to him by WWE Hall of Famer Dusty Rhodes when he was still in developmental: “If they ever ask you if you can do anything, the answer’s yes. And then you better learn how to do it.”

Appearing on What Do You Wanna Talk About hosted by Dusty’s son Cody Rhodes, Marella explained:

“The call came largely in part because of your dad. Because of the ‘Fearless’ Jack Bull incident. It’s a great lesson. Your dad taught us this lesson – I implemented it one month later and changed my life.

“So ‘Fearless’ Jack Bull, who we love, was an incredible gimmick, it was like a passed-his-prime washed-up alocholic Evel Knievel, it was hilarious.

“Your dad called and said, ‘Can you ride a motorcycle?’ He thought it was somebody doing an impression of your dad, didn’t believe it was your dad, so he’s like, ‘Nope.’ And (Dusty’s) like, ‘Well, can you learn to ride a motorcycle?’ ‘Nope.’

“And then he looked and saw ‘203’ and was like, ‘Oh my god, that was Dusty Rhodes.’

“Then your dad came to OVW and was talking to the class, and near the end of the session, he’s like, ‘Is Jack Bull here?’ And they had a chuckle – the chuckle was fine, but the opportunity never came around again.

“He said, ‘Look. If they ever ask you if you can do anything, the answer’s yes. And then you better learn how to do it.’

“I think your dad used the example of a unicycle. ‘If they ask you if you can ride a unicycle, the answer’s yes, and then you better learn how to ride a unicycle in the next couple of days.’

“Literally, they called me, and they were like, ‘Can you speak Italian?’ And I’m like, ‘Yes.’ They said, ‘Okay, you’re on speakerphone,’ and I said a couple of lines, because I used to listen to this tourist tape and I’d memorized a couple of lines, really super basic, and they were like, ‘Okay that sounds good.’

“Then I went to Borders, and I downloaded eight DVDs or CDs of Italian lessons. Put it on my iPod, and then the whole flight there I’m trying to learn Italian on a flight over. I didn’t learn it that time, but since then, I studied Italian and I was able to go and do a live television interview at my peak of Italian – I actually got Italian citizenship after I became Santino, I really just dove into the culture, my dad’s from Italy.

“But yeah, talk about learning a lesson and then implementing it immediately. It was incredible. If that didn’t happen, I might have said, ‘Not really that well.’ Crazy.”

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So that’s a vital message to all up and coming WWE stars and the same may even go for wrestlers as a whole – always say yes, even if the call isn’t necessarily what you were dreaming of, because it could always become something bigger, and the opportunity might never come around again.

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• wwe
• Dusty Rhodes
• santino marella
• OVW

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