While she no longer has an executive title with Ring of Honor, Maria-Kanellis Bennett still likes to help out where she can.
Prior to Ring of Honor‘s hiatus in late 2021, Maria Kanellis-Bennett had a heavy hand in guiding the direction for the promotion’s women’s division. As a member of ROH’s Board of Directors, Kanellis stepped in to spearhead and foster the budding women’s division, paving the way for the introduction of the ROH Women’s World Championship. Since the company transferred ownership to Tony Khan last year, though, Kanellis affirms that she is solely a contracted talent now.
Speaking with WrestleZone‘s Managing Editor Bill Pritchard, Kanellis was asked if she had any creative control in the “new era” of ROH. “[Laughs] I don’t,” she admitted. “I always have to tell the girls backstage, especially the one that are coming in as extras, I am here strictly as talent. Now, do I help where I can, as a mentor or a friend? Yes, I do. Certain moves that I’ve seen done a million times, if somebody is learning it for the first time, do I help with that? Yes.”
“Do I help with the organizational part, like if I know that the show is running slow or fast, or whatever, do I go and tell the girls like, ‘Hey, you probably want to get ready’ or ‘Your match is coming up’, that kind of stuff, yes, I do. Do I stand there as like a motherly figure to pat them on the back after? Yes. Or if I see something that they could do better? Yes, I try and help in that way.”
“But as a title, no. I do not have that title. Would I accept it? Of course. I feel such, I don’t know, it’s a motherly feeling of, ‘This was a division that we grew together.’ So, I always want to help out how I can, in that sense. But yes, Tony has used a lot of the same girls that we’ve used either in the Ring of Honor women’s division that Bobby and I ran or in Women’s Wrestling Army. So. it’s nice to see a lot of familiar faces.”
Despite the ROH’s change in ownership, Maria Kanellis says still finds comfort in her surroundings. “Tony [Khan] takes really good care of this people,” she said. “I think that’s the biggest thing I’ve felt so far. I know recently it’s been in the news about Tony takes care of our hotels and our transport, and that’s huge. Especially someone like me, that came from WWE, and I remember rooming with two or three girls at Red Roofs because we weren’t making a lot at that point, we were new, and we were paying for our hotels and our cars in WWE. But now, it’s nice. My husband and I always think of it as like a mini vacation every time because we don’t have the kids that are coming in our room in the middle of the night. So, Tony takes care of his people in that sense.”
Perhaps one of the biggest things Kanellis has taken away from her experience, is the feeling of family. “There was one show that we were on, it was actually at Final Battle last year, and Taven had flown in from Mexico and had this horrendous travel schedule that week, and the first thing that Tony asked was, ‘How was your travel? Thank you so much for coming in.’ So that’s comforting because I always felt that Ring of Honor was a family, and it continues to feel as such,” she said.
“We had our set of tapings recently, and during the day, there was a Dark, and then at night was Ring of Honor. It was in the same building, but something changed. I don’t know what that feeling is, but as soon as it got to be right around Ring of Honor time, people settled, and also you could see that look in everybody’s eyes of like, ‘I’m going to have the best match on Ring of Honor.'”
Watch our full interview with Maria Kanellis-Bennett below:
