Wrestling101.com interview

Marella talks about winning the WWE Intercontinental Title:

Out of the blue one day I got the call up and they said I was going to debut as this Italian guy and my name would be Santino. This was an idea from top brass management, Vince (McMahon) himself actually so of course it was an honour and a privilege and I went with it. All of a sudden they flew me out to Italy, put me in the audience and the rest is history. I was so fixated with not making a mistake that I almost didn’t enjoy the moment as it was happening. Now when I look back I can actually watch it and remember what it was like, it was pretty nerve racking and very surreal.