Santino Marella

Summary

---

What Do You Wanna Talk About? with Cody Rhodes

Guest: Santino Marella (August 12, 2026)

WWE x Fanatics Podcasts

---

Episode Overview

Cody Rhodes sits down with legendary wrestler and comedy icon Santino Marella for a wild, wide-ranging, and deeply personal conversation. From judo roots and OVW memories to the backstage brotherhood, their infamous “Muscle Mania” challenge, lessons from working with family, and generational life perspective, this episode offers a rollercoaster of laughter, behind-the-scenes stories, and genuine insight into life inside and outside the squared circle.

---

Main Themes

• Santino’s journey from judo and OVW to WWE and TNA leadership
• The importance of opportunity, improvising, and seizing the moment in wrestling
• Brotherhood, backstage culture, and pranks—“for the boys”
• Parenting as a pro wrestler: regrets, joys, and generational motivation
• Technical skills vs. comedy: Santino’s unique blend and legacy
• Iconic road stories—bus crashes, Muscle Mania, and more
• Reflections on how WWE has evolved, both in business and as a family

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Early Days, OVW & Origins (03:05–13:40)

• Cody and Santino reminisce about their days in OVW, WWE’s developmental territory.
• Cody shares the “first impression” story where a then-unknowing newcomer (himself) attempts to join the now-infamous ‘chop drill’:

  “You got me in the ring and I went first...I hit you with a chop, and it was a dainty overhand chop. And they all booed..." — Cody Rhodes (07:36)

• Santino recalls how he became “Boris Alexiev,” OVW’s Russian shooter, before morphing into the comedic Santino Morella.
• They discuss the lesson from Dusty Rhodes:

  "If they ever ask you if you can do anything, the answer is yes. And then you better learn how to do it." — Santino Marella (12:18)

Entering WWE—Taking Opportunities & Family Lessons (13:40–16:37)

• Santino’s big break came after claiming he could speak Italian—then cramming to learn it during the flight for his surprise debut in Italy.
• Cody and Santino reflect on how little things and quick thinking created huge career opportunities.

Fearless Jack Bull & Booking Creativity (13:40–15:16)

• Inside OVW’s experimental storyline for Fearless Jack Bull (an “Evil Kneivel, washed-up, alcoholic” character), demonstrating early booking creativity from Cody.

• “We were having a lot of fun...the magic wasn’t there without the right people involved.” — Cody Rhodes (15:54)

TNA Director of Authority & Wrestling with Family (18:38–23:36)

• Santino explains how he moved from civilian life (running Battle Arts Academy) back into wrestling as TNA’s Director of Authority after his daughter was injured in NXT, giving him nine months to return:

  "They asked me again, I said, you know what, let's do it. Let's, let's do it...I just fell in love with wrestling again, man, with creating moments, producing television." — Santino Marella (20:05)

• The emotional highpoint: wrestling and teaming with his daughter, in front of his ailing father:

  "I knew it'd be one of the last times he saw me wrestle live. To do it with my daughter was like...the stars aligned, like they're never going to align again." — Santino Marella (22:06)

Muscle Mania: The Legendary Locker Room Bodybuilding Challenge (27:20–37:05)

• An epic, four-month-long backstage prank/locker room contest between Cody and Santino, culminating at WrestleMania’s afterparty.
• Santino, determined to win, goes all-in with diet and posing coaches, thyroid medication, and tanning:

  "I got posing coaches, I got a nutritionist. I was cheating. I was dabbling in thyroid medication..." — Santino Marella (31:47)

• Cody’s perspective: he was unprepared, blindsided, felt like the “bad guy” (heel), lost by popular vote, and only Ray Mysterio’s kind words pulled him up:

  "Ray Mysterio noticed that I was not doing great and he came over to me and said, 'Hey, that was really cool. Thanks for doing that for the boys.'" — Cody Rhodes (37:51)

Ring Brotherhood, Bob Holly, & Culture (40:26–46:42)

• Honest look at locker room dynamics and confrontation: Bob Holly calling Santino “the worst ever,” and how putting the heat on yourself can diffuse tension (42:53).
• Cody: “I still use the put the heat on yourself—no one can ever put it on you.”

Comedy, Backstage Segments & Craft (48:11–53:52)

• Santino shares his approach to comedy and improvisation, being a “jingle master,” and how never repeating the backstage segment kept the act fresh:

  "The midconversation part’s gonna change every time and it’s gonna be more ridiculous every single time...That’s a victory for me." — Santino Marella (50:30)

• Cody commends Santino’s uncommon range—from technical grappling to full comedic timing—and how this versatility is often missing today.

Legit Toughness—Judo, Jiu-Jitsu & Shoots (53:08–55:21)

• Cody and Santino recall light-hearted backstage shoot fights and the reality of Santino’s judo and jiu-jitsu credentials:

  "I won my division at the world championships for jiu jitsu..." — Santino Marella (53:58)

• Anecdote: Cody “lucking out” in a locker room scuffle and Santino slamming him onto luggage out of real frustration.

Live Events — The Maserati Clutch, Comedy Wrestling & Pop Psychology (57:29–64:23)

• Santino’s mastery in crowd work—failing moves until the end for the big pop, missing the hot tag (on purpose), innovating with bits like the "Maserati Clutch":

  "If people want to see you successfully hit it, then I started...to stand on the rope...they would pop." — Santino Marella (59:40)

• John Cena’s praise: “You’ve mastered your craft.”
• Inside jokes about never actually delivering the Maserati Clutch, and Jericho chronicling their antics in his book.

What’s Changed in WWE: NXT Style, Modern Locker Room, and Family (70:02–89:03)

• Santino on younger talent, wrestling styles, and generational differences:

  "Once you’re a star, they just want to look at you...where you fit in the middle is dependent on your ability to captivate." — Santino Marella (70:29)

• Both reflect that in today’s WWE, “more is more” for some, but “less is more” still matters; every generation finds its balance.
• Cody details how the locker room and road life now embrace family, kids, and a healthier environment:

  "The modern WWE, you’d be very happy. You come backstage, you’d see multiple kids walking around, multiple buses with families on." — Cody Rhodes (88:09)

Fatherhood, Regrets & Redemption (75:42–91:02)

• Emotional reflections on missing moments with children due to schedule, and the wrestling-parent paradox:

  “I suffered the whole time, being away from my daughter...I suffered the whole time.” — Santino Marella (77:25)

• Santino and Cody agree: parenting after wrestling is both a privilege and life’s biggest motivator.
• Santino’s greatest pride is his children; he wants to “be the person my daughter thinks I am.”
• Cody recalls his own family history, brotherhood with Dustin, and father Dusty’s final words on legacy:

  “A good husband and a good father, that’s the only thing that matters.” — Cody Rhodes (90:00)

Signature Segments and Fun Deep Dives

Santino’s Famous Malapropisms (111:44)

Cody blind-ranks Santino’s best character mispronunciations:

• “Cold Stone Steve Austin” (4/10)
• “The Hunky Donkey Man” (5/10)
• “Rodney the Piper” (6/10)
• “Golden Dust” (7/10)
• “The Manimal Baptista” (2/10)
• “Ray Master Mastrio” (3/10)
• “John Jaina” (1/10)
• “Sheymus” (4/10)
• “Kane” (8/10)
• “Colby Rhodes” (“Seth’s real name, too!”)

Santino’s Jingle Mastery (114:51)

• Santino enthusiastically performs his legendary Battle Arts jingle live:

  "Jiu jitsu, wrestling, striking and more, boot camp, kettlebells, retail store..."
  (114:52–115:18)

Bus Crash Story (95:50–105:09)

• A hair-raising account of Cody and Santino’s real-life bus crash with “Captain Barbossa”:

  “As it’s grinding to stop, you hear all this glass shatter. So I’m thinking, my God, we are. This is…we’re going to die.” — Cody Rhodes (98:33)

“Dream Team” Question (105:38–107:46)

• Santino’s pick for his ultimate “American Dream Team” to take on the road:

  “Me, you, Randy [Orton], and Rey [Mysterio]. That's a great loop.” — Santino Marella (106:32)

---

Notable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• Funtime Tony:

  “I transform into somebody called Funtime Tony.” — Santino Marella (03:08)

• On Career Opportunities:

  “If they ever ask you if you can do anything, the answer is yes. And then you better learn how to do it.” — Dusty Rhodes, relayed by Santino (12:23)

• On Locker Room Culture:

  “Thanks for doing that for the boys.” — Rey Mysterio to Cody after Muscle Mania (37:51)

• On Wrestling as a Parent:

  “You’re not there, you’re not there, you’re not there...It’s having the greatest time of your life, but simultaneously, there’s a part of you that’s suffering.” — Santino Marella (79:52)

• On Legacy & Family:

  “A good husband and a good father, that's the only thing that matters.” — Dusty Rhodes (90:00, relayed by Cody Rhodes)

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

| Segment | Time | |--------------------------------------|-----------| | Cold Open & Introductions | 00:37 | | Funtime Tony & Party Stories | 03:05 | | OVW Chop Drill/Origins | 05:47–13:40| | Dusty Rhodes Lessons | 11:20–13:40| | Fearless Jack Bull, Booking Fun | 13:40–15:16| | TNA Director of Authority | 18:21–23:36| | Muscle Mania Story | 27:20–37:05| | Bob Holly Locker Room Incident | 40:26–43:40| | Comedy Performance/Backstage Skits | 48:11–53:52| | Authentic Toughness & “Shoots” | 53:08–55:21| | Comedy Wrestling/Crowd Work | 57:20–64:23| | WWE’s Evolution/Family | 88:09–89:03| | Parenting as Performers | 75:42–91:18| | Dream Team Discussion | 105:38–107:46| | Santino’s Malaprop Rankings | 111:44–113:51| | Battle Arts Jingle | 114:51–115:17|

---

Final Thoughts

This episode embodies the unpredictable magic of wrestling life—equal parts humor, wisdom, and heart. Santino shines as both a technician and a comic, with Cody putting over not just the gags, but the sacrifices, discipline, and kinship behind the scenes. Their banter is authentic, hilarious, and often moving—a must-listen (or read) for any wrestling fan or anyone curious about the family behind the performers.

---

Transcript

[Advertisement Voice]

We have the tech to get food delivered in 15 minutes. But we all have horror stories about buying tickets. The GameTime app gives fans the advantage. Get amazing tickets in just a few taps. Fees are included, so what you see is what you pay. And the gametime guarantee means authentic tickets at the best price every time. Take the guesswork out of buying tickets to concerts, sports, comedy and more with game time. Download the Gametime app and create an account for $20 off your first purchase term supply.

[Cody Rhodes]

Hello everybody, this is American Nightmare.

[Advertisement Voice]

Cody Rhodes.

[Cody Rhodes]

Welcome to what do youo Want to Talk About A Fanatics and WWE original production today. Very, very special guest. I'd like to get to the bottom of a certain story with this guest. We have a great history together. We were in the same developmental together, came up right through the same era together. This is a former Intercontinental champion multiple times. This is also somehow Ms. Wrestlemania. And in addition to that and a myriad of other titles, the TNA Director of Authority also we could classify and qualify him as a shooter with his judo experience, which we are going to get into. And we love a shooter on this show that. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the podcast Santino Morella.

[Santino Marella]

Oh, nice, nice.

[Cody Rhodes]

I'll start by saying I often refer to you as Mardell.

[Santino Marella]

Yes.

[Cody Rhodes]

Because Umaga, who, when we were coming up on the road, there was probably not a better match on the live event than Jeff Hardy versus Umaga Cena. Randy. Jeff, Umaga. Those I. Those two matches made it so that the rest of us could play around. We could try them, try stuff, experiment and Arn as a producer, fit as a producer, whatever it may be. But he, Umaga would refer to you as Mardell. And there's a fly out here. What do we do? We let it go. It landed on me.

[Santino Marella]

Yeah, that's good luck.

[Cody Rhodes]

I don't think that's good luck. I don't know anyways, but he would refer to you as Mardell and I never forgot it. So in my phone and you've changed your number a lot of times. I got a lot of Mardell's, so I have to confirm the Mardell. You got a Wheatley American vodka cocktail. What is that?

[Santino Marella]

This is the Cobra Strike. I'm gonna take my first sip of this bad boy right now. I saw it making it. It looks pretty strong.

[Cody Rhodes]

It is Wheatley American Vodka. I have the American Mule.

[Santino Marella]

Oddly smooth for how strong it is.

[Cody Rhodes]

Okay.

[Santino Marella]

God damn, that is good. I tell you, the more I have of these, more fun we're gonna have.

[Cody Rhodes]

Feel free. We've had A. As we mentioned, you're a bit of a shooter. We're referring to your judo experience. But also, I've been in a Minia car with you. I've been in many a bar with you. I've been in a Mini. A catering setting with you.

[Santino Marella]

Yeah.

[Cody Rhodes]

You. You do know how to get the party started.

[Santino Marella]

Yeah, Yeah. I transform into somebody called Funtime Tony.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yes.

[Santino Marella]

And we'll keep him. I got. I can't miss this flight.

[Cody Rhodes]

So tell me, tell me a little bit about what. What do you love about Funtime Tony and what don't you love? What's the problem with Funtime Tony?

[Santino Marella]

The problem is. Yeah, Funtime Tony forgets about Anthony and any responsibilities he has, but he definitely lives in the moment.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah.

[Santino Marella]

And he. All the barriers and all the, you know, the obstacles are just removed and it's. It's. It's free.

[Cody Rhodes]

It's pure fun time Tony. Was fun time Tony there the night that this. The plate got broken and Dibiase lost his shoe and someone got cut by the plate. I got cut by the plate when they. On the head. Right, yes. In catering. Was that fun time?

[Santino Marella]

No, no, no. Yeah, that would have been fun time Tony. So. So Cena, and he knows exactly what he's doing. We were on a European tour. We had the room blocked off. We're drinking, and he just leans over and it was Percy Watson. Nick McNeil goes, Did he just order food for himself and nobody else? And I'm like, what? Where is he? So he took one French fry. The plate just came. One fry. And I took the plate and I smashed the plate and he was just left with one French fry. Like. Like he looked forward to that meal so bad. So Cena, not realizing how sharp the shards were of the plate, took one and went ting to my head. And all of a sudden it's just drip, drip, drip, drip. And he's like, oops. And he goes, oh, well, he did it himself too. So we have to call Doc. Amen to come down a little Crazy glue. And I was wearing a white tank top, which by the end of the night looked like I had been involved in, you know, a murder. It was just. It was horrible. It was very, very bloody. But we shut down that bar around 6, 7 in the morning. So eventually it's time to go to my room. I see a couple elevator doors are closing. I'm trying to get. Get that elevator, so I run in and just kind of, you know, going sideways. There's an elderly couple at 7:00am Just, you know, Finished breakfast. And I'm just sitting there, bloody, just staggering, like, swaying. And they're just. I absolutely terrified. Like they don't know what happened. Why am I bloody? And my. My door opens to my floor and I just walk off. And they must have just had this huge sigh of relief. I mean, you know, it wasn't as bad as it looked, but it looked pretty bad. Yeah, that was. That was a little. Little glimpse of fun time.

