Wrestling is an emotional business. Tensions can run high both in the ring and backstage. Talking during a recent interview with Inside the Ropes Paul Heyman addressed recent rumours of backstage heat between him and AJ Styles.

Rumors sparked about a disagreement between Paul Heyman and AJ relating to the release of The Good Brothers. Both Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows are close friends to AJ Styles, predating their time in WWE. The trio was part of the Bullet Club in New Japan Pro Wrestling. A stable they pseudo continued in WWE as The Club.

Addressing their fallout, Paul Heyman was, as always, deliberate with his word choices.

“That is an inaccurate portrayal of what AJ Styles has said,” Heyman said. “AJ Styles has not said that we weren’t on the same page or that we clashed. AJ Styles has been quoted as blaming me for the departure from WWE of Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson. That is what AJ Styles has been quoted as saying. He has never made a statement regarding whether or not our collaboration on Monday Night RAW was to his liking or not—and if he wishes to, I’d be happy to accept whatever assessment he had on our time together behind the scenes.”

While many just know Paul Heyman as being the special counsel for Roman Reigns, or the advocate for Brock Lesnar, he also plays a deeper role backstage. It can be hard to keep business and real-life associations separate. Heyman understands this and likens the difference between the boardroom and the wrestling rings to a magic act.

“It’s not for public consumption. Triple H had a very interesting analogy the other day that he and Stephanie love to take their kids to magic shows and that the kids are fascinated by the magic that happens in front of their eyes, despite the fact that they understand it’s a trick. And even though you know it’s a trick, no one wants to see the wires that lift the magician up in the air and bring the magician back down, and I really enjoyed that analogy.”

“Whatever you think of sports entertainment, I’m not here to expose the wires, so whatever happened between Gallows and Anderson happened behind the scenes, behind closed doors in a meeting that I’m not going to expose to the public because it was an inner sanctum meeting with the chairman of the board, Vincent Kennedy McMahon. And unless Vince wants to talk about it publicly, I’m not going to be the one to expose what happened, why, and what the other conversations were in that meeting.”

Paul Heyman is wrestling through and through. He knows there is no place for sentiment when it comes to the business side of things. It is surely no easy task to be in such a dual-sided position.