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Former WWE star Mike Bennett (f.k.a. Mike Kanellis) recently shared his experiences with the Stamford-based promotion.
Kanellis and his wife Maria were part of the WWE roster from 2017 up until 2020. During their time in the company, they were barely featured on the flagship shows before being relegated to 205 Live. The duo was released from the company in April 2020 owing to budget cuts.
Speaking with Kevin Kellam in a Sportskeeda Wrestling exclusive interview, Bennett spoke about his time in WWE. He mentioned that the biggest takeaways were the relationships he formed backstage. The IMPACT star detailed that it helped him become a better wrestler.
Here's what Mike Bennett had to say:
"I formed some incredible relationships with people there. Because truthfully, the roster and a lot of the management is not the problem. The problem stems from the top which everybody knows," Bennett said. "It was also really cool to be in a company of that magnitude to see how a company like that works. To see the corporate side of wrestling because I never really got to see that before. It prepared me, it made me better in front of a camera, it taught me things that I could only learn there as far as being a TV wrestler." (From 9:55 - 10:56)
You can watch the full video here:
WWE infamously released several superstars at the peak of the pandemic
April 15, 2020, will be etched in wrestling history as Black Wednesday, where the company released several superstars and officials from its roster. Kurt Angle, Zack Ryder, Curt Hawkins, EC3, Karl Anderson, Luke Gallows, Rusev, and Heath are just a few names among many that were let go.
WWE stated that the releases were due to budget constraints in an official statement. Since then, most of the released superstars have found employment in other promotions like AEW and IMPACT.
What are your thoughts on WWE's recent roster cuts? Sound off in the comments below.
Catch Mike Bennett in action on AAW Never Say Die streaming worldwide Friday, April 29th on FITE PPV at this link.
Go to AAWPRO.COM for all the latest news and updates about AAW.
While using the quote from this article, please add a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling and embed the YouTube video.
