Mary Louis "Maria" Kanellis-Bennett[7][8][9] (born February 25, 1982)[1] is an American professional wrestler, manager, promoter, singer and model.

[3][10] In 2005, Maria began wrestling and was defeated in her first official match on the January 10, 2005, episode of Raw by Christy Hemme in a Lingerie Pillow Fight.

[15] On November 14, Maria competed in a non-title Diva Battle Royal at the Eddie Guerrero tribute Raw show, where she was one of the last three women left but was eliminated by Melina and Trish Stratus.

[18] On the January 2, 2006, episode of Raw, Maria was attacked and stripped of her clothes by Vince's Devils (Victoria, Torrie Wilson, and Candice Michelle), but she was saved by Ashley Massaro.

[15] On the February 6, episode of Raw, Jonathan Coachman announced that Edge and Lita would have fought the mixed team of John Cena and Maria in the main event, and before the match John Cena kissed Maria, who came into his locker room to express her nervousness for the competition (despite the kiss, any on-screen romance between the pair was born).

[21] On the April 10 episode of Raw, Maria received title match for Mickie James' WWE Women's Championship, but lost.

On October 16, Maria won a Fatal Four-Way Bra and Panties match against Victoria, Candice, and Wilson to advance to the semi-finals in a Women's Championship Tournament.

Maria was completely destroyed and rag-dolled by Umaga before the match could begin, suffering a Samoan drop and running hip attack before John Cena ran out to stop the assault.

On the November 5 episode of Raw, Marella was confronted by the returning Stone Cold Steve Austin for criticizing his movie, The Condemned.

[30][31] On the October 17 episode of SmackDown!, Maria won a "Las Vegas Dice on a Pole" match to become the number one contender for the WWE Divas Championship,[32] but lost for the title against then-champion Michelle McCool.

[34] On the December 5 episode of SmackDown!, Maria pinned Divas Champion Michelle McCool, but she was defeated by Maryse in a number one contender's match for the title two weeks later.

Maria made her in-ring return on the July 3 episode of SmackDown, teaming with Melina to defeat LayCool (Michelle McCool and Layla).

[47] Maria then took a brief hiatus from the ring to film the Celebrity Apprentice, but returned on the December 4 episode of SmackDown by helping Mickie James fend off an attack by LayCool.

She accompanied her real-life boyfriend, Mike Bennett, as a villainess, in a three-way elimination match for the ROH World Television Championship, where he won.

[52] At the Boiling Point on August 11, Maria and Bennett lost to Del Rey and Edwards in a mixed tag team match.

[55] On October 26, during Bennett's match with Kevin Steen at the Glory by Honor XII, Kanellis tried to interfere but was attacked by Lisa Marie Varon.

[63] In September 2012, Kanellis made her debut for Chikara, managing Mike Bennett and The Young Bucks to the finals of the 2012 King of Trios tournament.

[68] On July 5 at Dominion 7.5 in Osaka-jo Hall, Kanellis accompanied Bennett and Taven to their first IWGP Tag Team Championship defense against Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson.

[69] On January 5, 2016, during Impact Wrestling's premiere on Pop TV, Maria made her debut as a heel introducing her husband as "The Miracle" Mike Bennett.

On June 10, Maria then revealed on her Instagram account that she suffered a broken hand,[76] and therefore she was not medically cleared to compete at Slammiversary and her match with Kim was called off.

On the September 1, episode of Impact Wrestling, Maria berated and forcibly pinned her apprentice Allie to win the TNA Women's Knockout Championship for the first time in her career.

[85] On January 22, 2018, at the 25th Anniversary of Raw, a visibly pregnant Maria was honored as part of a segment involving women considered legends that contributed to the company's success, including The Bella Twins (Brie and Nikki), Maryse, Kelly Kelly, Lilian Garcia, Torrie Wilson, Michelle McCool, Terri Runnels, and WWE Hall of Famers Jacqueline and Trish Stratus.

[90][91][92][93][94] On January 16, Pro Wrestling Sheet's Ryan Satin reported that Maria and Mike recently asked WWE to release them from their contracts.

[99] 24/7 Champion and departure (2019–2020) On the July 1, 2019, episode of Raw, Mike and Maria lost a mixed tag team match against Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch.

At Hard To Kill, on January 8, 2022, Maria made her return to TNA, now known as Impact Wrestling, along with Mike Bennett, Matt Taven, PCO, and Vincent, where they attacked Eddie Edwards, Rich Swann, Willie Mack, Heath and Rhino.

[107] Maria made her All Elite Wrestling (AEW) debut on the October 14, 2022, episode of Rampage, alongside Mike Bennett and Matt Taven, interrupting FTR and Shawn Spears' victory celebration.

In 2023, Maria quietly left The Kingdom and began managing the team of Cole Karter and Griff Garrison in ROH, now the sister promotion of AEW.

[112] Kanellis began a new career as a mixed martial arts announcer for HDNet on March 26, 2010, at the King of the Cage event in Reno, Nevada.

In early 2011, Kanellis appeared in the Funny or Die web series, Swallow and in March 2011 she launched her own perfume line called Signature.

In 2013, Kanellis was announced as one of the recipients of WWE's Talent Scholarship, which she utilized to obtain a degree in Sports, Entertainment, and Event Management from Johnson & Wales University, graduating in May 2017.