During a recent appearance on Insight With Chris Van Vliet, Santino Marella opened up about his daughter Arianna Grace (real name Bianca Carelli) and her path to WWE, proudly emphasizing that she earned her place in the company through dedication and grit—not nepotism.
“She’s something special. She was identified from a young child as just exceptional with regards to her speech, her presence,” Santino shared. “Luckily, she turned out pretty too… she’s tall, she’s athletic.”
The WWE legend revealed that the topic of wrestling never came up until after she completed university.
“I was like, do you want to do this? She was like, you actually think I can do this? Of course! This is not rocket science. It just takes dedication and hard work… All she had to do, in my opinion, was be the hardest worker in the room, and she became the hardest worker in the room.”
Santino disclosed that Arianna’s journey wasn’t smooth. She was not signed after her first WWE tryout.
“Her first tryout, she was not ready, and she didn’t get hired. Then the switch went off, she packed up, moved to Orlando. She was training at multiple schools, busting her ass, got in great shape. And then when she received another tryout, she just blew them away. She was the talk of the tryout, and she got hired from that.”
Addressing any notion of favoritism, Santino was adamant:
“It was no freebies. When you’re a second-generation talent, the idea of receiving a freebie is a horrible thing to be accused of. Some people will also understand that you’re going to be given an opportunity, but it’s up to you to capitalize on the opportunity.”
Arianna Grace has since become a standout on WWE NXT, earning praise for her in-ring skills and character work.
Stay tuned to PWMania.com for more updates on Arianna Grace and all things WWE.
