Maria Kanellis is back in the WWE, but this time, she brought her husband along for the ride.

Maria was signed to the WWE after being a part of a Diva Search in 2004. She got her start by making various appearances in Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) before being brought over to Monday Night RAW where she served as a dingy backstage interviewer. She began to wrestle in 2005 and had a pretty decent career inside the ring until she was released from her contract give years later in 2010.

She then signed with Ring Of Honor (ROH) in 2011 where she remained for four years and met her now-husband Mike Bennett. From then on out Maria served as Bennett's manager throughout his runs in various other promotions including New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) and Impact Wrestling.

Mike and Maria then made their WWE debuts, using Maria's last name of Kanellis, at the Money In The Bank pay-per-view (PPV) earlier this month. WWE fans were excited to see Maria return to WWE alongside her husband, but apparently one top SmackDown Live Superstar played a major role in their decision.

Mike Bennett recently joined former WWE Tag Team Champions Edge and Christian's podcast, E&C's Pod Of Awesomeness, to discuss his journey through professional wrestling and finally landing in WWE (quotes via StillRealToUs):

“Me and Maria have a joke where we say my career went every direction except where I thought it was going to go. And you start in one direction and you start with one goal in mind and then life happens to you and you go in every other direction you didn’t expect.”

“But one thing that stays consistent is that one dream, you know. Just because it wasn’t a straight line doesn’t mean the destination still isn’t there. You just kind of went the scenic route to get there.”

Bennett then stated that at the time his Impact Wrestling contract was expiring, he got the itch to try signing with WWE. Bennett reached out to Paul Heyman, but there was nothing really there in those conversations.

Word got out that Bennett was considering re-signing with Impact, however, WWE United States Champion Kevin Owens called up Bennett to ask him what he was thinking:

“What are you guys doing? I heard you guys were resigning with TNA, I don’t think you should do that. You should come here.”

After that, Bennett said that William Regal gave him a call and offered him and Maria a deal to come right up to the main roster.

What are your thoughts on Kevin Owens' involvement in Mike and Maria Bennet coming over to the WWE? Have YOUR say in the comments section below and the third episode of GiveMeSport’s WWE podcast is here!

Check it out via this link. https://soundcloud.com/user-818579649/gms-wwe-podcast-all-the-fallout-from-wwe-payback