home | wrestling | flashback_reviews | wwe | heat

WWF Sunday Night Heat- May 23, 1999

by Scrooge McSuck

- With a little free time and the availability of wrestling on the internet, my most recent search on DailyMotion.com brings you this episode of Heat, presented the night of the infamous Over The Edge PPV. Infamous for obvious reasons that don’t need to be explained here. My choices for a recap were this episode, the Heat before WrestleMania XV, and another from 3/7/99, so it’s not like I was searching for this particular episode.

- Opening video hypes up the main event of Steve Austin vs. The Undertaker for the World Title at Over The Edge. Included among the incidents leading up to the show was yet another cruci…. Er, symbol usage. This time it was the Undertaker who got the treatment after his plan backfired.

- Shane McMahon comes out, along with the Corporate Ministry members Viscera, Mideon, Boss Man, and the Acolytes, to open the show. Boss Man is a very forgiving guy, after being hung at WrestleMania by these merry men. This leads up to Shane making a match for Heat… it’ll be Mideon vs. Steve Austin with Shane as the Special Referee. Yeah, because Mideon, even with the help of a bias referee, stands a chance against Stone Cold.

- Backstage, Vince McMahon is HERE! Pretty bad statement for him to make, being the owner of the company, only showing up minutes into the show starting. During the break, Vince McMahon is STILL here! And the Fink is a snitch! 1

Meat (w/ PMS) vs. “Too Sexy” Brian Christopher (w/ “Too Hot” Scott Taylor):

Wow, remember when WWE actually had an entire roster of guys that made up the undercard and only seldomly used to be squashed/buried on television by the main eventers? Meat doesn’t have his traditional tights (the Y-front design). Terri Runnels joins the PBP team of Michael Cole and Kevin Kelly. When Terri is the toughest person in a three-person PBP team, you’ve got problems. Christopher attacks from behind with a series of rights. Scoop slam by Too Sexy, followed by some stompin’. Irish whip is reversed, and Meat catches Sexy off the ropes with a powerslam. Meat pounds away in the corner, and catches Christopher on his shoulders for a modified F-5 slam. Irish whip to the corner, and Meat runs right into a boot from Christopher. Stuff happens outside with PMS as Christopher connects with a missile dropkick for a two count. Meat nails a distracted Christopher from behind, and a reverse DDT (dubbed “The Meat Grinder”) is enough to pick up the three count at 2:05. DUD Nothing much of a match here. It’s almost impossible to rate a match that barely lasts long enough to get a drink from the cooler. For some reason, the Hardy Boyz and Michael Hayes run out and beat up on Too Much. Remember when Michael Hayes came back to T.V. as Non-Dok Hendrix and managed the Hardys to… uh… do stuff? I guess that was forgotten when the Hardys joined Gangrel as the New Brood. Remember THAT? Or how about the T.I.T.? The Hardys sure had a lot of nothing happening in 1999.

- Shane McMahon comes out again to have words with his father… Vince McMahon. This goes on for a while, and the end result is changing the Steve Austin vs. Mideon match announced no more than 10-minutes earlier to VINCE McMAHON taking on Mideon. That should be interesting. Too bad Mideon is no longer Phineas Godwinn. We all know Vince’s sick love with hillbillies.

- Highlight package to make people want to see the Rock vs. Triple H at Over The Edge. To think, in 1999 the match had already been done to death at this point. Then remember in 2000, they wrestled every week and at four consecutive PPV Main Events. One highlight of the feud is the Rock being locked in a casket and Trips’ smashing it with a sledge hammer… oh, and the Rock is sporting a magic cast on his arm. NO DOCTOR ON EARTH WOULD ALLOW SOMEONE WITH A BROKEN ARM TO PARTICIPATE IN ATHLETIC COMPETITION.

