Mike Kanellis on Leaving Impact Wrestling, Coming to WWE and More

That’s the power of love. At “Money in the Bank 2017”, Mike and Maria Kanellis made their debut for WWE. While Maria had been there before, this was their first time appearing together and Mike’s first time period. A lot of fans might not know much about Mike, but an appearance on “E&C’s Podcast of Awesomeness” might help solve that problem.

Mike appeared on the show to discuss his path to WWE, including the story behind he and Maria’s departures from Impact Wrestling. The story goes into quite the level of detail and you can read it in full at the link below. Here are some highlights with transcription courtesy of Wrestlinginc.com:

On Not Re-Signing with Impact Wrestling

“We had finished up our contracts with TNA, but we were still working there. The way I was raised in the [pro] wrestling business, it’s once you decide to leave, you leave the right way, so we wanted to make sure that we would tie up any loose ends and storylines, which we did.

Mike & Maria Kanellis hope to inspire with the power of love: SmackDown LIVE Fallout, June 20, 2017

“Maria did the whole wedding angle and I was kind of slowly pushed off TV and just doing that stuff with her, so I could help those people do what they needed to do, so I was just kind of in the background in that storyline because that’s just what I believe in. So we promised that we would finish up and at that point we were in between contracts. TNA had offered us to stay and they were offering us a pretty good amount of money. And at that point, I didn’t know if I wanted to stay.”

On Getting in Touch with Triple H

“He emailed me back and he was really nice about everything and he was like, ‘alright,’ he was like, ‘I’ll have someone be in touch with you.’ And I’m so used to… I’m kind of jaded in [pro] wrestling, just through everything, so hearing that, he was really nice, so that was great. The most I took out of it was, ‘wow, that was really great – he was really nice about everything. Cool.’

“And I was like, ‘but, if I don’t hear from anybody, I’m not going to be surprised.’ But a week later, or maybe, yeah, a couple of weeks later, I don’t know, Regal called me and they offered me a contract and I was just kind of blown away. I was just kind of like, ‘holy cow!’ I think it was like the end of January or so and I was just blown away. I remember looking at Maria and I was like, ‘yeah, they offered’ and she was like, ‘oh, well, what is it? Is it NXT?

“And I was like, ‘no, they want to bring us right up to the main roster’ and she was like, ‘holy cow!’ And I was like, ‘well, we’ve got to take it.’ And so we had to reach back out to TNA and be like, ‘oh, we’re going to go in a different direction.’ It’s this weird dynamic because you want to keep everything a secret and quiet, which is impossible to do in the [pro] wrestling business nowadays.”

On Why They Said They Were Taking a Break From Wrestling

“We then had to reach out to TNA and just be like, ‘yeah, [for] personal reasons, we aren’t going to re-sign’ because if you say something to them about WWE, it’s going to get out there because what do they care at that point? And you can’t blame them, but we were like, ‘yeah, it’s personal reasons – we’re going to do other things and maybe take a break from [pro] wrestling for a little while.’

“Whatever you can think of at that point. It sucks for me because I had a great time at TNA, like the locker room, the roster, and I didn’t really get a chance to say that because everything was so quiet and, like, hush-hush about WWE, so it really hurtful me because guys like EC3 and Rockstar Spud, like, the Hardys were so great there, Eli [Drake]. Like those guys, the locker room was great and I think that’s what bothers me the most about all the crap that goes on because that locker room is fantastic.”

And on What He’ll do to Stay in WWE

“I want to do everything in my power to make sure I stay here and never go back to where I was and I’m going to do that. I just want to be here now and that’s it. I’m going to do what I need to do to be here. And I did everything I needed to do to get here. Now, I’m going to do everything I can do to be here, and stay here, and just finish off here.”

You can listen to the full interview here.

Opinion: I’m still not sure if the Kanellis Family will be able to go anywhere on WWE TV with the love gimmick but it’s nice to see them trying something different. Maria continues to carry herself like a star, which is one of the most important things you can do. Mike still remains to be seen but it could be much worse.

Which of the two do you like better? What do you think of their gimmick? Let us know in the comments below.