Maria Kanellis Reflects On Matches With Umaga & Kurt Angle, John Cena Romance Angle

Maria Kanellis recently looked back at her matches in WWE with Umaga and Kurt Angle, and what it was like facing them. Kanellis was forced to face Umaga in a match back on the November 6th, 2006 episode of Raw or be fired by Eric Bischoff. The match led to John Cena making the save for her. She also was forced by Bischoff to face Kurt Angle in a match in November of 2005.

Kanellis reflected on how she ended up in those matches during her appearance on Insight With Chris Van Vliet. She noted that it was because she was willing to do so. She also recalled her romance storyline with John Cena that led to a match where she and Cena faced Lita and Edge. You can check out the highlights below:

On Preparing For the Match:

“I remember working myself up backstage so that when I came out, I was shaking so that it would look more real and more believable. Because Umaga is one of the nicest, sweetest people in the world, and I didn’t feel that bump at all. He held me so tight, I didn’t feel hitting the mat.”

On the Samoan Drop:

“Yes, but taking his booty to my face, that hurt. He had warned me to put my head back, and I thought I had my head back far enough, but he hit and it went all the way down my spine. I was like oh, good, I’m paralyzed after someone hit me with their butt! What a weird [world]. Yeah, it was good, good times.”

On How She Ended Up In Those Matches:

“No, it wasn’t, and it was because I was willing. I was able to do it, and my character was so strong that when these guys would attack the sweet, innocent kind of dumb girl, then it really was evil. It really was a bad guy maneuver. So that’s how I got put in the position. Since I just tried to keep delivering.”

On Being In the Ring With Kurt Angle:

“Man, he’s fast. He’s fast. I’ve never experienced someone so fast. He’s great. He’s sweet. He’s so funny in person. His wife is even funnier. I loved working with him. But yeah, I mean, and those guys back then had such a presence that we could have done nothing and still done everything. So every time I’m out there, I’m learning, I’m learning, I’m learning. But then we go to do this spot, and again, I didn’t even know what had happened. It was so fast, and the boys, they always protected me. They were always so good to me. I don’t know if I should say that or not, but they did. Whenever I had to wrestle one of the guys, I always felt great after. I never felt like something had happened to me.”

On the Pitch For the Romance Angle With Cena:

“I’m not exactly sure. I just showed up one week, and that’s what was happening. So okay, let’s do it. That’s most of the stuff back then, though. Most of the stuff, like now you would find out last minute. But most of the things you would find out early in the day, and you would go over it and you would rehearse, and then you would be performing that night. That main event match that we had, me and John had against Lita and Edge. I was learning most of those moves that day because I had never done them before. Getting pulled into the ring and things like that, I had never done. So yeah, you were learning during the day and performing at night.”