Fans of WWE’s developmental brand NXT encounter countless new stars, all of whom are performing in the hopes of being promoted to the main roster as full-on WWE stars. Because of its inherently experimental environment, developmental wrestlers come and go, with some disappearing to be repackaged or simply to recover from injury. One performer that fans may have seen before — and who have recently returned to action — is Arianna Grace.
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Because many of these NXT wrestlers are brand new to many fans, it’s likely that they don’t know much about Grace. She seems slated for greatness, so let’s take a look at what fans should know about her.
10 Daughter of Santino Marella
The current landscape of NXT is full of legacy talent like Bron Breakker, Von Wagner, and even Dominik Mysterio, and Arianna Grace is one such second-generation talent. While it might not be apparent from her ring name or even her gimmick — also common in modern WWE — her father is Santino Marella, beloved 2010s WWE comedy wrestler, former Intercontinental Champion, and current Director of Authority for Impact Wrestling. Grace was born in 1997, before Santino even made his in-ring debut.
9 Debuted In 2018
Arianna Grace entered the wrestling world in the late 2010s, studying in London, Ontario’s Wrestling Factory, which was run by Canadian journeyman Tyson Dux, who WWE fans might remember from the Cruiserweight Classic Tournament. Working under her real name of Bianca Carelli, the future Arianna Grace debuted in 2018 and wrestled all over the Ontario wrestling scene as well as some Florida indie shows One of Carelli’s biggest matches was at the all-women’s NWA show EmPowerrr in 2021, where she took part in the Women’s Invitational Cup.
8 Signed To WWE In 2022
In 2019, only shortly into her in-ring career, Bianca Carelli had her first WWE tryout in 2019 during SummerSlam, which was being held in Toronto that year. That tryout didn’t pan out, but Carelli did end up signing to WWE a couple of years later in early 2022.
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In March of that year, Carelli was announced as part of the WWE Performance Center’s latest class of trainees, a group that included current NXT women’s division standouts like Roxanne Perez, Kiana James, Thea Hale, and Fallon Henley.
7 Trained In MMA
Many pro wrestlers — not just NXT signees — have other sports in their background in addition to wrestling. While the sports are most commonly things like football or amateur wrestling, Arianna Grace has a few interesting sports in her background. In her high school days in Ontario, Grace played field hockey, competed in track and field, and was even a cheerleader at one point. More relevant to combat sports, Grace also trained in MMA, specializing in boxing, judo, and jiu-jitsu which WWE made sure to mention in their aforementioned Performance Center class announcement.
6 Took Part In The 2022 NXT Women’s Breakout Tournament
In 2019, NXT started running Breakout Tournaments to spotlight newcomers to the brand, and in May of 2022 introduced the first Women’s Breakout Tournament alongside the men’s. With stiff competition including such competitors as Lash Legend and Kiana James, Arianna Grace entered the tournament weeks after her first appearance on the show, but was eliminated in the first round by Nikkita Lyons. Ultimately, it would be Roxanne Perez who emerged as the winner of the tournament.
5 Suffered A Knee Injury In October 2022
Fans may not even remember Arianna Grace debuting much less taking part in the Women’s Breakout Tournament, which is likely the result of an unfortunate injury. In October of 2022, Grace ended up sustaining a nasty ACL injury, with her last appearance being a tag team match with Kiana James against Sol Ruca and Fallon Henley on NXT’s minor show, Level Up. As a result, Grace had to take nearly a year off to recover, getting surgery on her injured ACL in late 2022.
4 Competed In Miss Universe Canada 2023
In addition to her aforementioned sports background, Arianna Grace also did beauty pageants, winning Miss Teen Ontario-World in 2013. A decade later, a couple of months before her in-ring return (see below), Grace returned to the pageant world, taking part in the Miss Universe Canada competition.
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The competition went down in August 2023, with the winner getting the opportunity to compete in the overall Miss Universe competition in November of the same year. Arianna Grace didn’t win Miss Universe Canada, but did place in the top 20.
3 Santino Thinks She’s “A Female Rock”
As a father to a second generation star, Santino Marella is beyond stoked for Arianna Grace to be in WWE, claiming to be more excited for her to compete at WrestleMania than he was to compete himself. On top of that, Santino has impressively high hopes for his daughter. Claiming to have an “18-year-plan” that began when he started his own in-ring career, he’s gone on record to state that he wants Grace to be “a female Rock” — not just to be a major wrestling star, but to also transition into movies.
2 Studied Biology In College
When it comes to wrestlers, they don’t always pursue higher education before becoming in-ring competitors, but Arianna Grace is among those that did. Attending London, Ontario’s Western University, the future Arianna Grace studied Biology as well as participating in various science-based clubs. However, Grace — as well as her father — realized that she didn’t want to actually forge a career in her chosen field of study. It was only then that she decided to seek training in pro wrestling.
1 Entered The 2023 NXT Women’s Breakout Tournament
Once her knee was fully rehabbed, Arianna Grace returned to in-ring competition, wrestling her first match back against Fallon Henley at an NXT house show in September 2023, with a rematch on Level Up following a couple weeks later. About a month later in October, it was announced that Arianna Grace would take part in the 2023 NXT Women’s Breakout Tournament — a great idea since many fans likely forgot about her. She ended up faring better than the previous year, too, taking out Brinley Reece in the first round.
