WWF Heat 4/23/2000

Written by: Bob Colling

World Wrestling Federation presents Heat
Date: 4/23/2000
From: Philadelphia, PA

Matches:
1.) Hardy Boys defeated Al Snow & Steve Blackman
2.) Hardcore Holly fought Perry Saturn to a double disqualification
3.) WWF Lightweight Champion Scotty 2 Hotty defeated Dean Malenko & Taka Michinoku to retain the title
4.) Faarooq defeated Bull Buchanan by disqualification

Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) Earlier today, Al Snow talked to Steve Blackman and suggested they go by Snow Bunnies. Blackman isn’t interested in that and wants Snow to stop being a goof. Snow stops Harvey Wippleman with his bunny costume, which likely means Harvey is going to be embarrassed.

2.) Snow and Matt kick off the match with Matt taking Snow over with an arm drag. Matt ducks a clothesline and yanks Snow down by his hair. Jeff tags in and delivers a leg drop to the lower midsection as Matt hit one of the middle rope. Blackman is taken over with a suplex, too. Snow stops Jeff with a wheelbarrow German suplex and tags in Blackman. Blackman works over Jeff in the corner with a series of strikes. Blackman backdrops Jeff to the apron, but Jeff is able to flip in and dropkicks Blackman to the floor. Jeff takes Blackman out with a cross body to the floor. Matt gets tagged in and continues to hammer away on Blackman. Blackman dropkicks Matt to the floor and Snow slams Matt face first onto the aisle way. Jeff tries to run the barricade but is stopped by a spin kick from Blackman. Blackman nearly pins Matt back in the ring. Blackman lifts Matt up and drops him across the knee of Snow for a two count. Matt hammers away on Snow in the corner with right hands. Snow yanks Matt down by his hair. Matt goes for a Twist of Fate but Snow counters with a northern lights suplex for a two count. Snow goes to the top but misses a moonsault. Matt is able to tag in Jeff but here comes Blackman, too. Jeff cleans house with dropkicks. Jeff hits Poetry in Motion on Snow in the corner. Blackman stops Matt with a kick to the face. Snow pulls Jeff to the floor and drops him over the ring steps. Snow leaps into the ring and accidentally decks Blackman. Jeff goes to the top after Matt slams Blackman. Jeff finishes Blackman off with a Swanton Bomb. (**1/2. An enjoyable tag match with Snow and Blackman holding their own in there. Snow and Blackman probably aren’t seen as a good team due to their comedy, but they are a fun team.) After the match, Snow gets a microphone and says he knows that Blackman is mad at him. Snow has his own Easter bunny to come out and make Blackman smile. Harvey Wippleman comes down in a bunny costume. Harvey says he feels like an idiot and runs away after Blackman attacks Snow in the corner. That might be the end of their tag team.

3.) Backstage, Big Bossman and Bull Buchanan are at the APA office and knock on the door. There’s a sign that says they are at lunch. They proceed to kick the door open and destroy the APA’s office and drink their beer.

4.) Backstage, APA return to their office to see that it has been trashed and they are none too happy about it. They are going to kick someones ass for this.

5.) Holly controls Saturn with a side headlock and comes off the ropes to take Saturn down with a vertical suplex for a two count. Holly continues to work over Saturn but is dropped throat first over the middle rope with a drop toe hold. Holly avoids a backdrop by sending Saturn to the floor. Saturn pulls Holly to the floor and continues to brawl with him. Saturn sends Holly face first into the ring post. Holly tosses Saturn shoulder first into the ring steps. Holly rolls Saturn into the ring and delivers a running clothesline in the corner. Holly goes for the cover but Saturn kicks out at two. Saturn flapjacks Holly for a two count. Saturn and Holly trade punches in the corner with Holly getting the advantage. The referee gets shoved into the corner and the referee calls for the bell and there’s a double disqualification. (NR. This wasn’t really a match but rather just a brawl.) After the match, Holly whacks Saturn over the head with a stop sign.