[Cody Rhodes]

A glimpse of funtime. Tony. My first experience was not actually with Funtime. Tony. My first experience with you was. And I don't know if you've heard my version of the story.

[Santino Marella]

Yeah, yeah.

[Cody Rhodes]

But my. My first experience, I was told to go to Rip Rogers class, which was the non contract class at OVW Intermediate, right. And shout out, of course, to Jim Danny, Rip. They had built something special there. And I'm so glad I got to go. I don't know, I actually might have only ever been to one Rip class. Rip.

[Santino Marella]

Really?

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah. There was a bit of. Things were changing in the curriculum during that period, and I wasn't asked of me to go again, but I went and it was great. He was teaching good, good stuff. And then he got to this thing where guys were standing in the corner and chopping. And you move the next buckle, you chop the person again, you go all four, and then you reverse it. So I'm new and you kind of, when you're new, don't know when you're supposed to jump in. You don't know the flow of the drill. All right, am I even supposed to be in yet? I don't know. But that one felt like, I know this. I know this part. And I slid in and I didn't have anyone slide in with me. And the whole group, all of the non contract, the intermediate group is banging the mat like a scene from the original Mortal Kombat movie when Goro walks out. Like, they're banging the mat and they're looking at me and they're like. You can see them this sweating. And there's an anger about this Nepo baby who just stepped in, but I really didn't know what I was getting into. And they're bore wrist box. Boris. Boris. And then you came out and you were zippered up in ovw. You were shredded. You had tiny bike shorts on, and it looked like you were performing because you were oiled up. And you got me in the ring and I went first.

[Santino Marella]

Yes, that's true.

[Cody Rhodes]

So I backed you in the corner and I hit you with a Chop. And it was a dainty overhand chop. And they all booed and boo and Rips yelling something. And I never even got to do the other three. You just turned me around and you chop me. And they're cheering. And then he got to the next one. You kind of like slapped me, but chopped me too. And then we got to the next one. You chopped me again. Finally we got to the fourth and you did this big build up and they're all doing like a drum roll thing. And he finally hit me with the fourth chop and I was less. I didn't care about the chops. Chops. We chop each other wrestling. It's violent, right. But I thought, what did I just experience? What is he the leader of the group? Is he. And I didn't know. As you come to find out, everything was new. You know, you were actually on. You know, Paul Heyman was writing OVW TV at the time and he had written this character for you and you were on, but you weren't under contract yet. What a wild time.

[Santino Marella]

Yeah.

[Cody Rhodes]

None of that would happen today. Not saying it, but what a wild time. And then you worked yourself into an amazing situation where Boris, who I knew from ovw, you can go back and look at what you were doing there, would evolve in one night to the man I know as Mardell and Santino Morella in Italy, where we re. We reconvene. We saw each other again.

[Santino Marella]

Yeah, that's right. Recently. Yeah.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah.

[Santino Marella]

So my recollection's a little different.

[Cody Rhodes]

Okay.

[Santino Marella]

Because I. I was somewhat of even that class, like a locker room leader there. And I saw this new kid. Big moshi. She. Puffy black hair.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yes.

[Santino Marella]

And, you know, tall, big kid. Oh, we got an athlete here because, you know, wasn't the best athletes. So I remember I came up and we're. I was asking you where you're from. You just come from la. And we're sitting there and we're as they all welcome to the class. You know, this and that. And then Rip goes chop drill and we're beside each other and it was. It's awkward way to meet somebody. You just, you know, you just, hi, how are you all welcome. And, oh, we have to go in the ring and chop each other now. And you know, how. How much do you chop the new guy? And. And so anyway, you did go first and you chopped me. And then I had to, you know, live up to the. The hype. Right?

[Advertisement Voice]

Yeah.

[Cody Rhodes]

And there was a lot of hype in that room.

[Santino Marella]

Yeah, that was. That Was the, the foundation of my training. Like, what a blessing to meet Rip Rogers. I had gone to OVW in the beginner's class, drove down MapQuest, Hyundai Accent, full of stuff. And I was in the beginner's class about three weeks. And then they realized, you know, I was an athlete. So I was in the majority of my time. There was Rip Rogers class where I learned even how to run the ropes lock up, you know, 31 years old. And then obviously I got to the advanced class. In the advanced class, there was, let's say there was 30 guys, 26 were under contract. Yeah. There's about four of us that were not under contract. I think Beth originally wasn't. There was Sosa, myself and another guy. Can't remember his name. But anyway, yeah, then pulling them, Paul wrote me into OverwTV. So I was Boris Koloff and he switched my name to Boris Alexia. And it's funny, I saw Paul in Italy a couple weeks ago. I knew that Vince liked the, the Russian powerlifter Alexei.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah.

[Santino Marella]

So he kind of associated the, the name with Alexeyev to kind of get his attention. But also he didn't like, I believe, Ivan Golov. So he didn't want to have that, that attachment to it. But, you know, it, it was smart on that, on his behalf to do that. And then, yeah, then obviously I. The call came large largely in part because of your dad, because of the Fearless Jack Bull incident.

[Cody Rhodes]

Oh, can you ride a motorcycle?

[Santino Marella]

Yes, yes.

[Cody Rhodes]

It's a great lesson for anyone.

[Santino Marella]

Great lesson. And it actually, your dad taught us this lesson. I implemented it one month later and changed my life. Crazy. So Fearless Jack Bull, who we love, it was an incredible gimmick. It was like a past his prime, washed up alcoholic, evil Knievel. It was hilarious. And 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 he's like, well, can you learn to ride a motorcycle? Nope. And he's like, well, okay, then. And then he looked and saw 203 and was like, oh, my God, that was Dusty Rhodes. And then your dad came to OVW and was talking to the class and at near the end of the, of the, the session is like, is Jack Bull here? And then, you know, they had a chuckle, you know, but, but I mean, the chuckle was fine, but the opportunity never came around again.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah.

[Santino Marella]

And he said, look, if they ever ask you if you can do anything, the Answer is yes.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah.

[Santino Marella]

And then you better learn how to do it. And I remember, I think your dad used an example of a unicycle. If they ask you if you can ride a unicycle, the answer is yes. And then you better learn how to ride a unicycle the next couple days.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah, you got time.

[Santino Marella]

And literally, they called me and they're like, can you speak Italian? And I'm like, yes. And they said, you know, okay, you're on speakerphone. And I said a couple lines, like, because I used to listen to this tourist tape that I memorized a couple lines, really super basic. And they were like, oh, okay, that sounds good. And then I went to Borders and I got. I downloaded 8 DVDs or CDs of Italian lessons on a man beast, put it on my ipod, and then the whole flight there, I'm trying to learn Italian on, like, a flight over. And I didn't learn at that time, but since then I studied Italian and I was able to actually go and do a live television interview at, like, my peak of Italian and a radio interview. And I actually got my Italian citizenship after I became Santino. I really just dove into the culture. My dad's from Italy and. But yeah, I mean, talk about learning a lesson and then implementing it immediately. It was. It was incredible. Like, if that didn't happen, I may have said, no, not really that well, you know what I mean? Like, crazy.

[Cody Rhodes]

I think. I don't. On the pod, you're actually the first person who's ever brought up Fearless Jack Bull.

[Santino Marella]

Awesome.

[Cody Rhodes]

I would love. There are people involved, you're involved, Punk's involved. A few others were involved. Timmy Baltimore was involved. Al let us just do things right. Because he was under the impression, well, if it pops, the wrestlers were the biggest marks of all, as he would always say, so it must pop the audience, too. So with so little experience, he was letting me come up with these concepts of what does a retired stuntman wrestle? Like, what does. How does he win matches? Does he roll out of the ring to go get a hot dog? And the other guy chases him and the other guy gets counted out? Does he slip on his getting in the ring and then he backstop backdrops the guy? It was.

[Santino Marella]

It was awesome.

[Cody Rhodes]

It was. It was. We were having a lot of fun.

[Santino Marella]

The uniform was awesome.

[Cody Rhodes]

I think where Danny Davis finally said enough was the oxygen deprived chamber at Derby Park Expo 5, which is a flea market, by the way.

[Santino Marella]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Cody Rhodes]

Where we put him in it and said he would sit for the remainder of the show. You know, I'd look at this amazing stunt, and it was him in it. And. Can you hear us? It's soundproof. Yep, I can hear you. And he was also smoking a cigarette in it. It just. That's where they finally. I was very young. It was my first foray in a little bit of. Of the booking side of things. And that's where they said that, you know, fantastical minds can sometimes be too fantastical.

[Santino Marella]

There was something with a shopping cart and a jump and there was some crazy stunts.

[Cody Rhodes]

Oh, we laid a dirt bike down at Six Flags.

[Santino Marella]

Six Flags. Yeah.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah. And that wasn't the problem. He was supposed to jump the ring, guys. Okay? So obviously we were not going to. He didn't know the joke was he was. He just fell down and then, you know that. But the problem was he laid the dirt bike down and the gas spilled on the floor. So the whole show. For the rest of the six flag, for a guy with a lisp, this is a rough one. Six Flag Super Summer Sizzler series show. For the rest of those shows that. That night, we were. We were. I remember being in the biggest trouble with Al. Like, oh, arena smelled like gas. What was the idea here? We promised the jump and that, you know. Well, this is quite a deep cut. This segment is brought to you by Morgan and Morgan. Morgan and Morgan. They've been fighting for the people for 35 years. For their friends, for their families, for their loved ones. Can you think of a time you also have been in that type of fight?

[Santino Marella]

When Battle Arts first opened, it was a struggle. It was long days, sometimes 14, 16 hours. And I very quickly realized it wasn't about me anymore. It was about providing a facility for these kids to realize their dreams, whether it be Olympics or being a professional athlete or just having a place to grow up and become better and stronger. So that. That really motivated me, and that was. That was a big fight.

[Cody Rhodes]

For more information, go to for the people.com Cody or dial pound law. You wouldn't hire an electrician to perform a root canal, would you? Just like I wouldn't hire my tailor to set up the pyrotechnics for my WWE entrance. Hiring the wrong people for job can be disastrous. That's where Morgan and Morgan comes in. If you're ever injured by the negligence of another. Morgan and Morgan is America's largest injury law firm for a reason. Whenever I witness an injury or an accident, I automatically think Morgan and Morgan. They have over 100 offices nationwide and more than 1,000 lawyers with over $30 billion recovered for over 500,000 clients. Morgan. And Morgan has a proven track record of fighting to get you full and and fair compensation. If you are ever injured, you can check out Morgan and Morgan. Their fee is free unless they win. Yes, that's right, free. For more information go to forththepeople.com Cody or dial pound law. That's f r the people.com Cody or dial pound law and let them know I sent you. This is a paid advertisement.

[Advertisement Voice]

We have the tech to get food delivered in 15 minutes. But we all have horror stories about buying tickets. The GameTime app gives fans the advantage. Get amazing tickets in just a few taps. Fees are included. So what you see is what you pay. And the gametime guarantee means authentic tickets at the best price every time. Take the guesswork out of buying tickets to concerts, sports, comedy and more with GameTime. Download the GameTime app and create an account for $20 off your first purchase terms. App.

[Cody Rhodes]

I mentioned booking my first foray into like trying it you now I am very shocked that I get to read this sheet of paper knowing many of your accolades, having experienced them, been involved in some fun stories with you. How does one become the TNA Director of Authority?

[Santino Marella]

It's funny, you know, I was a civilian man. Life after wrestling was great. And I have Battle Arts Academy and it's running and it's going well. And Scott d', Amores, a friend of mine kind of asked me to come to TNA a couple times and I'm like, man, I'm really busy. I was running the facility by myself with my wife. And it's a lot. It's a huge undertaking. It's a massive facility and I just couldn't fathom leaving home to do this. And then plus my daughter, she got signed and she was at nxt and I always wanted to do something together with her and I figured the opportunity would, you know, come about with WWE and, and she got injured. I think she blew her knee out actually when she got there, they put her with somebody really green who did something and she, she blew her knee out. So I knew I had nine months. So. And he asked me again, I said, you know what, let's do it. Let's, let's do it. And at the time, so I had my neck surgery 2014 and as I was kind of, you know, trying to get come back from that, my, my lower back kind of crapped out on me, man. Like, you know, I have a really degenerated discs and I wasn't really able to. To wrestle. So I'm like, you know, I can wrestle like, once in a while. So he came up with this. This concept of the director of authority, which is kind of like a gm. And, yeah, I went there and it didn't take long, like three months or so. And I'm like, man, I miss this, man. Just. And now, instead of just being a performer, you know, I was a. I've been a coach for, like, 13 years, and now I'm dabbling in producing and coaching and sitting in the production meetings, and I just. I just fell in love with wrestling again, man, with creating moments, producing television. And I've been there for three and a half years, and I love it. It's great. And then, of course, this, you know, landmark relationship with WWE and tna, and my daughter come came to work with me. Yeah. So we had this incredible. You know, at first she was the liaison between the two brands, and then she got cleared to wrestle again, and we tagged together last year, and you know how special that is. And then she turned on me, and we wrestled against each other a few months ago in a mixed tag and stuff, so it came full circle. And during that, she was there for a year and nine months.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah.

[Santino Marella]

I didn't realize the relationship had been that long, but watching her polish, you know, like, her. She didn't really have a. An offensive moveset that was like hers. So every match was trying new things, and then in that time, she's just kind of, you know, got her move set and it's much more crisp. And I just watched her, you know, develop, and now she's. She's ready to. She's ready for what's next.

[Cody Rhodes]

You're a reverse second generation, you know, that's what Cena used to say about Fabo.

[Santino Marella]

Oh, yeah.

[Cody Rhodes]

You know what I mean? Well, no, you're not revert. But now, because, yeah, the whole thing is. That's a special moment.

[Santino Marella]

Yeah, it was awesome. Yeah. And my dad was. I'm an emotional guy, so my dad has Parkinson's, and we were in Brampton, Ontario, and it's progressing, you know, so we were close to home, and he was able to come. He was in a wheelchair. And get some more of this Wheatley vodka here.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah.

[Santino Marella]

And I knew it'd be one of the last times he saw me wrestle live to do with my daughter was like. She even called me out on the way to the rain. She's like, hold it together, Dad. I got a glimpse of my dad in the wheelchair, and it was. It was Cool, man. It was really good. It was a special moment for the family. My kids were there, my younger kids now, and. And it was. It was. It was awesome.

[Cody Rhodes]

To have. To have everybody all together is like

[Santino Marella]

the stars aligned, like, they're never going to align again.

