Maria Kanellis On Why The Kingdom Signed With AEW
After having a discussion with WWE, Maria Kanellis said her and Mike Bennett felt like All Elite Wrestling (AEW) was their home.
Both Kanellis and Bennett have previously been in WWE, with the two joining the company in 2017 before they were ultimately released back in 2020. Their next move would be working with Ring of Honor (ROH) until they went on hiatus in 2021 after their ROH Final Battle pay-per-view.
At the beginning of 2020, the duo — teamed up with Matt Taven this time — then moved on to IMPACT Wrestling. They remained with the company until October, when their contracts expired. After they left the promotion, known as The Kingdom, they then made their AEW debut on the October 14, 2022 edition of Rampage.
According to Fightful Select, the trio had talks with the WWE before signing with AEW.
Appearing in an interview with Just Alyx, Maria Kanellis was questioned about the leadership changes in WWE, and if she’d ever consider making a return to the sports entertainment giant. Kanellis said the company can benefit from the change, and that she’s always been on good terms with both Paul “Triple H” Levesque and Stephanie McMahon. Kanellis When their contracts were about to expire with IMPACT, Maria Kanellis that both her and Bennett spoke with WWE about possible contracts, but chose AEW instead because they it was the better place for them.
“I think it always has to be shaken up. I think if you do things a certain way for a certain number of years, then things do need to change. So shaking things up is always a great thing. I’ve always had a fantastic relationship with Triple H and Stephanie McMahon. They wished me luck and congratulations after both of my children were born and sent us gifts. Giant gifts! Like I’m talking baskets that were humongous. It had rockers and other stuff.
Maria Kanellis continued:
My daughter loves her rocker. It’s a coyote hollowing at the moon. My daughter’s middle name is Moon. They sent all of these gifts for both of the kids. They gave my husband some great advice about parenting. So, on a personal level, we’ve always liked Stephanie and Triple H. We definitely communicated with Triple H as our contract was coming up with Impact Wrestling. You know, we did that courtesy conversation. It went really well.
Maria Kanellis closed out:
At the end of the day, I think AEW is the place where we belonged. So we’re really happy about the different relationships we have now in so many different companies.”