The Hardy Boyz (w/ Michael Hayes) vs. Goldust & The Blue Meanie:

This might’ve been one of the last times Goldust appeared on WWF television before taking time off and eventually finding himself back in WCW. For those who forgot, and considering the time frame it isn’t hard, Goldust and Blue Meanie had some weird relationship going on, much like how WWF did with Goldust and Mankind back in 1996. It all went nowhere for the most part. Everyone brawls to start, with the Hardys taking advantage. Irish whip and double elbow to the Meanie. Jeff stomps away on Meanie. Side Russian leg sweep and elbow drop combination gets a two count for Matt. Meanie comes back with a kick wham neck breaker, and in comes Goldust to hammer away. Irish whip, and Goldust connects with a charging clothesline, followed by a atomic drop throw. Whip to the corner, and Goldust misses a charge. Poetry in Motion! Matt with a clothesline and Jeff covers for a two count. Snapmare and dropkick to the back of the head for another two count. Into the corner, and Goldust rakes the eyes. Jeff gets back up to hammer away. Whip to the corner WITH AUTHORITY! Goldust with a double leg sweep to take advantage. Jeff comes back with rights and boots for a two count. CHINLOCK! Jesus Jeff, why not just tag out? And who the fuck are the good guys in these matches?! Goldust escapes with a jaw breaker (not the candy), but misses an elbow drop. Jeff with a standing moonsault for a two count. I guess Goldust is the Freak-in-Peril for the match, as the Hardys remain in control. Goldust comes back with a powerbomb to Jeff, and it’s time for the Blue Meanie to get the Freak Tag. No reaction for it, either. Meanie hammers away on both Hardys, but that doesn’t last long. Irish whip, and Meanie comes back with a double clothesline. Meanie with an avalanche to Matt in the corner. Meanie with a slam, and he heads to the top, connecting with a Meanie-sault, but Jeff breaks the cover. Goldust gets pulled out by Michael Hayes, and Jeff nails a senton plancha on the outside to Goldust! Back inside, Matt connects with the Twist of Fate on the Meanie for the three count at 5:54. * Not that good, but there was a few moments here and there to keep me entertained, and a Jeff Hardy suicide mission is always worth a few fractions of stars, back when he appeared to give a shit. After the match, the lights flicker red, and we all know what that means… it’s a Blood-Bath for The Hardys and Michael Hayes, courtesy of the Brood (Gangrel, Edge and Christian, back when everyone thought GANGREL was going to be the breakout member of the stable).

- Backstage, Shane McMahon gives Mideon a pep-talk before his up-coming match against the other McMahon.

- The 8-Man Elimination Tag Match featuring The Union (Mankind, Test, Shamrock, Big Show) taking on the Corporate Ministry (Boss Man, Viscera, the Acolytes) is hyped. The best way to describe this feud is “retarded.” I don’t know if this match blew off the whole feud, because the result was hardly mentioned on television because of the unfortunate incident that happened earlier on the PPV.

- Backstage, the Union get locked in their locker room thanks to the Boss Man and a fork lift (them things seemed to be quite accessable to the WWF superstars in 1998-99), so Vince McMahon has to go it alone, incase there’s some shenanigans.

Vince McMahon (w/ The Stooges) vs. Mideon (w/ The Ministry):

Special referee for the match is Shane McMahon, and this was probably the highest profile match Mideon would ever have in the WWF… other than wrestling half-naked at No Mercy 2000 against William Regal for the European Title. Vince rushes the ring (kind of) and double leg trips Mideon to start the match. Shane pulls the hair of Vince to break, so Vince nails him with a clothesline, and drops Mideon with a forearm. Vince goes back to work until Shane takes him down. The Ministry comes into the ring for a good old fashion ass kicking, and I guess it’s a No Contest at the 1-minute mark. Outside the ring we go, as Mideon throws Vince onto the announcers table then sandwiches Vince’s ankle between the ring steps and a steel chair. Mideon does it again for added measure. No match, no rating. Talk about a fucking obvious plot point in the storyline.

- Backstage, STONE COLD STEVE AUSTIN IS HERE! And that’s how the show comes to an end.

Final Thoughts: No matter what the show or the week, WWF programming in 1999 not only sucked for the most part, it also never made much sense. The shades of gray thing was completely out of hand (Meat vs. Too Sexy? Goldust/Meanie vs. the Hardys? The Union!?), with so many people playing both roles of face and heel, it killed all meaning for the guys that did it who were already over. None of the matches featured on this broadcast are worth a damn, and all the storylines advanced and developed made shit sense. Don’t bother searching for this, it’s not worth the time it takes to type in “Crappy WWF from 1999.”

Sunday Night Heat Index