[Cody Rhodes]

And I feel like there's wrestlers that the stars don't align or they align slightly, but to have it all together is you'll. That memory you'll always have. And I try because if you need a tish, by the way, if I. If I try, I know for me, with Liberty from WrestleMania 39 onward, I overly try to always have the stars aligned because near the end, in our situation with Dustin and me and Dad, I could see we're not gonna get more shots at this. You know, when we did battleground example in Buffalo, there was a whole discussion on he couldn't even get up the steps, so it was like, what does he do? Does he do the spot on the outside? And just having to hear that discussion, I realized, like, I shouldn't be jaded or bitter about anything here. We're going to get this moment together.

[Santino Marella]

At Six Flags, you had a special moment.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah, that was.

[Santino Marella]

That one gave me chills because it was nighttime and it was just. It was nighttime. It was like a light rain. It was like a scene from a movie.

[Cody Rhodes]

The Six Flags Super Summer Sizzler series. Yes.

[Santino Marella]

Yeah. It was awesome. I was happy for you because I knew how much it means to you, man.

[Cody Rhodes]

I wore those trunks that were half gold and half like the polka dots, I remember. And at that time, I was honestly really well aware of. I wanted to develop my own thing. But early in your. Early in the game, when you're the second gen, when you're in the. They really. That's always the suggestion, and a lot of times it's the right call because as you're building and as stuff, you know, that's. It's easy to plug in for a fan to understand. OVW is so from a crowd perspective, they were the, you know, one of the most traditional and best type of wrestling fans. They understood a familial connection. They understood a baby face and what that is. They understood, you know, what a villain was. They were just a very. A really great crowd to learn in front of. They'd also seen Cena, Brock, Batista, Randy. So when they get to this generation of yourself, punk me, you know, some of the others, you know, Beth, all the folks there, they weren't easily impressed. You had to actually. Do you remember Donna? Do you Remember that lady Donna sitting in the front row?

[Santino Marella]

Yeah.

[Cody Rhodes]

That was like. If you could pop her. That was a. That was a big moment.

[Santino Marella]

Sandow was there too.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah.

[Santino Marella]

The crime time and deuce and dominoes. It was a cool class. We had a good class. I remember when Punk first came because I. I didn't watch Ring of Honor.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah.

[Santino Marella]

And this guy, CM Punk. CM Punk. And I'm like, why is everyone freaking out over this guy? And then I see him and he, like, literally had like an aura around him. Yeah. And then I watched him wrestle. I'm like, are they expecting me to become that good? He was already good.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah.

[Santino Marella]

Yeah, it was. He was.

[Cody Rhodes]

I. I hope he doesn't mind me sharing this, but one of my favorite moments ever similar was Greg Gagne, who helped train me.

[Santino Marella]

Yeah.

[Cody Rhodes]

Actually by. I think people a lot of times don't realize. Greg actually was very helpful to me. Very. Taught me some fun stuff that no one teaches anymore. Old school. Head scissors, Arm across the trust. A chest arm drag. Some different. Some different variants, different psychology. And then the Babyface Fire was so unique in AWA and that. But he asked. After the Hammerstein show, when Punk debuted for ecw, he asked to the group, including Punk, he goes, I don't get it. Like, they knew you. How did they. And he. Punk was like, 10 years. I've literally wrestled in that building before. Like, it's not been 10 years. And he just was just bewildered by it. And I don't know if you remember, at the end of the night, used to give these speeches and he'd always talk about. He'd always shout him out after that. He was a great example. But he'd never say cm. He'd say mc. Literally always be mc. Knows what I'm talking about. Mc. I'm like, man, he's.

[Santino Marella]

It's also because, like, you know, social media was just kind of emerging at that point. We have MySpace and Internet in general. Man. When I first started and you know, having singles matches in 03, those matches were unseen.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah.

[Santino Marella]

And that's why I had to. You know, I left to Japan because I knew there was. I was just spinning my tires. There's no one. No one's seeing this. You know, I was starting late, so I had to. I had to. I had to make something happen quick, you know.

[Cody Rhodes]

How's that drink right there?

[Santino Marella]

It's awesome, actually.

[Cody Rhodes]

Good. Because what I'm going to ask you about next is rather controversial. It's been in books, I believe it's been in several published books. From Wrestlers now, the fabled. If you don't know what we're talking about, look it up. I think Ben Brown knows what we're talking about. There might even be. I'm surprised not to see your trophy over here provided jbl, but do you recall an event called Muscle Mania?

[Santino Marella]

Yeah, I do.

[Cody Rhodes]

And I want you to. I want you to have the floor and explain to me what you recall of Muscle Mania.

[Santino Marella]

Okay.

[Cody Rhodes]

Okay. Because I think it's unfair for me to give you my outlook on your.

[Santino Marella]

Yours is. Yeah, yours. There's going to be a discrepancy at the beginning. It was a November European tour. And, you know, we always, you know, like brothers, always messing with each other. And I did. It was something with cupcakes. I put some on your bag. You put one in my bag. And, you know, we were jacking and I was out of shape, but I was a comedic character, so I didn't have to have abs. And you. You. And I forget where. I think you called me fat. And I was like. I said, yeah, but I would beat you in a bodybuilding contest. And you were, like, appalled at the notion that I would think that because I was out of shape, and I'm like, yeah, but I can lose weight. And then it started on the bus. Who do you think would win? And we were taking a poll on the bus, and, you know, the boys being the boys, encourage it and encourage it, and we said, well, let's do it. Let's pick a date. And from November, it was decided that it was going to be at the WrestleMania after party. And I mean, that's like. It was like four months away.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah.

[Santino Marella]

So it was. That's the thing. It was like this huge buildup for, like, four months. And I remember at one point, we were kind of getting tired of it a bit because it was. It would, like, overtake raw.

[Cody Rhodes]

That's the other thing. The show was the most important yet. We were still talking about Muscle Mania

[Santino Marella]

with regards to the locker room kind of overshadowed WrestleMania. Like, I mean, obviously not for the fans, but everyone was like, you know, muscle Mania is coming up. And so there were T shirts made.

[Cody Rhodes]

There were.

[Santino Marella]

There was. Ray contributed a mask. I remember someone put $1,000 cash.

[Cody Rhodes]

When the T shirts were made is where I realized what was happening. I didn't know the narrative this was taking and the shape this was taking. And those T shirts were made. They are mega powers.

[Santino Marella]

Mega powers.

[Cody Rhodes]

I was savage. And in my mind, I didn't know until that moment. And I remember Cena's Handing the shirts out and everyone got a shirt but me.

[Santino Marella]

Come on.

[Cody Rhodes]

And then finally I was like, I would like a shirt for Muscle Mania. I got a double X, so I couldn't wear it. It looked like a little kid at night. Like, it was brutal, but go ahead. Yes.

[Santino Marella]

So there was two components. There was a strength component and then a bodybuilding component. And so in my mind, it was the tortoise in the hair. You're the hair.

[Cody Rhodes]

This is where the story is.

[Santino Marella]

You're the hair. You're already jacked. You have six pack and I'm the chubby guy. And I believe I. So at the time I was like £233. In November. Come Mania. I was £203. So every week I lost £1. I was, I mean, I took it okay because I was an athlete. I always had dates to strive for. Provincial championships, national championships, competitions. The dates always pushed me. The, the, the, the fear of the date approaching and not being prepared is. And I. When you're a professional wrestler, it's not really competition. So I didn't have that motivation. So it was kind of. It was good for me to get me in shape. It motivated me. And, And I remember, I remember sitting on the bus and when the competition started, I'm like, I learned a language for a promo. Like, I'm, I'm taking this serious. I got posing coaches, I got a nutritionist. I was cheating. I was dabbling in thyroid medication. My God. Yeah, I, at the day, I got like. I did the whole, you know, tanning thing. I got posing trunks. I had a panic attack from the thyroid medication that I stopped taking it because I was taking it very serious. Yeah. So I did, you know, the last 48 hours with the water and the sweet potatoes. I took diuretics that were like, dangerous. I had to take a half a pill and all this stuff. And. But so here's the thing. It was like inverse, because I was like ahead in the strength category. But you were like, getting stronger and stronger and stronger. And I'm like, oh, shit, this guy's getting strong. You know? And then I was getting like leaner and leaner and leaner. I think you get injured for the strength thing. We didn't end up doing the strength thing.

[Cody Rhodes]

So much of your story is not. This is your version of the story. So we never did the strength part.

[Santino Marella]

No, we never did.

[Cody Rhodes]

I forget what happened, but also I think there was a forgetfulness about. It had been this huge buildup.

[Santino Marella]

Yes.

[Cody Rhodes]

The T shirts, all that. Everyone's Talking about at JBL got a giant trophy from a local trophy shop in Houston. And it had gymnasts on it, football players on it, ice skaters on it. Every type of trophy was amalgam. It was an amalgamation of every type of. It was 8ft tall, and it was in the green room. And that's back in the day when everyone had to come in the green room and everybody had to be like, what's this for? Muscle Mania. Oh, Muscle Mania. But as we were approaching. You were the heel, though, again.

[Santino Marella]

In Tortoise. In the Hare, the Hare is the heel.

[Cody Rhodes]

But here's the difference. In Tortoise and the Hare. In Tortoise and the Hare, the slow and steady wins the race. The Hare gets cocky. It's authentic. That's the story you're telling. And I think a lot of people want to believe that. End of the story. But I'm going to tell you from my end of the story is I thought most people had forgot about Muscle Mania because during the week of Mania, it's all Mania all the time. You know that WrestleMania, it's Randy, Triple H. There's tons of elements going on. And you miss WrestleMania, which is.

[Santino Marella]

There's the same WrestleMania.

[Cody Rhodes]

You've got that going on. You're in this giant battle royal with all of the divas at the time and women's wrestlers, and then you win. That is your tiara or Santina's, if we can say. If not, then there's a relation there. That's all that's going on. Your sister. So there's that element. We're focused on Mania, the show, which we should be focused on. But you said you were 230. And by mania, you were 203.

[Santino Marella]

Two hundred and three.

[Cody Rhodes]

I would bet that you were 230 when we started talking about Muscle Mania. And you were 2:30 on the day of.

[Santino Marella]

Oh, no, I lost.

[Cody Rhodes]

I was always gonna lose from the moment I got called in and Triple H started calling out the poses, which I did not know. And you did have posing trunks on.

[Santino Marella]

I had posing instructions.

[Cody Rhodes]

So have you ever heard what happened to me in that moment?

[Santino Marella]

So, okay, so I remember Regal, the day before is like, let's not do it at the after party. Let's. Let's do it the next day just for the boys. So I was like, oh, man. Like, I had. Like, you have to time your sweet potatoes and your diuretics. So I told my. My guy, my coach. Did you have a coach or anything like that? You prepare at all?

[Cody Rhodes]

No, I Thought it wasn't even happening. And I don't think you prepared at all.

[Santino Marella]

No, I was.

[Cody Rhodes]

I was the same guy.

[Santino Marella]

But there was not to say there was.

[Cody Rhodes]

That's what always blew my mind. And in that moment, you were riding high. You had one at WrestleMania, a big WrestleMania moment. And then spoilers. You win Muscle Mania by a landslide because we do it. Audience vote. Which is which again? I was. That's the moment. So Linda McMahon is one of my favorite people and she. This is the last after party I remember seeing her at. And she's enjoying the revelry that is Muscle Mania. And everything is clapping, everything is positive. And I go up there and we knew each other, her and I. So she's cheering us all on. And then she saw the room was booing and that I was the bad guy. And I remember just seeing her go like this. And then.

[Santino Marella]

Were you making eye contact with her?

[Cody Rhodes]

And when I made eye contact with her, I.

[Santino Marella]

She turned on you.

[Cody Rhodes]

The night that you enjoyed, the night that the boys were enjoying became one of the worst nights of my life. My life. And where it really. So you were getting all the applause on all the poses. Then we went to the talent portion, which I did a backflip.

[Santino Marella]

Standing backflip.

[Cody Rhodes]

And then you just did this unbelievable Russian over top dance that you could probably still do today. A fun time. Tony. It was an amazing. And you're getting the whole place into it. It looked like a bar mitzvah was happening. All of a sudden people are cheering and you win and you are the one and only winner of the only time Muscle Mania ever happened.

[Santino Marella]

Apparently they tried to do it a second time, but, you know, it wasn't the event, it was the people involved.

[Cody Rhodes]

The magic wasn't there.

[Santino Marella]

Wasn't there.

[Cody Rhodes]

The magic wasn't there. Had I known I was the bad guy in all this, I probably would have approached it differently. I just remember thinking, everyone's forgot about this. But that morning I had the choice of putting on boxer briefs. Or I could put on a Speedo.

[Santino Marella]

Just had the blue Speedo.

[Cody Rhodes]

Just in case. I could put. Just in case. As a wrestler, can you ride a motorcycle? Just in case. And I put it on. And it was deep in the party when this came up. There's an element that we probably. Kid Rock was getting ready to perform on stage. He was on stage and then he was upset that we were. Yeah, he was. So he left and Jericho was trying to get him to come back and we wanted him to come back to the party, but they Wanted to do muscle mania. So the whole thing, it was so from my.

[Santino Marella]

Wasn't happening that night.

[Cody Rhodes]

From my perspective, the same guy, the cupcakes and it happened on the bus. It's nothing changed. And I heard you saying like I hate 16 sweet potatoes and I'm taking water pills. I heard this and I just thought you were always going to win. Is a fun moment. And I hear, when I hear people about it. But I just hope you know, what a low for me. What a staggering.

[Santino Marella]

Staggering. Worked out pretty good for you.

[Cody Rhodes]

You know the one lesson I learned that night, I learned many lessons that night, but the one that really sat with me and it reminded me of how special of a culture and brethren and locker room we are is as I got off, one guy noticed that I was genuinely a mortified half naked in a room of. There's like 10 year olds at the WrestleMania after party. There's families, it's not just the boys in the locker room. There's dignitaries, there's kid rocks, there's Linda's. I'm just trying to like pull my pants on in front of everybody. Sad like pulling one leg over. And I, Rey Mysterio noticed that I was not doing great and he came over to me and I'll never forget what he said. He said, hey, that was really cool. Thanks for doing that for the boys.

[Santino Marella]

Nice. That's nice. And I thought, Ray's amazing.

[Cody Rhodes]

I thought, yep, I did that for the boys.

[Santino Marella]

So I didn't.

[Cody Rhodes]

But in my mind I'm like, ah, okay, okay, okay. Yeah. That made me feel better about it

[Santino Marella]

when I thought it wasn't happening. And then I think it was taker who's like, where are they? Let's do it right now.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah.

