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By SIMON ROTHSTEIN
Published: 27 Mar 2008

NOT only is WWE Diva Maria charming, gorgeous and fun, she is also 100 per cent natural.

The grappler has turned Playboy cover girl for a shoot that includes this stunning picture.

And she told The Sun: “I’m all natural except my red hair — and I think that red shows my spirit and heart.

“Posing nude was very empowering. WWE Divas show our strength in the ring but we show our sex appeal and sweetness in shoots like this.

“I’m very comfortable in my own skin, I think every woman should be.

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view: marvel.com photos

By Zack Zeigler
Fame hasn’t spoiled WWE Diva Maria Kanellis.

Although she’s garnered a huge fan-following on one of cable’s top-rated TV shows, “WWE Raw,” and currently graces the cover of Playboy’s April issue, she’s down to earth, knows about cars, and best of all digs comic books (and hopefully the guys who like to read them).

Even though it’s the busiest time of year for WWE with their biggest event, WrestleMania XXIV, coming up this Sunday, March 30, Maria was cool enough to take time to hang out with Marvel.com and discuss everything from her Marvel tag team partner of choice to her favorite Marvel movies.

Marvel.com: Maria, with all the changes you’ve undergone—all the success and fame—you’ve somehow kept a level head. Some people couldn’t have done that. What’s your secret?
Maria Kanellis: My mom would kick my butt if I didn’t! No, I’m kidding. My family is terrific and I’ve asked them to remind me of who I am and where I came from if I don’t seem like I’m myself anymore. I have a little sister and would want to do things that she’d approve of..

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Q: What’s it like being a Playboy covergirl and what made you decide to bare it all?
A: It’s absolutely incredible, it’s glamorous, it’s sexy, it’s fun, it’s humbling to be on the cover of Playboy. There is only 12 a year so that’s extremely exciting. The WWE has done so well with the girls in the past who have done Playboy, so to be a part of that is amazing, it really is.
Q: Of course, you started with the WWE back in 2004 as part of the Diva Search contest, but were you a wrestling fan growing up, and what made decide to enter into that competition?
A: Yes, I was a wrestling fan growing up – I used to watch it with my father and my brother, we would watch a show, it was something we would do all together. I had gotten out of it in high school, but I got back into it when I was in college, and one week while I was watching Monday Night Raw, they showed a commercial for the Diva Search and I just said “hey, I’m gonna enter and see what I can do.” I love The Rock, I thought his interviews and the things that he did were just amazing and knew that I wanted to be part of that company, so I entered the Diva Search and didn’t hear anything, then the next week, I saw my picture on Raw, and I was screaming and hollering… it was absolutely amazing….
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By Sarah Preston

If you like tomboys — albeit hot ones — you’ll love Maria Kanellis, better known to her fans as the WWE’s Diva Maria. The svelte and super-sexy auburn-haired RAW star kicks butt in the ring. She even fessed up in the April 2008 issue of Playboy to driving an Aston Martin Vanquish over 100 miles per hour on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago.

But she’s also a bit of a girlie girl — just check out her April Playboy magazine pictorial. “I wanted a black hood to wear for the shoot,” she says. “It gets me in the mode.” So when she didn’t see one there, she took the initiative to sew one herself. “Everything I wore in the Playboy magazine shoot, I chose.” Though hoodies and lacy gloves are her signature look inside the squared circle, we know there’s more to being a Diva than just looking good: “I have a few signature moves,” she says. “One is the beautiful bulldog: It’s when I have a girl in a headlock, and I jump up and land on my butt, and I drive her head into the mat. After that, she’s done. There’s another thing I do, when I throw a girl in the corner, and I hit her with my bum, and then she falls down. [Laughs] And I do this thing called the bronco buster — I jump up and down on the girl in the corner.”

To heat things up a little more, Playboy.com caught up with the Illinois native, to talk crazy groupies, even crazier places to have sex and, of course, wrestling — in and out of the ring. “Wrestling is definitely sexy,” Maria says, “especially when it’s two ladies.” We agree it’s a winning formula.

Sexual Content, mature eyes only.. but if you read on remember you were prewarned.

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By ERIC GARGIULO
Imagine for one minute waking up one morning and not only being a television superstar seen by millions of people every week, but also on the cover of Playboy magazine. WWE Diva Maria Kanellis is not only going to wrestle in her first WrestleMania in a few weeks, but she is on the cover of April’s Playboy magazine. Can life get any better for this shy, bubbly, sweetheart from Ottawa, Illinois?

The story of Maria is a fantastic story in achieving the American dream. The odds of a small-town girl watching pro wrestling on television going to the WWE and conquering the world were against her. Yet, this is not a surprise to the WWE’s most popular Diva. This is something that she has been working towards her entire life.

Maria had dreams of being in the WWE long before she stood up for herself to Santino Marella on Monday Night Raw. Maria’s first attempt at becoming a WWE Diva ended at number five. Maria first stepped into a WWE ring as a contestant in the first-televised WWE Diva competition. Maria left her mark by showing her opponent Carmella DeCesare what she thought of her with one finger. Maria made it to the top-five but was eliminated from the contest. Like fellow Diva Melina, Maria used this as motivation to work harder at becoming a WWE Diva.

Maria worked her way into the WWE the old-fashioned way. Maria studied for the big-time at the WWE’s developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling. Under the tutelage of the genius Paul Heyman, Maria quickly stood out from the pack and earned a spot on the main-roster. Maria was so dedicated to learning, that Heyman recently said that Maria contributed booking ideas while in OVW.

Maria first became known to WWE fans as the ditzy interview girl. Maria would ask dumb questions as wrestlers would do a double-take in the interviews. Fans would laugh, wrestlers were shocked, and the adoration from the fans and the WWE for this star in the making was just beginning.

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Coming soon - Additional interviews with WWE Diva, Melina, and the current covergirl of Playboy and WWE Diva, Maria.

- phillyburbs.com

DIVINE DIVA: Maria’s more than ‘RAW’

Maria, I’ve just met a girl named Maria.

OK, not really.

But Quick Hits has seen her on the cover of the April issue of Playboy that hits newsstands today.

World Wrestling Entertainment Diva Maria is featured in a 10-page pictorial that features what appears to be sequins, rhinestones and high-heeled shoes. Oh, and maybe a yard or so of fabric.

She is the seventh WWE Diva on the cover. The others: Ashley Massaro (2007), Candice Michelle (2006), Christy Hemme (2005), Torrie Wilson (2003 and 2004), Chyna (2000) and Sable (2004 and twice in 1999).

Maria — a native of Ottawa, Ill. — will be signing copies of the issue Saturday at Woodfield Mall as part of the WWE’s Fan Axxess Tour from 3:30-4:30 p.m. in the Comcast Court area.

She began her WWE career as a backstage interviewer and has progressed to wrestling on ”Monday Night RAW.”

”I’m still getting my butt whupped and still learning,” she said. ”My next goal is to become the women’s champion.”

Maria is set to participate in WrestleMania XXIV March 30 in Orlando, Fla.

”I’m really looking forward to the BunnyMania match,” she says. ”I get the chance to be in the ring with the best WWE Divas in front of more than 70,000 fans!”

- Chicago Sun-Times