[1999-01-31-WWF-Halftime Heat] The Rock vs Mankind (Empty Arena)

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Vince calls this match as Mr. McMahon and wow has his voice been missed at the booth. Vince loved putting Foley in his new concept matches. WWE should really do a halftime show every year. This was an excellent and very intense brawl before the sports entertainment production got carried away. When the action is filmed up close like this and you can hear the wrestlers, everything seems so much more physical. Mick takes a crazy rolling bump down the steps. They end up brawling into the building kitchen and Rock talks trash, which is pretty hilarious. Then he burns Mankind on the oven and asks him if he wants to smell what The Rock is cookin'. Rock is all about getting himself over match be damned, but that's probably the best choice considering the novelty of this. Mankind wins the title after putting Rock under a crate on a forklift (check out those camera angles!) and then pins him. As wacky as this is, it certainly works on its own terms and I have to give them credit for doing something very ballsy and different. I didn't hate it. I'm surprised.

[tim]

I liked this a lot. Of course it was ridiculous, but it was fun. This Rock/Mankind feud sure has a lot of memorable moments. Vince was awesome on commentary, transitioning between his evil boss character and WWF spokesman commentary role. A nice end to January 1999 which has been one hell of a month.

[Tim Evans]

I enjoyed this too. I remember watching it when it happened and going crazy when Mankind won. Rock was awesome all through this. Especially when they get in the office and Rock answers the phone. Mankind gets beat up like usual but gets the last laugh. Nice to hear Vince on commentary. I forget, was this on MTV or USA?

[tim]

Heat didn't go on MTV until 2000 I'm pretty sure.

[Dooley]

The camera angle at the end was a killer, but it was really fun up to that point. Rock's running commentary on this is a legit laugh a minute. "Stop making a mess!" "It's mild sauce, you baby!" This was hella entertaining.

[goc]

Haven't seen this in a few years but I remember really loving this. Definitely would not mind seeing WWE do another Empty Arena match. Also kind of surprised they never did another Half Time Heat because I seem to remember it doing pretty well in the ratings but I could be wrong. That camera angle for the finish did kind of stink up the end of what was a really good match though.

[Bix]

They did Halftime Heat in 2000 for an Austin sitdown interview.

 

Was it ever explicitly stated where the arena of cheering fans and the other announcing team were supposed to be?

[soup23]

This was fun but call me old-fashioned but I was a little taken aback by the person that was about to become champion having spaghetti sauce on his head and one shoe on. It just felt a little sloppy I guess especially with such a big audience. Their were too many contrived spots even up to the famous forklift camera angle. Overall, I was disappointed in this coming off their intense brawl at Rumble. ***

[Zenjo]

Absurd though it was, I did find this entertaining. More action adventure than a wrestling match. Rock got to do plenty of talking, which is his biggest strength. Whilst it was obvious it was shot in multiple stages, having that forklift-cam shot was a bit much.

[Jingus]

with such a big audience.

Oh yeeeaaah. This was the very first wrestling match I ever watched. It was playing on the big-screen TV in the college dorm lobby when I happened to be hanging out there during the super bowl, and it immediately drew me in. "Huh, these guys are called Mankind and The Rock? What oddly abstract characters for a couple of rasslers. This looks WAY cooler than that old Hulk Hogan fake bullshit that I always ignored. OUCH, that fall down the stairs had to hurt like hell!" Since it basically single-handedly ignited my fandom (it wasn't until a few months later that I began watching regularly, but still) I'd say this broadcast definitely did its job as far as drawing in new viewers.

 

But LOL, that final camera shot! BAD Kevin Dunn, what the hell were you thinking with that bullshit?! Even as a guy who'd never watched wrestling before in his life, I could immediately tell that it broke the "rules" of how this narrative storytelling artform was supposed to work.

[PeteF3]

They did Halftime Heat in 2000 for an Austin sitdown interview.

 

Was it ever explicitly stated where the arena of cheering fans and the other announcing team were supposed to be?

 

Well, it's 2 years later, but let the record show that Vince refers to the fans and arena "in Arizona" a few times, when they cut back to Kelly & Shane.

 

Yeah, a lot of fun, and deliberately more lighthearted after the torture porn that was the I Quit Match. Not really something that falls within the realm of a traditional star rating, but fun and creative--final camera angle notwithstanding. Vince calls this and is weirdly sort of half-Mr. McMahon and half 1995-era Vince, which is jarring and at times hilarious. "That's not real liquor, by the way--real liquor has never touched the Rock's lips!"

 

Into Pro Wrestling Mostly territory for a second...interestingly, aside from the Puppy Bowl, there's not much halftime counterprogramming left. After the Wardrobe Malfunction incident of '04, halftime started to get notice again. Then after a few too many years of old guys, bottoming out with what was left of the Who, the NFL and Super Bowl turned to getting the biggest stars in music to perform. Now, I'm not sure there's a lot you could do that would work as a ratings draw--wrestling or otherwise. The gimmick worked with In Living Color because that came at a time when the halftime show if not the game itself was usually completely embarrassing. Then Michael Jackson put a stop to it for a few years, then it started back up again with Celebrity Deathmatch and then this. But after a few years of it being a fad, the idea seems to be extinct.