From the Impact Rumor Mill: Santino Marella turns down debut idea for Impact Wrestling

What's the story?

Mike Johnson of PWInsider is reporting on a lot of news and notes from the ongoing Impact Wrestling tapings in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. One of the notes he mentions is the usage of Santino Marella at Sunday's Bound For Glory pay per view.

In case you didn't know...

Marella debuted on an episode of Monday Night Raw that aired in Milan, Italy on April 16, 2007. Vince McMahon handpicked someone out of the crowd to face Umaga for the WWE Intercontinental Championship, and he selected a "fan" which turned out to be Marella.

Thanks to the help of Bobby Lashley; Marella upset Umaga and won the title. That was his first of two reigns with the belt, and he also won the WWE Tag Team Championship with Vladimir Kozlov.

The heart of the matter

The original idea for Santino was to do a pre-taped segment with Grado at Bound For Glory, but he Santino declined and opted for a cameo appearance in the front row. Grado faced Abyss in a Monster's Ball match that saw Grado losing his working visa and had to leave the United States.

It is unknown at this time if Santino will work with Impact Wrestling in some capacity going forward, but there is a good chance it will not be as a wrestler as he's retired from professional wrestling due to neck injuries and wrestled a farewell match a couple of months ago in Canada.

What's next?

Stay tuned to Sportskeeda for any further information regarding Santino's involvement with Impact Wrestling. There is a possibility he could be a producer or a manager.

Author's take

Santino has a wonderful personality so if Impact Wrestling is going to use him going forward, he'd make a great manager I think. His sense of humour was a reason why he was on WWE television almost every week, and though he wasn't pushed high up the card, he still provided a host of memorable moments during his time there.