Maria Kanellis Denies Reports About WWE Tenure And Release

Current AEW star and former WWE star Maria Kanellis, wife of fellow AEW star Mike Bennett, has released the following on social media.

There are a lot of reports about things that happened when I was in WWE. Most of them are just wrong. Some are rumors circulated by WWE loyalists, bots, or “news” organizations on the WWE payroll. Here are some facts: When I was “released” by WWE the first time in 2010 my contract was up and I refused to sign for one third what my male contemporaries were making. When I went back, I was told by many people I trusted that WWE had changed. WWE knew we were planning on adding to our family when we resigned. Mike asked for his release, I did not. Mike never went to WWE rehab. Nor did they pay for any rehab. We were lied to many times about our storyline and what direction it was going. I fought back against it to no avail. We were never paid millions of dollars in WWE. We had the average contract for WWE for 6 months. We are not millionaires and we don’t live in a mansion. I hope this helps people separate fact from fiction.

Kanellis revealed her real-life pregnancy on WWE TV in mid-2019. Bennett was involved with the WWE 24/7 Championship at the time and, at one point, had Maria pin him to capture the gold. Bennett quickly pinned her that next week in a segment at the OBGYN’s office to win back the title, and subsequently, Kanellis began to tell people, in storyline, that the baby was not his. He would then go on to lose several matches in embarrassing fashion before they were both pulled from WWE TV and eventually released by WWE in 2020.

Join me and Connor Casey tonight after WWE NXT Vengeance Day for a post-show review. It will be available for free on the Haus of Wrestling YouTube channel and all social media platforms. It will be uploaded to the Haus of Wrestling podcast feed shortly after it finishes recording live.