10 WWE Stars Who Are Unhappy Right Now

6. Maria Kanellis

Maria Kanellis
WWE.com

Maria Kanellis is all sorts of pissed off. She might deny that - several sub-tweeters do this, having drawn precisely the sort of attention they sought for - but the evidence is mounting.

Pro Wrestling Sheet revealed earlier this year that both Mike and Maria Kanellis had requested their releases. Maria denied the (corroborated) report, claiming that "someone is playing all the wrestling news sites", but her subsequent social media activity paints a picture of a performer unhappy in her role. Excluded from WWE's celebratory Women's History Month video - "Great video!! I think you forgot me?" - Maria also stamped the dreaded "This." when retweeting Naomi's recent rant at the state of SmackDown's Women's division.

Maria is unhappy with her role - but, arguably, WWE is not the best fit for the choice work she crafted throughout her Ring of Honor renaissance. Unlike so much of wrestling's history (see: about 88% of WWE's entire oeuvre), Maria didn't cravenly, clumsily weld sexuality onto the product; she used it, in the perfect, contrasting pure wrestling context, to put the heat on her man and create a maelstrom of Karl Anderson memes.

Decidedly un-PG, those antics aren't for WWE under its drive for progressivism - and her husband's fading fortunes might account for the complete absence of her job in her Twitter bio.

But you can book her (?) at mariakanellisbookings@gmail.com, which John Oliver might find odd.

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Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!