Santino Marella Had Garbage Thrown At Him During Favorite WWE Match

Every professional wrestler keeps a running list of their favorite matches throughout their career, but how many of those typically involve having trash thrown at them while in the ring? 

That's the case for longtime WWE superstar Santino Marella, who recently revealed one of his favorite moments in the ring was when fans chucked trash at him during a promo. Marella, who now appears for Impact Wrestling as an authority figure, opened up about the moment during a recent interview with PWMania.com.

"I'd say one of my favorite matches would've been on a live event — as I've had many competitive matches and comedy matches when we travel and perform in front of a live audience," he told the website. "One time I was wrestling Kofi Kingston in Paris and the crowd was so into it as Italy had just [beaten] France in the World Cup. I cut a promo and they were literally throwing garbage in the ring, which set the standard for an incredible match."

Wildly, the garbage-throwing incident is right up there with the night Marella won his first championship in Ohio Valley Wrestling. "It was amazing. It was one of the most fantastic experiences," he said of the night he won the OVW TV Championship. "It was only a small house, about 400 people, but they were just electric, and they believed."

The Canadian-born grappler enjoyed an 11-year run with WWE after a few years of cutting his teeth on the independent scene — where throwing garbage might be more expected. Ultimately, Marella became a two-time WWE Intercontinental Champion and a United States Champion while playing up his family-friendly comedy character and is often remembered as a familiar figure of WWE's 2010s PG era.