Backstage News On Maria And Mike Kanellis’ WWE Deals And Creative Plans

At WWE Money in the Bank, Maria and Mike Kanellis finally made their debut together on WWE television after several months of speculation. It was speculated as far back as last December that they were headed to WWE. The two will perform under the SmackDown Live brand going forward, and their characters are most likely going to be booked as heels. Aside from a brief introduction, nothing about them has been revealed.

Aside from the fans that know their work in other promotions, the rest of the WWE Universe may recognize Maria Kanellis. However, she’s become an extremely different performer since the last time she appeared on WWE programming. However, Maria made sure to use that to reveal “Mike Kanellis” as the perfect partner to her. Some people aren’t thrilled about Mike dropping the “Bennett” last name for a number of reasons.

The fact is that Maria Kanellis has a history with WWE, which is her in back onto SmackDown Live. Bennett is a newcomer, who will rely on her as a heater to get over as a character while his in-ring work does the rest. A lot of people may complain, but WWE officials have a specific strategy in mind for Maria and Mike Kanellis.

It was rumored that Maria and Mike Kanellis would likely end up in NXT for awhile to establish themselves as characters and get over with the WWE Universe. However, it has been reported that Maria is the reason why WWE officials decided to bring them to SmackDown Live. Apparently, a lot of people felt that sending Maria back to NXT wouldn’t have been smart because she would have already had an established character.

There have also been some rumors about Maria Kanellis being used as a new cast member on Total Divas. It is also unclear if the powers that be have any plans for her to wrestle on SmackDown Live. Mike Bennett is signed to a full-time performer deal, but Maria hasn’t signed an active wrestler contract, which means she’s most likely going to be used as a valet and will wrestle on occasion. Maria’s WWE contract is very similar to Maryse’s deal with the company, which means that Kanellis will wrestle a match if the situation calls for it.

The expectation is Maria Kanellis will be utilized alongside Mike Bennett the same way Maryse has with The Miz over the past year. Their shtick has worked well with Maria as a valet, but she’s capable of expanding on the role like she did in Ring of Honor or TNA Wrestling over the past few years. SmackDown Live’s newest power couple will get more exposure during tonight’s show, and the ball will be rolling down the hill soon.

[Featured Image by WWE]