Maria Kanellis has conditions if she's going to step back in the ring.
Maria is a former WWE 24/7 Champion, but she has no desire to step back into the ring unless there are a special set of circumstances. Maria hasn't wrestled since 2019 when she teamed with her husband Mike Bennett to take on Seth Rollins & Becky Lynch, though she wasn't active in the match as she revealed she was pregnant.
Maria currently runs Women's Wrestling Army alongside Bobby Cruise, but as one of the top names in women's wrestling, fans have wondered if she'll step back in the ring for her company.
"No," she told Will Washington, Phil Lindsey, & Righteous Reg on Grapsody. "There is this problem that happens when somebody who is on TV is also in a position of power. It should never be a competition. For me, that doesn't work. I can't give my entire focus to a company if I'm trying to get my shit over [laughs]. If it's got to be about me, it's got to be about me. I will not half-ass it. If I were to get into that mind space, there would have to be something that happened. 'Oh, you're going to go to USA Network, they really want you to have a match.' If Netflix says, 'We love your show, we want it on Netflix, we really want Maria to have a match.' Okay, I will have a match. A sponsorship comes along and everybody gets a fantastic payday, fine, I'll put myself in there, one match. I don't have any desire. I was done at WrestleMania. I walked out and thought, 'I'm done, I don't want to be here.' I want to be here producing and with my husband, I don't want to be wrestling."
Maria competed in the Women's Battle Royal at WrestleMania 35.
When it comes to Women's Wrestling Army, Maria has partnered with many different talents and promotions for the all-women's company. When asked if WWA had interest in working with any Joshi promotions, Maria said, "Yes. We do. With COVID, it's still a little hard, but yes, we do. Some of the girls we work with right now have connections with people so they'll send over a group and they'll work around the country. We're trying to be able to do that as well."
Women's Wrestling Army airs on Pro Wrestling TV and has featured talent such as Taya Valkyrie, The Hex (Allysin Kay & Marti Belle), Tasha Steelz, and more at previous tapings.
Women's Wrestling Army will hold its next set of tapings in Chicago, IL on November 4 and 5.
Elsewhere during the interview, Maria discussed her future in wrestling outside of WWA. You can find her full comments by clicking here.
