Maria Kanellis soon will be back in town — and back in professional wrestling’s squared circle.
The Ottawa native will be guest host of Dreamwave Wrestling Saturday, Aug. 6, for its card at the La Salle Knights of Columbus Hall, 209 Gooding St. In addition, she will sign autographs and pose for photos with fans.
Kanellis, 29, is a reality television personality, actress, singer, songwriter and model, but gained much attention as a host and participant in World Wrestling Entertainment from 2004 to 2010.
“This show will be a huge event for the Illinois Valley,” said Jay Repsel, Dreamwave owner. “Maria has done a lot in the entertainment industry from being a WWE Diva, to ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ with Donald Trump to producing her own music. I think it’s important that our young fans get the opportunity to see someone from our area that has made it big all over the world.”
The card will feature title defenses by Dreamwave World Champion Acid, Alternative Champion “Mr. 450″ Hammett and Dreamwave Tag Team Champions Zero Gravity.
Meet-and-greet activities will start at 6 p.m., with wrestling beginning one hour later. Tickets, at $12 each, are available at www.dreamwavewrestling.com and at the Ninth Street Pub, La Salle, and Ankiewicz’s Deli, Peru.
“We have worked for over a year to get Maria on our show and it was very difficult with her busy schedule,” said Repsel, whose company is headquartered in Oglesby. “However, once we got everything squared away, we felt that putting her in charge would be an appropriate way to celebrate the local girl coming home.”
An Ottawa Township High School graduate, Kanellis is a reality TV veteran. Her first gig was “Outback Jack” in 2004, and she also made appearances on “Project Runway” before landing on Trump’s “The Celebrity Apprentice” in 2010.
Kanellis’ run on “Celebrity Apprentice” — which began a couple of weeks after she was released from her WWE contract — was a lengthy one. After 10 weeks of competition and one of six remaining competitors, she was one of three fired by Trump in the next-to-last show of the season.
She also was in the April 20008 edition of Playboy magazine.
Now living in Los Angeles, Kanellis released “Sevin Sins,” a four-song, downloadable rock ‘n’ roll album, last year on www.itunes.com.
“I’ve written music since I was a little girl,” Kanellis told The Times last year. “It’s just the whole process and getting back your independence.”
Since the release of “Sevin Sins,” Kanellis has appeared in clips on the comedy website Funny or Die and launched Signature, her own line of perfume.
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