Maria Kanellis is best known for her time in Impact Wrestling where she was a member of Honor No More, and is known for her time with Ring of Honor and WWE.
58 Facts About Maria Kanellis
2.
Maria Kanellis is known for her 2008 Playboy magazine pictorial and 2010 appearances on the Celebrity Apprentice television series.
3.
Maria Kanellis is currently the co-owner and founder of Women's Wrestling Army.
4.
Maria Kanellis began competing in the ring as a professional wrestler in 2005 and received the Slammy Award for Diva of the Year in 2009.
5.
Maria Kanellis released her debut album Sevin Sins in 2010 and departed WWE that year.
6.
Maria Kanellis is the first ever pregnant champion in WWE history.
7.
Maria Kanellis has two younger siblings; a brother and sister named Bill and Janny, respectively.
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Maria Kanellis grew up with an interest in playing sports, particularly volleyball, basketball, and softball.
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Maria Kanellis graduated from Ottawa Township High School in 2000, and then went on to study at Northern Illinois University.
10.
Maria Kanellis competed in the Diva Search in 2004, deciding to enter the contest after seeing an advertisement while watching Raw.
11.
Maria Kanellis stood out in the contest by giving fellow contestant Carmella DeCesare the finger after being eliminated from the contest.
12.
Maria Kanellis began making appearances in Ohio Valley Wrestling, WWE's then-developmental territory.
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Maria Kanellis contributed booking ideas, and her work at OVW earned her a spot on the Raw brand roster.
14.
Maria Kanellis was brought on to Raw as a ditzy backstage interviewer and the host of WWE KissCam in November 2004.
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Maria Kanellis's gimmick involved her asking wrong questions, irritating and amusing the roster.
16.
In 2005, Maria Kanellis began wrestling and was defeated in her first official match on the January 10,2005, episode of Raw by Christy Hemme in a Lingerie Pillow Fight.
17.
Maria Kanellis competed in a Fulfill Your Fantasy Diva Battle Royal at Taboo Tuesday for the WWE Women's Championship, but was the first to be eliminated.
18.
Maria Kanellis then booked her in a match with Kurt Angle out of spite, and Maria was laid out with the Angle Slam.
19.
At the event, Maria Kanellis was the first to enter the Gauntlet match and eliminated Michelle and Wilson before being eliminated by Victoria.
20.
Maria Kanellis scored the victory after a spear meant for Cena hit Lita.
21.
The next night on Raw, Maria Kanellis wrestled Marella, but the match ended with Maria Kanellis as the winner.
22.
Maria Kanellis participated in the Raw vs Smackdown Divas match at Survivor Series, where she eliminated Jillian Hall before her team lost the match.
23.
Maria Kanellis competed at WrestleMania XXV for the "Miss WrestleMania" crown, but was eliminated by Victoria.
24.
At Night of Champions, Maria Kanellis accompanied Ziggler to his match with Rey Mysterio for Intercontinental Championship.
25.
Maria Kanellis made her in-ring return the following week, teaming up with James to defeat LayCool, in which would be her final match in WWE until October 2018.
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Maria Kanellis accompanied her real-life boyfriend, Mike Bennett, as a villainess, in a three-way elimination match for the ROH World Television Championship, where he won.
27.
At All Stars Extravaganza 6, Bennett and Maria Kanellis customized the title as the Championship of Love.
28.
Bennett and Maria Kanellis left ROH after the December 19,2015, Ring of Honor Wrestling taping, after failing to come to terms on a new contract with the promotion.
29.
On February 25,2012, Maria Kanellis won a tournament to determine the inaugural Family Wrestling Entertainment Women's Champion.
30.
Maria Kanellis successfully defended her title against Angelina Love at FWE: No Limits.
31.
In September 2012, Maria Kanellis made her debut for Chikara, managing Mike Bennett and The Young Bucks to the finals of the 2012 King of Trios tournament.
32.
