Arianna Grace has become a popular act as part of WWE NXT, despite a deep-seated resentment toward the industry early in her life. Despite her name, Grace is the daughter of former WWE Superstar Santino Marella who was on the road with the company for years. Speaking to Nikkita Lyons on The Lyon’s Den, Grace shared her issue with the industry that formed from a young age.
“I always thought of it as his thing. And I also harbored a little bit of resentment toward the industry when I was little. Because I felt very much like ‘Oh, wrestling stole my dad. I don’t see my dad because he’s wrestling. I hate wrestling.'”
Despite this issue with wrestling, Grace leaped at the opportunity to pursue a career in the ring after her father suggested the idea to her.
“When he mentioned to me ‘Why don’t you try it?’ I was like, wow. I could take something that I felt caused me a lot of pain and turn it into something that gives me my life back. And that’s what we did.”
Marella’s days with WWE are far behind him, though the father and daughter have reunited in TNA, where Santino serves as an on-screen authority figure. Grace meanwhile, has served as the liaison between NXT and TNA and oversees the working relationship between the two. Stay tuned to SEScoops for the latest on Arianna Grace and her path in the industry she once loathed for taking her father away.