10 Things That Happened BEFORE Wrestling Matches WWE Won't Tell You
5. Vince McMahon Tears Up Paul Heyman's (Much Better) Booking Idea
Vince McMahon and Paul Heyman were fated to fall out when collaborating over the WWECW reboot.
It was Heyman's brainchild and McMahon's intellectual property. Heyman had to petition to shape the new brand in his image, and did, to an extent. He earmarked CM Punk as a distinct, state-of-the-art performer that the self-professed tastemakers would bond with. He correctly surmised that Punk was the man who would have gotten over in the original promotion. He was the only wrestler capable of modernising it. Heyman himself was capable of predicting future trends. McMahon was not.
McMahon had a different, much larger idea in mind: Bobby Lashley.
McMahon won, not that Heyman had the power to actually fight the battle, and Lashley's parodic over-the-odds comeback scanned as transparent, child-friendly b*llocks. He won the ECW Championship at December To Dismember's infamous Extreme Elimination Chamber to an apathetic at best reaction.
He didn't get over. Punk subsequently did, a few short years later, as an anti-hero for the disillusioned.
Vince didn't lose sleep over this, primarily because he doesn't actually sleep, but also because he didn't much care for ECW. The DVD did well. It was an opportunity to make money. But the shredded original match layout and winner isn't something WWE tends to mention.
It shatters the image of Vince's timeless genius.