What Was The Original Plan For The Maria And Mike Kanellis WWE Angle?

Maria Kanellis has revealed what the original plans were for both her and husband Mike Bennett during their infamously lacklustre WWE run.

Whilst speaking to the DropKick Podcast, Kanellis noted how the pair's careers in the company seemed dead in the water a few weeks after debuting as a couple at the 2017 Money in the Bank PPV. But it did appear WWE had big plans for them upon initially signing the duo.

In Kanellis' own words:

“I mean we got hired four months before we debuted. We sat for four months knowing that we were fighting an uphill battle. Somebody really wanted us then for whatever reason. Things got put on the kibosh. When we came in, we thought Mike was gonna have this really good run of me just managing him and, you know, having these wrestling matches that he’s worked a thousand times before. Kevin Owens was fighting for us to come into WWE. He still apologizes.

“But the plan was to build Mike as a singles wrestler. Somewhere along the way, and I have a feeling it has a lot to do with him coming out with his addiction and then me announcing that I was pregnant, I think they just kind of took a step back from us and everything they wanted to do with us. But I say this to Mike all the time, that the second week we were there, we were already dead in the water.”

The first two years for the real-life couple were admittedly quite rough, with neither really getting the chance to gather any momentum on-screen due to constant real-life events such as Maria's aforementioned pregnancy and Mike's struggles with addiction. However, it appeared the pair were finally being given a chance to shine when the decision was made to give them a weekly storyline on Raw which involved Maria belittling her husband at every turn.

Sadly, the story was never given a chance to fully play out on TV, but Kanellis revealed that this would all have ultimately led to a split between the two and a babyface run for Mike:

“So it was supposed to be this storyline where I was just berating him the whole time. I was still on the road while pregnant, and then it was going to be Mike turning on me. It was supposed to be, ‘I’m sick of your s–t lady, I’m gonna do this on my own.’ Then I was gonna go on maternity leave, and then he was gonna have this singles run and use all the things he had been though. You know, dating an evil woman and having this addiction and all this stuff. He was going to use it as a babyface and to really start getting some wins and get the ball rolling."

As we all know, this would never actually come to fruition, with the talented twosome being released from WWE in April 2020 during the infamous Black Wednesday. They've since gone on to return to Ring of Honor, and also appeared at The Good Brothers' Talk 'N Shop-A-Mania event in August of last year.