"Paul gave me an opportunity to grow" - Former WWE Diva has major praise for Paul Heyman

Former WWE Superstar Maria Kanellis recently sat down with Daniel Ali of DropKick Podcast. She interestingly opened up on her experience working under Paul Heyman in OVW.

Maria Kanellis' WWE stint kicked off in 2004, when she was featured in the 2004 edition of WWE Diva Search. After a short stint in Ohio Valley Wrestling, Maria was brought up to WWE RAW as a backstage interviewer.

While talking about working under Paul Heyman, Kanellis revealed that he provided her an opportunity to grow and is someone who listens to what the talent wants.

"Paul gave me an opportunity to grow, which is incredible and that’s why he has such a great mind for industry. He’s willing to listen to what the talent wants to create, so being able to do that was incredible. I think that the biggest thing with Paul has always been that wrestling is not based on a thousand different moments. It’s not a thousand different storylines or like your legacy isn’t built of a thousand things. Sometimes it’s just built off of one thing."

(Credit for the quotes used goes to Danial Ali From The DropKick Podcast)

Paul Heyman Spittin hard facts pic.twitter.com/g2SORWpTLt

— The Real One (@WWEREALONE) February 20, 2021

Maria Kanellis thrived while working under Paul Heyman

Maria Kanellis was watching an episode of RAW when she stumbled upon an advert for the 2004 WWE Diva Search. She bagged the fifth spot in the competition, but ended up getting a job with WWE. Maria honed her craft over at OVW, where Paul Heyman was doing a great job of building up WWE's future stars.

Paul Heyman instigating as always. Trying to bring back the “old Sasha Banks” when she steps against Bianca Belair 👀 #TalkingSmack pic.twitter.com/f1BVXAFxhr

— frank | SashaMania SZN (@TheNextBlGThing) February 13, 2021

Paul Heyman has been a valuable asset for WWE for around two decades. Be it his work as an authority figure, the advocate of Brock Lesnar, or a backstage personality, Heyman has always helped WWE in more ways than one.

He is regarded by many as one of the greatest talkers the business has ever seen, and is currently Roman Reigns' manager and a Talking Smack panelist.