Santino Marella Talks About Cena Leading the Locker Room, Being Paired with Emma, Playing “Santina”, If He Had Heat with the Divas

Is John Cena the leader of the locker room or the “captain of the ship”;

Well, he definitely was the locker room leader. But what happens is when guys like get their own bus they are not in the locker room anymore. He has his own bus, Randy has a bus, Big Show has got their buses and you literally don’t see them in the locker room because they have a different bus. But on European tours he’s still in the locker room, but that being said he was definitely the locker room leader or at least I saw him like that and the reason I saw him there was because of his work ethic and he is just a good guy, really good principles and morals and values. Just a standup guy and he works so damn hard. You could not be but awe inspired that this guy can just go and go and go and not complain or whine and he leads by example and that is what a real locker room leader is supposed to be.

Are Superstars with private buses more privileged becuse they don’t have to be in the locker room:

No, if anyone could afford it they would have one too. It’s an investment in your career. You are pro-longing your career because they have high quality mattresses and they sleep on the same one every night. They’ve got their fridge and their kitchen so they can make their smoothies and they can take care of their nutrition better than us because we actually have to search around for an IHOP and get some egg whites. If John Cena or Randy Orton are putting asses in seats in which I am benefiting from because I am on the same show well then I want my stars and my headliners and main events to be healthy because the more they put asses in seats, the more I get paid. That’s the opinion of the wrestlers in the locker room if you take care of the guy in the main event then he has some leeway because he’s feeding your family.

Were Santino and Vladimir Kozlov misused by WWE in singles and as a tag team:

Was I underused no. I was on TV for many, many years and yes I wasn’t the tough guy but I’m also 5’10” and I know you can have bad asses at that size that could kick everyone’s ass like Benoit and Malenko and Eddie they were tough guys and had the ability and Kurt Angle for sure. Kozlov was almost such a monster that it was actually not going to be believable because I can’t do anything to him, he’s a monster. He’s a 300lb, ripped, SAMBO machine and if at one point in a match I am going to be on him and I have the advantage then it looks fake because I can’t hurt this guy. Guys like Shelton Benjamin, with what he did when you had any offense in a match it looked like just your turn because it was so obvious that he could easily dominate you physically because of his physical abilities. But I think pro wrestling is evolving to a point where we can utilize these guys now that have this shoot background because guys are doing triangle chokes and arm locks and Kimora’s. They are able to work a little more realistically. With Kozlov every time there is a big monster like Rusev or Kozlov once they lose it’s just like a glow stick that doesn’t glow anymore it’s just a stick. It’s tough to keep these monster guys fresh once they have lost because they lose their whole mystique.