Mike Kanellis was recently a guest on the Swings & Mrs podcast. During the podcast, he spoke about recently asking for his release from WWE.
Mike was asked if his storyline on RAW led to him requesting his release from the company. The storyline involved Mike being emasculated by his wife, Maria Kanellis, on a weekly basis.
Here is what Mike said (h/t to Wrestling INC for the quotes below):
“The angle itself didn’t bother me. Because I tell people this and it makes people yell at me, but it’s a fake television show. It’s not real. My name isn’t really Mike Kanellis and yes, I really am married to Maria Kanellis, but at the end of the day I am playing a role on a TV show. It’s the same thing as if Mike Bennett played serial killer number one on Law & Order. It doesn’t reflect who I am as a person so I don’t mind trying something different or thinking outside the box. My only issue was it didn’t go anywhere.
“If I’m going to do a storyline like that, I want it to go somewhere, I think the fans would like that too. There should be a payoff. Because there wasn’t a payoff, it’s like what was the point? I don’t mind thinking outside the box. I don’t mind embarrassing myself, I mean, I wrestle in underwear for a living. I really don’t care. If they say I have to be emasculated by my wife, I’m like fine, I don’t care. I get offended when it doesn’t go anywhere.”
Mike also spoke a bit more about why he did request his release:
“I felt stuck. I felt stuck in the sense that Im at a point now where I feel clear headed and clear minded and this has to do with being two and a half years sober. I don’t want to live with regret and I don’t want to be that person who spent four or five years of my life addicted to drugs when I could have going out and having killer matches.
“My work did suffer. I want to know what I can do now that I’m not beholding to the prescription drugs, I want to see what clean headed Mike Bennett can do with 100% focus. I’ve never thought that people consider me one of the best wrestlers in the world I want to give an attempt to prove top them that I can be that wrestler. I’m not mad at WWE, they’ve treated me wonderfully and still do, through addiction, Maria’s pregnancy, they’ve taken care of us. I have nothing but love for that company. It’s just personal, I just want to go and wrestle.”
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In other news, check out our Wrestlemania 38 predictions.
On a related note, check out my predictions for the Royal Rumble here.