It is with a great deal of sadness that I report to you the news that Jesse Holland will no longer be doing his "This Date in History" posts here on Cageside Seats. He's a busy man with a lot on his plate and unfortunately, that no longer includes his daily stop here.
Nevertheless, the series will go on and myself and the rest of the Cageside crew will do our best to pick up the slack.
In many ways, it's fitting that this is the day I would step in to fill the void, as our funny guy, Santino Marella, won the Intercontinental championship in his Raw debut on this date in WWE history on April 16, 2007.
The manner in which the company chose to introduce him was simple but effective. Vince McMahon had introduced Umaga and issued an open challenge for a title match right then and there. When no one from the back answered the call, McMahon turned to the fans in Milan, Italy, and just so happened to pick Santino, who was "planted" in the front row.
Marella answered the call and, with the help of Bobby Lashley, pulled off the upset to win the belt in his Raw debut. He's been charming fans everywhere ever since.
The best part of the entire segment undoubtedly came when the crowd broke out in soccer chants to which Vince wondered aloud, "What the hell does that mean?" His follow up order for everyone to "SHUT UP" was the icing on the cake.
Video of (almost) the entire segment after the jump.