WrestleMania star and friend of WWE Maria Menounos battling brain tumor

Long-time wrestling fan Maria Menounos has been active with WWE in a variety of capacities - including in the ring - since 2009. The popular television, radio and internet personality even had a WrestleMania moment back in 2012, teaming with Kelly Kelly to defeat Hall of Famer Beth Phoenix and Eve Torres.

Since then, she’s been a staple of events like Axxess and the Hall of Fame ceremony, hosting the red carpet and even inducting her friend Bob Backlund in 2013.

Today (July 3), Menounos announced she’ll be stepping down from her full-time job as an anchor for E! News as she continues to undergo treatment for a brain tumor. The diagnosis came back in April (almost unbelievably while she was helping to care for her mother during her battle with stage 4 brain cancer) after the Afterbuzz founder had been experiencing headaches, slurred speech and difficulty reading her teleprompter. Maria recently underwent a seven hour surgery which successfully removed almost all of the golf ball sized growth, which was found to be benign.

Menounos told People magazine her doctor “said there’s a six to seven percent chance that we’ll see it come back - but I’ll take those odds any day.”

Please join with the community here at Cageside Seats in sending our best to Maria and her whole family - especially mother Litsa. Here’s hoping we’ll see Menounos back on the red carpet, and maybe the squared circle - soon.