It’s been about five months since Maria Kanellis was released from the WWE but boy, what a busy five months it’s been. From ‘The Celebrity Apprentice’ to her debut EP, ‘Sevin Sins’, Maria has been juggling several projects. The latest of her projects are two shoot interviews: one for Highspots.com and one for Kayfabe Commentaries. Today, we’ll be looking at ‘Diva Diaries with Maria Kanellis’, her shoot interview for Highspots.
Filmed while ‘Apprentice’ was still on the air, the shoot opens with some talk about the show and how Maria got involved. She recalls that Donald Trump personally asked her to do the show last year when he appeared on Raw and ‘bought’ the show. Kanellis also reveals that she would love to be a contestant on ‘Dancing with the Stars’ and came close to joining the show last year but cited ‘conflicts’ leading to her ultimately not doing the show. She leaves it to the viewer’s imagination what those conflicts may have been — though it’s not really hard to work out what she’s referring to. Seems like WWE didn’t want her on ‘Dancing’ for fear of another Stacy Keibler situation.
The very peppy and talkative Maria seems full of life in this interview, nicely playing off the interviewer who later jokes he now gets why Maria was released as she pokes holes in WWE’s wellness policy, and the use of the phrase ‘independent contractors’. Her opinions on the subject are incredibly thought-provoking and if you thought Kanellis was the ditzy girl she played on WWE television — think again. Her arguments were extremely strong on these subjects in particular. Maria comes across as a business-savvy, smart, confident woman.
Now, I know what you’re all waiting for: juicy gossip. Well, without giving too much away, there are some very juicy comments throughout the shoot. For example, did you know Maria was supposed to host [or perhaps co-host] NXT? Obviously, that role then went to Matt Striker and she was released the same week that the show premiered. There’s also plenty on her relationship with CM Punk.
Commenting on the lack of effort put into the Divas division and her frustration during her time there, she says that this is a wide spread feeling amongst most of the Divas — though obviously, no one will come out and speak for fear of losing their jobs. And who can blame them for being frustrated? Being sent out to the ring for two minutes and doing a whole lotta nothing is just as frustrating to us fans as it is them. But a girl’s gotta eat, right? She does go onto reveal that all of the Divas are constantly pitching ideas to the creative team.
Kanellis puts over Michelle McCool as someone who always helped her learn, no matter how much she may have messed up, Michelle would always let her try again. However, there are two Divas who may not be as happy with Maria’s comments. You’ll just have to check out the DVD to find out!
In all, this shoot was a lot of fun and there is plenty of juicy gossip that I haven’t even touched upon. Really, it’s just too much to put into words. Maria is full of energy and personality; a far cry from the generic babyface persona that WWE had her and many of the other girls portray. This is something she, herself, touches upon in the interview too.
Verdict: Whether you like Maria or not, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
Rating: 3.5/5
- Click here to buy the DVD at Highspots.com
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19 Comments
melina & kelly are the two & she never really wanted to wrestle so she should be happy with the time she got in-ring anyway.
Aw, Melanie! Cmon! Details! Pleeeeaaaaase??
Yeah, Melina and Kelly are OBVIOUSLY the two Divas, I mean we’ve all heard things and SEEN the previews, so, not much of a challenge to find out. That interview should’ve been put up for grabs on DDLive, but the Ivory one is still good, obviously. :)
I hate to drag out old arguments, but I just don’t get how someone who seemingly never tried to improve as a wrestler beyond her first year or so and never really challenged herself can be frustrated about the lack of effort the [i]WWE[/i] put into women’s wrestling. If she’s speaking as an on-looker then it’s understandable, but it’s a two way system. You can’t give nothing and expect loads back.
seasons-Oooh, that’s a good point. I mean, I love me some Maria (the person), but Maria the wrestler will forever be on my hit list.
I’ll ask my girlfreind who’s also into wrestling and gossip to buy it because I’m not that into it. But it does seem interesting.
@seasons-of-love:
I totally and completely agree with you!! it really bugs me when ever i here maria say things like, the wwe did not give her much to do. well if you cant wrestle what do you expect the wwe to do for you?? even maria herself said that she wasnt a good wrestler. and when maria said in her diva dirt interview about wishing that she could of held the title just once, that made me angry. just bc you are there for a long time DOES NOT mean you deserve the title. that would be like giving funaki the title when he was there.
“I just don’t get how someone who seemingly never tried to improve as a wrestler beyond her first year or so and never really challenged herself can be frustrated about the lack of effort the [i]WWE[/i] put into women’s wrestling”
i’ve never trained to wrestle, i definitely have no plans on doing so, and i’m frustrated about the lack of effort wwe put into the divas.
i’ve not watched it, but from what melanie’s previewed, it’s not as if maria was saying “i deserved a feud with so-and-so” “i desrved this title then”. she comes across to me as quite the team player and for her to be so open about her frustrations (even though it’s after she’s released and being paid to talk about it!) is nice.
I don’t think Maria did deserve the title, based on what she said about the Divas not getting a chance and then she never wanted to improve it doesn’t make sence for her to say that. But someone like Torrie Wilson did deserve the title like when she got a shot at the Women’s Title against Molly Holly but didn’t win. Torrie’s not a Trish Stratus or Lita but she did get better and was with the company for 8 years!
@ilovelita…who is your dealer? you must be smoking some great stuff if you believe “torrie wilson did deserve the title like when she got a shot at the Women’s Title against Molly Holly but didn’t win’…Maria at her worst is a better worker than Torrie at her best…WWE got it right though…Neither of those women deserved a belt…
@The_Eric…Did you know that Torrie was going to be the first ever Divas Champion? I think that Torrie was a better worker than Maria.
I just wish WWE would’ve let her show her real personality and not that generic babyface schtick but she does seem like a really cool person.
“Did you know that Torrie was going to be the first ever Divas Champion?”
If WWE had ever really wanted Torrie Wilson to be any kind of champion, she would have been.
I would have liked to see Maria as Divas Champion. But it never happened:( The DVD lookes pretty good and i done like Maria alot(The cover lookes good to). I think Torrie was going to be the first Divas Champion but her back issues were to bad. So she had to retire from WWE.
Interesting, I may have to shell out the cash to get this one. HS also released an Ivory shoot – THAT one is on my to buy list for sure.
@Maxine…Amen!
“If WWE had ever really wanted Torrie Wilson to be any kind of champion, she would have been.”
Exactly but as we all know her back injuries forced her into early retirement. If you think about it, the Divas Championship looks like it was custom made for Torrie.
I really need to get this. To touch on the Torrie thing I do feel that Torrie was deserving of atleast a one month title reign. As long as women like Debra and The Kat were champs I would never sasy Torrie wasn’t deserving of a title run. That’s just my opinion
@The_Eric, I do think Torrie Wilson should have been a Women’s Champion I think she deserved it. Divas like Debra, Miss Kitty, and Hervina (Harvey Wimpleman) didn’t deserve the title!
What did Ivory say on her interview? And why does she dislike Jacqueline so much?