[Santino Marella]

And we're like, I'm like, I don't have my pose. I was like, I don't have my posing tights on. I'm wearing just like not very flattering underwear. And all of a sudden I remember going Cody on the mic and like, oh no, this is happening now. And then Kid Rock was on stage. He was warming up with the bongos. He's about to jam like Kid Rock at the after party.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah. And we took that away from them

[Santino Marella]

so we could give them your parents off. He's like, yep, see ya. And he left the stage and. And you know what the funny thing is? The, the lights were not for a bodybuilding show.

[Cody Rhodes]

It wouldn't have mattered. And that's.

[Santino Marella]

I saw pictures after and I'm like, oh, damn. Yeah.

[Cody Rhodes]

I heard there's pictures.

[Santino Marella]

I have them, but they're not. They're not good. They're, like, blurry and the lighting isn't good.

[Cody Rhodes]

Muscle Mania. Well, hey, Lillian, Garcia, listen, regardless of whether you had transformed or whether you hadn't. Regardless of if I was the hair and you were the tortoise, I. I lost and you won. So congrats to you.

[Santino Marella]

Oh, thank you.

[Cody Rhodes]

Thank you. And the one and only. I hope someone you know defend your title at some point. Muscle Mania. All right, sports fans, this is the tag team you've been waiting for. Affirm and Fanatics have joined forces. You can grab your fan gear today and pay over time. With Affirm, you get simple monthly payment options. No late fees, no hidden charges, and no surprises. Just flexible plans that fit your budget. Whatever gear helps you be the fan you want to be. Like a New Jersey, the latest collectible, or a classic throwback. A firm can help you make it yours with a payment plan that works for you. Because being a fan isn't about spending more.

[Santino Marella]

It's about.

[Cody Rhodes]

It's about backing your team, your heroes, and your story your way. Visit affirm.com WWE to get started or download the Affirm app. It's free on iOS and Android. With Affirm and Fanatics now, every fan can own their moment, subject to eligibility terms apply. We don't talk about this on the pod at all. And I. I want to be careful with how I. Lately, the pod's been getting aggregated and every story is somehow clickbait. But I want to make it clear that I had a really good experience with Bob Holly.

[Santino Marella]

Okay.

[Cody Rhodes]

He was. I enjoyed it. It was. He was a hard man, but he was good to me. Taught me one of the first guys to teach me about working out. He was kind of in the winter of his moment at wwe. He was at the end and probably going through elements of that that I wasn't seeing. But as. As a. I tried to do it right the way we were taught. If that's your partner, you ride with them.

[Santino Marella]

Right.

[Cody Rhodes]

Hotel, you go to the gym. You do everything together. You. You develop. You develop.

[Santino Marella]

And this one, you first got called.

[Cody Rhodes]

This is when I first got called.

[Santino Marella]

Did you get for. It was in 2007.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah.

[Santino Marella]

What month?

[Cody Rhodes]

It's only. It's a little after you. You. Because I watched you shortly after. Yeah. The Milan and then it's not long.

[Santino Marella]

Like summertime.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah.

[Santino Marella]

Okay.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah. But you. Bob was also not one to mince words about how bad you might be in the ring. And he had it out for you

[Santino Marella]

in the beginning, and I won him over.

[Cody Rhodes]

I'll never forget being in Vienna, Austria, because we still use those locker rooms and that we did a match where he clubbed you in the back.

[Santino Marella]

Yeah.

[Cody Rhodes]

And you didn't bump immediately. You kind of went down and came up, which is a fine sell in itself. You did not do anything. But he took that as you were not selling it. And then he hit you a bunch of times and you went down. Whatever. The match goes the way it goes. We get to the end of it. But then I will never forget the locker room being in the locker room and him coming in and looking at you. And you were always so friendly and kind and ready for a joke and ready to party and also ready to learn, but also very much one of the boys. You were about the boys and the protective culture of that. And he just looked at you and said, you're the worst. You're rotten. You're the worst of all time ever. You're the worst ever.

[Santino Marella]

You're the worst.

[Cody Rhodes]

And everyone was expecting you to just like, oh, you know, what can I do better, Bob? Or whatever. Do you know, I'm sorry, Bob, what happened? Or I'm so sorry. You know, the number one thing you can do as a wrestler, you put the heat on yourself. No one else can. Right. But you instead just went. You looked at him and just went, really? Come on, come on. And he was instantly deflated in his anger of, yeah, but I'll never forget it because I thought, I don't want

[Advertisement Voice]

to see a fight.

[Cody Rhodes]

That'd be a rough one, too. Judo Santino against very, very tough Bob Holly. That wouldn't have been a.

[Santino Marella]

Bob's tough.

[Cody Rhodes]

That wouldn't have been a fun fight. You know what I mean? It would have. You know what? You know what? The difference between, oh, that's kind of funny and oh, God, the. The. Where you got to go in the next day and explain what happened. I didn't want one of those fights, you know, so.

[Santino Marella]

So the match was. It was a four way tag match. Kendrick in London, me and Carlito. Yeah, you and Bob. Lance, Kid and Trevor Murdoch. So in the beginning, yes, forearm to the back. I bottomed out and came up for what I thought was a second one. And he took it offensively and it was just like, stay the earth down. He just started beating on me. Anyway, fast forward to the end. It was a complicated comeback. I think he forgot a spot. So he was furious and he came back and he said, you.

[Cody Rhodes]

He was.

[Santino Marella]

You're. You're Rotten. You're the worst I've ever seen. And then he looked at you and said, and how many times I got to tell you to tag faster on the hot tag? And you immediately put the heat on yourself? You go, yep. You told me every time, I'm never going to happen again.

[Cody Rhodes]

Never will happen again.

[Santino Marella]

And then. And you do you, you, you stopped him in his tracks. And then he looked back at me again, and you again went back at me. And that was when I was like, come on. I mean, this is the wwe. You gotta be pretty good to get here. It can't be the worst you've ever seen.

[Cody Rhodes]

I, I still use the put the heat on yourself. No one can ever put it on you.

[Santino Marella]

You're good at it.

[Cody Rhodes]

Prime example was, I remember getting up to get coffee at the monitor. I had watched every live event match. I got up to get coffee. It was 10ft adjacent to the monitor, but I was not looking at the monitor. An undertaker walked up to me and said, nothing. You can learn from that match going on right now. And I, I remember thinking, this is fairly ridiculous. But I just looked at him and said, and I've used this line a bazillion times since. I have no excuse. What's there to argue? You're not wrong. I probably could. I got up. I made this mistake. I have no excuse. But I feel like we were in so many cars together. We were around Randy. Randy a great deal together. They're all very almost scattered. Family Guy, like, bits, basically. I could ask you, do you remember in Charleston, West Virginia, when Randy took his halberd and goes, hey, guys, watch this. And just threw it across the parking lot to see if it would make sparks. Just these random, random moments. You were there for all of it. And then I felt like I didn't see you after that. I, I. You, you. Rico Coliseum, now Coca Cola Coliseum. That was the last show. Right. Where you basically said, I was about

[Santino Marella]

to have neck surgery.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah.

[Santino Marella]

And it's funny, it was misconstrued. I wasn't announcing my retirement. I was just saying that. And I wanted to do it in Toronto because Santino's introduced as being from Italy. And I just always wanted people to know, like, especially Canadians. I'm Canadian. Yeah, proud to be Canadian, you know? And I, I wanted to just say, if this is the last time, I don't know, I'm gonna have surgery. We'll see how it goes. But if this is the last time, I just want you guys to know I'm. I'm from Here. I'm from Mississauga, Ontario. And then I get in the car, and it's like, santino retires. I'm like, no, no, that's not what I said. But, yeah, we were. We got called up at the same time. And anybody that you spent time with, OVW with, they were like a security blanket.

[Cody Rhodes]

Like, you know, like, you know, go to them.

[Santino Marella]

Yeah, we had. We hung out a lot. And you also caught the end of Bad Randy, and you saw the transition into Good Randy, and that.

[Cody Rhodes]

That.

[Santino Marella]

That was fun. One thing I. I tell people, it was funny that we were in ihop and it was. You just got called up. It was me and Jeff and Randy. And some guy comes up, he looks, and he goes, randy Orton. He looks. He goes, jeff Hardy. And he looks at me and he goes, tito Santana. And you were like, yep, yep, that's Tito. Yep.

[Cody Rhodes]

There he is.

[Santino Marella]

Yeah. And I finally met Tito Santana and told him the story. He had no idea who I was. So I tell him, and he goes, yeah, okay. I go, tito Santana, Santino. And I go off. This guy has no idea who I am. Oh, yeah. Oh, that's.

[Cody Rhodes]

That's rough. That's rough.

[Santino Marella]

That's amazing.

[Cody Rhodes]

Battle Arts is what you went as you were closing your career. Not closing. As you were preparing for a new chapter. You were getting Battle Arts ready in Canada, and you had a jingle, and this is why we were still on the road. And you played this jingle for everybody, very on brand for you. It was basically everything the gym was offering.

[Santino Marella]

It was the perfect commercial. Yes, I wrote the perfect commercial. Um, so I wrote, like, what bars you call them? I guess it was like, eight bars, and I timed it out, and it was 15 seconds. Oh, commercials are 30 seconds. So I doubled it, and it was, like, right on the money. 30 seconds. And it was very catchy. And I did it. I recorded it on my phone in the locker room.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah.

[Santino Marella]

Texted my buddy the. The. The voice note. He put music to it, and I put that on the radio. I spent more money than I should have to have it airing on one of the radio stations in Toronto and just hear my own song on the radio. Really? But people heard it, it was funny, and it's on my. Pinned to my Facebook page.

[Cody Rhodes]

You want to know something? I was thinking about sitting here with you was. I've been doing a lot of backstage pre tapes recently. They've just been more than usual, and I forgot the skill set it takes to do a backstage pre tape, not only when they're live, but you change it up maybe from what you talked about earlier. You. Maybe a few things are more intense, more heated. It's all different, especially when it's alive. But I don't think I ever saw anyone in any type of backstage do it like you did it. Never the same, never was. You know, you have your famous nicknames. I saw you go over them. I think it was Van Vliet.

[Santino Marella]

Yeah.

[Cody Rhodes]

You went over all the nicknames you had for everybody, but a new nickname would emerge. You never did things the same. And your skill set, because you even said, you said you were doing a comedy wrestler. I mean, Kurt Angle was also doing a comedy wrestler. One of the ways into their heart. I remember there was this old school wrestling edict that funny isn't money. And it did not apply. I don't know, probably after 1990, to be fair, because it certainly was money in many situations. You know, looking at. Even at team Hell no. And these fun. Kurt Angle with a little cowboy hat on, all these these fun moments, they. They did connect and they, they could draw money. But I was so impressed and I. Lately I've been doing them with someone who's good at that aspect of it. But I feel like it's a lost thing. I feel like you being around you teaching because you've been training wrestlers, you've been training and you now being at tna, do you find it's fun to teach, to pass it on?

[Santino Marella]

Yeah, I mean, it's funny when I'm coaching, I'm a technical coach. I actually don't teach a lot of the comedy because sometimes I think that's something that's inside you. I grew up watching a lot of television in the 80s. My dad liked television, so we watched a lot of television, a lot of sitcoms and that really? Well, I had a plethora of resources because my high school, the percentage of first generation Canadians had to be 80%. And it's a Catholic school, so everyone was from Italy, Portugal, Croatia, Malta and Poland. And all our parents are immigrants.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah.

[Santino Marella]

So they all had accents, they messed up names, they messed up expressions like my neighbor, son of a gun Ivan is where I got son of a gun from. And my friends even call me out like you made a living off of just quoting our parents. Because I had all this information, this examples to choose from. But no, I like to pop the guys. For example, let's say the pre tape starts mid conversation and there's a new take. The mid conversation part's gonna change every time and it's gonna be more ridiculous. Every single time. And you know, in the corner of my eye, if I see someone going, you know, that that's a victory for me. You know, the viewer at home won't know what's happening. They'll only see one take. But I try and keep it fun. And yeah, I, I love it, man.

[Cody Rhodes]

I think it's. I think it's wild that you're such a technical coach. But I also remember the first day I saw you, you were Boris, you were a different. The dichotomy that I got to experience having watched you do a dead serious matches going less than a few minutes. Boris versus what would happen with Santino to the lesson that, the Jack Bull lesson that we talked about. I wish more people and not saying, you know, I'm not trying to say back in, but I just wish more people today would realize that you have to have a really large range, a huge range to do this.

[Santino Marella]

Whatever's opportunities may never come. And if they do, you must capitalize.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah.

[Santino Marella]

There's the Eminem song, you know, lose Yourself. You have to seize that moment. You have to. And it may be one shot and you have to, have to, have to seize it. So you have to be over prepared.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah.

[Santino Marella]

And you have to have confidence. And I remember when I was about to debut, I'm just repeating to myself, you're prepared, you trained for this. You're prepared. You train for this. You're prepared. You know, and there's something. There's these little subtle things. And you went to acting school, so you're aware of these subtleties and that make things believable. And the more I call it the believability meter. And when you're good at these subtle little things that are real that people do in real life, that's when you get lost. You know, when someone's telling a story in a movie and the harp goes. And then you're in the scene. That's to me what I want the audience to do is when they watch the match, the harp goes. And then they're watching something that's real. And we talk, you know, suspension of disbelief. But it's huge. It's so important to get the authentic reactions from the audience.

[Cody Rhodes]

You know, I always find this funny. And when I knew you were coming on, I was so excited because it was so nice to see you in Italy. And you're thriving. You're doing all the things I. I thought it was so funny that when I met you, especially with the judo background, you were a shooter. Shooter. You were legitimate and Just the fact that you say nothing in this moment confirms for me that your judo skills and your ability. Do you feel not enough wrestling fans knew? Because I would always tell people who's one of the tougher guys you were with. There was the obvious ones. Bob Holly is a great example. There's the obvious ones. Mark Henry, as in terms of strength, there's very obvious ones. But you were legitimately someone you'd want on your team in the bar fight. Do you feel not enough fans know about that or does it not matter?

[Santino Marella]

No, well, it kind of doesn't matter, but I think because of the Internet, there's some chatter about it and people know. You don't have to go too far to see that. You know, I was on the national team for judo and stuff like that. Actually recently I, I, last year I won my division at the world championships for jiu jitsu. And it was kind of like just a, in my mind, a little extra, just a reminder. Yeah, but it's funny, I would try and show glimpses of technical ability in my matches, but then I had to relinquish it with something funny. So just those little glimpses, they meant a lot to me.

[Cody Rhodes]

It shocks me and obviously you being, you being such an. Again, we say the word legitimate and judo and jiu jitsu and all the skill set that you have. Do you remember what happened when you took the shot on me and I got lucky, I took a knee. So you took a shot, per Arn Anderson, who was stirring it up in a very dangerous place, a concrete locker room.

[Santino Marella]

Yes, yes.

