Maria Kanellis On How Vince McMahon Felt About Her Getting Pregnant

Maria Kanellis and husband Mike Bennett had a rocky run with WWE from 2017 through 2020. During that time, Kanellis became pregnant twice, while Bennett was rarely used on television. In a recent interview with Steve Fall of NBC Sports Boston, Kanellis opened up about her second run with the company, her pregnancies, and her experience with then-WWE Chairman Vince McMahon during that period.

"When we were getting ready to sign with WWE again, we had long conversations with WWE, and I told them I wanted to have another baby right away, because I wanted the two kids to have each other," Kanellis said. "And I told WWE, 'Hey, it's fine, I could just not sign, and we can part ways. That's fine. Mike can stay, and I'll go and have a second baby.'" Kanellis revealed that she also pitched a pay-per-appearance deal, or shifting to become a backstage producer, which she could still do while pregnant.

"The final answer that we got was — it was Mark Carrano [who was Head of Talent Relations] at the time — and Mark said, 'Vince loves kids, so if you were to get pregnant, no problem. No big deal,'" Kanellis continued. "So we were like, 'Okay! Cool!'" The couple signed their deals without knowing that Kanellis was already pregnant. But after only a little bit of use on television, both performers were largely kept on the shelf for the remainder of their WWE run.

Kanellis and Bennett were released in 2020. Since then, they've appeared for companies such as Ring of Honor, Impact Wrestling, and most recently All Elite Wrestling, where they debuted several weeks ago.

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit NBC Sports Boston with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.