YMMV / Maria Kanellis

• Awesome Music: The songs she released on her EP are quite good. "Fantasy" and "Change Your Mind" are two very powerful songs, the former is a bit of an ear worm too.
• Critical Dissonance: Diva Dirt writers didn't like Maria at all, and expressed shock at the great reactions she got from fans in the arenas. Diva fans hated her during her time in WWE for her poor wrestling skills, though she did have plenty of fans in other demographics.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Her being voted "Diva of the Year" in 2009 was quite shocking, considering that she didn't really do anything relevant that year, was up against Mickie James and Melina and was released a few months later.
• Fan-Preferred Couple: Maria and John Cena have a lot of shippers due to the insane chemistry between them on screen.
• Fandom Rivalry: Briefly with fans of the Bella Twins when rumours went around that the Bellas had stopped WWE from rehiring Maria in 2013. Maria herself later clarified that it was a misunderstanding and apologised publicly.
• Funny Moments:
  • When interviewing Chris Masters, who was nicknamed 'The Masterpiece'. Accidental Misnaming ensued, and Maria asked "why do they call you the masturbate?" to which he looks like he's trying not to start Corpsing.
  • The fantastic scene at Eric Bischoff's trial. She comes in all perky and asks Mick Foley to have Mr Socko hear her testimony. Then comes the Mood Whiplash.
  ""Last week, Eric Bischoff abused his power in a way that was malicious and capricious. It is this rash discourse that has ultimately led the locker room into disdain and mutiny, and should be grounds for his immediate dismissal."
  • Her You-Shoot interview. A video question essentially asks how well equipped CM Punk is. Maria's response is to burst out laughing and say "he was a good size."
  • There's also the Mood Whiplash of her being eliminated from the Diva Search. She tearfully hugs goodbye to Christy, Amy and Joy...and gives Carmella (no, not that one) the double finger.
• Heartwarming Moments: Disappeared from SmackDown almost as fast as she returned. Why? Because Mike Bennett was undergoing a successful recovery program for his pain pill addiction with her support, and then right after that they announced that she was expecting. Aww.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: When Maria was in WWE, she took Stacy Keibler's theme song.^note Zebrahead originally recorded "With Legs Like That" for Stacy, but she was released before she could use it. It later became Maria's theme song. After leaving WWE, she took Stacy's best heel valet tactic.^note As the Duchess of Dudleyville, Stacy liked to stand on the apron and distract Bubba Ray and D-Von opponents with her assets. As Mike Bennnett's wife, Maria does the same to his opponents.
• Hollywood Pudgy: Apparently she was told once by WWE management that she needed to lose weight—despite being attractive enough to pose for Playboy and being one of if not the thinnest woman on the roster at the time. Not to mention that on her best days she has very visible abs.
• Moment of Awesome:
  • Her promo on LayCool during the Mickie James going away party segment. When Diva Dirt were reviewing the segment (and they weren't kind to Maria normally) they called it the best promo of her career, and claimed she had outdone Mickie herself.
  • While part of a Raw panel on Afterbuzz TV, another panelist suggested that none of the Divas really wanted to be there. Maria launched into a very passionate response.
  "That is so horrible...You want to know my honest opinion on it? I mean, do you have any idea how much we would love to stay, we would love to be there, how we would love to do everything we dream about? The only reason a lot of us have left is because we didn't get the opportunities there we wanted or thought we'd earned, or the opportunities we fought for, that's the only reason! All that "you're just a diva"; it sounds so trashy. If you are on the road 250...350...days a year there is no way [it's just for fame]…you obviously want to be there. Sure you get on television, but every weekend [on house shows], you're getting your ass kicked, you're all covered in bruises, I look at Candice Michelle, she was a Go Daddy girl she got there. But she worked hard. I used to look at her legs; from the top to the bottom they were covered in huge bruises from all the different places Beth had grabbed her to put her in position...She worked her tail off to become champion! For you to say that, you have no clue how passionate these women are! I would still be there if I got the opportunities I wanted. We're not actresses on television playing an action star who doesn't really get hit; we were getting hit. I'm no longer there because I spoke up and because I got spoke up that's why I'm sitting here."
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: Did this to herself in a major way. Many Diva fans had assumed she was using WWE as a stepping stone and considered her a Diva-Search bimbo. However after watching shoot interviews and getting to know the 'real' Maria, she gained a lot more fans. And it translated to the ring when she returned to wrestling with ROH (as her boyfriend's va…no, manager) and FWE (as the first cornerstone of its women's division).
• Testosterone Brigade: There were many male fans holding up signs for Maria during her WWE run. The reason why should be obvious.
• The Woobie: Sometimes you did have to feel sorry for Maria since the rest of the roster picked on her so - and she was so ditzy she was adorable. Even the other faces didn't have much time for her. Other times, fans had to wonder if someone really had it out for Maria, especially after her match against Umaga; one wondered if a John Cena run-in was really planned and that Umaga (and his boss, Eric Bischoff) had a horrifically brutal fate awaiting her — essentially, an extended Curb-Stomp Battle followed by worse.