Marella returned on the September 9 episode of "Raw", defeating Antonio Cesaro. On the next episode of Smackdown he defeated Damien Sandow with the cobra. On the September 23 episode of "Raw" he suffered his first defeat against Fandango since his return to WWE. He defeated Heath Slater on the next episode of "SmackDown" and began to align himself with The Great Khali and Hornswoggle. Marella then began a feud with Cesaro and his tag team partner Jack Swagger. Santino defeated Swagger on the September 20 episode of "SmackDown" and he defeated Cesaro on the September 30 episode of "Raw" in singles competition. On October 6 at Battleground, Marella and The Great Khali were defeated by Cesaro and Swagger in a tag team match. They were defeated again by The Real Americans on the following episode of "Raw"; after the match Marella attacked Cesaro with the Cobra. On the October 21 episode of "Raw", he defeated Heath Slater, dressed as Elvis Presley. After the match, he danced on the announce table. After that, he took a brief hiatus once again.