6.) Scotty hammers away on Taka at the start of the match but is met with a dropkick quickly. Dean Malenko isn’t in the match yet, but the bell did sound. As soon as I type that, Malenko makes his way out and gets super kicked by Scotty on the floor. Taka gets backdropped over the top and takes Malenko out with a cross body. Taka hammers away on Scotty in the ring but ducks a clothesline. Scotty plants Taka with a tilt a whirl back breaker. Malenko drives Taka down with a back suplex for a two count. Malenko hammers away on Taka ramming him into the corner. Taka boots Malenko in the corner but gets yanked by Scotty on the apron. Malenko avoids a top rope cross body by Scotty. Taka nails Malenko with a spinning heel kick. Taka gets stopped on the top rope by Scotty. Malenko puts Scotty on his shoulders and Taka hits a top rope cross body on Scotty! Taka and Malenko double team Scotty, but Malenko hit a side Russian leg sweep on Taka and they were nearly pinned by Scotty. Malenko has control on both men dropping Taka gut first across the top rope. Scotty knocks Taka off the apron and Malenko plants Scotty with a back suplex. Malenko works over Scotty with a strike and blocks a kick in the corner. Taka springboards off the top but Malenko rolls through a sunset flip and has the Texas Cloverleaf on Taka! Scotty bulldogs Malenko and signals for the Worm! Scotty connects with the Worm and Malenko rolls to the floor. Scotty flapjacks Taka and goes to the top rope leaping off to hit a DDT on Taka for the win. (***. A really solid triple threat match and it was obvious Taka was going to eat the pin here. I enjoyed it.) After the match, Malenko decks Scotty with the WWF Lightweight Championship and puts the Texas Cloverleaf on Scotty!

7.) WWF Intercontinental Champion Chris Benoit makes his way down to the ring for an interview. Benoit says that since he has become the WWF Intercontinental Champion at WrestleMania he has never been insulted more than he was last week. He was insulted by the challenge of Chris Jericho. Benoit says that Jericho’s claim to fame is getting a fast three count to obtain a victory over Triple H. Benoit notes that he looked in the archives and it doesn’t say that Jericho won the WWF World Champion at any point. Benoit shows a highlight from WrestleMania where Benoit won the title from Jericho at WrestleMania. Benoit puts himself over as a great technical wrestler and says that Jericho’s most intimating trait is his entrance. Benoit insults the fans calling the fans trained circus monkeys who are trained to know when they are to cheer and boo. Benoit calls Jericho’s fans nothing but losers. That prompts Jericho to make his way out with a full entrance. Jericho tells Benoit to shut the hell up. Jericho says that if it were the 60s then Benoit would be a great champion. However, it’s the 2000s now. Jericho notes that the crowd roared in comparison to what Benoit got. Jericho thinks the fans want to see him win the WWF Intercontinental Championship. Jericho wants to know if Benoit accepts his challenge. Benoit accepts the challenge and rushes onto the aisle way to brawl with Jericho! Several officials come out to break them up but they are brawling on the side of the entrance way. Jericho takes Benoit down and locks in the Walls of Jericho. Benoit is submitting!

8.) Faarooq wastes no time hammering away on Buchanan and tosses Bull to the floor. They brawl on the floor where Faarooq sends Bull into the guard railing a few times. They get back into the ring where Faarooq hammers away on Bull. Bull springboards off the ropes to clothesline Faarooq out of the corner. Bull gets a two count after a backbreaker. Bull tosses Faarooq to the floor and Bull comes off the apron to axe handle Faarrow before returning to the ring. Faarooq hammers away on Bull in the corner. Bull elbows Faarooq in the corner and connects with a bulldog. Faarooq plants Bull with a spine buster but Bossman pulls Faarooq out of the ring and rams Faarooq into the ring post. Bradshaw comes over and brawls with Bossman. They get into the ring where Bradshaw gets double teamed. Kane’s music hits and he makes his way down to the ring. Bossman is ready for Kane but is met with a chokeslam quickly! Kane sets the fire off in the corners to end the segment. (NR. Not much of a match and just seemingly used to setup the Kane appearance.)

Final Thoughts:
There was some quality wrestling and an entertaining segment between Benoit and Jericho. This was a strong episode of Heat.

Thanks for reading.