Santino Marella On His Character, Being Taken Seriously, Maria/Beth Phoenix, More

New Zealand's NZPWI has a new interview online with WWE Intercontinental Champion Santino Marella. Below are some of the highlights:

The Santino Marella character: "It evolved very naturally. You know, they say every good character, the real person must be there. Like “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Undertaker, Batista… you meet these people, you realise man, this is like the guy on TV. And, that’s like me! Big mouth!"

When asked if it was frustrating playing a comedy character: "Nope. Not at all. I have an intense Judo background, and when the time is right, and I’m able to unleash my skills, people are going to accept it, they have to accept it, because it’s real."

On working with Maria and Beth Phoenix: "Ah, both girls are very professional, both girls are chicks, you know, they come with their goods and bads, they a little bit crazy, but, you got to love them, you know? You can’t live with them, can’t live without them, right?"

His pick for his opponent at Cyber Sunday: "Oh, good question! You see I have some unfinished business with Roddy “The Piper” but I would like to smash the Honky Tonky Man because I’m gonna beat his record. What better to pair it up with, than to beat him as well?"

Marella = Awesomeness

LOL i loved he he didnt stay fully in character and was funny at the same time. Good interview IMO!

"And, that’s like me! Big mouth!"

Love him.

Santino is awesome, Santino FTW!!

I cannot wait to see the day that Santino Marella actually begins to show us his intense Judo background... as long as he maintains his personality.

Santino Marella vs. The Rock has been my dream feud in recent months.

Probably the only one who thinks this but, I hate Santino's character. Although, he can be funny, I don't watch WWE for a laugh, I watch it for wrestling so, I just want to see Santino's intense judo backgroundd.

No one will actually flame you for this so don't feel bad. Personally, I always look forward to seeing Santino on TV every week because of his antics. Besides, you need a little bit of everything to make RAW good and guys with Santino's wit and sense of comedy don't come along too often

I don't hate Santino's character but it's overrated in my opinion. He gets up to some vageuly amusing antics but a lot of the humour is pretty cheap really. Sure it can get a laugh but people hype him up loads and it gets on my nerves. I don't like it when wrestlers are over praised, Jeff Hardy or Brian Kendrick for example. People rate them really highly or get all amped over them when there's plenty of wrestlers with more ability. Santino is a good character but he's not the second coming or anything close.

I love Santino's character, in my opinion, one of the best comedic heels WWE has had for a long time, but that's just my opinion.
And I like the interview, it was almost like he was half way between being in character, and not.