WWE history: Paul Heyman buries Vince McMahon in "the original Pipe Bomb"

The backstory

When WWE bought off WCW and ECW back in 2001, Vince McMahon decided to create a full-fledged storyline that would see WWE go at it against its competition in a brand war. The storyline didn't impress the fans much, and is widely considered by many as a failure.

A major reason why it didn't work was that some of the biggest WCW Superstars were not in the mix. The NWO, Goldberg, and Sting all arrived in WWE at different points in the future, and their absence ended up hurting this storyline to the point that WWE Superstars like Kurt Angle and Stone Cold had to join The Alliance.

The rivalry ended with WWE coming out on top in a Traditional Survivor Series 5-on-5 match in November 2001.

The original Pipe Bomb

Mere days before the big match, The Alliance's Paul Heyman cut a scathing promo on Vince McMahon on SmackDown. The promo saw Heyman bury Vince and his accomplishments, and blame him for killing his competition.

Heyman stated that Vince had built his empire by taking advantage of his top stars, most notably Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels, and Bret Hart. He accused Vince of stealing his ideas and added that Austin had his first beer in ECW, way before he became a megastar in WWE.

One look at the promo is enough to convince you that this was the original Pipe Bomb, around a decade before Punk dropped his version on Monday Night Raw. The promo was uploaded to WWE's official YouTube channel and can be accessed below:

The aftermath

Heyman went on to become a mainstay in WWE, and was recently appointed as the Executive Director of the Raw brand. It would be interesting to see what Heyman comes up with to improve the WWE product as we move ahead.