Mike Kanellis Reveals More About Why He Requested His Release

There has been much speculation about the reason why Mike Kanellis has requested his release from the WWE. Still, speculation is just that – speculation. So why not see what Mike Kanellis has to say for himself? What is the real reason behind his release request?

Mike Kanellis Wants to Leave Despite Signing 5-Year Contract

Mike Kanellis and his wife Maria signed a new contract with the WWE for another five years several months ago. Shortly afterwards however, Mike requested his release from the company. So, what went wrong for him so quickly after signing the new deal?

Kanellis has given a number of reason why he wants out. He mentioned that he was miserable at the company. Fans began to speculate that his release request is due to the storyline with his wife Maria. But, Mike has vehemently denied this speculation.

“My only issue was it didn’t go anywhere. And if I’m going to do a storyline like that, I’d like for it to go somewhere. I think all the fans would like that too. There should be a payoff. There should be something happens where you can say ‘yeah’ or ‘boo’. Because there wasn’t a payoff, it’s like, what was the point?”

“I don’t mind thinking outside the box. I don’t mind embarrassing myself, I mean, I wrestle in underwear for a living. I really don’t care. So If they’re like ‘you have to be emasculated by my wife’ I’m like, fine, I don’t care. I really don’t. It’s just a fake storyline, it’s wrestling.”

Nobody really knows what the point was of the storyline between Mike and Maria. Looking at his track record upon arriving in the WWE, it is not difficult to see why he is disgruntled with his position in the company. While he was originally happy to move to WWE – since he claimed he had to chase cheques at Impact Wrestling – his adventure soon turned sour. The same applies to other former Impact Wrestling wrestlers, including EC3.

Has His Request Been Granted?

No. WWE has not granted his request and are unlikely to do so. He is a wrestler that is likely to be wanted by promotions such as Ring of Honor and All Elite Wrestling, so I’m not sure they will release him at all.

It has been rather obvious that Mike has not been seen on television since his release request. Even though the company is not using him at the moment, they still refuse to release him. Evidently, this does show he has value in the world of wrestling even though he’s not being used properly by the WWE.

While it may be a smart business decision, you do have to look at the legality of it all. Can you really hold someone on a contract for five years when they no longer wish to perform the job? In any other workplace, it would be unheard of. While there would be some consequences, I doubt they would be as far-stretching as the consequences of a WWE contract.