Maria Kanellis Recalls 'A-Ha Moment' She Had With AEW Talent

Maria Kanellis has long been a serious proponent for women's wrestling, running the revamped women's division in Ring of Honor back in 2021. So naturally, when she made an appearance on The Ten Count this week, the topic of women's wrestling came up — AEW women's wrestling, in particular. When asked if she felt that the AEW women's division recently started clicking better with the fan base, she made the point that time and patience needed to allow your talents to build their names goes a long way. 

"A lot of women's wrestling in AEW was very new," she said, noting that even on the indie level, AEW's top women didn't have the name recognition of the male talent who came directly from the indies, citing the Young Bucks as an example. "So for three years, they've built their home-grown stars while bringing in other talent, and now they're [in] a place where everybody as a fan can go, 'Oh! I see it now! I get it!' It's like the puzzle was revealed," she added. "Maybe Tony [Khan] is more of a genius in that sense in his patience of building it, but that would just be my opinion." 

Darby Allin also fit the bill as another AEW talent that found a way to connect with the fan base, even though his name had limited exposure among pockets of wrestling fans, with Kanellis remembering getting what Allin was about pretty quickly. "I remember the first time seeing Darby, and being like 'Oh. Okay. Oh! Okay!' You need that time and those 'A-ha!' moments, like, 'Oh! That's why I'm a fan of this person!' Sometimes, you go to an indie show, and some of the people, you've never seen before. You're watching, and some people you super connect with, and some, you're like 'Eh.' But then you see them again and you're like, 'Oh! I get it now!'"