Maria Kanellis-Bennett response to recent comments made by Triple H on a media call.
Maria Kanellis-Bennett, since being released by WWE in 2020, has dedicated herself to the reinvigoration of Ring of Honor’s women's division. She has personally taken part in the facilitation of the Ring of Honor Women's Championship tournament which will take place this summer and has often said it's her goal to grow women's wrestling.
Recently on a media call before an NXT TakeOver event, Triple H made a comment about the current state of women's wrestling, saying that all the best women in the world work for WWE and if they don't, they want to. This received some backlash from names in the industry including Thunder Rosa, Deonna Purrazzo, and others.
Now, speaking with Liam Alexander-Stewart of Inside The Ropes, Maria says that when she really thinks about it, she knows that her best memories in wrestling had nothing to do with where she was working but the people she was working with. She also says that if Triple H was honest, he would know that they are not the only place to work and not even the preferred place to work for some wrestlers.
“So I think. I think, of course, has to say something like that, he has to say that everybody wants to be in WWE because that is where he works and that’s what’s required. But I think if he were honest with himself, he would realize that they aren’t the only place to work anymore and for a lot of people, they’re not even the place that they want to work. I’ve heard a lot of women comment to me. I have a couple within Ring of Honor right now that are under contract with us that were made offers by the WWE that turned them down. So and of course, like, I’m not going to go on some tirade about that because I don’t think it has any value. I think that women. In general, we all have communications about how things are going, how much we’re getting paid, and how well we’re treated, and so because of that community of women, the women’s wrestling coalition, as I like to call it, we have this underground network of boosting each other up and women’s wrestling matters and women want to do a really good job with the wrestling part of women’s wrestling."
She continued, “So I think anywhere could have the best wrestler in the world. It doesn’t matter if it’s going to be in Ring of Honor, AEW, Impact, WWE, it could be over in Japan or China or over in the UK or anywhere in Europe. Any one of these places may have the very best women’s wrestler in the world. It’s just a matter of who that person is, not what company they work for. And I hope that over the next few months we’re able to see a couple of those women and Ring of Honor. But if not, it is something to work towards.
“I mean, I would love to get Thunder Rosa for our tournament because I think she’s incredible. I would love to have LuFisto. I would love to bring a few girls in from Japan because there are great wrestlers everywhere and not all of them want to work for WWE. And after being there twice myself, I have to say that some of my most memorable moments in this industry had nothing to do with the big Stamford, Connecticut company, and it had everything to do with the people I was working with and the way that I felt working there.”
Maria Kanellis will be announcing the bracket for the Ring of Honor Women's Championship Tournament at Best in the World on Sunday, July 11.
Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp recently spoke to Maria Kanellis, you can check out the full interview here.
