Mike Bennett and Maria Kanellis Bennett recently made an appearance on the ROH Strong podcast. The couple reflected on their time with Ring of Honor and shared some of their favorite memories. Here are some highlights:
On getting paid equally in Ring of Honor:
Maria: “Truth be told, Ring of Honor was the first company that paid me equal to a man. It was the first company. They paid me the same as my husband, and I have always appreciated that because in WWE, I was paid one-fourth as I was paid this last contact, and I was paid one-tenth of what the guys were paid at WrestleMania. So I appreciated Ring of Honor so much.”
On winning the 2011 Top Prospect Tournament:
Mike: “That was such a fun time in my wrestling career, and like it’s so funny to think about now because, and I’m sure we all do this, and I’m sure you do this because it’s human nature, but we never realize the good times we’re in while we’re actually in them. And I look back at that time and not only was it fun to be part of Ring of Honor, but I was going on this journey with guys that are legitimately my friends, like Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly and, obviously he wasn’t in this, but Tommaso Ciampa and Matt Taven. All that time in Ring of Honor, I was with my friends and guys that I consider like brothers, so I look back on it so fondly.”
Mike on how his perception of the Ring of Honor fan base changed:
Mike :”At the time, I didn’t think the times were that great because the Ring of Honor crowd didn’t accept me at all, they hated me, they thought I was a waste of time, they didn’t understand why I was getting a push, they didn’t understand why Ring of Honor hired me. And at that time, I was like, ‘Oh, how dare they?’ and this and that and blah blah blah, but as I grew in Ring of Honor, I learned to understand why, and it was because I was an outsider. In Ring of Honor, it was such a niche fan base and such a niche company that they didn’t want this outsider coming in and taking over, and as I got older, I actually kind of respected that.”
Maria on why she doesn’t wrestle:
Maria: “I only wrestle] if it’s absolutely necessary and when I do, it’s with someone dragging me kicking and screaming.”
“I don’t wrestle because I always end up in situations like that, a package piledriver [from Kevin Steen,] a triple super kick, it doesn’t end well for me ever.”
On Mike superkicking Maria:
Mike: “On an indie show, I missed you with the superkick.”
Maria: “He missed me, so we were like, alright, and we hadn’t talked about it, we were like okay, well and then we’ll do the super kick .”
Mike: “I was like, ah I’m not gonna miss you again.”
Maria: “And he’s like, ‘I’m not gonna miss you,’ blah blah blah. And so he’s definitely not gonna miss me. I step into it, and he came with it extra hard/ Oh my gosh, that was the hardest super kick I’ve taken in my hardest freakin’ life. It was brutal.”
Mike: “I rocked her.”
On the favorite moments of their run with Ring of Honor:
Maria: “I will have to say, the Briscoes made the second part of my career when they let me stand over them and cut a promo. And people forget this, at the time, not a lot of women were able to be strong characters against men. Yes, there were strong female characters, but it always in the context of the Divas or just the women, it was never standing up to a man. And so to be able to do that, the Briscoes really made my career, or the second half of my career. That was the moment that I knew it could work because it was the Briscoe brothers, the toughest bada– men in the industry. These guys, they allowed me to be in that position and they made my career.”
The full video is available here:
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