Santino Clarifies Comments, NXT Star Issues EVOLVE Challenge

Former WWE Superstar Santino Marella was in some hot water earlier this week over a couple of comments that he made. His statements had to do with the transgender community and their spots in athletic competitions. Marella was on Impact Wrestling’s Behind the Lights show talking about the upcoming intergender match between Joey Ryan and Tessa Blanchard at Impact’s United We Stand show. When the topic of transgender wrestling came up, Marella argued that it was unfair for those who are born as males to compete against women because they were born with different biological attributes. The former Intercontinental Champion said that there “has to be a barrier” when it comes to this because it may give a woman an “inflated sense of confidence” and even produce injuries if the idea of men and women fighting continues to be encouraged.
After Santino made the comments, he received some backlash from fans online who thought that he was speaking negatively of transgender athletes. He has since decided to clarify some of the statements that he made during Impact’s most recent show. Marella said to Pro Wrestling Sheet that he was talking about transgender athletes competing in amateur sports when he originally made his remarks. Marella says that he was not referring to pro wrestling and that he believes that he is very welcoming to all aspiring wrestlers regardless of race or sexual orientation. He later put out a message on his official Twitter account once again reiterating that some of what he said may have been taken out of context.

I couldn’t figure why people were upset the last couple days, then I realized some people think I said trans women should not perform w cis women in PROwrestling, that’s NOT the case at all, It’s entertainment & it’s all welcoming, @ryansatin has agreed to clarify his statement
— Santino Marella (@milanmiracle) March 16, 2019

EVOLVE Wrestling just concluded two successful shows and are already beginning to build up their EVOLVE 125 event. It looks like a member of the NXT roster may be getting involved in the fun. During the EVOLVE 121 show, EVOLVE’s Austin Theory began to make fun of NXT’s Kyle O’Reilly. At yesterday’s EVOLVE 124 event, the former NXT Tag Team Champion appeared via video to challenge Theory to a match at EVOLVE 125. Theory is the current champion over at EVOLVE, so it does seem like a real possibility that his title will be on the line during that match. Numerous NXT stars have competed on EVOLVE shows in the past, but fans can catch O’Reilly in action when he comes to EVOLVE 125 on April 4th.

Turns out @KORcombat heard that “dead weight” comment from @austintheory1… and now #KoolKyle is coming for the @WWNEVOLVE Championship at LaBoom during Mania Week! #MoreThanMania #EVOLVE124 #ClubWWN
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— TDE Wrestling (@totaldivaseps) March 17, 2019