[Cody Rhodes]

And I did some sort of sprawl. It was no technical wizardry. It was probably luck, but I was able to stuff the shot and you were not happy in the moment. And then it turned. This is where I learned that you, you, it was in there. The beast was still inside. Because then jokingly go, oh, yeah. And you pick me up and you slammed me on the floor, thank God, onto somebody's four wheel hard case.

[Santino Marella]

On the luggage.

[Cody Rhodes]

On the luggage.

[Santino Marella]

I regretted that one.

[Cody Rhodes]

Otherwise careless. Otherwise I might be, I don't know. But I remember thinking, you know, when you mess with your friend, you looked

[Santino Marella]

at me legit hot for a second. Like you looked at the bag and

[Cody Rhodes]

you looked at, well, hey, it wasn't our bag.

[Santino Marella]

We've destroyed. Someone hurt me there.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah, but like that was the other thing and more, I was actually upset with you. I was more mad at Arn. Why did you cause, why did you cause this fight?

[Santino Marella]

I'm a sucker for it. You know, when someone. Yeah, yeah, that gets me a little bit. Yeah, but that was irresponsible to be.

[Cody Rhodes]

Your blood was boiling. If you've been sitting on a business idea, Shopify makes it easy to make it happen. Everything you need to start selling is included and ready from day one, including the moment your first customer is ready to pay. Shopify Checkout helps more customers finish their purchases, and when they come back, their details are already saved. One tap and they're done. Shopify handles the setup and checkout so you can have more time to focus on growing your business and the tools to do it. Shopify powers millions of businesses worldwide, from household names like Mattel and Gymshark to small businesses just getting started. Started with Shopify. Nothing stands between your idea and a real business. So go make it one. Start your free trial at shopify.com Kodi that's right. Start your free trial at shopifY.com Cody

[Advertisement Voice]

we have the tech to get food delivered in 15 minutes. But we all have horror stories about buying tickets. The GameTime app gives fans the advantage. Get amazing tickets in just a few taps. Fees are included, so what you see is what you pay. And the game time guarantee means authentic tickets at the best price every time. Take the guesswork out of buying tickets to concerts, sports, comedy, and more with GameTime. Download the GameTime app and create an account for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply.

[Cody Rhodes]

I. I have to bring this up, too. And again, it's very Family Guy today in terms of. I have all these stories with you of fun moments, but I tell people all the time about my favorite live event match I ever seen.

[Santino Marella]

Japan.

[Cody Rhodes]

No, no, no. The best live event match I was ever witnessed to I saw many times was the producer loved this match. And you know the producer I'm talking about, you would do the master lock challenge.

[Santino Marella]

Okay?

[Cody Rhodes]

And this is before. This is the beginning. This isn't the Maserati Clutch, which, if you're ever on one of those live events and you promise them the Maserati Clutch, that was an amazing experience for the fans. But this was. You would sit down, Chris would get behind you, almost lock it in, and you get a little tense, and you'd stand up and the crowd was fully. Then you'd sit down, you'd call him in, the crowd start to get behind you a little bit, and finally you'd get it and you might tense out one more time. But when he locked it in, he locked it in. You'd be struggling, and then you'd start moving and the people were behind you, and you'd be looking. You'd literally hit all four sides. You'd be looking, and you'd turn, and you'd get up out of the chair. Now the chair's kicked out from under you, but you're still in the master lock. Finally, you'd get to the fourth side, you'd come back around, and you'd start to break the hands. And then out of nowhere, you just. You just pass out, and they'd ring the bell. It was a psychological ride. Every time. I don't know. I don't think I. I remember thinking, he is stealing money.

[Advertisement Voice]

He is.

[Cody Rhodes]

But it was. No one could do it. There was the master lock challenge. There was the you doing the headbutt and missing.

[Santino Marella]

Oh, God.

[Cody Rhodes]

You going for the hot tag and doing the forward roll and being six feet away. I. One of my favorite memories ever is the CM Punk tag on tv where Punk did a dive. My partner on the outside, and you went to do the dive. And, buddy, I don't know what this plan was. I don't know if you were supposed to dive or it was. You were, but you ate it in such a fashion that I thought it was. I thought you were legit hurt. In the entire rest of the match, you were just on the apron doing this face like you had blown it in front of. In front of CM Punk. Just so disappointed in yourself. It was Master no. 1. No one does it like that, man.

[Santino Marella]

Well, I realized if you mess something up, if people want to see you successfully hit it, then I started. So then I come to the ring, stand on the second rope, and I slip, and to catch myself on the stomach. And especially, I was in a tag match, and Brodus was really good at it. And I'd be mortified, and I'd be like, oh, my. I just slipped on the rope in front of all these people. I come to him for, like, comfort, and he'd turn away, like, get away from me. Like, he's laughing. And then the people would start saying, one more time. One. And. And I'm like, the match didn't start yet. And I have them cheering for me to stand on the rope and do that.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah.

[Santino Marella]

And, like, ah, you know, he'll be laughing. I try again, and I'd fail it. Try again, and I feel it. And I'd be pissed. Like, God, I'm embarrassed. Or I. I would set up everything, like dominoes. I'd fail the hip toss, fail the body slam. And I planted the seed earlier by feeling it. So Many times. And they would pop. And all of a sudden it's your splits and successful hip toss swing, successful body slam. And I do all the things successfully that I was feeling earlier in the match. And, man, I remember that was one time I came back and Cena's like, you've mastered your craft. Like, it was just because you never had to figure out what to do because there wasn't a wasted step. I was just systematically failing things to set them to successfully hit them at the end. And it became so fun. And I remember one of the biggest compliments was I came into the building, we had a live event, and Swagger's looking at the sheet and he goes, Santino goes, yes, that's a night off. You know? And I was like, he didn't know I was down the hall. He didn't know I saw that. And I was like, that's the way I'm viewed by my peers. That's awesome. You know, like, it was good.

[Cody Rhodes]

Well, I hated working you.

[Advertisement Voice]

Me?

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah, I hated it.

[Santino Marella]

You had to take the headbutt.

[Cody Rhodes]

Once I took the headbutt, I also. You had multiple cobras.

[Santino Marella]

How many cobras have you.

[Cody Rhodes]

I stomp on one, and then you'd just be behind me loading up another one, and the place would be losing their mind.

[Santino Marella]

And then so at ovw, I missed the headbutt daily, which, yeah, I wouldn't recommend because it's hard on the body. And Al Snow is like, you'll never hit. You'll never do that in wwe. Like, you know. And then he hit a mania on you, the headbutt.

[Cody Rhodes]

I forget where you. But I know I was the one who got it.

[Santino Marella]

And I know you're like, God. And it was like, that was kind of a message for, for Al, you know, the, the thing. But I remember we had a match in Japan and you trusted me because I, I, I'd lived there. And we did the tackle spot where you kind of just no one bumps.

[Cody Rhodes]

I do. I remember trusting you on that.

[Santino Marella]

Yeah. And you're like, okay. And then that was a fun match, too. And then we did the tackle, and no one sold. And the Japanese audience does the whole. And then we just smirked like, ah, we got him. We got him. And we continue to have a good match. Man, it was so much fun. So I, I had a 10 year career. Yeah, it was nice, neat. A decade. And for some of the people that have been there for. So I've done so much. I've been gone for 10 years. 06 to 16 and now it's 2026.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah.

[Santino Marella]

And I've done so much in the last 10 years. When recently I saw Nick Nemeth and I'm like, have you been there the whole time? Like another 10 years?

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah.

[Santino Marella]

And he's like, the whole time, I'm like, oh, my God. And it's obviously a privilege and you don't want to walk away from it, but it's, it's. I remember when WWE called and said, you know, we're not going to invoke the injury extension. It's like I got warped back to me. Yeah. I'm like, it's me again. Holy. It's like I was just gone for 10 years. All of a sudden I'm like, anthony again. Whoa, man. Like, wow. It was like a time warp. And it's like long days but short years. You know, 10 years is high school is four years. So 10 years is two and a half times high school. And man traveled the whole world. Entertain millions of fans. We add it all up.

[Cody Rhodes]

You mentioned these moments on the live events where the. The Mist head butt, the miss Roll going into the hot tag, the master lock challenge for those. Whoever got to see the Maserati Clutch.

[Santino Marella]

No one ever saw it.

[Cody Rhodes]

No one actually saw the move. But you promised it to a miniatown when you did the signal, you were going to hit it. And whoever you were wrestling usually would hit you with their finish. And we never saw the Maserati Clutch. But look out for it. It's a high speed top rope. It's a high running, high risk, top running submission. And when I do this, you would explain it to the audience as if they didn't know English. When I do this, the Maserati clutch is coming. But.

[Santino Marella]

So Jericho wrote about it in a book.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah, I think Jericho also wrote about the Muscle Mania and he wrote about that. Yes. So I've. Muscle Mania has been published now, which is why I wanted to get the real side of the story out there. And you know, you are. You were the winner. And it was a great moment for you in your memory.

[Santino Marella]

I did not lose weight.

[Cody Rhodes]

You weighed 230. When we were yelling at each other on the bus, you weighed maybe 240. When we actually did Muscle Mania, you didn't get in good shape at all. You didn't do anything. It's been long enough. Yeah, it's, it's. But this is something that I learned is there's this real big argument in wrestling right now about a lot of the. The OGs want to. And I don't even say, oh, geez. There's this argument about less is more in the moments, and there's such truth to it, and I understand it. And then there's this rebellious punk rock culture that's on the come up, like, more is more. You know, you look at Javon, you look at Sol Ruka and like, some of the stuff they're doing, and you can tell sometimes when some of these guys tell them, hey, do less, you can tell it's because they could never do that. Right? So. So there's somewhere in the middle is the reality. But I remember because you're talking about, you know, being told you mastered your craft. One time in Japan, of all places, we did this big group tag match where they hated me. They liked all the heels. This is when I was away from wwe. They liked all the heels, they liked all the baby faces. They just hated me.

[Santino Marella]

Oh, post wwe.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah. So that whatever I was doing. So every time I tagged in, they'd boo. And I knew, oh, let's keep going here.

[Santino Marella]

Okay.

[Cody Rhodes]

So then someone else would tag in and they'd cheer for him. And I tagged myself back in until I got them to. We did this for about 11 minutes, maybe like 8 to 11 minutes. And then we had to pick it up and go. But Haku was watching. So either you come back to the shame of one of these legends, a legend like that watching, or in his case, he paid me the greatest compliment ever. Just pulled me aside. He goes, that was working, bro. And I thought, oh, I get it. Right? Like, it's. It's somewhere in between. I don't know. I feel like at Battle Arts, the idea that you're a technical coach blows my mind. Hey, I know you can do it. So that's not the part that blows my mind. But you're just known for. For being so entertaining and so funny and so comedic. I. I hope people know the toughness that you had. I watched you do a promo on the hunky donkey man and gold dust and Roddy Piper and a guitar string. Split your lip completely open.

[Santino Marella]

Still have the.

[Cody Rhodes]

You're doing a comedy promo. Profusely bleeding and just finishing it. Just. Just seeing it through. Not your. Your toughness is under. I feel, like, underappreciated in the business.

[Santino Marella]

I remember when I was laying there and everybody. Because it was like the alien. Like, my mouth was opening this way too. And everyone that would come, I couldn't see it, but everyone would look and go, oh, my God. I'm like, stop it. You're making me, you know. And Beth like bro character on TV going like, oh my God. And I was trying to. I didn't want the blood to come out. So I was kind of filling my bottom of my mouth with it. And then I had to speak. So I'm like. And it just kind of came out and yeah, it was. I have a. That's. That scar is forever. I believe when they loosened the strings, they must have not loosened one. And the tension on the string. I hit Hacksaw with the guitar and immediate. I thought it was a fragment of wood and went. Just snapped back and cut that one there.

[Cody Rhodes]

Hacksaw is a big friend of the pod and a big friend of Wheatley American Vodka. What a. What a stud.

[Santino Marella]

I love him.

[Cody Rhodes]

What a. What a good guy in the locker room. And also you'd forget you'd see him because I would come on up and he's doing, he's doing older man wrestler at that point.

[Santino Marella]

I wrestled him a lot.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah, we're seeing that. But this is also the guy who won the first Royal Rumble. This is also in mid south. An absolute bruiser of winning fights in the ring. 300 pound bars beast, super athlete. He had the mitts, the big style mitts. And also you knew if you poked the bear even he was still there.

[Santino Marella]

Hell yeah, it was.

[Cody Rhodes]

They don't make him like Hacksaw Jim.

[Santino Marella]

He actually got, he made. He, he, he, he broke me at the. The Hogan B. The. The four part miniseries at the last episode when he got choked up. Oh man. I had to stand up and start shadow boxing in my living room and, and just to see him get emotional got me. And he, he was one of the guys when he first wrestled him and he punched me and the crowd went, ooh. Huh. Didn't touch me. Yeah, it was like an eye opener. Like, okay, so we don't have to rib ourselves and beat each other up. Like he did not touch me. And it was. Yeah, I wrestled him a lot and he was one of those guys that he has his, his match, the shoot reverse and this, that it's a patented match. Works every single time. He does it every single time. Doesn't have a huge move set, but he has it down and just. Yeah, I love seeing him. If I see him at a convention. I saw him recently and, and we talk chickens, you know, he has chicken. Chickens and stuff. And yeah, I'm a huge Hacksaw fan. He's a great guy. He has his bottle of water, you know, not water.

[Cody Rhodes]

Well, hey, it could be Wheatley American.

[Santino Marella]

Could be Wheatley American. Vodka.

[Cody Rhodes]

Well, this is a question as far as. Because you, like you said, you went away, you came back. For example, running into you at Clash in Italy. When you watch the product today, when you see what we're doing, do you think anything's missing? Do you like what you see? Is it when you watch it?

[Santino Marella]

Yeah. So there's. So whatever it takes to get the audience. If you don't have that aura, then you have to do moves. If you have the aura, then just stand there. It's really dependent on the person. And the wrestling in NXT is very different than on smackdown and Raw. It's action based. I wrestled Ethan Page.

[Cody Rhodes]

I didn't know if you wanted to tell the Ethan Page story.

[Santino Marella]

Which one?

[Cody Rhodes]

We'll have him on the pod eventually. The one where you told him what he could work on to get better.

[Santino Marella]

Oh, God, yeah. But I wrestled him and they're like, yo, you gotta. You gotta go here and you gotta keep up and, whew. Cardio was tested that day. But I wrestled NXT style, and I was, go, go, go, go, go. But it's funny because, you know, when my daughter was. Was with us in nxt, they're like, yeah, we gotta go. We cannot really stop and sell and get these moments. But stars, you know, a star is a star, and once you're a star, they just wanna look at you, man, like. Like Randy's the. What's it called? The end of the continuum for doing as little as possible. And there's guys that don't stop and wherever you fit in the middle is dependent on your ability to captivate, you know, and there's, you know, I used to be like, oh, don't do all the flippity stuff. Then I'm like, I'm not qualified to say that because I can't do.

