Santino Marella explained the unique origin of his signature comedic power walk, revealing it stemmed from a judo training exercise and a memorable race he won at a warehouse Family Day event.
“It was something from judo. We had a training camp one time and… we were doing it as a part of a fun warm-up to try and do the speed walk and race without running, and I was good at it,” Santino said on Insight With Chris Van Vliet. He then recounted a specific victory: “There’s actually a story where 1995, the summer my daughter was born, I worked at a warehouse… there was four warehouses or factories that had this Family Day… Then the culmination was this big Olympic race walk event. I think I was 20 at the time… I go, ‘I’m gonna win that for sure.’ Because I was at the peak of my athletic career.”
He described beating a favored competitor from Argentina: “He took the lead, but he took the corner wide… And I came on the inside, and I had the lead… and then anyway, I won. I was a bad, bad sport. I was doing flips and cartwheels like I won the world championships.” It was after recounting this story that the walk became part of his wrestling persona: “So I was telling someone that I won this race before, and they thought it was hilarious and I should incorporate it into the entrance. It was one of those things where I kind of jinxed myself, because Vince thought it was very funny. He wanted me to do two laps of the ring in my entrance.”