Alongside Gavin Loudspeaker, Maria Kanellis hosted the 2014 National Pro Wrestling Day.
33.
On October 4,2014, Maria Kanellis lost the FWE Women's Championship against Ivelisse Velez.
34.
The Kingdom lost the match and the championship, after Doc Gallows superkicked Maria Kanellis, which distracted Bennett, leaving Taven alone to lose the match.
35.
On January 5,2016, during Impact Wrestling's premiere on Pop TV, Maria Kanellis made her debut as a heel introducing her husband as "The Miracle" Mike Bennett.
36.
On June 18,2017, Kanellis returned to WWE alongside her husband Mike Kanellis in his WWE debut at Money in the Bank, establishing the Kanellis couple as heels for the first time in Maria's WWE career.
37.
On January 22,2018, at the 25th Anniversary of Raw, a visibly pregnant Maria Kanellis was honored as part of a segment involving women considered legends that contributed to the company's success, including The Bella Twins, Maryse, Kelly Kelly, Lilian Garcia, Torrie Wilson, Michelle McCool, Terri Runnels, and WWE Hall of Famers Jacqueline and Trish Stratus.
38.
Maria Kanellis would go on to deny that she asked for her release.
39.
On January 27,2019, at the Royal Rumble, Maria Kanellis returned for the first time since Evolution in the previous year and competed in her first women's Royal Rumble match, entering at number 15 and lasting 08:12 minutes before she was eliminated by Alicia Fox.
40.
Maria Kanellis then became the focal point of a story on TV, where she would say that Mike was not the father of her child, resulting in her husband losing matches in a humiliating manner.
41.
Maria Kanellis hasn't appeared in WWE since 2019 and on April 15,2020, Maria Kanellis, her husband and many other employees were released from their WWE contracts due to budget cuts amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
42.
At Hard To Kill, on January 8,2022, Maria Kanellis made her return to TNA, now known as Impact Wrestling, along with Mike Bennett, Matt Taven, PCO, and Vincent, where they attacked Eddie Edwards, Rich Swann, Willie Mack, Heath and Rhino.
43.
Maria Kanellis made her All Elite Wrestling debut on the October 14,2022, episode of Rampage, alongside Mike Bennett and Matt Taven, interrupting FTR and Shawn Spears' victory celebration.
44.
Maria Kanellis made it to the final three before being eliminated.
45.
Maria Kanellis appeared on the February 6,2008, episode of Project Runway with some of the other WWE Divas.
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Maria Kanellis later appeared on VH1's Top 20 Video Countdown, along with John Cena.
47.
Maria Kanellis began a new career as a mixed martial arts announcer for HDNet on March 26,2010, at the King of the Cage event in Reno, Nevada.
48.
Maria Kanellis was a contestant on the Celebrity Apprentice, which premiered in March 2010.
49.
Maria Kanellis was first asked to pose for Playboy when she was nineteen years old, but she turned down the offer in fear of embarrassing her sister.
50.
Maria Kanellis eventually posed for the cover of the April 2008 issue, with an accompanying nude pictorial.
51.
Maria Kanellis is a singer and released her debut album Sevin Sins on April 13,2010, with "Fantasy" as the first single.
52.
In early 2011, Maria Kanellis appeared in the Funny or Die web series, Swallow and in March 2011 she launched her own perfume line called Signature.
53.
In September 2011, Kanellis launched her DVD line in conjunction with Code Red DVD called Maria's B Movie Mayhem.
54.
Maria Kanellis owns and operates an event design company called Wonderland Event Productions.
55.
Maria Kanellis made her in-game debut in SmackDown vs Raw 2009.
56.
Maria Kanellis appears in SmackDown vs Raw 2010, WWE 2K19 as DLC and WWE 2K20.
57.
On September 25,2017, Maria Kanellis announced she and Bennett were expecting their first child.
58.
Maria Kanellis is a devout Christian, and often works with Christian rock band Disciple.