Maria Kanellis Interview Highlights

Former WWE Diva Maria Kanellis spoke with The Poughkeepsie Journal this weekend. Here are some highlights:


It seems like you’re pretty busy, doing a lot of different stuff right now.



Yeah, I am. I’m keeping busy. It’s the first time in my life that I’ve actually had time to myself to decide what I want to do next. I got into WWE when I was so young that I really hadn’t experienced that much yet. It’s the first time in my life that I’m able to do what I want to do. Experiencing new things. I loved working for WWE. It was an incredible experience, but I’m trying other stuff. Perfume. My new perfume line just came out (available here) online. You can find it online if you just look up Maria Kanellis Signature Perfume. I’m doing short films for friends. I’m doing a feature this summer. It’s not a huge feature. I’m writing two films. It’s crazy, so busy.



Sounds like an exciting time. Like you said, trying to figure out what you want to do?



Who knows? I might end up doing some more wrestling. I don’t know if I will or not. I miss it. I miss the crowds. I miss the people. I miss going out there and having that instant gratification. If you do an incredible move or something amazing happens in the ring, I miss that.



When you came up through the Diva Search, did you expect to be wrestling?



No. I loved Jonathan Coachman. I loved what he and The Rock were doing. When they asked me in the Diva Search what I wanted to do, I told Coach, ‘I want to do what you do. I want to call you a popcorn fart just like The Rock did.’ They sent me to the next round. That’s what I thought I was going to do. Then, once you get in it, I want to do the physicality. I want to do all of that stuff. I just did.



Was that surprising to you? When did you realize, OK, I’m a wrestler now and I’m wrestling matches?



I never was. I never considered myself a full-time wrestler because I wasn’t always doing matches. A lot of times, I would do one little thing here or there to make the heel be a heel. It wasn’t like I was a full-time wrestler. A lot of times, I was the girlfriend, which is fine with me. I loved all aspects of it.