[Cody Rhodes]

That's what I was flipping. Right, right, right.

[Santino Marella]

You know, if. If I could do a 450 and I chose not to, then I'm qualified to talk about it. But if you cannot do that stuff, you're really not qualified to say, don't do that, because you can't. And if you could, you probably would because it's pretty cool to do it.

[Cody Rhodes]

But how many of these kids coming up today, and I'm saying, these kids coming up today can do a Maserati clutch, right?

[Santino Marella]

So, you know Timmy Baltimore, good friend

[Cody Rhodes]

of ours, of course, we love Timmy,

[Santino Marella]

and he gave me permission to say that. He's the only guy I ever hit it on and that's why he's like that. I don't know.

[Cody Rhodes]

I don't know. We have to get Timmy on here so he can defend me.

[Santino Marella]

He said it was okay. So what it is, it's a cobra clutch when I'm standing on the top rope and the person's standing in front of me and we jump off the top rope and land in a camel clutch with a cobra clutch grip. So it's a submission high impact.

[Cody Rhodes]

Top rope.

[Santino Marella]

Top rope.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah. There was. Every now and then you tell running was involved and it kind of is. There's a jump, you know.

[Santino Marella]

So the thing is, when I call for it, you know it's coming, right. I said, this is. You're gonna see a new move today. It's never been done. This stands for M. Maserati. This stands for clutch. So in the middle of the heat, I'd look around and then I'd hit the ropes and I get stopped or I'd climb the ropes and I'd get stopped or whatever. So no one knew how it started because I would get stopped in various different ways. And it was. That was when. And those are live events, right when you can do. You know, on Raw, my matches are probably average four minutes, you know, and live events is 20 minutes or whatever. So you have time to. To paint these pictures and have fun and experiment. And that was a year long experiment. Swagger and I had this match we did around the World. We called the match around the World. We did it everywhere to the point where I think we did it in Georgia. And someone said, hey, you did that last year. And I was like, ooh, we got. Okay, time to change it up. Cause, yeah, you know, the five minute handshake spot and all that stuff.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah. I always look at the card. Cause the internal sheets will sometimes say what the card was the last time. And it's funny how quick it comes around to where. Oh, I, I did. I did a cage, I did a street. It's cool. It's. It comes around. We're back in these markets and they. They are. Those crowds often come back. The live events are such a fun experience. So if they saw that one, they might have seen it a second time. But, you know.

[Santino Marella]

Yeah, still probably good.

[Cody Rhodes]

Still good.

[Santino Marella]

Actually, it was Atlanta where I did the first cobra. Yeah. A guy in Japan years ago, he showed me this thing where he'd like make his arm into this little puppet. And it just came to me, man. I was, I said to Cena, right, because we're always sitting at the front. And I'm like, hey, I'm gonna try something. Watch it. I think it was Chavo or Carlito. And I'm like, doing my comeback, like, jab, jab, jab. I transformed my arm. He did. Oops. And then I do, like, a roll up a schoolboy. I called it the schoolboy from hell. And the crowd laughed and they'd never seen it before. So he's like, I'd keep that. So I only did it on live events. And then one day, Ricky Steamboat was my producer, and we came to tv, and he's like, vince, you're going over as exact writer. He's like, vince wants to see the Cobra. I'm like, how does he even know about the Cobra? He's like, he reads the reports. And I'm like, okay. So, yeah, we did the Cobra. And the rest of us, it was like three weeks later. And I gesture for it. And I'd see people in my peripheral, like, standing up, like, they loved this damn Cobra. And I'm like, really?

[Cody Rhodes]

Like, yeah.

[Santino Marella]

It was crazy. One of the biggest compliments I ever got. I got four. Four of them. Four different countries. Australia, United States, England, and Canada. And somebody from that country, they went to an elementary school, and the cobra was banned in their school. And I'm like, damn. That means that it was like pop culture kids were doing it. So, like, the Oba. The Oba strut. Like, kids are doing that everywhere.

[Cody Rhodes]

You came in here Oba strutting.

[Santino Marella]

Yeah. It's fun.

[Cody Rhodes]

I always look at the end of the shows. Tv, live event, whatever it is. If you leave and there's little kids kind of wrestling with each other in the parking lot, or you get. You see the back of their car and you can see them, you know. It was a successful evening.

[Santino Marella]

Core memories, man. Yeah, it's so. It's so awesome. I want to ask you a question, if you can, about being a dad, man. Because I remember I texted you right away, libby, Car.

[Cody Rhodes]

Libby or Liberty. Yeah, Libby. Libby, Libby.

[Santino Marella]

And I was. Because I know how important your dad was in your life as a father figure and one to be a wrestler, but to become a dad.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah.

[Santino Marella]

And I gave you a hug when I first saw you about. Just about being a dad. Because it's has to be the coolest thing you've ever done.

[Cody Rhodes]

I wish I had done it sooner.

[Santino Marella]

Right.

[Cody Rhodes]

Because, you know, there's other dads in here and moms, and just. The business is very selfish.

[Santino Marella]

Yes.

[Cody Rhodes]

And it teaches you to be selfish. And you're sure, right you're surrounded by where it's. You wear it like it's a, like it becomes natural to wear. Like this is what we do. It's dog eat dog. This is what we do. It becomes very different when you're not selfish for you anymore.

[Santino Marella]

Right.

[Cody Rhodes]

You still fight. It's still doggy dog in a way, but it's about the benefit of someone else. So for me, I, I just wish, I wish I had done it sooner and that, you know, you mentioned that moment with your dad and, and your daughter. We don't have a lot of time in the wrestling business in the first place to have a, to have over. I remember Al saying, to have over two years, something. I have over five years, God, 10 years. But that, that is one of the, you know, larger reasons why whenever I got the opportunity to main event or Wrestlemania, like, there she is, she's in the front row. You know, I'll, I felt like those were for her, you know, inside you're like, yeah, it's also for me, you know, like, you know, but also, it just, it makes your decision making a lot, a lot different.

[Santino Marella]

It's also good that you had her. Not in 2012 when we were on the road 300 right days a year. So you get a little. So my, my whole wrestling career was also. I'm going to get emotional again. I suffered the whole time, the whole time. As, as fun as it was and as, as a blessing, as much of. As incredible as it was. I suffered the whole time being away from my daughter. And I remember one time, it's always, it's my trigger, you know, I went into Danny Davis's office and I'm like, I was pulling my hair out and I'm, I was five months because I couldn't cross. I was afraid to cross the border and I was Canadian. I wasn't working in the us I wasn't breaking any laws. But I didn't want to get stuck because I was turned away once because I tried to get a non academic vocational student visa or something so I can stay there. And anyway, five months I didn't go home and I was dying inside and I went to Danny, Danny, please tell me something that's going to help this because I'm really having a hard time. And he goes, yeah. He goes, yeah. No, I never forgive myself to this day for the time away from my kids. I'm like, God damn it, Danny, that's not what I needed to hear right now, you know. And I'm like, man, so, so the fact that she's in the business is really good because it kind of, you know, you never get it back. But at this point in someone's life, their kids have careers, you see them less. Like when, When a kid graduates high school, I think you. You've spent 90% of the time you're going to spend with them. And like. And then what? The kid, like, my daughter lives in Orlando right now, so if she wasn't working, if TNA and WWE didn't have that relationship, what, am I going to see her three times a year? Yeah. That's horrible. That's, like, not good. So anyway, I was really spoiled and very lucky and fortunate to. To have this last year and nine months to see her every, every TV loop. So it was hard. It was very hard for me, man. It was not easy. And then when I came home from, from the road, she went to university, and I'm like, wow, the hell's going on? So, so that's why I'm asking, because it's. But luckily, you don't have the same schedule because I just. I wouldn't want you to suffer the way I did. Well, and that's why all the parents that were on the road, I always ask them about their kids, and I feel like we bonded at the time because we were sharing that. That suffering.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah.

[Santino Marella]

And it's hard. How can you say you're suffering? You're living. It's the most fun you'll ever have in your whole life is being on the road, the wwe, traveling the world, making millions, entertaining fans, visiting countries you never would have got. New Zealand and South Africa and like Russia and China and like, it's the greatest time you'll ever have, but at the same time, yeah, you're not there. You're not there. You're not there, you know, and it's, it's just weird. It's this weird dichotomy of having the greatest time of your life, but also simultaneously, it's a part of you that's suffering, man. It's.

[Cody Rhodes]

It's one, One of the things, though, that I, I found before I ever had kids, and, and it's, it's. It's largely now present as well that I do. Wrestling can tear the. You can take the family away from each other, but in my case, a lot of my family live their life on screen. So people don't realize, as far as my brother and I didn't grow up together, we didn't have Thanksgivings together, we didn't. The age gap was too much.

[Santino Marella]

What's the age gap.

[Cody Rhodes]

16 years. Wow. U.S. being brothers was on television.

[Advertisement Voice]

Wow.

[Cody Rhodes]

Was on tv. And, you know, like, you had that. You were away from her, and then you get to come back, and that's part of where you get to connect. So Dusty has the promo with Dust, and the view never changes. Promo. I think it's the best promo of all time. But the sad part, it's a shoot, you know, like, that's a. That's a tricky thing. And I would always err on the side of the. I'm good with having them on tv. I'm good. Because I don't want them to not share in this. They may not know what it is right now, but I want them to share in this. When my dad brought me on stage for his WCW hall of Fame, I thought that was the biggest night of my life. But I was debuting in the wrestling business. I was eight years old. Eight. And I get to share it with him. So it. It certainly gives and it takes. But as far as becoming a parent, which is you now. How many times now?

[Santino Marella]

Oh, yeah. My son Marco's seven.

[Cody Rhodes]

Seven.

[Santino Marella]

And my daughter Milena is turning five in a couple weeks. Yeah.

[Cody Rhodes]

Three.

[Santino Marella]

Three. Yeah. And there's 24. So when Milena was born, Bianca left a month later to Orlando.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah.

[Santino Marella]

To. To Earn. She wasn't signed yet, but she went down there and she busted her ass. Trained at three different schools and got to try out and crushed it. And. Yeah. So. So their relationship is, you know, FaceTime, and. Yeah. And even. Even my son, sometimes, he's like, he knows I used to be a wrestler, and he's seen a couple matches, but he wants to. He wants to see it. Right. He wants to see that. Wrestle a little bit more. And that's one of the reasons why I did all these stem cells, PRP and Red Planet Therapy. So I can do this again. I want to wrestle in front of him.

[Cody Rhodes]

I remember Goldberg talking about wanting to wrestle in front of his son.

[Santino Marella]

Yeah, I want to wrestle in front of my son.

[Cody Rhodes]

And I think people, certain people, didn't understand it. I knew right away, I go, yep. That's probably more motivating than anything.

[Santino Marella]

Yeah.

[Cody Rhodes]

To have them see it one time.

[Santino Marella]

Because that's why I want to win the.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah.

[Santino Marella]

I have the World Championships coming up again September 5th, and I want to keep winning. Every time I go up a belt, I want to win them and win them, and it's. It's because you can tell your kids, but I want to show him.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah.

[Santino Marella]

And when sometimes he goes, why do you have to go to practice? Because I want to be a world champion. And one day you're gonna have to go to practice to be a world champion too. And watch. Watch what I'm doing. Watch. And I came home and they go, there's the metal man. It's for you. You know, you have to. You have to show them. And I do want to wrestle. I want to have. And all of a sudden. So my wrestling career ended because I was not capable. I'm capable again for some reason. Because I was not capable for several years, I kind of didn't get mileage in my body. My 40s was. I preserved myself. And all of a sudden I'm moving and everyone's like, how the hell are you moving? Like this hand springs up and over. I can move like it's insane. And jiu jitsu is a big part of it. The athleticism required for jiu jitsu is very, very on par with, you know, to do a rolling bow and arrow choke is the same as an Oklahoma roll. It's the same.

[Cody Rhodes]

Could you train now if you had two months for a bodybuilding exhibition?

[Santino Marella]

Yes. Yeah, I could. Having won one before bodybuilding, I'm like 230 right now.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah.

[Santino Marella]

So last week I went to Italy and I. So I had throat surgery. I lost £15. Not. Not good pounds. I looked. I went to Mania six days after throat surgery. I looked. It was horrible. Like, I was sunken face. I looked bad. Everyone was saying, oh, you look so good. I go, I look horrible. I haven't eaten in a week.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah. The wrestler. You look back. Yeah.

[Santino Marella]

And then I went to Italy and I generally gain a pound a day in Italy from just eating. They eat so much there anyway. It's delicious. And I'm like, I'm only here for a week anyway. My scale was like overlapping the bath mat. I'm like, 214. I'm good. I have to weigh in at. I have to weigh 218, September 5th. And I'm like, yep, I'm good. 214. I can take the kids for ice cream. 214. And then I just said, oh, let me just move the scale. Left the mat. 228. I'm like, oh, my God. So anyway, now I got to lose like 10 pounds by labor Day. But feel good, man. I feel amazing.

[Cody Rhodes]

All the training you've done for previous, you know, goals and dates. So give yourself the date.

[Santino Marella]

And I tell you, I fight kids like 20 year olds, 30 year olds. I went to tournaments and I had to fight, like, a Brazilian guy was like 28 or something. And I'm like, they still can't. They can't get me yet, man. I don't know what it is. They can't get me. I won. I've. I won. I've only lost one match ever in Jiu Jitsu. And I've. At the Worlds last year, like, no one even scored a point. It's, you know, stem cells. I've done like four rounds right now. Colombia, Mexico, at reduced them. I went bio accelerator, went to R3 recently. I'm like, I'll do them forever. And if someone says, hey, budget about 5 or $10,000 a year and you're in the game, I'm like, every year I'll pay that. And I feel incredible. I feel incredible. I train three times a week. Jiu Jitsu alone, I do training. And I mean, whatever my age, I get reminders when I'm super stiff sometimes and, oh, my God, what happened? I feel like I get hit by a car. But whatever, I'll warm up, you know, I'll be fine. But it's. Anyway, the point is, my daughter is always the. The. The. The most important thing. If an opportunity comes, and TNA knows, if any opportunity comes to work with my daughter, that's. That's what I'm doing. Yeah. When I. When I got called up and I was able to leave ovw, like, I was in OVW for two years. Yeah, I had a whole life. And I'm like, so many reasons to stay, but there's one reason I gotta go. And I left, like, immediately when I was. I didn't want to be like, deuces, see ya. You know, thank you for everything. But, you know, my daughter was there waiting for me, and. And I had to go home immediately. And like you said, that's. That's the motivation. That's the driving factor, especially so you're in a case where you're. They look at you and you're a superstar. But my daughter thought I was a superstar before I was a superstar. So I had to fulfill that. That was the motivation for me. I had to become the person she thinks I am. And that's why I trained at OVW three times a day. Private classes with Rip Al's class lac. You know, I trained to the point where I got physically sick. Like, I burnt out, and then I had to recover and get back, because if I didn't burn out, how would I know I was doing as much as I can do to get home as fast as I can. And yeah, that's what I was asking about being a dad, because it's, it's especially being in the business. Yeah, there's a, there's. Being in the business is one thing. Being a dad is the other thing. Together, it's a whole another. Interesting.

