Wwe Diva
Maria Kanellis WWE Career
Maria had
been a multiple-time beauty pageant winner before competing in the 2004
$250,000 RAW Diva Search. Despite not winning the Diva Search, she was
hired anyway as she had impressed the fans.
Maria was brought on to RAW as a backstage interviewer. She was given a
"dumb blonde" gimmick (despite being a brunette), playing on a mistake
she made during one of her first interviews when she referred to
wrestler Edge as "The Edge". This dumb gimmick has seen her in many
comic skits, most notably during interviews involving former WWE
Champion John Cena, Chris Jericho, Big Show and Mick Foley. She has
quickly earned a reputation as the oblivious RAW backstage reporter -
Maria seems to ask the wrong questions, irritating and amusing WWE
Superstars and Divas alike. Despite being in WWE for such a short time,
Maria has had numerous memorable moments, including interviewing Eugene
and William Regal after they won the World Tag Team Championship from La
Resistance, for it was this situation that led to an overwhelmed Eugene
dousing Maria in chocolate milk as part of a post-match celebration.
In 2005, Maria
began to get very physical - in, and out, of the ring. She
competed in her very first official match on the January 10,
2005 edition of Raw. She faced off against Christy Hemme in
a Lingerie Pillow Fight, which she lost after being hit with
a pillow by Lilian Garcia and then tripped by Christy Hemme
followed by being pinned with a bridge.
On the October 31, 2005 edition of RAW, Maria competed in a
Halloween Costume Contest, dressing as an angel. She
received a good pop for her contributions to the contest,
but it ended as a no-contest when Victoria and Mickie James
got into a fight. Maria helped the other divas get Vince's
Devils out of the ring. She competed in a Fulfill Your
Fantasy Diva Battle Royal at Taboo Tuesday 2005 for the WWE
Women's Championship but did not last long, as she was the
first to be eliminated.
On November 14, 2005 Maria competed in a non-title Diva
Battle Royal at the Eddie Guerrero tribute RAW show. Maria
stood by herself for most of the match, only getting
involved when she saw the opportunity to eliminate a
competitor, a strategy that proved effective as she
eliminated both Jillian Hall and Victoria.On the November
28, 2005 edition of RAW, Maria interviewed then-RAW General
Manager Eric Bischoff's thoughts on whether or not he
thought he was going to be fired. However, she was booked
into a match with WWE Superstar Kurt Angle out of spite.
Maria was laid out with the Angle Slam and almost received
the Ankle Lock, but John Cena came down for the save. On the
December 5, 2005 edition of RAW, Maria testified in the
trial against Eric Bischoff as General Manager. She first
asked Mick Foley to question her with Mr. Socko, before
answering, unusually intelligently, "Last week Bischoff
abused his power, and it’s this rash discourse that has led
to a locker room of disdain and mutiny, and it should be
grounds for his immediate dismissal."
On a December 2005 WWE holiday special called Tribute to the
Troops, the RAW Superstars visited Afghanistan to perform
for American soldiers there. She and Candice Michelle
defeated Ashley Massaro and Trish Stratus in a Santa's
Helper Diva Tag Team Match.
On the January 2,
2006 edition of Raw, Maria was placed in a match with
Victoria. After Victoria missed a splash in the corner,
Maria rolled her up for the upset victory. Afterwards, she
was attacked by the Ladies in Pink but saved by Ashley, who
fought them off, until finally falling to them. During the
commercial break that night, Vince McMahon announced a
Gauntlet Bra & Panties Match for New Year's Revolution
between all five girls that had previously been in the ring.
At New Year's Revolution Maria was the first to enter the
Gauntlet match and eliminated Candice Michelle and Torrie
Wilson eventually being eliminated by Victoria. The match
was won by Ashley Massaro.
On the February 6, 2006 edition of RAW, Maria teamed with
John Cena (who earlier that evening kissed her to calm her
down from getting nervous) to take on Edge and Lita in the
main event. Maria would end up getting beat down by Lita,
but ended up scoring the victory after a spear meant for
Cena hit Lita. On the February 20, 2006 edition of RAW,
Maria competed in a Number One Contender Battle Royal Match
for the Women's title. Maria eliminated Victoria with
Ashley, but was eliminated by Mickie James. On the March 6,
2006 episode of RAW, Maria lost a singles match to Lita
after missing a clothesline and falling prey to Lita's Lita
DDT. After the match, Edge was preparing to spear Maria, but
Mick Foley ran in to make the save.
Maria also hosts the Kiss Cam segment on WWE.com Unlimited.
Maria would get her first chance at the WWE Women's
Championship in singles action on the April 10, 2006 edition
of RAW, being the first person to challenge the newly
crowned Mickie James. During May 2006 Maria would feud with
Mickie James, even picking up a pinfall victory (in a
cheerleader tag match) over the WWE Women's Champion.
Wwe Diva
Maria Kanellis Trivia
Maria is a
veteran of Hawaiian Tropic, won the Miss Carlisle
All-Chrysler Nationals 2003 Beauty Pageant, and is of Greek
origin. She majored in fashion at Northern Illinois
University. She has a 16 year old sister (who Maria says
when she is done with high school, she (Maria) may be more
open to doing Playboy) and a brother that served in the
Army.
She has two small X's tattooed on each of her wrists,
possibly because she is straight edge, or a reference to her
current boyfriend CM Punk who is straight edge in both real
life and in his wrestling gimmick.
Maria's current WWE entrance theme is "With Legs Like That",
performed by Zebrahead which was originally meant for Stacy
Keibler. This is one of the tracks on the WWE Wreckless
Intent CD. |
