WWE News: Santino Marella opens up about his release from the company

What's the story?

Santino Marella recently spoke on Lilian Garcia's Podcast about his WWE career and release from the company due to his neck injury.

In case you didn't know...

Santino Marella was forced to end his wrestling career due to a neck injury in 2014. For the next two years after that, he filled various roles in the company including SmackDown's guest GM and hosting shows on the WWE Network, before his contract expired in May 2016.

The heart of the matter...

Santino talked about the time when he was warming up for a match at a house show and he realized that his neck was stiff and he couldn't move it at all.

If I moved it a centimeter, it was like a nerve shot. I told a doctor that I couldn't move my neck at all so that was it. It was at a live event. They pulled my match from the card. I couldn't move at all, it was weird, like an electric shot.

Talking about his release from the company, Santino said:

All the time during your injury that you have, they can add that on to your contract. So, I was off for like two years and my contract would have been expired by that time but I figured, okay, I have two years because I was off for two years and that is what they told me. And then one day they called and said that they weren't going to exercise their option to extend it so my contract will be up next month. It was crazy

After his release, Santino tried his hands on other things besides wrestling and became an on-air analyst for Sportsnet. He felt that the transition was smooth as he got a job in his hometown in Toronto and got to connect with the audience as Anthony and not as a wrestling character.

What's next?

Santino Marella came out of retirement in 2017 and since then has competed in many independent shows. He is set to appear next at Josh Barnett's Bloodsport II will take place on September 14 this year.