Former WWE Star Recalls How Vince McMahon Reacted When She Refused to Sign For Family Reasons: “We Had Long Conversations..”

WWE superstars are known to return to the company even if there might seem no way back for them in the company. There have been many instances of superstars managing to come back from the point of no return.

The former WWE chairperson Vince McMahon kept the business as his top priority, even when it meant reconciling with superstars that left on bad terms. One former female superstar has opened up about the circumstances around her return to the promotion.

Maria Kanellis returned to WWE in 2017 after a long hiatus. She came back to the promotion along with her husband, Mike Bennett.

In a recent interaction with Steve Fall in Ten Count podcast, Kanellis lifted the lid on her second stint with the company. She talked about the long conversations regarding her plans for a second baby before signing the contract. And the WWE hierarchy’s reactions to her willingness to walk away if an understanding could not be reached.

She was asked about her second stint with the company and her pregnancy during that period. Kanellis replied, “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”. 

The final answer that we got was it was Mark Carrano at the time and Mark said, ‘Vince loves kids, so if you were to get pregnant, no problem. No big deal. So we were like, ‘Okay! Cool!” added the former WWE superstar.

Dubious decisions by Vince McMahon

Maria Kanellis and her husband’s run with the company did not go as planned. They rarely got any TV time during their stay with the promotion. WWE has been known in the past to sign talents just to prevent them from signing with rival promotions and sparingly using them. This might have been the case with the couple.

The pair was released from the promotion in April 2020. This was along with a long list of superstars in a significant mass release by the promotion. WWE was making major budget cuts then, in order to reduce the Pandemic’s impact on revenues.

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Kanellis and Bennett would find work elsewhere with Ring of Honor and, more recently, would debut in All Elite Wrestling.

Former Chairman Vince McMahon always claimed to know what was best for the business. However, the fans struggled to find any logic behind his refusal to use the couple’s talents. Even though the former WWE superstar admitted that they were welcomed back with open arms. Kanellis and Bennett would be glad that they were able to put this past ordeal behind them and move on with their careers.

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