"Why hasn't someone taken this from me?" - Santino Marella was shocked that no one took the comedic role from him in WWE 

Anthony Carelli, better known as Santino Marella, was one of the most iconic characters in WWE history. Known for being a goofy character, Santino Marella provided many laughs for the WWE Universe for a number of years.

The character of Santino Marella was so unique that Carelli managed to play the role for close to nine years.

Working as the character from 2007 to 2016, Carelli had a number of memorable moments as Santino Marella. Most notably his debut, where he won the Intercontinental Championship. He also had an amazing run teaming up with WWE Hall of Famer Beth Phoenix as part of Glamarella.

Carelli himself has wondered why no one took up the mantle of the comedic character from him. Appearing on Oral Sessions with Renee Paquette, he commented on the Santino Marella character, how he was training to be a badass and how shocked he was that no one took the role of comic relief from him:

"I trained to be like Dean Malenko, Chris Benoit...a badass...like Kurt Angle. That's what I saw myself doing, but it didn't take me long to realize,'Okay! You've got something sepcial here! You've locked it, it's yours.' There wasn't even competition for the comedic role for years and I'm almost looking around thinking, 'why hasn't someone taken this from me?'" said Santino Marella.

Anthony Carelli aka @milanmiracle is fantastic in this interview. So candid about the trouble he got into growing up, his love of judo, having his first daughter at a very young age, and making his jump to @wwe to become one of the most beloved superstars. Check it out now!! https://t.co/vgVMpRJC9V

— Renee Paquette (@ReneePaquette) July 20, 2021

It's hard to imagine where we would be if Anthony Carelli and WWE had decided to take the Santino Marella character down another road. Luckily, we were not robbed of some amazing moments.

WWE Hall of Famer Beth Phoenix had high praise for Santino Marella

Selfless, charismatic, hilarious and a perpetual ray of sunshine, it was never work when I got to be beside @milanmiracle ! Love this tribute to #Glamarella and a bonus scene from the sitcom pilot we filmed! #WWEIcons https://t.co/MWwZRsiQeB

— Betty (@TheBethPhoenix) April 4, 2021

Santino Marella had some great moments in WWE, most notably his long run with Beth Phoenix as part of Glamarella. The duo achieved a lot together, winning the Intercontinental Championship and the WWE Women's Championship as a team.

The duo won the titles in an interesting match where they took on Kofi Kingston and Mickie James at SummerSlam.

WWE Hall of Famer Beth Phoenix herself had high praise for Santino, and paid special tribute to him in her WWE Icons documentary as well as on social media. She referred to her time as Marella's partner as her favorite time in her career.

Marella was one of the greatest performers in WWE history and it is great to see how good an impression he left on his colleagues as well as the WWE Universe.