The biggest sporting event of the year is only a few short hours away. The Super Bowl has become an international institution. It houses the biggest celebrities, stars, and the best players from around the NFL.
The event takes over an entire week and brings in the ratings that make every other organization salivate. However, it did not have an entire monopoly that week in February. WWE had made its attempt to snatch away some viewers during the big game with its presentation of WWE Halftime Heat.
WWE Halftime Heat was a two-show occurrence, but it did produce some of the more intriguing matchups in company history. Below is an account of WWE’s entrance into Super Bowl Sunday.
WWE Halftime Heat 1999 – The Rock vs Mankind (Empty Arena Match for the WWE Championship)
WWE has always capitalized on the popularity of other media. We can see it in various areas, including their foray into the Super Bowl era with Halftime Heat.
It was a one-match show that revolved around the ever-intensifying rivalry between Mankind and The Rock. It was a feud that included some brutal matches, one of which was their Empty Arena Match for the WWE Championship.
This match was indicative of how the Attitude Era was booked. It was a brawl that took both men all over the arena, making stops at the concession stand and kitchen along the way.
In any other scenario, this wouldn’t have been entertaining, but The Rock and Mankind are two of the best. Their natural chemistry and charisma made everything they did captivating.
Their Halftime Heat match took place in an empty arena, and while, as a society, this is something we have grown used to, it was not commonplace then. We were able to hear the phenomenal smack talk employed by both men.
It took a regular no-rules match and made it incredibly entertaining.
Finally, as much as their match was a paint-by-numbers affair, the finish was a very inventive way to work within the stipulation. Humanity using a forklift to pin The Rock to the ground was ingenious and a great way to keep their finishes fresh while the feud continued.
It was a memorable ending to an interesting WWE event.
WWE Halftime Heat 2019 – Aleister Black, Velveteen Dream, and Ricochet vs Johnny Gargano, Tommaso Ciampa and Adam Cole
Is it halftime yet?@WWE #HalftimeHeat will be streaming LIVE on @WWENetwork, WWE’s official Facebook & Twitter pages, https://t.co/wNpELtByip, AND https://t.co/cTYEI5glhd at halftime of tonight’s big game! pic.twitter.com/05RRtb3GNn
— WWE (@WWE) February 3, 2019
Ten years after dipping their toe into the halftime festivities arena, WWE returned to provide some quality entertainment while the halftime show was going on.
This time, the black and gold brand took over as Tommaso Ciampa, Johnny Gargano, and Adam Cole took on The Velveteen Dream, Aleister Black and Ricochet. It was the continuation of the programs that had highlighted the previous month’s Takeover in Phoenix.
Those matches were fantastic, and they turned into a fabulous six-man tag match that is a must-watch for any wrestling fan.
This match started with a flurry and never let up from there. Gargano and Ricochet continued their great match with a perfect exchange of counters.
That was continued with a slew of high-impact moves, especially some very stiff kicks, that had the fans chanting, “This is Awesome”, not long after the match began.
Spot after spot was thrown into this match, and flawless execution was followed along the way. Most of the men’s successive dives out of the ring were a particular highlight.
There were multiple false finishes before we were treated to an impressive combo by the face team of Dream, Black, and Ricochet. It capped off a very exciting match that proved to be more intriguing to watch than the Super Bowl that occurred in Atlanta.
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