Ring Of Honor’s Maria Kanellis Bennett was recently a guest on In The Room; the former WWE Diva and “First Lady” of ROH talks about Ring of Honor on Destination America, her reaction to her WWE release, the ROH locker room compared to WWE’s, wrestling politics and much more.
You can read a few excerpts, including Maria’s thoughts on her WWE release, playing a ‘bad girl’ in Ring of Honor, and not winning a championship, and listen to the full interview in the player embedded below:
Maria on her WWE release:
I was caught off guard … I know what was going on behind the scenes, and that I was trying to accomplish other things. I think that WWE looked at it like I wasn’t as interested in wrestling because I wanted to do more. I think that they got the wrong impression of what I was trying to do, as well as I got the wrong impression of what they were trying to do. Looking back on it, now five years removed, I would have done things differently. I would have stayed the course. I would have shed a light on women’s wrestling back then, if I would have had the time. And that was being on a mainstream television show and also being in WWE. I think that we were just going in two completely different directions, and it takes time and maturity to be able to see those types of things, and now being removed from them, I definitely would have done things differently. But, at the same time, I’m very thankful that they did release me.
On Being the Bad Girl w/ ROH’s The Kingdom:
It was fun. It definitely came from a place of wanting to try something different. We joke about it now [that we’re] big in Japan, [and] boo’ed in the USA. In Japan we’re good guys. In the US, we’re bad guys. It’s all about performance. It’s all about messing with the crowd and really enjoying that … [And] the Kingdom is such a strong group because we’re all friends. We have that backstory … and that’s what works. These are all guys that go out together, and we all hang out together, and it’s so much fun that we get to perform together.
Maria Talks ROH, Not Winning a Title Compared To Other Accomplishments:
I’ve been told on many, many occasions that championships don’t make or break a talent. So I don’t think of it like that. I think of it like how much of an impact can I make in women’s wrestling, whether I have a title or not. I think that right now, with going to New Japan and being the first female to wrestle against another female in New Japan, we’re breaking down boundaries. If somebody wants to give me a title for that, then that’s great. But at the same time, I don’t need that to define my career. Would it be cool to go back to WWE and win a title at some point? Yeah, sure. But at the same time, if I can accomplish more in Ring of Honor with Destination America, if I can accomplish more in New Japan, then it’s not high on my list.
