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Maria and Mike Kanellis Promise Big Announcement During WWE Raw
Maria and Mike Kanellis were amongst more than fifty wrestlers and backstage talent unceremoniously laid off or furloughed by WWE in the middle of a global pandemic. WWE made the decision to drop the couple and others despite boasting of $500 million in reserves and despite announcing dividends for shareholders the following day totaling $9.4 million, enough to keep everyone employed into 2021. This followed WWE obtaining a special exemption from Florida's stay-at-home order to continue operating as an "essential" business, an exemption granted the same day a Republican Super PAC headed up by Linda McMahon pledged to spend $18.5 million in the state this year to ensure WWE Hall-of-Famer Donald Trump wins his reelection effort.
But while WWE may be considered "essential," and WWE considers their profits "essential," their workers are not treated to that same designation. That wasn't lost on Maria Kanellis, who used the hashtag #NonEssentialWrestlers in her tweet. "Tonight during Raw! Mike and I will be making an announcement!! #NonEssentialWrestlers #NonEssentialFamily #QuarantineLife #mondaythoughts @WWE @njpw1972 @IMPACTWRESTLING @ringofhonor @AEWrestling @RealMikeBennett," Kanellis tweeted.
Kanellis's tweet features photos, in reverse order, showing her and Mike's recent career path. The oldest photo shows the pair in Ring of Honor, where they worked until 2015. The next shows them in Impact Wrestling, where they worked before WWE. The third is Maria and Mike Kanellis in WWE. And the fourth… is a selfie of Maria's butt. What can this mysterious tweet tell us about Mike and Maria's announcement? If the photos go in reverse chronological order, does it mean that both Kanellises are planning to start a new career as thong models? Your guess is as good as ours.
In a recent interview following his WWE release, Mike Kanellis addressed the argument that, because he had previously asked for his release from WWE, he should be happy he got it under these circumstances. "So, I mean in the sense that in my head it was always like if there is going to be releases, it's probably going to be me and probably going to be my wife, just because my wife has been out on maternity leave and they were doing anything with me," Kanellis continued. "I had already asked for my release in the past, but we did work things out after that. I didn't want it to happen during a pandemic. I think that's a hard thing to explain to people, not to go off topic, but there are a lot of people who are like "well he did ask his release", which I did, but my wife never did and I want to get that clear, my wife was happy to stay there. But it's like, you thinking's the back of your head, yes I did ask for my release, but no one wants to be released in the middle of a pandemic. You ask for your release when you think you can go and do other things. I asked for my release because I wasn't working and I wanted to work." We'll be keeping an eye on Maria's Twitter tonight to find out what's next for these two.