Maria Kanellis has revealed that the idea for Mike Bennett to use the Kanellis surname did not begin with WWE. Reflecting on her on-screen partnership with her husband during an appearance on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Maria said Nigel McGuinness was the first person to suggest calling Bennett “Mike Kanellis” while they were all working around Ring of Honor.
The name ultimately became a major part of Mike and Maria’s presentation when they arrived in WWE in 2017. At the time, Maria Kanellis was introduced as a central figure in the act, while Bennett was presented as Mike Kanellis, giving the pairing a deliberately distinctive husband-and-wife dynamic. But Maria said the seed for that name had been planted considerably earlier, during a car ride back from Canada.
“Nigel McGuinness actually had come up with this idea of calling him Mike Kanellis when we were in Ring of Honor and we were on a car ride back from Canada, and he had brought up this idea he had, and lo and behold, WWE is the one that did it.”
McGuinness’ suggestion was never simply about adjusting a ring name. In Maria’s recollection, it carried the potential for a broader story built around the relationship between Maria and Bennett. The change could have established a power imbalance, created questions about Bennett’s individual identity, and eventually provided a natural basis for conflict between the two performers.
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That possibility was evidently a key reason Bennett was willing to embrace the switch. Maria said her husband believed the angle would eventually lead to a meaningful payoff, including the prospect of him turning on her. In wrestling, a visible sacrifice or concession by a character often works best when it becomes part of a larger story. Bennett taking his wife’s last name could have been the beginning of a narrative in which he later fought to reclaim his standing, both professionally and personally.
“He was fine with it because he thought there was going to be a payoff at the end. He thought he was going to be able to turn on me, and I always wanted to do the fight with him.”
Maria was clear that she had ambitions beyond a standard managerial role in that potential storyline. She wanted an actual match with Bennett, describing the concept as something she believed could have been especially compelling. Rather than treating their real-life marriage as a limitation on the kind of story they could tell, she saw it as a foundation for a dramatic angle with clear emotional stakes.
The story Maria envisioned also included Matt Taven, Bennett’s longtime friend and frequent ally. Bennett and Taven built substantial chemistry together through their work in Ring of Honor, most notably as two-thirds of The Kingdom alongside Adam Cole during an earlier incarnation of the group. Their association gave Maria’s proposed direction another layer, because it would not have been only a dispute between a married couple. It could have become a three-person struggle involving loyalty, friendship, control and competing ambitions.
“I always thought that would be such a cool idea. I really wanted it to be the three of us, where Matt Taven, Mike, and myself were kind of in this little power struggle.”
That kind of setup could have offered several directions without requiring the story to immediately settle into a predictable pattern. Taven could have supported Bennett, aligned with Maria, or attempted to use the division to his own advantage. Bennett’s frustration over the Mike Kanellis identity could have been played as sincere, manipulative or somewhere in between. Maria, meanwhile, would have had a more active place in the action rather than being positioned solely as an accompaniment to her husband.
None of that payoff came to fruition. Maria said Bennett handled the assigned role professionally, even though the larger resolution he expected never materialized. Her comments framed his response as an example of the approach that has defined much of Bennett’s career: accepting the job in front of him and committing to it, even when the creative destination remains uncertain.
“But yeah, Mike was fine with it because he is the consummate professional. He is a fantastic worker, and he was like, alright, that’s what I’m doing, and so he thought he was going to get a really good payoff for it, and unfortunately, it never happened.”
Maria’s assessment speaks to the difficult balance wrestlers often face when a character decision is made for them. A name, presentation change or relationship-based hook can become an effective tool if it leads somewhere substantial. Without the eventual turning point, however, the audience may only see the initial premise rather than the fuller story a performer believed was coming.
For Bennett, the Mike Kanellis period remains a notable chapter because it placed him in a different kind of spotlight than his earlier Ring of Honor work. Before WWE, he had established himself under his own name and had become familiar to ROH audiences through both singles competition and his work in The Kingdom. Changing to Mike Kanellis immediately reinforced the company’s focus on the tandem of Mike and Maria. It made the couple’s relationship inseparable from the act’s identity, which was precisely why a later split or confrontation could have carried real weight.
Maria’s comments also underline how ideas can travel through wrestling long before they ever reach television. McGuinness’ initial suggestion came in an informal setting during the Ring of Honor period, not as part of a publicly announced creative plan. Yet years later, WWE used the surname change as part of Mike and Maria’s presentation. There is no indication that the later use was presented as a direct continuation of McGuinness’ proposal, but Maria’s recollection gives the name an interesting history that stretches back to a conversation among ROH colleagues.
McGuinness has remained closely connected to the wrestling world in different capacities over the years, while Bennett’s career eventually brought him back into the ROH environment. Bennett and McGuinness are now both associated with AEW/ROH. Maria is no longer with the company.
The timing of Maria’s comments is also a reminder of the many unrealized stories that surround a wrestler’s career. Fans usually judge an act by what reaches the screen and how it concludes. The performers involved, however, may remember the alternate versions: the intended turn, the proposed match, the alliance that might have collapsed, or the character change that was meant to set up a larger transformation.
In this case, Maria remembers the Mike Kanellis name as more than a WWE-era branding decision. To her, it was a concept first raised by Nigel McGuinness during their Ring of Honor travels, one that carried the promise of a major emotional payoff for herself and Bennett. The name change happened, but the story Maria hoped would follow it did not.
Still, her description of Bennett’s reaction provides a clear view of how he approached the situation. He saw value in committing fully to the idea, trusted that there could be a significant reward at the end of the road, and moved forward as a professional when that resolution did not arrive. For Maria, the unfulfilled potential remains easy to see: a personal clash with her husband, Matt Taven drawn into the center of the conflict, and a power struggle built from a simple but meaningful change of name.
Darryl Polo
Darryl Polo is a passionate wrestling fan covering WWE, AEW, TNA and beyond. He loves great rivalries, breakout stars and the moments that keep fans talking long after the bell. How we work.