[Cody Rhodes]

And to give you a bit of the modern wwe, and this is truth, it will sound very toe in the company line, but it's very true. The modern wwe, you, you'd be very happy. You come backstage, you'd see multiple kids walking around multiple buses with families on.

[Santino Marella]

Just.

[Cody Rhodes]

It's, it's different.

[Santino Marella]

That's awesome.

[Cody Rhodes]

It's, you know, the, the way Nick and Hunter do it is, is different. And also the outlook is different. There's not a. We're not doing as many live events and, you know, the TVs are already asking. The lift for TV is going to be very large. You're not just going to be working a segment, you're probably going to be working all day on various things because we're not on the road as much anymore. Anymore. So to have that moment with them, it's, it is very nice. It's, it's. It's evolved, you know, as a business, as much as I love the old school elements of it, it's got to grow and it's got to change and it's evolved in a good way.

[Santino Marella]

In that case, on the flip side was how hard was it for you? For me being gone?

[Cody Rhodes]

Well, so. For me. So it's a prime example. And then we, we struggled with this. With my dad's documentary on A and E. I struggled a lot with the director. He did a great job, but I didn't understand the narrative he was trying to tell. Trying to tell this narrative of neglect. And the neglect narrative for two of the kids is accurate. For me and Teal, it's not accurate. We had him all the time. He was in. We moved to Atlanta. He was an executive producer. He was on the road a bit, but I would go, you know, he brought me everywhere with him. Whereas Dustin didn't get that experience. And the beautiful thing I saw it come together eventually was he wasn't just telling the story of neglect, he was telling the story of what it all looks like and how ultimately, if there's enough love, forgiveness, and ultimately these moments coming together matter. There's this interview with my dad only a few days before he passed.

[Santino Marella]

Jesus.

[Cody Rhodes]

Just a few days before he passed. And like, that is what he says at the end of It. They asked him, they threw him a softball, said, what do you want to be remembered for? He had been talking about wrestling the whole time. He said, a good husband and a good father, that's the only thing that matters. And it's like, ah, you know. But yeah, sorry. In the end, he had. He had very successfully done that.

[Santino Marella]

Yeah. Because it was also tough for Bianca, too. Yeah, it was hard for her, too. And I think it's therapeutic for her to be in the business to kind of fill in the blanks of where I was. Yeah. And. And this is what he was doing, you know, this is where he was. And yeah, again, the wrestling, we overcame it. We're tight, we're awesome. Everything's always been good. And I just look forward to being in the business with her for the next 10 years.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah, you're. Now, you went from, you know, you're spending two years in Louisville and you're doing everything you can trying to be part of the business, and you did that and you went all over the world and were a significant part of the business. Made memories, core memories for people. Now you're. You're locked the business, you. You will. She's now carries you forward.

[Santino Marella]

Right.

[Cody Rhodes]

So you right now and you got that. It's almost. I tell my. My nephew because I, you know, he's a great baseball player and he has high hopes for baseball. I said, buddy, if you make it to the show, I'm gonna annoy the hell out of you. You're gonna have Uncle Cody in the stands every game, just drunk, yelling at the other teams. Just. Oh, don't worry about him.

[Santino Marella]

Just.

[Cody Rhodes]

Just no knowledge of baseball at all. Making comments on what I think we. Come on. Yeah, like what we should do better. And I just said, be prepared because it's a free pass for me. If I can just, you know.

[Santino Marella]

Oh, if my daughter has a. A match at Mania.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah.

[Santino Marella]

I'm going to be the most drunk, obnoxious dad ever all week. Shut up. What are you gonna do? You can't kick me out.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah, my daughter's here when. When she has a Magic Mania, you know what you should ask for. And I always thought this was. Is. Is just make sure you get yourself your own golf cart backstage, you know what I'm saying? It's not.

[Santino Marella]

There's actually getting a golf.

[Cody Rhodes]

There's plenty of those.

[Santino Marella]

Oh, in the arena. You literally just.

[Cody Rhodes]

Just placard there. Tell T.R. just was you could do it yourself and nobody would get in it.

[Santino Marella]

You ride.

[Cody Rhodes]

You ride that thing around all Day, and just. You'll be able to get the best seat in the house.

[Santino Marella]

And now it's like, with my son, seven, I'm like, hold on. 11 years. I'm 52. With stem cells. If you're 18, I can. 63. Oh, man. It's. I got to keep myself in shape to have a match with him. But we'll. We'll see.

[Cody Rhodes]

Little. Little Brody asked me. I think he's 14 now.

[Santino Marella]

Oh, wow.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah. 13, 14. But he.

[Santino Marella]

He.

[Cody Rhodes]

You know, when he's ready, he's. He said he wanted to have a match, and he's talked about maybe even, like, an angle. He's got this. And in my mind, I'm like, buddy. But also now, you know, 13 becomes 14. The next thing, we're getting. We're getting there. We're getting. You know, we're getting. We're getting closer. So I'm gonna. I think I'm gonna try and hang on until then. Wow. Or take a beat and come back.

[Santino Marella]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Cody Rhodes]

But, yeah, he's mentioned in a way that I'm like, yeah, at the rate I'm going, yeah, I could be there.

[Santino Marella]

Well, it's funny. They grow proportionally. I'm like, you know, my daughter's almost 30, and I'm like, how. How is that possible?

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah.

[Santino Marella]

Like, I don't feel like I'm aging as fast as you're catching up to me kind of thing.

[Cody Rhodes]

Well, you were deceptively old.

[Santino Marella]

Yeah.

[Cody Rhodes]

When I met you, I thought you're, like, 22.

[Santino Marella]

Yeah.

[Cody Rhodes]

You'd already lived multiple lives.

[Santino Marella]

Yeah. Yeah. Jericho wrote Santino Gump was one of his chapters about all the different lives.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah. You live multiple lives. So many jobs.

[Santino Marella]

He used to call me Benjamin Button, too.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah. Well, I mean, we're living proof you're hunger to stay young, you know?

[Santino Marella]

Yeah.

[Cody Rhodes]

And you are.

[Santino Marella]

Honestly, it's really a mindset. Age is just a number. I feel. Yeah. I feel. Check out this. Imagine you had amnesia. Boom. You got cracked in the head, and you woke up in the hospital.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah.

[Santino Marella]

And someone has to tell you about your life. Could you even imagine.

[Cody Rhodes]

Oh, my gosh.

[Santino Marella]

Someone's saying, okay, hold on. First of all, this is who you are. This is your family.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah.

[Santino Marella]

Your kids are, like, stunning. You know, your wife, but she's stunning obviously, too. And I'm like. Because I think about that sometimes. I'm like, what if I had amnesia? I'm like, my wife's, like, a fitness. Former fitness model. European. Yeah. And my kids are, like, incredible. I'm like, this is My house. This is my life. Oh, my God. And then they go, yeah, wait till you see what you did. I'm like, what I'd be looking at, you know, on YouTube, going, get out of here. Like, this is mind blowing. You know, crazy.

[Cody Rhodes]

I think that's a fun way to perhaps live, is what you just said.

[Santino Marella]

Just.

[Cody Rhodes]

What if amnesia came tomorrow and somebody had to walk me through?

[Santino Marella]

Yeah.

[Cody Rhodes]

Hope it's good. If it's. If it's not, we need to make it good, you know?

[Santino Marella]

Yeah. Some people wake up, it's a horrible life.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah.

[Santino Marella]

Jesus.

[Cody Rhodes]

We need a good, you know, a good track record. Santino very excited, you, Mardell coming on the pod. And we've been all over the place on this one, which is. I knew I was expecting it as, as life was lived, I feel like.

[Santino Marella]

Yeah, we have a, A, a really long history. Really. And the, the beauty of it is it's from the beginning.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah.

[Santino Marella]

You know, before I even got signed,

[Cody Rhodes]

I knew you, dude, your silhouette walking through that OVW silhouette where there was just. Boris. Boris. It's.

[Santino Marella]

I.

[Cody Rhodes]

It was.

[Santino Marella]

I like how you, when you said it, I. I wasn't in the room and they, like, I had an entrance. They.

[Cody Rhodes]

They called you in.

[Santino Marella]

Yeah. And then. And then, you know what? We were on the bus together the whole time and we were.

[Cody Rhodes]

Oh, my gosh. I have to bring this up. I think people need to know. You and I were in a bus crash before.

[Santino Marella]

Oh, my God.

[Cody Rhodes]

An actual full, Full blooded bus crash.

[Santino Marella]

Terrifying.

[Cody Rhodes]

And I will describe these events and everyone will classify them as a Cody lie. And no, I wish. I wish it was, but we, per the directive of a former friend of the pod, Triple H said, hey, you know, top guys aren't the only ones who can get a bus. Why don't you guys get a bus, but just split it. Get three or four guys on there, get the fridge on there. You got your food, you can park it at the gym. You know, excuses, honestly. Sounded like a good deal. We didn't actually. This is probably minutiae here, but we didn't actually get a bus. It was more of a camper. It was. It was just one qualification under what a full blown tour bus is. But it was still great.

[Santino Marella]

I thought it was a full bus.

[Cody Rhodes]

No, no, it was. It. It was missing a wheel bus.

[Santino Marella]

Okay. Okay.

[Cody Rhodes]

But it had the front lounge. It had four bunks. It had the back lounge. I was just like, you know, you're. Where you're looking at stuff that's not all that impressive. But it's so impressive. Look at all this space. Yeah. So we're doing this and the plan is we're trying to get to Madison, Wisconsin.

[Santino Marella]

Yes.

[Cody Rhodes]

So Madison, it's important in the middle of the winter. Madison, Wisconsin.

[Santino Marella]

Were we coming from Chicago?

[Cody Rhodes]

Well, we ended up in Chicago, yes. But I just remember it. It was such a great day. We went to the gym, we went to a grocery store. We put, you know, food in the fridge. And we had a bus driver that was very ZZ Top.

[Santino Marella]

Captain Barbosa.

[Cody Rhodes]

Captain Barbosa, as you call them. Super long beard. Not really familiar with the wrestling schedule. Not familiar. And when I told them, because we got on the bus after the show we did, I remember when I told him what we're doing, he's like, what do we do now? I said, drive to the next. We go to Madison. And I could see he was, oh, oh, okay. And he'll. I'll never forget, he goes, Madison, Wisconsin, to drop in the bucket.

[Santino Marella]

Drop in the bucket.

[Cody Rhodes]

Drop in the bucket. So we're, you know, experiencing the bus for the first time. We're doing our thing and everyone finally gets the point where they're tired and they get in these bunks. And I felt like I just got in the bunk and then I just. Bus is going and I just felt this. And it's moving. But it could have just been the road, you know, like my bus driver now Matt, drives like that. His float flings me around back there, you know, I'm moving, I'm moving. The next thing you know, I felt

[Santino Marella]

like, oh, like a big bad.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah, I heard a crash too. Like an actual. Yeah, something in the front lounge is broken. And the next thing you know, I feel the downshifting a little and it's

[Santino Marella]

grinding to a stop.

[Cody Rhodes]

Grinding to a stop. Which in my heart I thought, are we going to fall off a cliff?

[Santino Marella]

A bridge.

[Cody Rhodes]

I thought, are we going to fall off a bridge? I am basically. As it's grinding to stop, you hear all this glass shatters. So I'm thinking, my God, we are. This is. We're going to die. So the bus finally comes to a stop and there's like a ten second, just nothing. And I, I roll out and I look into the front lounge. The door that blocked the bunks has been busted open. I look in the front lounge and the fridge is completely tipped. The bus, there's, there's, there's dents. It looks like kind of like it's been turned upside down in an earthquake. And then I saw that bus driver Sitting in the seat, completely hunched over it. And the full glass is shattered, Shattered. You see red on the glass. And I'm thinking he is dead. The. He's dead. Like he's not moving. So I'm moving up there and moving up there, and then all of a sudden he just shoots up out of the chair and he takes this big jug of water and he puts it all over his head. He's got glass in his.

[Santino Marella]

Glass in his eyes.

[Cody Rhodes]

And he sits down on the couch and he's not saying anything. Because I want to be like, hey,

[Santino Marella]

man, what the fuck happened? Like we're.

[Cody Rhodes]

Are you okay? For one. But like, he's not. He kept going. I'm so. I'm sorry. I'm so. You know that coach company we don't use anymore? They had been in business for 18 years. And there was one crash in the 18 years and I was in it. You were. You were in it. We don't use them anymore. But he's sitting there and then the part, the levity and all of it because the story keeps going on is I look back and you're just back there with a phone looking at the floor, and then you're going, is anybody have a torch? Does anybody have a torch? I can't find my contact. And I'm thinking, who cares? Do you realize we're on the side of the road in the middle of the winter with the frigid air blowing into the bus? And I can see the sign for the o' Hare rest stop. So I know we're driving through Chicago. I have no clue how far, how far we even got. This was, I think, a very long loop that we were on, which we probably wasn't a drop in the bucket. But I remember you looking for your contact. And I felt, I felt in that moment, like, why, why, where is. Because it was me, you, Seamus. Teddy was. Next day. He missed the crash.

[Santino Marella]

He missed the crash.

[Cody Rhodes]

He came and met the next day expecting the bus to be there at

[Santino Marella]

Ford, except explore instead. So.

[Cody Rhodes]

But me, you and Seamus. And Seamus is all flustered. He is all flustered, but he's not really saying anything. And this guy is not giving me anything. So I finally called the cops and say, ah, we're side of the road, exit 17.

[Santino Marella]

The, the, the. The highway maintenance guys kind of saw us and came in.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah. And they were. So when the cops finally came, they were going the wrong way down the freeway again. It's freezing cold, Chicago, winter, and we have to get to Madison, Wisconsin. That guy who came and got us the roadside assistance guy. He drove us, he told us, he goes, hey, I'm not supposed to, but I can get you to the rest stop.

[Santino Marella]

Yeah.

[Cody Rhodes]

So now we pile our bags and we leave this man, Captain Barbossa, bloodied in the. And we leave him. And I remember it was like at that point, well, we knew you fell asleep for. We can. That's, that's the obvious here. But you. We still haven't communicated that you have crashed the bus. You're alive, we gotta call somebody. Remember calling his boss, like, hey, just so you know, that bus crash, it was called Harley. That bus, Harley's crash on the side of the road. And the guy being like, what? But he took us up to the rest stop. We were wearing shorts, T shirts again. Middle of winter, we got our bags, but we had packed our bags into this bus, so everything's just screwed up. And you, me and Seamus got a cab and it was an old school yellow cab and we sat in it

[Santino Marella]

with our bags, with our bags on

[Cody Rhodes]

our laps and we drove all the way to the show. Yeah, all the way. And I remember the morning.

