Maria Kanellis believes more women’s wrestling companies are needed to showcase all the talent that’s currently available on the independent scene.
Women’s Wrestling Army owner Maria Kanellis was a guest this morning on Busted Open Radio with Dave LeGreca and Thunder Rosa to discuss a wide variety of subjects. During the discussion, Kanellis revealed that Mission Pro Wrestling’s Champion Holidead would be defending her championship and Women’s Wrestling Army and how important it is to have people like that in the locker room.
“Well, thank you so much and we appreciate all of the work that you’re doing at Mission Pro, but also we appreciate the fact that you are having Holidead defend our title on our show,” Maria Kanellis said. “It helps us with our credibility and also having Holidead in our backstage; she’s a presence. She’s been a presence in the industry for so long. She’s a veteran in this industry. We have a few veterans on our show, but to be able to have a title defended, that is a respected title that is Mission Pro’s title that really helps us out. It also helps out the girls that Holidead gets in the ring with. She had an incredible match with Janai defending her title.
“And you know Janai [Kai] is one of those people that you know she has a ton of indie experience, but she doesn’t have as much television experience. And she doesn’t have those instincts about cutting a promo or where’s the camera at as much she’s incredible in the ring. But there’s those things that you can do in a promo that really hit home with the audience that you can’t do on an indie show. And when I started in WWE, I started as a fan. I grew up around wrestling, watching wrestling. Me and my dad and my brother used to watch. I broke my brother’s nose trying different moves on him at my house.
“I just never knew there was an independent wrestling scene. I just never knew. And so when I saw the Diva Search, I was like, okay, this is my way in but I never wanted to be a wrestler. When I started, I wanted to be an interviewer. I loved what Jonathan Coachman was doing, and that’s the spot that I wanted to have. But then, of course, as wrestling does, it draws you in. It makes you want to go out there and perform those matches. There’s no greater feeling than when you’re out there and you know the crowd is there for a match. You feel nothing you could have a broken nose, a broken arm, and you still would put your all in that ring.
“So it drew me in and that was my introduction, but I have Paul Heyman constantly on my shoulder saying do it this way. Try this. He’s mentored me for my entire career, and to have that voice, even though he’s not an in-ring voice, to have a character development voice really helped me out. And that is the basis of where I come from in wrestling.
“But we also have Allison Danger, who is now our coach for Women’s Wrestling Army, and so she’s bringing the wrestling aspect of it. And there’s then we have our veterans as well and our veterans speak up and they say okay, we need you to do this. Try this in the ring. This didn’t look good. And putting all those pieces together is really what I love to do. I don’t have all the in-ring experience that other people do. And so I want to find those people. I want to find the people and put that entire team together. Because I feel like it is growing how many women’s wrestling companies there are but it’s still not enough. There are so many talented women, so it’s like if we can make more places to work, the better.”
READ MORE: Maria Kanellis Confirms Next Women’s Wrestling Army Taping; 10 Episodes Will Be Filmed
What do you make of Maria Kanellis’ comments? Are you excited to see all these new women’s wrestling companies starting up as of late? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
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