Bianca Sophia Carelli (born June 29, 1997) is a Canadian professional wrestler and beauty pageant competitor now signed to WWE, where she performs under the ring name Arianna Grace on the NXT brand. She is the daughter of Santino Marella making her a second-generation professional wrestler.

Early life

Bianca Carelli was born in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada to Petrina and Anthony Carelli. At a young age, Carelli took part in live theater performances, improvisation competitions, competitive dance and beauty pageants. She won the Miss Teen Ontario-World pageant in 2013 at age 17 and she graduated from Western University in London, Ontario, Canada with a Bachelor's degree in biology. Carelli also has extensive training in MMA fighting with a focus on Judo, Jiu Jitsu and Boxing. ^{[7] [8] [9] [10]}

Professional wrestling career

Early career (2018–2022)

Carelli began training in 2018 under independent wrestler Tyson Dux in Canada and she made her debut on June 9, 2018. At NWA EmPowerrr in 2021, Carelli competed in the NWA Women's Invitational Cup Gauntlet, which was won by Chelsea Green. She went on to compete on several independent shows in Florida before being signed by WWE in March 2022. ^{[11] [12]}

WWE (2022–present)

On March 17, 2022, it was announced that Carelli had signed with WWE where she would report to the NXT brand. ^[13] On the April 29 episode of NXT Level Up, she made her debut under the ring name Arianna Grace where she defeated Amari Miller. ^[14] She was soon announced as a participant in the NXT Women's Breakout Tournament where she was defeated by Nikkita Lyons in the first round on the May 10 episode of NXT. ^[15] On the August 10 episode of NXT, Grace earned her first televised win by defeating Thea Hail. In October, Grace suffered a torn ACL injury which sidelined her for a year. ^{[16] [17]}

Grace made her in-ring return on the August 29, 2023 episode of NXT Level Up losing to Fallon Henley. Now portraying a beauty pageant gimmick calling herself "Miss NXT", Grace made her televised return in the NXT Women's Breakout Tournament in October where she defeated Brinley Reece in the first round but lost to Kelani Jordan in the semi-finals. ^{[18] [19] [20]} On the January 16, 2024 episode of NXT, Grace participated in an NXT Women's Championship #1 Contender's Battle Royal which was won by Roxanne Perez. ^[21] On the March 12 episode of NXT, Grace defeated Gigi Dolin by disqualification with the stipulation that if Dolin lost, Grace had to give her a makeover. However, this storyline was dropped after Dolin suffered a knee injury. ^{[22] [23]} On the June 25 episode of NXT, Grace fought Sol Ruca for an opportunity at the NXT Women's North American Championship at NXT Heatwave against Kelani Jordan but was defeated. The following week on NXT, after Karmen Petrovic challenged Jacy Jayne and Jazmyn Nyx to a tag team match at NXT Heatwave, NXT General Manager Ava assigned Grace as Petrovic's partner much to Petrovic's dismay. ^{[24] [25] [26]}

Personal life

Carelli is the daughter of professional wrestler and former WWE Superstar Santino Marella. She is of Italian, Pakistani, Métis & Finnish descent. ^[27] Carelli is currently in a relationship with fellow professional wrestler Mitchell Lavalley, better known by the ring name Channing "Stacks" Lorenzo. ^[28] In 2023, she competed in the Miss Universe Canada beauty pageant where she finished in the top 20. ^[29]

References

External links

• Arianna Grace on WWE.com
• Arianna Grace's profile at Cagematch.net, Wrestlingdata.com, Internet Wrestling Database