WWE history: Vince McMahon's original heel turn that you probably didn't know about

The backstory

Vince McMahon is widely regarded as one of the greatest villains in the history of professional wrestling. His heel turn in 1997 resulted in the fans getting to witness one of the greatest rivalries in WWE history: Stone Cold Steve Austin vs Vince McMahon. Vince was pushed by an irate Bret Hart on an episode of Raw, which kicked off his slow transformation towards becoming a full-fledged villain. Soon, he went on to begin a rivalry with the rising star in Steve Austin and the feud was possibly the biggest reason why WCW eventually lost the Monday Night Wars.

But was this the first time that Vince turned heel? The answer is NO, as the owner of WWE actually had a short-lived heel run back in 1993, in a cross-promotional war with USWA (United States Wrestling Association).

The heel promo

In 1993, Vince got into a feud with Jerry Lawler as part of a cross-promotional rivalry between WWE and USWA . The storyline saw McMahon sending several WWE Superstars to Memphis in an attempt to put down Lawler.

This was the first time that Vince physically got involved in a match, occasionally tripping and punching Lawler while being at ringside. During the rivalry, Vince cut a heel promo targeting the USWA, where he could be seen wearing the USWA title around his waist. He talked about how the title looked much better around his waist, than on Lawler's. Vince ended the promo with his signature evil laugh, that fans later saw on multiple occasions during his famous heel run. Here's the entire promo:

The aftermath

The storyline was dropped abruptly after Lawler got involved in a court case. Vince went back to being his usual self, until around four years later, when he would turn heel and kick-started a legendary feud with Steve Austin.