Johnny Stamboli Explains How Rellik Gimmick Ended Up In TNA, WWE Lost Out

During his three-year run in the WWE, Johnny Stamboli dabbled in a variety of characters. After being introduced as a member of The Alliance, in July 2001, he was sent back to developmental for a fine-tuning of his skills, until he returned as a babyface under the ring name Johnny "The Bull" Stamboli. Just as he started gaining popularity, Stamboli was repackaged and paired with Nunzio and Chuck Palumbo as part of The Full Blooded Italians. Once FBI split up, Stamboli and Palumbo remained a tag team for several months until Stamboli was released by WWE in November 2004. 

In 2007, Stamboli returned to WWE for a weeklong tryout, during which he wrestled two dark matches under the name The Unknown Wrestler. The character was a spin-off of REDRUM persona which he created in the indie circuit. 

"After the full week tryout, I was supposed to be on Raw," Stamboli recalled. "So, I get up there and wrestle Val Venis. The fans knew it was me [under the mask], but they loved the character. It looked wicked. I got a standing ovation, and you obviously can't have a bad match with Val Venis. Everything went well, and then one of the booking agents was a guy that Chuck and I had a beef with back in the day, which plays into the politics of why FBI broke up. 

"Fast forward to that tryout, he basically buried me to Stephanie McMahon when he gave the report, saying that I had not figured out my character, and I needed to develop it more. In reality, I kinda did. But Vince [McMahon] loved the character and I was supposed to be on Raw. Sadly, because that person buried me, I didn't get the gig."

Ultimately, Stamboli contacted TNA with the exact idea and got "the gig" he so desired. At the 2007 Turning Point pay-per-view, Stamboli debuted as Relik in the Match of 10,000 Tacks against Raven and Abyss. A few months later, the character was dropped and Stamboli took his talents to Mexico. In hindsight, Stamboli believes TNA "didn't really care for the character" and only used it for shock value for one PPV match. However, he was pleased to show the world what his character was capable of in the gruesome match against Raven and Abyss.