Maria Kanellis Discusses Her Conversation With Tony Khan About ROH, Impact Contract Status

Maria Kanellis was the leader of ROH’s women’s division until the company was bought by Tony Khan, and she recently discussed the conversation she had with Khan about the company. Kanellis spoke with Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp and weighed in on her discussion with Khan, her Impact contract status and more. A few excerpts from the interview are below:

On her conversations with Tony Khan: “I’m a very honest person, so I will answer this honestly. We did have a conversation and it went very well. It was a good thirty-minute, maybe forty-five-minute, conversation. So it wasn’t a short call. He gave me a good amount of his time and I appreciate that greatly. He said he was open to different ideas moving forward for Ring of Honor. So when Ring of Honor or if Ring of Honor makes its re-debut, I’m sure that we’ll have another conversation. I’m really excited for what Ring of Honor will become, to have a different platform that people will be able to see how great Ring of Honor really can be. The talent that comes out of there is like you just know, you know that the talent, when it comes out of Ring of Honor, is going to be something special. So I’m excited for it to re-debut,” she said.

On her contract status with Impact: “I don’t talk about me as a talent. That’s just not going to happen. I think it’s better that way. Me as a talent is like a different person… I always say, ‘That’s the person on camera and then there’s the other person, that’s me, that’s the mom and wants to produce.’ So I don’t cross that bridge. When I’m talking with Tony about representing the women’s division, whether it’s human resources or producing talent, that’s totally separate from me being a talent. I am signed with IMPACT for a few more months. I love what we’re doing and we have big things planned, too.”

On enjoying her time in Impact thus far: “It’s unfortunate that more people don’t watch IMPACT. What we just did last night was one of the coolest segments I’ve seen in wrestling in a while. Because with Mike taking the camera—and this will be the producer side of me talking about what I did on screen as talent—but with Taven grabbing the camera and bringing it close and the cuts back and forth showing Mike holding the camera, that was really cool. So it was Vincent’s idea originally to grab the camera, but he had something to say on the actual show. So I said, ‘Well, can we still grab the camera someway?’ and then it ended up being Mike. Then I said, ‘I’m gonna get in the ring about the same time as Mike. Is there any way Mike can pan up me and then I can draw the camera.’ So that’s how that camera all came to play. I love what we’re doing because we can have that influence on doing it. It brings those two sides of me together a little bit in being this managerial role. We’ve got champions in every single person we have on the team. So I’m super excited.”

On working with Scott D’Amore: “Scott’s one of the best bosses I’ve ever worked for. Great guy, willing to listen, brings people together. I mean, seeing all the different bosses of IMPACT in one photo was so cool—with Dixie and Ed and Billy—that was just a really cool photo. That’s what he does. He brings people together. So, yeah, it’s an interesting time in my life right now.”