Maria Kanellis Explains Her Vision For WWA, Says She Was Hesitant To Start The Company

Women’s Wrestling Army is set to hold its first event on May 1 with the event featuring the likes of Taya Valkyrie and Willow Nightingale. 

WWA is run by Maria Kanellis and Bobby Cruise, who took on the project after ROH announced its hiatus and their future was uncertain following Tony Khan purchasing the company. 

Speaking to Rick Ucchino on the Bleav in Pro Wrestling podcast, Maria explained how WWA came about.

“Women’s Wrestling Army is a brand new all women’s wrestling show. It is going to be this very nice mix of documentary style footage plus amazing matches within the confines of a ring. And there’ll also be backstage interviews. It’s going to be in a lot of ways, a regular wrestling show other than the documentary footage,” she said. 

Maria continued by saying, “After we found out the news that Ring of Honor was no longer going to be with Sinclair Broadcasting, several women had asked Bobby (Cruise) and I to start something. I was very hesitant. I’ve owned a event management company now for about four years and I don’t love it. Owning a business is not my favorite thing. I thought I would love it, but I don’t. And so owning a wrestling promotion was not like it wasn’t something I was dying to do. I liked my situation that I had last year. Ring of Honor went, they set up everything. They had all the pretty lights and the ramp and all of the stuff. And I brought the division. Bobby Cruise and I created the team. That was perfect. So I’m very hesitant on the whole thing because it isn’t necessarily where I envisioned myself, but I do have to say the response has been tremendous.”

Companies have started to work together more than ever and Maria hopes to keep that alive in WWA. 

“We have individuals from IMPACT Wrestling, AEW, and former talent for NXT. So we have a lot of big names on the show thus far. I wanna dive into it further. For me, my big vision is a Tournament of Champions. Make it so you have to have a title in order to enter. Your title will be your ticket to enter this competition. Is it going to be hard? Of course it is, but I wanna give the proper respect to all of the companies and all of the talent. I’ve worked for most of them. So like for me, it’s definitely a respect shown there, but it’s also a respect towards the women that have worked so hard,” she said. 

A streaming platform for Women’s Wrestling Army has yet to be announced. 

Alisha Edwards was the most recent talent announced for the event. Fans can find the current list of talent announced by clicking here.