Mike Bennett doesn't feel like the storyline with Maria Kanellis constantly berating him was put into play to intentionally embarrass him and even if it was, he doesn't care.
Mike Bennett, aka Mike Kanellis, was released by WWE on Wednesday, April 15th along with his wife Maria and several other Superstars. The last major storyline he was involved in on Monday Night Raw, sorry I'm frequently labeled as an embarrassment by his wife Maria. On an episode of Raw, Maria Kanellis even suggested that the next time she wanted to get pregnant, she should just ask Becky Lynch to do the job instead of her husband.
Speaking with Fightful's Sean Ross Sapp, Mike Bennett reveals that that storyline was actually the brainchild of Paul Heyman and it originally was set to go in a different direction prior to Maria revealing to Heyman that she was pregnant.
“So it's actually funny how that all went down. It was the week we found out we were pregnant, was the week that Paul Heyman called us and said, 'I have this idea of doing a tag match with you, telling Maria, you and Mike [vs.] Becky and Seth.' He went over the whole match. He's like, 'and then this and then Maria you'll come and you'll be chickenshit and eventually she'll get you in the hold and you'll tap out but then you'll start blaming your husband for you'll start blaming Mike for it,'” Bennett began. “We had just found out like two days ago we were pregnant we were just waiting for the right time you know to tell them when we wanted to tell them. Maria was just like, 'Paul I've known you a long time, I have to, I'm pregnant.' He went, 'alright. Well, this isn't going to work then. Then, in typical Paul Heyman fashion stops dead in his tracks and he goes, 'I think I have an idea. Do you mind if I tell the boss?' Maria went, 'no we were going to eventually anyways. He goes, 'alright I'll call you back.' He called his back and pitched the whole angle that we did."
Continuing on, Bennett would say that neither he nor Maria had an issue with the storyline as long as it was leading to something that Mike could use when his wife inevitably went on maternity leave.
“We were like, 'yeah, that's great.' The caveat was always as long as this goes somewhere. Like I said, if you give me anything, I'll run with it but I want there to be a payoff,” he continued. “I don't want there to be nothing just, you know, some sort of a payoff so when Maria finally leaves to go on maternity leave, I'm not just sitting there as the guy that berated for the last three months and then you can't do anything with me because I'm a joke. Yeah. We had pitched a lot of the storylines. Then Paul came up with the 24 7 title idea and I thought that was fun. That was fun to me. I was like, 'wow you're really building something here. But, yeah. It was always that caveat of we'll play and we'll do it and we'll have fun because again, it's phony wrestling. Yes, it's not real life. My name's Mike Bennett and I'm not my wife's bitch.”
Mike would go on to further the point that he doesn't understand how some fans can suggest that the point of the storyline was just to embarrass him because TV time is just too valuable for it to be wasted on a certain talent that they just want to poke fun at.
“I don't think people realize how valuable TV time is and how much money that costs the company. It's like millions. They're not going to waste TV time on someone just to embarrass [them.] Maybe a one-off, maybe a one-off embarrassment and that's it,” said Bennett. "They're not going to progress the storyline and use it and put us in the ring with their two top stars being Becky and Seth, then put the title that they just introduced in the 24/7 title, like they're just not that. It's like Vince is a good businessman. He does understand. They're not going to waste their time on that. So yeah if they were trying to embarrass us, again, I don't care but I can't comprehend the fact that that's what they were trying to do because it just doesn't make sense to me.”
Also in the interview, Bennett discusses what's next for him following his WWE release, and more.
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You can see our full interview with Mike Bennett at the top of the page. Make sure to follow him on Twitter, and check out his upcoming Podcast and Pro Wrestling Tees store, and he's on Cameo.
