Only one WWE Superstar ever kicked out of Santino Marella's Cobra
Santino Marella says Bryan Danielson (formerly known as Daniel Bryan in WWE) is the only person to kick out of his popular Cobra finisher.
Marella used to pull a green sock puppet out of his singlet and strike his opponents in the chest. The crowd-pleasing move drew comparisons to the Mandible Claw submission that Mick Foley performed using his own sock puppet, Mr. Socko.
Speaking on Rene Dupree’s Cafe de Rene podcast, Marella recalled how he almost defeated Bryan with the Cobra at Elimination Chamber 2012:
“At that time, when I put on the snake, no one had ever, ever, ever kicked out at that time," said Marella. "Daniel Bryan was the only person to ever kick out of the Cobra when I put the snake on… ever, ever. So the audience was super conditioned to believe, ‘This is it.’” [2:35-2:51]
Bryan ultimately defeated Marella at the end of the Elimination Chamber match to retain the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. The match was the closest that Marella ever came to winning a World Championship in WWE.
The origin of Santino Marella’s Cobra move
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The inspiration for the Cobra came from someone in Japan who showed Santino Marella a hand puppet transformation five years before he joined WWE.
Marella decided to incorporate the puppet into his WWE character during untelevised matches at live events. WWE producers witnessed audiences’ positive reactions and recommended that he use the move on television.
WWE Chairman Vince McMahon approved the comedy move, which went on to accidentally become one of the most effective finishers in WWE history. Sheamus was the only other person to kick out of the move, but Marella was not wearing the Cobra sock puppet at the time.
Please credit Cafe de Rene and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.