In 2019, the WWE held it’s first-ever Canadian tryout in Toronto, hosting 30 of the top wrestlers from above the 49th parallel over Summerslam weekend including Kc Spinelli, Michael Richard Blais, and more.

One notable attendee was Bianca Carelli, the daughter of Santino Marella and the current Battle Arts Academy Women’s Champion. Despite having only wrestled for just over a year at that point, Carelli’s confidence in both her mic skills and work ethic gave her hope that she would stand out among even the best of the best Canada had to offer.

“I think at that point I’d had 13 matches,” Carelli commented when I asked about her experience at the tryout, “so I obviously – I was extremely green. But, at the same time, I was working out every single day, I was preparing for this. I was eating very clean. I’d been trying different diets for a year. My mind was 100% ‘let’s go, let’s do this.’ And I knew, okay, maybe I’m not gonna be the best wrestler. But you know what? I’m good on the mic and I’m willing to put in the work.”

“For me, I was kind of hoping they would see ‘oh, wow, she works really hard. She doesn’t give up.’ I know a lot of the stuff that they do in tryouts is meant to wear you down to see mentally how strong you are. That was my biggest thing was I wanted to show my mental strength, I wanted to show my toughness, that you make me run until I throw up, and I will throw up, and I will keep on running.

And then, I will throw up again and I will keep on running. You’re gonna have to call an ambulance before I stopped running. That was what I wanted to show is that that animal inside.”

“That fire?” I interjected.

“Yeah, exactly,” Carelli agreed. “But, on top of that, holy, just getting there!

I’ll never forget this moment. Once we arrived and we got led into the room where the tryout was gonna take place. I was like, ‘wow, this so cool!’ I was just taken aback. It was breathtaking. I don’t know if it was meant to be a little intimidating, but it definitely was.”

“There was a big projector screen, and they showed us this video of all these clips about the PC and WWE. It was like, ‘wow, I want to be there. More than anything, I want to be there.’ It was cool, too, because a lot of the wrestlers that were there, you see them at shows, they’re cool, they’re tough, they kick butt, they’re athletes, and even they were all like ‘phew!’ Everyone was in the same mode. Everyone was nervous and wanting it, and wanting to show their best.”

Future Opportunities

So, is the WWE still the goal for the 2nd-generation star?

“Oh, man, I just want another opportunity to show how much I’ve grown,” Carelli commented on her future goals. “Because of COVID, maybe my wrestling experience, I haven’t been able to grow it as much as I was going to before COVID hit. I had so many bookings that just got thrown out the window because of COVID. I think I’ve had – well, I know I’ve had, because I keep track.

I’ve had 32 matches now. So that’s three times the experience I think – math is not my strong point – of when I was at the tryout. Roughly three times.”

“I feel like now I would definitely do better than that component. Mic skills [are] probably the same. That fire is still burning.”

Please credit Spencer Love/Love Wrestling with any of the above quotes.

The pressures of being a second-generation wrestling star are certainly plenty, but coming from a family inside the industry certainly comes with a few terrific stories, too.

That’s certainly the case for Bianca Carelli. The daughter of famed WWE star Santino Marella, Carelli’s upbringing allowed her the opportunity to accompany her father to a number of his professional wrestling bookings and training sessions, including one that WWE Hall of Famer Beth Phoenix recently tweeted out detailing her memory of a 10-year-old Carelli cutting a promo at an OVW training session.

Carelli and I recently chatted about the tweet and her memories of the promo as part of our upcoming interview for Love Wrestling.

“So first of all, Beth is a super sweetheart,” she began at the mention of Phoenix’s tweet. “She’s like the nicest ever. She was at OVW; a lot of people that have had careers or still have careers with WWE were at OVW when my dad was there. Of course, I’m little and all I know is that my dad’s in Kentucky, he’s wrestling, and he wants me to see what it’s like. So, there I go with my Hello Kitty backpack, my Nintendo DS, and I’m sitting in the stands. I just watched the wrestling classes, which were like Rip Rogers just like yelling at everyone. Totally awesome.”

“One day they’re doing promos,” Carelli continued. “My Dad, like, I can’t fully remember this, but I remember watching them do promos and I remember my dad saying ‘do you want to do one?’ I think they were practicing, the next day they were gonna tape. So I was like, ‘okay, sure!’ I always did like school plays and the speech contests and I liked talking in front of the class or answering questions. I was kind of like a nerd, Teacher’s pet, nerd kind of girl. My pencils were always really sharp so they were ready to write with. Anyways, I came up with the promo and then I cut the promo. They actually – my dad posted a picture of it, I think we actually have the footage of it.

I don’t really know where it is.”

The Battle Arts Academy Women’s Champion paused before continuing.

“But, I remember it was actually like a heel promo.

I remember it! It was like, ‘everyone says the OVW Divas are the best. That they’re the most beautiful, and they’re the most talented,’ and then I think I said something like, ‘well, they must be blind!’ I was so little. Then, I remember saying something along the lines of like, ‘you know, you guys, you’re like cassette tapes,’ that’s how old back we’re going. I was like, ‘you guys are cassette tapes, I’m an iPod Nano,’ and that’s back when the iPod Nano was the thing!'”

I had to chuckle at the comment.

“Beautiful. Oh my god. Well played!” I exclaimed.

“Yeah, I guess I got them,” the 2nd-generation star grinned.

“Burn!”

“That was my big line, I guess ‘I’m an iPod Nano and blah, blah, blah.'”

“That’s all I really remember from it,” concluded Carelli. “But, I remember all the girls, especially Alicia Fox was like, ‘oh my god, that was awesome!’ I was just a little kid and I felt cool. I felt good about it.”

Please credit Spencer Love/Love Wrestling with any of the above quotes used.