A former WWE Superstar has recalled being so obsessed with Paul Heyman that they wanted to sleep with him.
Over the course of his career Paul Heyman has earned the reputation as one of the sharpest minds in the wrestling business.
Former employees, wrestlers and just about everyone in-between has spoken highly of Heyman’s creativity and desire to help talented people succeed. Something which played into his work while with WWE developmental promotion Ohio Valley Wrestling.
After a stint as SmackDown General Manager, Heyman was “fired” from the position, and later became Head Booker and Writer for OVW in 2005. During this period, Heyman forged a relationship with a young CM Punk. Another wrestler in the promotion at the time who took a liking to Heyman was Shelly Martinez. The woman who would later become known as Ariel in ECW.
Speaking during a new appearance with Wrestling Shoot Interviews, Martinez recalled her time working with Heyman. While reflecting on her time in OVW, she surprisingly admitted that she became so obsessed with Heyman that she wanted to sleep with him.
“Most people, first of all, they see my look and automatically think that I just want to be on TV. I’m not sure what [Jim] Cornette’s opinion of me was because I didn’t really have much interaction with him. But with Heyman, I knew he was a big fan of my looks. There was a time when I went through like a huge obsession with Heyman. I would have slept with him at one point, that’s how obsessed I was.”
While in developmental, Martinez was engaged in a lengthy rivalry with future WWE Hall of Famer Beth Phoenix. Despite her earlier obsession, Martinez explained that Heyman then broke her heart by assuming that she couldn’t wrestle.
“There was a time when he [Paul Heyman] talked down to me and that’s what broke my heart because me and Beth Phoenix had a feud going on and we were walking through our match and He goes, ‘No Shelly, she needs to be walked through’ and I was like, ‘What the hell.’ Now Al Snow was my trainer and Al Snow saw how hard I worked. He knew the deal with me, he treated me with respect. I was so upset that Heyman was making it seem like I just didn’t know what I was doing and that Beth was just going to make me look good.”
During her time with WWE, Martinez appeared on the rebooted version of ECW as Ariel alongside Kevin Thorne. The star was eventually released in ay 2007.
While working with OVW, Heyman was also heavily involved in the new ECW. However, dissatisfaction over creative direction led to a bust-up with Vince McMahon and his exit from the company in December 2006.
H/t to Sportskeeda for the transcription.