Maria Kanellis dispels rumors of WWE's Women's locker room being an unfriendly place.
Speaking with DS Shin of Ring The Belle, the Ring of Honor Superstar was asked about her experience working with the veterans in WWE when she joined the company in 2004. Kanellis says that the Women's Division was filled with supportive people who always fought for each other. She would go on to name Victoria, Beth Phoenix, Gail Kim, and Mickie James as a few of those who helped train and take care of her during those early days. Here is her full response:
"I don't know, I read somewhere where someone said that, 'oh, the women's locker room back then was so catty and gossipy and blah blah blah.' You know, there's always some of that, but at the end of the day, we fought for each other. The guys handled their business and the women did... that's not my experience at all. My experience was even when I was feuding with somebody, whether it be personally or just on camera, we still fought for each other to have more time in the ring, to have a bigger platform within WWE. So, all the girls fought for each other. Even the ones that I didn't like or they didn't like me at the time because we were young, and it's weird thinking back on it.
Victoria took care of all of us. She was like mamma bear. She would be one of the first ones that would jump in the ring with you so you could try something on her. So I would definitely say her. Gail was there and Gail's just such a tremendous performer, and luckily I got to work with her again when I worked in IMPACT. Beth was amazing. She was so solid when you were in the ring with her. You never were worried that things were going to get screwed up. Mickie was hilarious. She had a way of just easing all the tensions. She would say the most dirtiest things to you sometimes when you were in the ring, and I'm like, 'no, I'm trying to be serious here.' You know, all these stories that you hear, looking back on it I never think about it that way. The guys, you know, some them, woof... the girls I always think of us as this incredible team of like fighting for each other."
Kanellis worked for WWE from 2004-2010 and then again from 2017-2020. She signed with ROH in December 2020 and is expecting to be back on TV in the coming weeks with some "very big announcements."
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