Six days after he stripped away Ricardo Rodriguez’s dress shirt to expose Alberto Del Rio’s personal ring announcer as a closet Justin Bieber fan, United States Champion Santino Marella will tie up with Rodriguez in a special Tuxedo Match at No Way Out. The rarely seen stipulation match, a non-title bout requested by The Milan Miracle, will square away some of the bad blood that has developed in recent weeks between two of WWE’s most lighthearted Superstars. (WATCH)
Described by Marella as “one of the most electrifying matches in sports-entertainment,” Tuxedo Matches require both competitors to enter the fray in full penguin suits. The objective is to strip the other man of his outfit. For a rivalry that has featured plenty of laughs and more than a tinge of humiliation, the Tuxedo Match is a wholly appropriate venue for Marella and Rodriguez to settle the score.
Though many ring announcers over the years, from WWE Hall of Famer Howard Finkel to Tony Chimel, have found their way into such lapel-shredding encounters, it remains to be seen whether this stipulation actually better suits Rodriguez than it does Marella. At the very least, Del Rio’s golden-voiced second has experience running the ropes in wingtip shoes.
After the two quarreled on Raw SuperShow over who was the better ring announcer, The Milan Miracle and Rodriguez finally locked up on the May 25 SmackDown. Though the action was largely one-sided — the United States Champion won after hitting The Cobra — Rodriguez, who was dressed in a full tuxedo, demonstrated flairs of athleticism, including a high leap frog.
What appeared to begin as a somewhat friendly competition, however, took a turn for the sinister on the May 28 Raw, when Marella faced Del Rio in a Non-Title Match. After Del Rio made short work of Marella, forcing the U.S. Champion to tap to his Cross Armbreaker in less than a minute, Rodriguez added insult to injury by repeatedly belting the winner’s name directly into Marella’s ear.
That humiliation prompted this tweet from @MilanMiracle the following day: “@RRWWE made a big mistake rubbing in what del rio did, he jumped me and got the best of me yes, not you, if u want a piece of beef, u got it!”
The normally jovial Marella appears to have been pushed to his breaking point. Luckily for Rodriguez, now that his boss has been yanked from the No Way Out lineup due to injury, the ring announcer will have only his match on which to concentrate – his own. Though he appeared wholly overmatched the last time he faced Marella, Rodriguez is, if nothing else, persistent.
For all of his accidents, comical run-ins and mishaps, beneath Rodriguez’s almost huggable exterior is a very real mean streak that has bubbled to the surface on occasion. Is it possible that Rodriguez, tired of being the butt of a joke and frustrated with his lackluster performance against Marella on SmackDown, has upped the intensity of his training and will step into No Way Out in peak form? And will Marella, who has suffered an attack by Big Show in recent weeks, be at the top of his game when the bell rings?
The WWE Universe will have to wait for the cummerbund-crushing action to unfold Sunday.