Sunday Night Heat – October 1, 2000: Not Exactly The Rock And Wrestling Connection

Sunday Night Heat
Date: October 1, 2000
Location: Civic Arena, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Commentators: Michael Cole, Tazz

This was another request for reasons I don’t remember. It’s the first episode of Sunday Night Heat that aired on MTV, which would be its home for the next two and a half years. Things are good in the WWF at the moment and would get even better in the coming weeks. We’re three weeks away from No Mercy so the main feuds are Rock vs. Angle and HHH vs. Benoit. Let’s get to it.

We open in WWF New York with two MTV airheads hosting. Thankfully the recently returned Steve Austin cuts them off and send the crowd through the roof.

Cole and Tazz are the real hosts.

William Regal vs. Crash

Regal easily takes him down for a series of two counts before putting on a cross arm chinlock. A backslide and small package get two each for Crash and a missile dropkick gets the same. Regal comes back with the fireman’s carry roll and the Regal Stretch gets the quick submission.

Regal won’t let go until Naked Mideon (don’t ask) comes in for a distraction to break it up.

Disturbed performs their big hit Stupify, as suggested by Steve Austin.

The MTV hosts annoy me some more.

Jonathan Coachman hosts WWF Live, which is a studio segment. We get a quick promo from Kurt Angle about how he can’t forgive Stephanie for what she did at Unforgiven but he’s going to think about himself from now on.

Light Heavyweight Title: Dean Malenko vs. Taka Michinoku

Dean is defending and is the Ladies Man at this point. They fight over a wristlock to start and hit the mat for a fast technical sequence with Taka knocking Dean out to the floor. Tazz: “Why did Steve Austin cross the road? So he wouldn’t get hit by another car. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” Back in and Taka hits a low dropkick and a middle rope cross body gets two. Dean comes back with a release flapjack but the Cloverleaf is countered into a rollup for two. Not that it matters as a floatover suplex retains the title. Taka is holding his shoulder so I’m guessing a legit injury due to how fast that ended.

Road Dogg doesn’t think Chyna has her head on straight but after tonight, Eddie Guerrero isn’t going to have the Intercontinental Title on after tonight. That’s not how the promo went but it sounds better than Road Dogg speaking bad Spanish.

Austin wants Disturbed to perform again.

Intercontinental Title: Road Dogg vs. Eddie Guerrero

Eddie is defending but his girlfriend Chyna (also Road Dogg’s friend) is in Washington D.C. for an autograph signing. Dogg jumps him to start and the brawl starts on the floor. Back in and a suplex gets two on Guerrero before Dogg stomps away in the corner. Now Dogg stomps away in the other corner but Eddie pokes him in the eye and stomps away as well. The slingshot hilo gets two for the champion as this is already dull. Dogg hits the Shake Rattle and Roll but gets dropkicked in the knee. Eddie rolls through a powerslam and ties his feet in the ropes to retain the title. Another short match.

Steven Richards thinks MTV has corrupted the youth of America and hates that Heat now airs here. He complains while plugging a lot of other MTV shows.

The MTV hosts think Richards is a virgin and start a Chyna chant.

Austin introduces Disturbed to perform his theme song.

Right to Censor vs. Dudley Boys

Tables match and it’s Buchanan and Goodfather for the guys in suits. Bubba and Goodfather get things going with the latter taking over, only to miss the spinning legdrop. D-Von comes in and hits a middle rope legdrop as the announcers talk about Tazz and Mick Foley. Buchanan comes in off the tag and nails a shoulder block to take over. The fans chant for tables and Bubba goes into his trance.

D-Von clotheslines Buchanan down and goes for a cover, causing Cole to go on a rant about how stupid he is. Everything breaks down and it’s What’s Up to both of them. Tables are brought in but Goodfather and Bubba make quick saves for their partners. Goodfather is sent to the floor and the 3D puts Bull through the table.

Rating: D. Well that happened. Seriously that’s almost all there is to say. Nothing of note happened, the match was nothing interesting, and it doesn’t end the feud at all. This is a perfect way to cap off a show this boring as the main event is even more dull than most of the rest of the show.

Val Venis and Steven Richards come in and put the Dudleys through tables.

Austin doesn’t have much to say to Cole and Tazz but he beats up the latter to end the show.

Overall Rating: D-. This was horrible with the matches meaning nothing, the musical stuff being fast forward material and the rest of the show just being boring. Those MTV hosts shouting seem so tacked on and the whole thing is just a mess. To be fair Raw and Smackdown are the main shows, but having Austin do the most pointless cameo ever was a waste of time. Awful, awful show.

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