Maria Kanellis, a former WWE, ROH and AEW star, unexpectedly retired from professional wrestling when she Left Tony Khan’s company at the end of January 2025. Kanelis has since gone on to create his own business away from the professional wrestling industry. all while being a mother. Kanelis recently appeared in “Wrestling Life Hall of Fame“And talked about where he is now in life.
“(I) don’t do much wrestling at all. You know, it doesn’t mean the door is closed, but I’m really enjoying what I’m doing right now,” he said.
Kanelis owns her own floristry business and started working in event planning. He revealed that he is also in the process of writing a book. Kanelis said the path out of wrestling wasn’t the way he wanted to go and it took him time to work on it.
“It kind of ended suddenly and it took me a long time to go through it and say, ‘But I’ve spent 20 years in this. Why don’t I have this removal?” he said. “And I didn’t have any. I had no withdrawal. What is good? It took me a while to accept that, but now I’m grateful for it because it gave me the opportunity to try other things and do other things.”
He said he believes there is a time and place for closure. Kanelis, however, didn’t see an opportunity to return to the industry because neither company had achieved anything he was excited about.
“If something comes up that I think will make me happy, or that will give me an opportunity to work with my Kingdom one more time, that will happen,” he said.
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit “Wrestling Life of Fame” and credit ah/t Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.