[Santino Marella]

It's a scene like. So we're sitting in the back of the bus in the lounge.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah.

[Santino Marella]

And going, huh, this is the life.

[Cody Rhodes]

Hey, guys, this is it.

[Santino Marella]

Watching tv, watch the movie. And then we came time to go to bed. And the, the bunks had no windows and they had curtains.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah.

[Santino Marella]

So we're sitting there and all of a sudden it's. Yeah, just like you said. And all of a sudden I'm just gripping. Oh. And I'm waiting for. And it's grinding to a stop. It's a shatter. And I'm thinking, we're going to tip over a goddamn bridge. I for sure thought. And just. All I could think was just come to a stop, come to a stop. Come to a stop. And it's grinding. And then I, I have since had contact lenses implanted in my eyes because it was my whole career. I, I. Keratoconus. I have a very, very bad vision. And so I can't see without my contacts, so I cannot. Anyway, so I was. Right away, I have to get my contacts in. And then it was like, you know, they show us sitting there going, this is the life. And then you go one hour later, and we're sitting in the taxi with our bags like this. Just pissed. Yeah, just pissed. Like, how does this happen?

[Cody Rhodes]

The plot even thickened. We pulled in when the sun was coming up and I remember seeing guys fishing on the ice and we Pulled in in Wisconsin. We got to the hotel and Seamus had booked it for the day before. And they felt so bad that they drove us in the. Their van. So now we've switched to a part, not even a rival hotel that they just called. Like, these guys, they're not really taking no for an answer. They need a place to stay. That was. That was the one bus crash here was where I was very naive. And I don't know if you were on it the next weekend. I think you were. Their offer to me, instead of us perhaps suing them or at least looking into the. Investigating the incident. Their offer to me was, listen, bad. That's bad. But we'll give you the bus for free next weekend. Try it again. And I just did that. I was like. I was like, yeah, okay. Not in my mind, thinking, well, I'm terrified of every bus ride to the state. Which is probably why I have a little bit of. I'm. I think that Matt's driving 100 miles per hour. And I'll open the door and I'll look out there, and he's going 40 and straight and steady. But in my mind, like, I know he was pressing the gap. I know he just swerved, but he. I. He didn't.

[Santino Marella]

So he ended up. Barbosa ended up clipping the highway sign.

[Cody Rhodes]

Road sign.

[Santino Marella]

Road sign just shattered the corner of the bus and, you know, like, sheared that. It was. It was bad, man. It was bad.

[Cody Rhodes]

Totaled. The bus. Front of it was destroyed. That. We were just in the compact area and we came out and we saw. We saw the damage that had been done. We survived, though.

[Santino Marella]

We survived.

[Cody Rhodes]

We survived, man.

[Santino Marella]

That's just like an extra story, man. There's so many.

[Cody Rhodes]

I. I'll ask you now because we were talking about a group of people with the. The pod Wheatley American vodka. My friends, we like to think of ourselves as the American dream team. I ask everyone who comes on the pod, who is your dream team really? It's a matter of who's coming with you to the next. The next big one, who's coming with you to the next. The next big fight.

[Santino Marella]

Who.

[Cody Rhodes]

Who is with you in life, in the ring? Four people, 40 people. It doesn't matter who's with you?

[Santino Marella]

Oh, man. Like in the business or just in general?

[Cody Rhodes]

Sometimes it's easier to think of it in the business, but I split it between business and personal.

[Santino Marella]

Well, you know, when I came to Italy, it's the generation that. That was. So I didn't see Randy in Italy, and I was Just super disappointed. But for the people that are there, I got a really good connect with you and Ray. And I would throw Randy in that mix. And those were the three people I really wanted to see. And I did. And Paul. Amen too, where I got to connect with him. But on the next loop, it'd be me, you, Randy, and Ray.

[Cody Rhodes]

That's a great loop.

[Santino Marella]

Yeah, it's a good loop, you know,

[Cody Rhodes]

you can count on. With the. With Ray. I learned that I did this because of Ray and didn't realize it. You know, when Ray has his own little locker room, sometimes he makes that space so perfect. Candle gears laid on the floor. A second set of gear over here in case he wanted to switch it up. It's made for peace, you know, you could throw him anything. You got to get in the ring now.

[Santino Marella]

I learned a lot from Ray. He, gosh, it's impossible to be angry at Rey Mysterio.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah.

[Santino Marella]

When I saw, huh? I gotta be like that.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah.

[Santino Marella]

One time we. We flew to Heathrow. We went from a charter to. To commercial. We had to walk like a mile, like four in the morning carrying our bags. And there's an escalator, big escalator and rig. I remember this presses stop. And he goes, sorry, guys. And everyone's like, oh, Ray, come on. It's a European tour. We have big luggage. So we're walking up the thing, and he did it like two more times. And you're like, ah, Ray. And he's like, sorry, guys. And you just can't even get. I go, how. How is he getting away with this? And no one's even mad at him. Can't be okay, I guess I gotta. I gotta be like that.

[Cody Rhodes]

He'd show up 15 to 30 minutes late for the bus and always be like, ah. I thought it was on the other side. I was over there, guys, and nobody said anything. But then if you showed up, 15, showed up a minute late. Where were you? Oh, yeah, you know, our arm wanted to leave. Yep. Yeah.

[Santino Marella]

Finally have some. I have some grays in my beard, so I usually have a. This is new, by the way. And my wife is like, was that a mistake? I said, no, it's not a mistake. This is Honkogan, man. And my favorite hockey player was Wendell Clark. But anyway, I thought for the summer I'll have that kind of look. Kind of tough.

[Cody Rhodes]

Everybody's doing something for the summer, you

[Santino Marella]

know, Little gangster Ish.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah.

[Santino Marella]

Got a neck tattoo, right?

[Cody Rhodes]

Where do you rank your neck tattoo? I'm gonna tell you.

[Santino Marella]

There was A joke at Ric Flair's.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah.

[Santino Marella]

Thing. Did you hear that joke?

[Cody Rhodes]

No.

[Santino Marella]

One of the comedians at Ric Flair's roast, I love Vicki Grail, but it was a joke on her. But anyway. And Rick. Rick got hot at the comedians for making fun of the women, but the joke was, if Vicki was any uglier, he'd be. A tattoo on Cody's neck.

[Cody Rhodes]

Oh, God.

[Santino Marella]

And this is, like, Tyler or something. One of the really good comedians.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah, that's a great one.

[Santino Marella]

Mine is.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yours looks nice. It's by your ear, and it's not up into your jaw, but yours is.

[Santino Marella]

Color is sharp.

[Cody Rhodes]

I stand by the fact that I think the work is great and the artist is great. But I also will reveal, as I think I've revealed on this pod before.

[Santino Marella]

What's that?

[Cody Rhodes]

The neck tattoo. I would widely consider the greatest regret of my life.

[Santino Marella]

Really?

[Cody Rhodes]

Oh, yeah, it's. And you know what? I'll live with it.

[Santino Marella]

You? Yeah.

[Cody Rhodes]

I'm not gonna. I ain't trying to get it removed, and we're gonna rock this till the very end.

[Santino Marella]

But the dream tattoo is my favorite.

[Cody Rhodes]

But what I thought was, it was like here, and it was like this. And then when I saw it and it was in my jaw, and it was so big, my life changed. Looking in a mirror, if my dad was to come back to life, he would not say congrats. He would not say he would lose his shit. You've ruined yourself. Like, like, this is. I, I mean, yeah, it's a lot. We got deep here.

[Santino Marella]

It was a lot the first time.

[Cody Rhodes]

Very nice.

[Santino Marella]

Oh, it's my daughter. So all my kids have something, right? Like, Baby B was my Bianca when she was little. My son. I got the wolf tattoo. Like a dad wolf, baby wolf. That's my son and Milena. And then I got one recently. This is my newest, My hand tattoo with my wife Anna, because it's like a queen, Queen crown. She's my queen. And I was like, my wife is like my dream girl, you know? And anyway, I'll play.

[Cody Rhodes]

I'll play guests.

[Santino Marella]

I was inspired by your neck tattoo to get this.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah, I, I, I'd say it's the greatest regret of my life, but it also is. It's proved it's had some very benefit. Beneficial elements of it. I don't know if. I don't know. I don't know. It's complicated. Best way to put it, My relationship with my tattoo, but relationship with my. I'll tell you, there's a wrestler, and you can, if you're this is just deep cut for those who love wrestling and love the pod. And thank you for viewing. There's a wrestler out there as a Brahma bull on his arm, but knew when he broke into the business that that was somebody else's. He got it because he was a fan of the Rock and they had a Brahma bull. So he put a panther on top of it. Find that wrestler. Look at that panther. And you can see it. You can see what's under it. You know I'm talking about. You know, I'm talking about one of our brethren. But that panther. And just a panther. No, underneath it's the bull. Yeah.

[Santino Marella]

I should know this.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah, no, don't, don't worry. We're don't. I don't want people. Okay, just think on it.

[Santino Marella]

Okay.

[Cody Rhodes]

Okay. Hopefully he comes on the pot at some point. Okay, we're gonna blind rank your famous mispronunciation of a mini wrestler name.

[Santino Marella]

Okay.

[Cody Rhodes]

We're gonna blind rank him. So I'm going to give you the name. Your name. I need you to give it a ranking between 1 and 10. Okay.

[Advertisement Voice]

Of the.

[Cody Rhodes]

Of this name. Yes.

[Santino Marella]

Okay.

[Cody Rhodes]

All right. Ranking between 1 and 10. The first one I'm going to give you, obviously, Cold Stone Steve Austin.

[Santino Marella]

Oh, I, I like that one. I'll give that four.

[Cody Rhodes]

Four. I think I know what your number one's going to be. Four for Cold Stone, the hunky donkey man.

[Santino Marella]

Oh, it's hard because once you hear the other ones, then you're like, oh, if I knew that was.

[Cody Rhodes]

Oh, yeah.

[Santino Marella]

Okay. Five.

[Cody Rhodes]

Rodney the Piper.

[Santino Marella]

Six.

[Cody Rhodes]

Golden Dust.

[Santino Marella]

Yeah, those are all similar. Seven. Seven.

[Cody Rhodes]

The Manimal Baptista.

[Santino Marella]

That's like two or three. Baptista as well. It's up there.

[Cody Rhodes]

So you think two or three?

[Santino Marella]

Two.

[Cody Rhodes]

Two. Ray. Master Mastrio.

[Santino Marella]

That's number three. That's number three.

[Cody Rhodes]

Sheamus.

[Santino Marella]

Oh, Shamu. Oh, Sheymus is a good one too. Okay. But everyone's bumped down and that's number four.

[Cody Rhodes]

Okay, so we bumped. We shifted everyone down.

[Santino Marella]

Yeah, yeah.

[Cody Rhodes]

And we moved Sheamus to four. How did you say. How'd you say Kane?

[Santino Marella]

Yeah, I'll give that. Which is dog in Italian. That'd be the coaches number. Number eight. Yeah.

[Cody Rhodes]

Ghana. So that would.

[Santino Marella]

Oh, at nine. Yeah, yeah.

[Cody Rhodes]

John Jaina.

[Santino Marella]

That's, that's, that has to be number one.

[Cody Rhodes]

Colby Rhodes.

[Santino Marella]

Because it's also Seth's name too. Right? It's cool. His name's Colby.

[Cody Rhodes]

It is Colby. Yeah.

[Santino Marella]

The. So when I saw John the elimination chamber, I didn't See, in Toronto, I was there. Oh, anyway, I forgot to ask him. I go, people. People say you call you John Chena everywhere you go, because everywhere it goes, hey, where's John Chada? We can't call him John Cena. Ever since we. All we can say is John Chena.

[Cody Rhodes]

So, yeah, I think my favorite is either Kane or. Or the Honky Donkey man.

[Santino Marella]

Yeah.

[Cody Rhodes]

Because I heard you say the Honky Donkey man so many times during that period of time. Wheatley, my friends, they have a great jingle. I'm gonna play it for you, and then I'm gonna ask you to replace a word.

[Santino Marella]

Okay.

[Cody Rhodes]

I see a man who appreciates a jingle.

[Santino Marella]

Yeah.

[Cody Rhodes]

And knows what a jingle is. You might be the first to nod to nod and bop to that.

[Santino Marella]

Jingles are my thing.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah. Wheatley so good I drink it neatly, as the jingle says. If you could replace the word neatly, Wheatly so good I drink it sweetly. Sweetly. Sounds great. That's that. Well done.

[Santino Marella]

Thank you. Yeah, I'm good.

[Cody Rhodes]

Jingle master.

[Santino Marella]

When I was in Italy, newsos were talking about, you know, din upon arrival, one of my. One of my, my jingles. But the. The Battle Arts jingle. Oh, yeah, I can do it.

[Cody Rhodes]

You want to do it for us?

[Santino Marella]

Because jiu jitsu, wrestling, striking and more boot camp, kettlebells, retail store, women, kids are the professional fighter. Or maybe you wish to be a little lighter. Battle Arts Academy, where you're training. Come drop by and have a little fun. Southwest corner of Tompkin and Eglinton. That's Mississauga, in case you want to come. Or check us out. Battle artsacademy.com wow.

[Cody Rhodes]

Ladies and gentlemen.

[Santino Marella]

So Cena goes. It's perfect. You tell me who it's for, what you offer, where it is, how they can contact you. And I'm, like, thinking about it. Goes. Yeah, I guess it does kind of.

[Cody Rhodes]

You played it for all of us so much during that period.

[Santino Marella]

Anyone from my generation, if they see me, they're like, where you train? They even played it at, like, intermission on, like, live events and stuff.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah, you get. You were very big on pushing the jingle almost before I think Battle Arts was even, like, doors were open. The jingle was somebody.

[Santino Marella]

So we had to end up getting Battlers Academy Ca.

[Cody Rhodes]

Yeah.

[Santino Marella]

People are like, oh, the jingle has to be fixed or whatever.

[Cody Rhodes]

But anyway, I'm sure you could fix it. This. This was a pleasure. I'm glad. When I saw you in Italy, I knew we had to do this. Thank you for making the trip. And ladies and gentlemen, what do you want to talk about that was Santino Morella.

[Advertisement Voice]

We have the tech to get food delivered in 15 minutes, but we all have horror stories about buying tickets. The GameTime app gives fans the advantage. Get amazing tickets in just a few taps. Fees are included, so what you see is what you pay. And the gametime guarantee means authentic tickets at the best price every time. Take the guesswork out of buying tickets to concerts, sports comedy and more with GameTime. Download the GameTime app and create an account for $20 off your first purchase terms apply.