Maria Kanellis Recalls Origin Of Her ‘Ditzy’ Character, Being Signed After Diva Search

Maria Kanellis started her run as a WWE talent with a “ditzy” interviewer character, which she recently recounted the origin of. Kanellis came to WWE via the 2004 Diva Search and though she didn’t win, she ended up getting signed. She was on OVW before debuting on Raw with her ditzy persona in November of that year.

Kanellis discussed how the character came about and her Diva Search experience in an appearance on Insight With Chris Van Vliet. You can check out the highlights below:

On If She Went Into the Diva Search Wanting To Become a Wrestler:

“No, because they didn’t say it was just for being a wrestler. They said that it was to be a diva in WWE. It wasn’t real clear about what that could mean. I had told them the whole time, I want to be an interviewer. I remember saying it on stage. Coach was there, and I said on stage, ‘I want to be an interviewer like you, Coach. Aren’t you a popcorn fart?’ And he was like, ‘Go to the next room,’ and that was it. That was my entry into WWE was literally being on stage and telling Jonathan Coachman that I wanted to have his job, and yeah, that got me into New York, and then it got me on live television.”

On Getting Signed After Not Winning:

“So I come back from getting eliminated. I came back from the ring, and John Laurinitis is there, and he’s like, ‘Give me a call in two weeks.’ I said, ‘I’ll call you in a week.’ So I called him every single week until he gave me a tryout. I went down to OVW, and Bubba and D-Von were down there coaching for two weeks. So here I am with all these other girls that wanted to get jobs, never wrestled before, and they are just bumping us in the ring. Don’t know how to bump. I’m just like whatever, I’ll figure it out. So I’m trying to bump in the ring, and at the end of those two weeks, I’m black and blue, and I had a job essentially, and I didn’t really know I had a job. I ended up going to Monday Night Raw, and I’m backstage walking, and I’m like okay, they wanted me to be here; here I am, and I’m walking down the hallway, and people are congratulating me. I was like what is going on? Finally, Lilian shows me the script for the evening, and there I was in the script, and that was how I found out I was working for WWE.”

On the Origin Of Her ‘Ditzy’ Character:

“I was in OVW, and they wanted us to cut a promo, and I had never cut one before. I didn’t know how to cut a promo, so I started singing I’m a Little Teapot. Paul Heyman thought it was amazing. I was like, ‘Well, this is what I got.’ But of course, I made it a little bit sexual, so that’s probably why they liked it. I said, ‘Bend me over and pour me,’ but that’s neither here nor there. He thought it was great. So between him and Vince, I’m not exactly sure who finally made that decision, but yeah, it was from that little teapot promo.”