Ex-WWE star Santino Marella's daughter makes in-ring debut

Santino Marella was one of WWE’s most popular stars, particularly with the live crowds, during his time with the company.

Santino debuted for WWE on the main roster in 2007, winning the Intercontinental title from Umaga in his debut match on Raw in Italy.

Marella remained with WWE for close to a decade, with the Canadian-born wrestler being released in 2016 due to injury.

While he may have been out of the company full-time for several years now, Marella’s legacy within WWE lives on.

Marella’s daughter, Bianca Carelli, signed with WWE earlier on this year, and she made her in-ring debut this week.

Appearing on NXT Level Up, Carelli debuted on WWE TV as Ariana Grace, winning her debut match over Amari Miller.

This was only Carelli’s second match, according to The Internet Wrestling Database, with her first coming for NWA in 2021.

Some fans were surprised that WWE didn’t package Ariana Grace as a ‘Marella’, but considering NXT didn’t give Bron Breakker the ‘Steiner’ name, this shouldn’t be too surprising.

.@AriannaGraceWwe looks to make an instant impact in her #NXTLevelUp debut! pic.twitter.com/vA1KkVMS52

Fans have been left quite impressed with Grace’s performance in the match, and you can see some of the reactions below.

Pretty impressive debut tonight

@milanmiracle your daughter looked real good in her debut match last night on #NXTLevelUp my question to you is are u going her use your finishing move the cobra https://t.co/2FIV4kW3U6

When was the last time anyone saw a match where every single moment meant something as it really had to be fought for? Arianna put the @WWEUniverse on notice……