Former WWE Diva and current ROH talent Maria Kanellis spoke with Scott Fishmen of Channel Guide blog.com about wrestling in Japan and a possible women’s division in ROH.
On wrestling in Japan:
“It is definitely incredible,” she said. “They remember me from WWE…I think it’s a whole lot of fun to go back and forth and to really play a character. It’s just so fun working with Bullet Club. They are some of the toughest men I’ve ever seen work out in that ring. The Kingdom really came into its stride. I think there is this incredible dynamic to go back-and-forth from the Bullet Club and The Kingdom because The Kingdom is now taking over where the Bullet Club left off.”
On a possible women’s division in ROH:
“Currently, we only have a one-hour show,” she said, “so it’s really difficult to highlight female wrestlers the way Ring of Honor would want to do it. Ring of Honor never does things half-speed. Whenever Ring of Honor decides to do something, it’s always going to be full-force. When we start that division, it will be when we can give adequate time to female wrestling because what we don’t want is to diminish how great these women truly are.”
“I think we are going in the right direction,” Kanellis said. “We still have a long way to go. We have to be very careful right now, because we can’t become complacent that we are getting a few more nuggets of hope with time on television. It’s not enough. You look at women as a whole. Yes, there are more females that are going be on the cover of Fortune 500. You are going to see more females take bigger roles in these sitcoms and television shows. That doesn’t mean it is equal. Just because the girls get one main event every six months at NXT, that’s not equal. Yes, we are moving in the right direction. No, it’s not enough.”
