World Wrestling Entertainment presents Heat
Date: 1/19/2003
From: Boston, MA
Matches:
1.) Spike Dudley defeated Steven Richards
Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) Earlier today, Funaki interviewed Dawn Marie regarding her match with Torrie Wilson at Royal Rumble. Dawn asks if Funaki caught Torrie’s performance at the wake and believes Torrie was acting and the tears weren’t real. Dawn is going to beat Torrie for Al and she’ll never forgive her for her role in Al’s death.
2.) A vignette promoting Sean O’Haire is shown. O’Haire talks about desires and needs. O’Haire is telling men it’s okay to cheat because what their wife doesn’t know won’t kill them. O’Haire believes that their wife will even thank them.
3.) Footage of Big Show appearing on Conan O’Brien is shown.
4.) During the commercial, Lilian Garcia interviewed Eric Bischoff. Bischoff says there are 22 days and 2 hours left since Vince McMahon gave him 30-days to turn RAW around. Bischoff is here to see a RAW superstar win the Royal Rumble. Bischoff is going to drop a bombshell tomorrow night on RAW that is going to shock the world.
5.) Spike hammers away on Richards and yanks Richards down to the mat by his hair. On the floor, Spike punches Richards several times. Victoria trips Spike allowing Richards to deliver a couple of elbow drops and a scoop slam for a two count. Richards plants Spike with a neckbreaker for a near fall. Spike punches Richards several times, but Richards keeps control with a full nelson on the mat. Spike elbows Richards to break free and delivers a headbutt to the midsection. Richards counters with a side Russian leg sweep for a two count. Richards backs Spike into a corner to deliver a few chops. Spike fights back with a chop and strikes in the corner. Richards crotches Spike on the top turnbuckle looking for a superplex, but Spike shoves Richards off and hits a double stomp off the top for a near fall. Richards sends Spike hard into the corner and continues with stomps in the corner. Jacqueline tosses Richards out of the corner as she’s the referee. Victoria gets on the top rope, but Spike avoids Richards to send Richards into Victoria. Spike proceeds to hit the Dudley Dog and wins the match. (*1/2. A fine warmup match for the PPV.)
Final Thoughts:
A standard pre-show hype for Royal Rumble. Interested to see what Bischoff’s major announcement for RAW could be since he’s already probably desperate to keep his job.
Thanks for reading.