Maria Kanellis

Maria Kanellis (born May 2 1981 in Ottawa, Illinois), better known simply as Maria, is a diva working for World Wrestling Entertainment's RAW brand.

Maria also makes regular appearances in WWE's training territory, Ohio Valley Wrestling. While in OVW Maria has been involved in several feuds, most notably with Sosay.

Maria was a contestant on the reality TV show Outback Jack which aired on TBS. It showed her wanting to find love. Although she was one of the final three contestants, she was not chosen.

Maria had been a multiple-time beauty pageant winner before competing in the 2004 $250,000 RAW Diva Search. Despite not winning the Diva Search, she was hired anyway as she had impressed the fans.

Maria was brought on to RAW as a backstage interviewer. She was given a "dumb blonde" gimmick (despite being a brunette), playing on a mistake she made during one of her first interviews when she referred to wrestler Edge as "The Edge". This dumb gimmick has seen her in many comic skits, most notably during interviews involving former WWE Champion John Cena, Chris Jericho, Big Show and Mick Foley. She has quickly earned a reputation as the oblivious RAW backstage reporter - Maria seems to ask the wrong questions, irritating and amusing WWE Superstars and Divas alike. Despite being in WWE for such a short time, Maria has had numerous memorable moments, including interviewing Eugene and William Regal after they won the World Tag Team Championship from La Resistance, for it was this situation that led to an overwhelmed Eugene dousing Maria in chocolate milk as part of a post-match celebration.

In 2005, Maria began to get very physical - in, and out, of the ring. She competed in her very first official match on the January 10, 2005 edition of Raw. She faced off against Christy Hemme in a Lingerie Pillow Fight, which she lost after being hit with a pillow by Lilian Garcia and then tripped by Christy Hemme followed by being pinned with a bridge.

On the October 31, 2005 edition of RAW, Maria competed in a Halloween Costume Contest, dressing as an angel. She received a good pop for her contributions to the contest, but it ended as a no-contest when Victoria and Mickie James got into a fight. Maria helped the other divas get Vince's Devils out of the ring. She competed in a Fulfill Your Fantasy Diva Battle Royal at Taboo Tuesday 2005 for the WWE Women's Championship but did not last long, as she was the first to be eliminated.

On November 14, 2005 Maria competed in a non-title Diva Battle Royal at the Eddie Guerrero tribute RAW show. Maria stood by herself for most of the match, only getting involved when she saw the opportunity to eliminate a competitor, a strategy that proved effective as she eliminated both Jillian Hall and Victoria.On the November 28, 2005 edition of RAW, Maria interviewed then-RAW General Manager Eric Bischoff's thoughts on whether or not he thought he was going to be fired. However, she was booked into a match with WWE Superstar Kurt Angle out of spite. Maria was laid out with the Angle Slam and almost received the Ankle Lock, but John Cena came down for the save. On the December 5, 2005 edition of RAW, Maria testified in the trial against Eric Bischoff as General Manager. She first asked Mick Foley to question her with Mr. Socko, before answering, unusually intelligently, "Last week Bischoff abused his power, and it’s this rash discourse that has led to a locker room of disdain and mutiny, and it should be grounds for his immediate dismissal."

On a December 2005 WWE holiday special called Tribute to the Troops, the RAW Superstars visited Afghanistan to perform for American soldiers there. She and Candice Michelle defeated Ashley Massaro and Trish Stratus in a Santa's Helper Diva Tag Team Match.

On the January 2, 2006 edition of Raw, Maria was placed in a match with Victoria. After Victoria missed a splash in the corner, Maria rolled her up for the upset victory. Afterwards, she was attacked by the Ladies in Pink but saved by Ashley, who fought them off, until finally falling to them. During the commercial break that night, Vince McMahon announced a Gauntlet Bra & Panties Match for New Year's Revolution between all five girls that had previously been in the ring. At New Year's Revolution Maria was the first to enter the Gauntlet match and eliminated Candice Michelle and Torrie Wilson eventually being eliminated by Victoria. The match was won by Ashley Massaro.

On the February 6, 2006 edition of RAW, Maria teamed with John Cena (who earlier that evening kissed her to calm her down from getting nervous) to take on Edge and Lita in the main event. Maria would end up getting beat down by Lita, but ended up scoring the victory after a spear meant for Cena hit Lita. On the February 20, 2006 edition of RAW, Maria competed in a Number One Contender Battle Royal Match for the Women's title. Maria eliminated Victoria with Ashley, but was eliminated by Mickie James. On the March 6, 2006 episode of RAW, Maria lost a singles match to Lita after missing a clothesline and falling prey to Lita's Lita DDT. After the match, Edge was preparing to spear Maria, but Mick Foley ran in to make the save.

Maria also hosts the Kiss Cam segment on WWE.com Unlimited. Maria would get her first chance at the WWE Women's Championship in singles action on the April 10, 2006 edition of RAW, being the first person to challenge the newly crowned Mickie James. During May 2006 Maria would feud with Mickie James, even picking up a pinfall victory (in a cheerleader tag match) over the WWE Women's Champion.

• Bronco Buster
• Schoolgirl Rollup
• DDT

She is currently dating CM Punk in real life (confirmed to be true by the diva herself in an interview with The Sun). This began as a rumor when photos of the two emerged on the internet of them kissing and hugging. The two have been dating since Maria's early days in OVW. In June 2006, she said (on this relationship): "CM Punk and I have been dating for almost seven months. He's amazing. He's amazing in the ring, he's amazing out of the ring and he's amazing in our apartment."

Maria is a veteran of Hawaiian Tropic, won the Miss Carlisle All-Chrysler Nationals 2003 Beauty Pageant, and is of Greek origin. She majored in fashion at Northern Illinois University. She has a 16 year old sister (who Maria says when she is done with high school, she (Maria) may be more open to doing Playboy) and a brother that served in the Army.

She has two small X's tattooed on each of her wrists, possibly because she is straight edge, or a reference to her current boyfriend CM Punk who is straight edge in both real life and in his wrestling gimmick.

Maria's current WWE entrance theme is "With Legs Like That", performed by Zebrahead which was originally meant for Stacy Keibler. This is one of the tracks on the WWE Wreckless Intent CD.

Wikiquote has quotations related to Maria Kanellis.

• WWE Profile
• Maria Kanellis at IMDb
• Maria Kanellis Online (fansite)