Heyman and McMahon have always had a love/hate relationship. The loving aspect involved Vince McMahon quietly funding Paul Heyman's ECW promotion during the mid-late 90s in the amount of $1,000 per month; Vince would use the Philadelphia based company as a pseudo farm system/training grounds for superstars he wasn't quite ready to put on his WWE programming. The hatred aspect started when Vince "borrowed" the adult-oriented, hardcore, edgy and risque' content that ECW was known for and branded it as "Attitude". The success of Vince's branding helped propel WWE back to the #1 wrestling company in the world, but did nothing to help ECW which eventually folded in 2001 and was gobbled up by Vince. Heyman would appear as a character in WWE's Invasion storyline and gave one of the most passionate, believable promos ever delivered on WWE television. While this was a scripted interview segment, the contempt and vitriol Heyman delivered the promo with showed that A) Heyman is an unbelievable talent and B) he was likely channeling some legitimate feelings.Paul was eventually made the head writer for SmackDown in which he often battled the Chairman over the proper direction of the show. He was also initially put in charge of the revived ECW brand that operated under Vince's final say. Since the two promoters were both very adamant and understandably stubborn in their ways, it was only a matter of time until their relationship soured and Heyman departed WWE in 2006. Since returning to WWE in 2012, Heyman has enjoyed his time playing Brock Lesnar's advocate and has stated that by being strictly on-air talent, the relationship with Vince is better. It is a fact that Paul Heyman has a brilliant wrestling mind; for WWE to not utilize that is foolish but expected given Vince and Paul's history.