WWF Halftime Heat, Tucson, AZ
A request! Seven days after the violent spectacle at the Royal Rumble, The Rock is a two-time WWF champion, but Mankind wants another shot. This time, it’s an empty arena in Tucson, during halftime of the Super Bowl on a special “Halftime Heat” edition of Sunday Night Heat.
I watched this live in a short of bungalow-type shed building off to the side of a friend’s aunt’s house, we all got together for the Super Bowl, and with the Broncos up 17-6 at the half, the Halftime Heat match became the night’s real priority, and probably always was, in all honesty. After halftime we were all just fired up on soda pop and snacks and WWF Attitude, and we spent most of the second half doing wrestling moves to each other.
Broncos won, 34-19. The traditional halftime show was Gloria Estefan, Stevie Wonder, and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.
(Requests open and tips always appreciated!)
This also runs for the first time:
Oh God, Shane McMahon is on commentary from the “full” building. Of all the things he’s bad at, he was the worst at this. And to be honest, it was just that he was trying too hard to impress his papa. And he’s alongside Kevin Kelly! But it’s Vince McMahon by himself taking over commentary in person in the empty building. Dusting off the commentary boots.
Empty arena matches aren’t easy to do but they’re probably not as hard as the guys in them will make out. I mean you can’t do it all the time, but as a one-off with a good feud, like this or Lawler vs Funk, where you have the right wrestlers, they’re gonna carry it.
Here you have these two just getting physical and hard-hitting right away. Mankind dominating early, outside they go, and Mankind gets whipped through a chunk of barricade, something they’d love doing 62,000 times in the next 24 years.
Mankind sent into a bunch of chairs. Rock talking a lot, which is fine in this setting, and then COVID happened, and WWE ran several shows a week in empty arenas, and Roman Reigns thought, “Wow, what if I do that every match,” and the one Uso said, “ME TOO! ME TOO!” and then he started crying and shouting or whatever, and wrestling went to hell.
Rock stops his assault to get the headset from Vince and cut a short promo. MR. SOCKO! The Mandible Claw! Mankind’s head is all gauzed up from the Rumble (this was actually taped on January 26, so only two days after the Rumble match).
Vince says Steve Austin was supposed to do commentary with him but “chickened out,” and that on Raw, he’ll go confront Austin in Texas.
Up the stairs, Mankind gets dropped there and Rock continues to climb.
Yo, and don’t even worry, you WILL see Fried Green Tomatoes in its entirety.
So they’re up by some concession area now, but that doesn’t last as Mankind gets kicked down the stairs. Me knowing what real Vince commentary sounds like makes his call here really funny. He’s really very casual about a guy rolling down arena stairs. Real Vince commentary isn’t worried about telling you this is like soap operas + Roadrunner cartooners + Broadway, he’s screaming his guts out.
Oh, so to make up for that, we switch over to Shane and Kevin Kelly so that Shane can scream like an idiot, like a proto Mauro Ranallo with worse instincts and references.
Now back to the empty arena so that Mankind can get knocked into a bunch of cotton candy. Monkey crap, monkey ass, “how bout that,” and so on. MR. SOCKO! is on The Rock’s hand and now in the oven. Mankind gets mad about that but he gets shoved into the oven a bit and they add some sound effects, slightly more restrained than The Mountie’s old cattle prod zap noise.
Now he’s being hit with buns. Rock covers for two in the kitchen. Rock gets a fifth of Jack Daniel’s and sings and Vince has to go, “That wasn’t — that wasn’t real liquor, by the way! Real liquor’s never touched The Rock’s lips!” Mr. Edgy will have blood and tits all over, but REAL LIQUOR? He’s gotta back down from that immediately, like a coward or wimp.
Now they’re in catering and throwing food all over while some crew members just kinda watch. Mankind sets for a piledriver but instead gets backdropped over some more food and a table. Into a big cake!
Rock’s running commentary here has its moments. Foley gets some sauce in his eyes and does what I assume is a minor Terry Funk tribute (“My eyes!”), so Rock tastes it and goes, “It’s mild!” He finds a squash and goes, “The Rock doesn’t even know what this is!”
Now through another door, Vince suspects “toward the office area.” And yes. Here is an office with people in it. Boy this is an outdated office. Look at all that wood paneling. The phone rings, Rock answers. More joking. The phone rings again, Rock answers again then chokes Mankind with a telephone cord. “The Rock, with a great sense of humor!” Vince exclaims. “That’s what makes him who he is!”
Rock calls a lady in the office “a big fat piece of trash,” after saying, “You don’t want none of The Rock do you?” and Vince inserts, “Oh, yes she does.” Yeah! She wants to FUCK HIM! But he did NOT drink REAL LIQUOR!
Oh good, back to Shane. Doesn’t last, thankfully.
Out to a loading dock! More fighting. Mandible Claw! There’s a forklift with a man operating it. The Mandible Claw puts Rock out of commission, and Mankind nicely asks the forklift man to “get out, please.” Vince calls him a CRETIN!
Now here’s a great overhead shot of Rock being crushed by the forklift, carrying kegs of beer (surely not REAL beer!), and that is the pin. Mankind is a two-time WWF champion.
Shane throws a pen as he tries to act. Vince is mad. And they are out!
It’s really fun. Again, it’s the right couple guys, in the right sort of feud, and even the fact that they surely wanted to tone this down so that Vince could sell the WWF to curious non-fan viewers doesn’t trip them up, because both Rock and Foley were performers with some depth, they could go from hyper-violent to this cartoon nonsense in a week, and you just went, “Yeah, sure, why not?” So it’s not the nastiness of the Lawler-Funk empty arena match for sure, but it’s a way different time and place, with way different reasons it’s happening at all.
And man, if you’d told Vince McMahon a year ahead of this that he’d have a Super Bowl halftime WWF slot for one match on USA, I really doubt he’d have expected Mick Foley to not only be in it, but be an obvious first-string choice.
Tape Machines Are Rolling 
Man I HATED that “great overhead shot” in 1999 (I went back and checked my own reporting and it looks like I actually said out loud that Halftime Heat “sucked”) and so yes, I still haven’t forgiven Vince in 2023.
but the overhead shot is sOoOoOo good! where is it? WHY is it? doesn’t matter this is the Roadrunner on Broadway! keg bottom cam!