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What's the story?
There's not much Paul Heyman could ever say that wouldn't be treated with the utmost respect and importance, which means when he speaks, people tend to listen - which means any praise from one of the most creative minds ever to grace wrestling MUST be taken seriously.
Well, the brains behind ECW recently claimed on Twitter that one current WWE Superstar is "the most underrated creative mind in the industry" - but it wasn't a name most of the WWE Universe would ever think of - but most people aren't Paul Heyman.
The person Heyman outlined for the accolade was WWE's Maria Kanellis!
In case you didn't know...
Maria Kanellis signed with WWE in 2004 after entering the Diva Search, making appearances at OVW, and actually working specifically in a creative capacity where she dealt with booking ideas, before being brought to Raw as a backstage interviewer and the host of KissCam.
While Maria was wrestling on Raw just one year later, proving her toughness when a Trish Stratus slap evacuated a filling from Kanellis' mouth, that may have been nothing compared to what would follow - wrestling Kurt Angle in singles action, teamed with John Cena against Edge and Lita, and being on the receiving end of a Stone Cold Stunner.
Kanellis also appeared on the Celebrity Apprentice and would go on to be dubbed the First Lady of ROH before being the first female to compete in New Japan Pro Wrestling for 13 years. While in Impact Wrestling, Maria Kanellis not only achieved success as a singles competitor, winning she won the Impact Knockouts Championship, but she was also the Impact Knockouts Division Commissioner.
Maria left Impact in March 2017, returning to WWE in June at Money in the Bank, but was then off of television due to pregnancy, with Maria and Mike having their first child in April.
The heart of the matter
Mike and Maria Kanellis are no stranger to "interacting with fans" on Twitter, shall we say, even if those "fans" turn out to be trolls. In one recent interaction, a troll made a comment about Maria to her husband that prompted Mike Kanellis to tag in Brock Lesnar's Advocate Paul Heyman, one of the most highly regarded creative minds in wrestling.
Heyman would go on to praise Maria Kanellis as "the most underrated creative mind in the industry" - citing his experience with Kanellis back in OVW when she was very active behind the scenes before her in-ring and backstage interviewing WWE debuts.
What's next?
Maria Kanellis is currently working on a return to the ring after giving birth to her and Mike's first child.
What would you like to see Maria Kanellis do upon her return to WWE? Let us know in the comments.
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