WWF Sunday Night Heat (January 31, 1999)

 

Original Airdate: January 31, 1999 (taped January 25)

From Phoenix, Arizona; Your Hosts are Kevin Kelly and Shane McMahon

Michael Cole reports from inside of the Convention Center in Tucson Arizona, where Rock will defend the WWF Title against Mankind later. Cole notes that the only people in the building besides the combatants will be Vince McMahon and the referee. That’s fair, we don’t see the cameraman as ‘people’

Shane leads the Corporation out to officially introduce their newest member: Chyna. Chyna talks about breaking from DX because she was the ‘driving force’ behind the group’s success, but they never even let her talk. Plus: Vince pays better. That all draws DX out, and Triple H notes that the Corporation got one over on them, but that’ll be the last time. ‘Fool me once,’ and all that. HHH then accepts Chyna’s reasoning about Vince’s payouts, since she’s nothing but a ‘whore’ anyway. Shane responds by booking HHH in a cage match with Kane for RAW tomorrow

Over in Tucson, Mankind pulls up to the arena. In a very old Toyota. Feels right

Jeff Jarrett v Big Boss Man: Boss Man attacks before the bell, and delivers a few cross corner whips. A clothesline sends Jeff over the top, but Jarrett manages to fight him off on the way back in. Jeff lands a dropkick and a straddling ropechoke, but Boss Man reverses a turnbuckle smash. Avalanche, but Jarrett sidesteps, and rakes the eyes. Jeff pounds in the corner, but that just angers Boss Man, and he turns the tables. Backdrop, but Jeff blocks, and a big punch rattles Boss Man. Jeff looks for a follow up, but gets caught in a spinebuster, so Debra McMichael distracts him. That allows Jarrett to recover, but Boss Man fights him off with a scrapbuster at 3:27. DUD

In Tucson, Rock and Vince arrive 

Val Venis unveils another new film: Sister Act - starring Ken Shamrock’s sister

Ken Shamrock v Owen Hart: The WWF Intercontinental title is not on the line. Shamrock takes his frustrations out on Owen at the bell, and a big clothesline connects. Ken with a kneelift, and he pounds on Owen’s jaw with forearms. Ken tries to suplex him out of the ring, but Owen reverses it back in, and unloads mounted punches. Owen lands a spinheel kick, and a gutwrench suplex follows. Hart chokes Shamrock with a t-shirt, but Ken fights him off, and lands a kick. Shamrock with a bodyslam to set up an elbowdrop for two, but a roundhouse kick misses, and Hart side suplexes him. Ken sweeps the legs to allow him a headbutt drop to the groin, and he works Hart’s leg. Owen responds with a mulekick, and a bodyslam sets up a legdrop for two. Hart tries a leg-feed enzuigiri, but misses, and Ken throws a pair of kneelifts. Shamrock lands a backelbow, and a rana follows, so Blue Blazer runs out (again, with a black guy under the hood). Ken manages to whip Owen into Blazer, and Shamrock delivers a belly-to-belly suplex for the pin at 5:42. This didn’t have a great flow, but it wasn’t bad. ½*

They then start killing time, waiting for the Super Bowl to go to halftime, showing clips from RAW

WWF Super Bowl commercial 

WWF Title Empty Arena Match: Rock v Mankind: This one was taped in Tucson Arizona on January 26, and Vince McMahon acts as the commentator. Slugfest to start, won by Mankind. He delivers a backelbow for two, and a double-arm DDT gets another two. Mankind slaps on the mandible claw early, but Rock falls out of the ring to engineer an escape. Mankind stays on him with a baseball slide, and a swinging neckbreaker on the floor gets two. Mankind smashes the champ’s head into the announce table, much to McMahon’s chagrin. Rock gets control as they spill into the stands, where the champion buries him under a stack of chairs. Rock beats on him with a chair next, which feels like adding insult to injury, considering this was taped just two days after the Royal Rumble match. Rock stops to taunt, but it backfires, as Mankind recovers, and claws him. Rock uses a mulekick to escape, and they brawl up the steps to the upper levels, as Vince goes into oversell mode, targeting any casual fans who may be flipping past. Rock manages to knock Mankind down the steps, with Mankind taking a long tumble, since I guess he felt his bump quota for January hadn’t quite been hit yet. They brawl backstage, and end up in the kitchens, where Rock tries to stuff him into a pizza oven. What is he, a postman?! They brawl through catering, and end up in an office, where Rock chokes him with a phone cord. Rock stops to harass a female office worker, but that buys Mankind time to recover. He beats Rock into the hallway, and they end up fighting onto the building’s loading dock. Mankind gets the mandible on again, and Rock fades. He’s down and out, but Mankind wants to seal the deal, so he commandeers a forklift, and uses it to pin Rock underneath a pallet of beer kegs. Mankind then sits on top of the kegs, and the referee counts the pin at 17:17. This was unique, and certainly headline making… but it wasn’t a good match. I was definitely super into it at the time, but after seeing a million Hardcore matches, this one fails to stand out. ¼*

BUExperience: Probably the most memorable episode of Heat, and worth a look on those grounds alone.