Written by: Bob Colling
World Wrestling Federation presents Heat
Date: 3/10/2002
From: San Antonio, TX
Matches:
1.) WWF European Champion Diamond Dallas Page defeated Lance Storm to retain the title
2.) Bradshaw defeated WWF Tag Team Champion Chuck
3.) Mr. Perfect defeated Rikishi
Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) DDP controls Storm with a hammerlock and they proceed to counter each other on the mat. DDP shoulder rams Storm before switching to a headlock. DDP shoulder blocks Storm followed by a clothesline. Storm holds onto the ropes and is sent over the top to the floor with another clothesline. DDP plays to the crowd as Storm staggers on the floor. Storm drops DDP over the top rope and hits a springboard clothesline for a two count. Storm rams DDP into the corner and continues to deliver right hands. Storm gets a near fall after a leg drop and delivers a few elbow strikes. DDP elbows free of a headlock and almost wins with a rollup after ducking a clothesline. Storm drops DDP with an elbow strike. Storm chokes DDP over the middle rope and stomps away on the champ in the corner. Storm hits a dropkick for a two count. DDP punches Storm a few times, but a knee lift stops DDP. Storm continues with chops in the corner along with stomps. DDP tosses Storm into the corner to deliver strikes. DDP sends Storm face first into the corner several times. DDP plants Storm with a swinging neckbreaker for a two count. Storm heel kicks DDP for a two count. DDP plants Storm with a DDT for a near fall, though Storm got his foot on the rope a little late. Christian freaks out on the floor that referee isn’t counting the win. DDP calms Christian down allowing Storm to deliver a jawbreaker and a superkick! Storm goes for the cover, but DDP kicks out at two. Storm tries for a suplex, but DDP ends up hitting the diamond cutter for the win. (**. I felt the match was a little robotic and seemed like it was a little too planned and forced. The action was okay, but there was just something about the flow that made the match feel a little off to me.)
2.) Prior to the next match, WWF Tag Team Champions Chuck and Billy stomp on cowboy hats to piss off the fans.
3.) Chuck goes after Bradshaw with right hands, but Bradshaw quickly fights back with strikes and a DDT. Bradshaw tries for a cover damaging a two count. Bradshaw continues with a neckbreaker. Bradshaw chops Chuck in the corner followed by a knee lift. Bradshaw catches Chuck in the corner and hits a fallaway slam. Bradshaw tries for a powerbomb, but Chuck backdrops Bradshaw only to be met with a big boot. Chuck bails to the floor allowing Billy to leap off the ring steps to clothesline Bradshaw. Faarooq chases Billy away while Chuck nails Bradshaw with a discus punch for a two count. Chuck rams Bradshaw into the corner followed by right hands and stomps. Chuck takes Bradshaw over with a vertical suplex for a near fall. Chuck comes off the ropes to knee lift Bradshaw followed by more strikes. They begin to trade right hands until Chuck knee lifts Bradshaw. Bradshaw drops Chuck with a side suplex. Bradshaw elbows Chuck followed by a clothesline in the corner. Bradshaw takes Chuck over with a snap suplex for a near fall. Bradshaw gets tripped by Billy and dropped over the top rope. Chuck almost wins with a rollup. Faarooq decks Billy on the floor. Bradshaw avoids Chuck in the corner leading to the Clothesline From Hell for the clean win. (**. A hard hitting match with a Japanese feel to the match with all the strikes. There were a couple of sloppy moments by Bradshaw, but it wasn’t a bad match overall. APA look to be viable contenders to the tag titles.)
4.) WWF Intercontinental Champion William Regal makes his way down to the ring to cut a promo. Regal says there are many people who claim to love this country and he’s not one of them. Regal tried to be an ambassador, but wasn’t welcomed. Regal says his power of the punch has defeated more people than any other move in the business. Regal says that Rob Van Dam has more offensive moves in the WWE than his punch. Regal has seen RVD do moves that no other man can do. Regal promises that those moves will not help him at all. Regal knows that RVD is lazy and weak. Regal is nothing like RVD and he’s proud of that. Regal is unrelenting, sadistic and English. That makes him better than RVD. Regal promises that he’ll keep the belt with his power of the punch.
5.) Rikishi elbows Perfect coming out of the corner after a few right hands. Perfect trips Rikishi to the mat and stomps Rikishi on the groin. Perfect hits a rolling neck snap and continues with chops and strikes in the corner. Perfect rams Rikishi into the corner face first. Perfect tries for a slam, but Rikishi counters with a slam and a Samoan Drop, which was a little sloppy. Rikishi hits a running sit down splash in the middle of the ring. Perfect goes to the corner and is met with a running back splash. Perfect drops down in the corner and grabs the referee. Rikishi wants to do the Stink Face, but Test comes out and nails Rikishi with a big boot. Perfect rolls over and pins Rikishi for the win. (1/2*. Not much of a match, but the idea of Test and Perfect as a tag team is something that I could get behind.)
Final Thoughts:
An average episode of Heat this week with some solid action throughout. I liked the interview segment with Regal to make Heat seem like an important show to advance a mid-level feud.
Thanks for reading.