WWE Diva Maria Dishes

It's been an amazing story and career thus far for WWE Diva Maria Kanellis. She has gone on to succeed in WWE despite failing to win the Diva search she was part of. She's now a regular on the Raw roster, first starting as a backstage reporter, then going on to be a wrestling diva and valet. This year, Maria has become even more successful as she achieved a Playboy cover and pictorial and will be a part of a match on the Wrestlemania 24 card.

Phillyburbs.com has a great interview with the lovely WWE Diva
, Maria. They discuss her rise to success with WWE, her influences, the Playboy situation, being a part of Wrestlemania and more. Here's an excerpt from Maria's talk with the website.

Eric – How discouraging was it not to win the WWE Diva Search?

Maria – Well, I’m glad now that I didn’t make it all of the way to the end. Because I have always been a fighter, I fight for what I believe in. It doesn’t matter that I placed five. I still showed my feistiness, my aggressiveness you know flipping the bird at Carmella and getting out of there. I called every single week. I wanted to be a part of the WWE, I was addicted. I was addicted to the energy from the live crowd. I was addicted to our amazing fans so it wasn’t discouraging at all. If anything, it was motivating.

Eric – Melina had mentioned that Al Snow pulled aside after the Tough Enough tryouts and encouraged her to continue. Did anyone pull you aside after you were eliminated from the contest?

Maria – You know there were a few people that gave me advice and stuff like that, but actually when I was leaving the arena going back to the hotel, the driver in the car said, “I can tell that you really want this.” He was driving the limo. “I can tell that you really want this. If you fight for it, you’ll get it.” WWE is all about having that passion. He said, “Just keep going.” I’ve never forgotten that. Never.

Read the full article and interview with Maria here.

Note: In an interesting side note on the article, the WWE Raw show held on 4/21 in Greenville, SC is scheduled to be 3 hours long and may include the WWE Draft where WWE Superstars and WWE Divas will be drafted between ECW, Raw & Smackdown.