Maria Kanellis opens up about working with Paul Heyman
Maria Kanellis has opened up on learning from Paul Heyman at Ohio Valley Wrestling. During an interview with the It's My Wrestling podcast, Kanellis spoke about her creativity and how working with Heyman nurtured it.
Maria worked with WWE between 2004-2010 and 2017-2020 in two stints. She was an in-ring talent and backstage interviewer. She was named Diva of the Year in 2009, and is a one-time WWE 24/7 Champion.
During the interview, she went on to speak about how it was the jumping-off point for her creativity and her urge to try and use whatever she had in mind, like the way she viewed wrestling and how differently she saw things from others.
“I worked with Heyman down at Ohio Valley Wrestling, and that's really the jumping off point of my creativity and wanting to try and book and use, you know, use what I have in my mind of where things can go and how I view wrestling a little bit different than other people," said Kanellis.
Congratulations 2 @MariaLKanellis n @RealMikeBennett for her return and his @WWE debut. Can't speak highly enough ..
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Maria Kanellis also added how she was never afraid to ask Paul Heyman anything
Maria Kanellis added that she used to sit and talk with Paul Heyman and discuss things related to the match. She also revealed that she was never afraid to ask him any questions or to listen to everything he explained to her:
“And so that was the beginning and just sitting with him before shows and he's telling us what's going to happen throughout the night and going over the scripts and everything. And so we would do that and that was at the very early parts of my career. But I was never afraid to ask questions or to just listen.”
As an interviewer, Maria Kanellis got to interview a lot of famous personalities from the professional wrestling industry, such as DX, Carlito, Ric Flair, The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Kurt Angle, and Umaga. She got the rub and experience of working with nearly every big name that was around back then.
She chose not to shut her brain down, she kept listening and considers that ‘there’s a skill to listening as well.