Former WWE Star Reveals Why They Chose AEW Over A WWE Return

WWE/AEW

Former WWE star (and one time 24/7 Champion) Maria Kanellis has revealed why she chose to sign for AEW rather than returning to WWE, where she has spent nearly 10 years of her career.

Speaking with Steve Fall’s Ten Count, Maria spoke about her decision to join Tony Khan’s promotion.

She said:

“I think AEW is the best situation for my family right now. The schedule is the best. I love growing and building with companies. I mean, I worked for Ring of Honor and rebuilt the women’s division last year with Bobby Cruise. So like, building is really interesting to me, and I think that for us, it’s just the best schedule we can possibly have with two kiddos.”

Unsurprisingly she also revealed that she has been subjected to a lot of hate messages from anti-AEW fans.

Maria said:

“[I received] a lot. It was amazing, really, and I don’t hate WWE. I had great conversations before we made our decision on where we were going to go and my husband had great conversations before we decided where we were going to go.

“I think, you know, that’s the thing that people also need to realize, too, is that a lot of us keep great relationships everywhere. So, you know, Triple H and Stephanie sent huge baskets to our house full of all these kids’ gifts after both of my kids.

“So it was these baskets of, you know, rocking horses and all these different things, and clothes, and all these really nice gifts for both of my children. So of course, like, you know, I appreciated that they did that for us back then. I still think highly of them today. I think what they’re doing is great. I’m excited to see friends like Mia Yim go back and whoever else is probably going back. I think that’s fun.

“I still have a great relationship with Scott D’Amore. It wasn’t like, ‘Oh, I hate impact. I’m leaving.’ No, it was, this is the best decision for my family.”

Maria made her AEW debut back in October 2022 alongside husband Mike Bennett and former ROH World Champion Matt Taven.

Credit to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.

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