Maria Kanellis Returning to WWE?

Playboy cover model and WWE Diva Maria Kanellis surprised everyone the other night when she told VOC Nation that she had been contacted by the WWE to appear at WrestleMania 29 as a part of an eight-woman tag team match. While this Diva Match never came to fruition, Kanellis was very open about the fact that she would love to work with the company again. "I want to go back to WWE, and maybe [fiancé] Mike [Bennett] will come with me," she said. Since she was let go from the company in 2010, Kanellis has become the current First Lady of Ring of Honor, an American professional wrestling promotion that runs several wrestling shows a month around North America. We called up the WWE Diva to set the record straight on the rumors, and this is what she had to say.

On returning to the WWE: I’ve been away from it for three years. I really had the opportunity to experience a lot of different things, and when I was on the road full-time with WWE I didn’t necessarily have that experience and the time to go and try things. So now that I’ve gone out and tried everything, it’d be great if I could return. I love my job at Ring of Honor, and being the First Lady is awesome. I think that I’m going to continue working with them. As much as I would love to go back to WWE, they contacted me in January and asked me to come back and then a month later they said the storyline fell through. So it didn’t end up working out this time, but maybe in a year from now it will.

Her Playboy shoot: I wanna do it again! I loved it. It was a great experience. I always said when I did it the first time that it was like coming out as a woman and really saying I’m not a little girl anymore. Now I’m a full-grown woman. It was just such a creative experience, too, because I made the hoodie that I wore in the photo shoot and picked a lot of the fashion out as well as the design, so I would love to do it again. If there was ever a chance, now would be the perfect time!

WWE DIVA Memories: After I did Playboy, my boyfriend at the time on television was Santino Marella, and he didn’t want me to do it so I banded all the girls together and I went and beat him up. That was probably one of my favorite moments because it was women’s rights being defended and a lot of fun to do! I also won the Slammy Award for Diva of the Year, and that was a tremendous experience.

WWE vs. Celebrity Apprentice Villains: They’re two different types of villains! I would have to say that one of the people that I think is [one of] the strongest wrestlers in the world is Beth Phoenix. Getting into the ring with her was extremely tough. Victoria is another one. She’s been wrestling for a long time, so she was a great villain. But definitely over at Celebrity Apprentice…I mean, Sharon Osbourne has quite the mind for business! She was a very tough competitor.

Photo Courtesy of: Markese Photography