While Paul Heyman has been out of the indie wrestling game for two decades now, jumping from the sinking ship of ECW to WWE to begin a long and incredibly successful run as a Hall of Fame-bound manager, the man formerly known as “Paul E. Dangerously” has never taken his ear off of the pulse of what's popular in professional wrestling, with indie talents coming to his attention regularly as he fills a hybrid role with The Fed.

One such performer is ex-Impact wrestler Zicky Dice, the “Outlandish One” who has become an attraction in his own right for being one of the more “out there” performers in professional wrestling. Discussing his unlikely relationship with Heyman in an interview with Cultaholic's Desert Island Graps, Dice explained how he came to know the former ECW booker and how their unlikely bond came about.

“Dude, that's one of the crazy days of my life. I was sitting at my desk where I'm sitting now. I had gotten a random FaceTime call and I answered the call, and it was Paul Heyman's phone in the cup holder of his vehicle. My heart just stop and sunk. I was like, ‘Holy s**t.' He goes, ‘Zicky Dice? My name is Paul Heyman.' In my head, I'm like, no s**t,” Zicky Dice explained via Fightful. “He's like, ‘Your name comes across my desk a lot.' He proceeded to tell me that everything I've to come to know in wrestling, he's had a hand on, but his neighbor doesn't care. He says, ‘So I ask you young man, what do you want, do you want the real world or fantasy land?' I said, ‘I want a little bit of both.' We kind of built a connection there, we still talk here and there. I send him every vignette that I get and it's been going on a little over three years, we've been chatting back and forth. There's days where I'll get frustrated and I'll reach out to him and he just tells me, ‘Listen to Rollins, he's a smart man.' It's hard because I know Paul Heyman isn't FaceTiming everybody. I thought the call was coming next. H*ll man, I almost had to leave Black & Brave because I was almost cast for the last batch of Tough Enough. I had seven calls with WWE, multiple meetings.”

Discussing the interest Dice has received from working outside of the wrestling sphere, the “Outlandish One” reveals the advice he received from Heyman, who believes he's capable of far more than taking bumps in the opening matches of a mid-level promotion's card.

“If you're hearing these things from the outside, what's up with the wrestling world? Is it because I'm not afraid to take the ceiling off pro wrestling? Am I the best pro wrestler in the world? Absolutely. But I'm smart because I can take the ceiling off of pro wrestling and make money everywhere else as well,” Dice noted. “This is Paul Heyman's words, and I'm gonna quote it right now with pride, ‘Zicky Dice is bigger than professional wrestling.' That's what Paul Heyman said, and he said he doesn't say it all the time. I believe that. I've known that. It's stuff like that that eats me alive.”

Since leaving Impact in July of 2023, Dice has been treading water looking for his next opportunity, working a match for Ring of Honor, another for AEW, and establishing himself as a mainstay in POW!, where he held the promotion's top title from September through December. Will Dice eventually get where he wants to be? Only time will tell, but it's safe to say Dice will have Heyman in his proverbial corner regardless.

Lex Luger believes Paul Heyman is a lock for the Hall of Fame.

Speaking of Paul Heyman's borderline guaranteed spot in the WWE Hall of Fame, Lex Luger discussed whether or not he sees the “Wise Man” standing alongside the all-time greats in the annals of WWE history.

For Luger, the answer is yes, but there's a catch when it comes to the 2024 class.

“I don't think he [Paul Heyman] will [yet],” Lex Luger explained via EWrestling News. “I don't, unless there's a plan perhaps for Paul to retire in the near future. That may be an issue, maybe a situation? Is that indeed the case, I think this could be — not the best time, because I think the best time to index someone is after their career is over. Their active career on a weekly basis. Paul, it's not a question of if; it's a question of when he'll be in there.”

Has WWE ever inducted an active act in the Hall of Fame? Yes, one only has to look back to just last year to see Rey Mysterio get inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, and he won the United States Championship in the months proceeding. Considering everything Heyman contributed to the business in his time mere miles away from The Linc at the ECW Arena, it's safe to say Philadelphia would have been the perfect local to cement his career into legend, but in professional wrestling, it takes two to tango, and one has to wonder if the “Wise Man” would agree to being inducted now when he's still in the middle of The Bloodline's game.