The daughter of Santino Marella will make her WWE in-ring debut on this week’s edition of NXT Level Up.
Arianna Grace (real name Bianca Carelli) will have her first match for WWE as she takes on Amari Miller on NXT Level Up this Friday night. Grace signed with WWE as part of the class of recruits that joined the WWE Performance Center last month.
Grace is set to take part in the inaugural NXT Women’s Breakout Tournament, which begins on the Tuesday, May 10 episode of NXT. A video spotlighting Grace aired on NXT this Tuesday night:
WWE wrote about Grace when she signed with the company:
Bianca Carelli, the daughter of WWE Superstar Santino Marella, comes to the Performance Center after earning her Bachelor’s degree in biology from Western University. Carelli has extensive training in MMA fighting with a focus on Judo, Jiu Jitsu and Boxing.
Grace was involved with the NWA’s Empower pay-per-view last August, appearing as an entrant in the Women’s Invitational Cup gauntlet match.
NXT Level Up airs on Peacock/WWE Network at 10 p.m. Eastern time on Fridays. Here’s the lineup for this week’s show:
The second generation wrestler from Mississauga, Ontario, Canada recently updated her social media handles to reflect the change.
Carelli is the daughter of former Intercontinental Champion, Santino Marella. She was announced as part of the latest class of recruits at the WWE Performance Center last month.
“Bianca Carelli, the daughter of WWE Superstar Santino Marella, comes to the Performance Center after earning her Bachelor’s degree in biology from Western University. Carelli has extensive training in MMA fighting with a focus on Judo, Jiu Jitsu and Boxing,” reads a WWE.com article about her class of recruits.
Before signing with WWE, Carelli took part in the NWA Empowerrr PPV, competing in the Women’s Invitational Cup. She had also performed for the CCW promotion based out of Florida. In 2013, Carelli won the Miss Teen Ontario-World pageant.
During an interview with Chris Van Vliet last summer, she spoke about her father being supportive of her going into the wrestling business.
“Basically, he figured that this was something that worked well for him and he loved. He felt like I would love this as well, because he really enjoyed it and wanted me to have the chance to experience it too. He knows how I can feed off a crowd and make people laugh. Also, he knew it would make me happy.”
WWE has unveiled its latest group of Performance Center signees.
The class is headlined by former ROH Women’s World Champion Rok-C, who has officially signed with WWE after taking part in two tryouts. The 20-year-old was trained by Booker T at his Reality of Wrestling school and is a former Reality of Wrestling Diamonds Division Champion.
Last September, Rok-C won the ROH Women’s World Championship by defeating Miranda Alize in the finals of a tournament. Rok-C lost the title to Deonnna Purrazzo this January.
WWE has also confirmed that Fallon Henley and Kayla Inlay, who have both already appeared on NXT, have signed with the company. Henley formerly wrestled as Tesha Price and was a regular on AEW Dark. She’s currently aligned with Josh Briggs and Brooks Jensen in NXT.
Bianca Carelli, the daughter of former WWE wrestler Santino Marella, is also part of this group of signees. The class consists of 14 people in total, including indie wrestlers Cole Karter, Nikita Knight, “Motherlover” Jake Tucker, and The Notorious Mimi.
Theresa Schuessler who debuted on NXT 2.0 as Fallon Henley, is a 24-year old Tampa, Fla., native with five years of experience under her belt competing in the independent circuit under the name of Tesha Price.
Kayla Inlay has already begun to make a name for herself on NXT 2.0 and NXT Level Up. A former collegiate dancer and cheerleader, Inlay was trained by former WWE Superstar Tyler Breeze after training at his school ‘Flatbacks.’
A 6-for-2, 305-pound force, Joseph Sculthorpe was an NCAA All-Conference Offensive Lineman at NC State before signing with the Atlanta Falcons as an undrafted free agent. Originally from Hampstead, N.C., Sculthorpe was a high school state heavyweight wrestling champion.
18-year-old Maddie Knisley is a six-time state champion in vault, having trained in competitive gymnastics for 11 years. She also competed on the independent wrestling scene as Nikita Knight.
Calyx Hampton is a 22-year-old former athlete from the University of Oregon having competed on the school’s Acrobatics & Tumbling team, earning NCATA Individual Event National Championship honors.
Mitchell Lavalley has made a name for himself on the independent circuit under the moniker ‘Motherlover’ Jake Tucker. Trained by the likes of WWE Hall of Famer Kane, Natalya, Tyson Kidd, and Dr. Tom Prichard, Lavalley won the 2014 “WWE Show Us Your Superstar” Contest when he was 19, making a series of videos at the WWE Performance Center before appearing on the SummerSlam Pre-Show Panel.
Bianca Carelli, the daughter of WWE Superstar Santino Marella, comes to the Performance Center after earning her Bachelor’s degree in biology from Western University. Carelli has extensive training in MMA fighting with a focus on Judo, Jiu Jitsu and Boxing.
Cole McKinney from Charleston, W.Va., has been honing his craft for over a year and a half already after foregoing wrestling offers from multiple DI Universities to pursue his passion for professional wrestling, going by the ring name Cole Karter on the independents.
Twenty-three-year-old David Bostian of Wilmington, N.C., has been a folkstyle wrestler for 16 years while simultaneously training as a powerlifter.
6-foot-4 Gabe Wai heads to Florida from Corvallis.Ore., following his tenure as a DI Rugby player at Lindenwood University. The 260-pound Army Reservist was projected to be drafted into the Professional Rugby League.
Carla Gonzalez from Pasadena, Texas is better known as Rok-C after graduating from Booker T’s Reality of Wrestling school as the youngest ROW Diamonds Champion.
Nnamdi Oguayo of Beltsville, Md., stands at 6-foot-3 and weighs 245 pounds after playing four years on the defensive line for Washington State University.
Edwin Grande was a standout offensive lineman at the University of Idaho and Monterey Peninsula College. The Oakland, Calif., native played for the Houston Blues football team during the 2020 Spring League.
Amelia Herr is an 18-year-old Criminal Justice major out of West Chester, Pa. With two years of Taekwondo training under her belt, she also competed on the independents as The Notorious Mimi.
Appearing on Stories with Brisco and Bradshaw, Santino Marella says that his daughter Bianca Carelli has signed with the company and reports to the WWE Performance Center in two weeks.
“So, my daughter’s 26. My daughter is starting at the PC in two weeks,” Marella said. “She got hired. She’s a beast, man. She’s gonna be an absolute top-tier player.”
Carelli previously took part in a WWE tryout in 2019, but was not signed. She has since wrestled on a handful of indie shows, plus at the NWA Empower pay-per-view event in August 2021.
Carelli also took part in the 2021 Miss Galaxy Canada pageant, competing after being named Miss Galaxy Peel 2021.
“…From a young child, she won her school speeches, she was a Miss Teen Ontario, she’s a television personality, and she’s tall and she’s strong,” Marella said.
“I can’t wait to go to WrestleMania, just as a parent to watch their kid.”
The full interview with Marella can be seen below.
