Trivia / Maria Kanellis

• Blooper: Famously in her 'Bunny-Mania' tag match at WrestleMania 24; the lights went out right in the middle of the match, though they were able to quickly shine a spotlight on the ring.
  "I was in there with Beth, and all I could think was 'is the Undertaker coming out because we're terrible?'"
• Contractual Purity: Spoke against this trope in a shoot interview. When WWE made the switch to PG, she wasn't allowed to do the Bronco Buster anymore and the Divas were warned against being too Stripperiffic. She compares it to Kim Kardashian having a sex tape and still getting to host the Kids' Choice Awards.
• Corpsing: According to Maria, she was corpsing in most of the skits she did with Santino Marella. The push-ups one required ten takes because she couldn't stop laughing.
• Creator Backlash:
  • Maria hated being moved to SmackDown in 2008, calling it "where careers go to die"; she specifically hated that it wasn't live, and that the show would be severely edited by the time it aired.
  • She initially didn't like the ditzy character she first played, but then realised the business potential of it.
  • Subverted with some of the T&A segments like Bra & Panties matches or pillow fights, saying that they could still have fun with them if they were given enough time - and she actually preferred that to the meaningless two-minute matches in the PG Era.
  • She's criticised WWE's Take Thats to the Divas' Championship, feeling it devalues the hard work of the women who fought over it like Beth Phoenix, Mickie James, Melina, Natalya etc.
  "Saying that it's a bad championship to have I think is an insult to the women who were on the road 300-350 days a year. You know, they barely went home to see their family holding this Divas' Championship. I think in that aspect, it should be looked at fondly. Not like it's an insult."
• Doing It for the Art: She gives this as her reason for why she continued with a wrestling career after getting released from WWE.
• Dye Hard: Is naturally brunette but was blonde early in her career, and is more recognizable as a redhead.
• Enforced Method Acting: In a backstage interview, Trish Stratus slapped her so hard she knocked one of her fillings out. It was noted how Maria seemed to be moaning a lot as the referees checked on her; this was because she was in genuine pain.
• Friendship on the Set:
  • She loved working with Michelle McCool; describing her as someone who always encouraged her in the ring, and would be happy to let her try new things.
  • In a shoot interview, when Katie Lea was mentioned, Maria got very sad at her then-recent release; saying "how did that happen?"
  "I liked Katie. Katie worked well in the ring. I always enjoyed her."
  • She describes Beth Phoenix as "a real sweetheart", and loved their match at WrestleMania 24.
• Hostility on the Set:
  • During the first Diva Search, she did not get along with Carmella DeCesare, who she claimed acted like an Alpha Bitch backstage. Maria describes Carmella coming late to a TV taping and throwing her out of the make-up chair. As a result when Maria was eliminated from the contest, she hugged the other girls goodbye and gave Carmella the double finger.
  • An odd example, considering Maria said they had two conversations, but Jim Cornette once went off on her in an interview claiming she was the stupidest woman he'd ever met and she knew nothing about wrestling. She happily said she "hated" him from then on.
  • She hated Johnny Ace when he was head of talent relations. In a shoot interview, when asked if she could say something nice about him, she replied "he was always good at smiling to my face."
  • She admitted to going hard on Kelly Kelly because there were rumours that she was flirting with CM Punk while he was dating Maria (and as they were on different shows, she had no idea if they were true). In her You Shoot Interview, when it came to the 'Ho Bag' segment^note Where a woman's name will be put in a bag if they were mean or promiscuous., she paused at Kelly's name and said "I'm giving you a pass because you're young".
  • There were always rumors of bad blood between her and Melina. In a shoot interview she said "I used to get along with her but then she drove me crazy" - though the two did seem to be on good terms when they appeared on After Buzz TV together.
  • The Bella Twins and Maria have a well-documented rivalry, with rumors abounding that the Bellas stopped WWE from hiring Maria back. During the Bellas' shoot interview, when asked about Maria, they declined comment. In their book Incomparable, they detailed a backstage incident where an unnamed female wrestler assaulted Nikki, and many fans suspected it was Maria. Years later Maria apologised to the twins on Twitter.
  • Initially, she hated Batista and thought he was a Jerkass, but changed her mind when he bought her mother dinner for her birthday.
• I Am Not Spock: See below. Maria constantly had people assuming she was as ditzy as her on-screen character.
• Irony as She Is Cast: Michelle McCool noted that Maria was nowhere near as ditzy as the character she initially portrayed, noting that she was a very savvy business woman. Some reviewers expressed surprise at how different she was from her character when she first started doing shoot interviews.
• Playing Against Type: She was always a Face in WWE but appeared in FWE and later ROH and TNA as a Heel. She said it was easier for her to be a heel there because the Smart Marks hated the idea of a Diva Search girl coming in.
• Real Life Writes the Plot:
  • Was initially a straight-man interviewer, but was so green that she fumbled over her dialogue again and again. The writers turned this into her intentionally being a ditz, and Maria used the gimmick to grow comfortable on TV, as well as carving out a character trait.
  • When teaming with John Cena against WrestlingEdge and Lita, Edge took an injury minutes into the match, and Maria and Lita then had to improvise on the fly.
  • A storyline involving a potential heel turn on Melina had to be abandoned once Maria was cast in the Celebrity Apprentice.
  • Her relationship with Mike Bennett started in Real Life before becoming part of Ring of Honor's Kayfabe with her debut there.
  • She used taunts she had gotten from Smart Marks as the basis for her heel manager gimmick in TNA and ROH.
  • Had to leave WWE shortly after returning as she had gotten pregnant. She and Mike Bennett returned in 2018.
• Romance on the Set: Before marrying Mike Bennett, Maria was in a relationship with CM Punk that started during their time in OVW, up until Punk was called up to ECW. The relationship and breakup with Punk inspired her Sevin Sins album.
• Throw It In!: Her famous promo on The Briscoe Brothers in ROH was entirely improvised and without a script.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Maria may never have gotten "With Legs Like That" as her WWE theme had Stacy Keibler not left to do Dancing with the Stars, as the song was originally written for Keibler.
  • She wanted to go further with the Genius Ditz character - having more segments where she would have bursts of intelligence. But it didn't happen.
  • She claims she kept pitching a double character, where she would play both the Betty and Veronica to a male superstar, and it would later be revealed that she had a split personality. A character like that probably wouldn't have worked in WWE, but for somewhere else, you never know...
  • WWE wanted her to host the first season of NXT. She requested a pay rise in exchange for more work, but they released her and gave the gig to Matt Striker instead.
  • Maria talks about pitching a t-shirt idea to Stephanie McMahon in her first run, and being turned down because female merchandise wasn't considered marketable.
  • It's rumored that her feud with Michelle McCool, leading to the latter's heel turn, was originally planned for Cherry. Michelle had been built up as Cherry's protector and best friend, and Cherry had notably been the one to congratulate her on winning the Divas' Championship. Cherry was released due to budget cuts, and Maria got the story - despite not having much connection in kayfabe to Michelle beforehand.