ROH star and Board of Directors member Maria Kanellis recently spoke with Shakiel Mahjouri from Cageside Seats about all things pro-wrestling, including whether or not she plans on making an appearance at the upcoming all-women’s NWA pay per view, Empowerrr. Check out highlights from the interview below.
Calls her ROH Board of Directors position the most fulfilling job she’s had in the industry:
“This is it. This is the most fulfilling. There have been several moments, but some of these Tickets to Gold, they didn’t have a clue they were getting the Ticket to Gold or going to be in the tournament. When I jumped up on Willow after her match, she had no clue that this was happening. And so just that feeling of like, ‘Oh, my gosh, this is my dream. And now someone’s giving me a chance at my dream.’ That’s the most fulfilling thing I can do. That’s something I can be proud of. I think that the women we’ve had in the tournament have been fantastic. The matches are incredible. And I can’t wait for everybody to see them.”
On her working relationship with other companies:
“I recently had a conversation with Thunder Rosa. I was trying to bring her in for the tournament. It didn’t work out just because of everything that she’s doing right now. But we have been having conversations with NWA. As soon as we have a champion, I think we’re going to move forward with some stuff there. Impact, of course, is an option. Deonna Purrazzo used to be with Ring of Honor. We have Chelsea [Green] now and Chelsea is kind of doing both. So as much as I hate calling it the Forbidden Door — because as a woman this is the wrong name for it [she laughs] — options are open. We’ll put it that way. More opportunities, equal more opportunities. That’s my thought process on it. If we can have wrestlers that not only work for us but work for several other companies, that’s more exposure for Ring of Honor,” Kanellis adds. “For me, that’s across the board with all of our talent. I hope, male or female, they can make as big of a name for themselves as they can, no matter what that show is.”
Teases an NWA Empowerrr appearance:
“You never know. But I will have to say once we have a champ and kind of solidified our women’s division — because we’re just we’re just re-upping this — we’ll have a lot more options after that.”
Full video interview is below.