World Wrestling Federation presents Heat
Date: 5/13/2001
From:
Matches:
1.) Billy Gunn defeated Steven Richards
2.) X-Pac & Justin Credible defeated Funaki & Taka Michinoku
3.) WWF Light Heavyweight Champion Jerry Lynn defeated Dean Malenko
Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) Backstage, a producer is telling Big Show to follow Michael Cole and Tazz lead. The producer wants Show to be funny, but Show tells the producer he does whatever he wants and doesn’t listen to anyone.
2.) Michael Cole and Tazz are at their regular position. Today is Mothers Day and thankfully we will actually have wrestling unlike last week. They show footage of the Germ doing a man on the street asking fans of the Big Show. He asks older people and they have no idea who he is.
3.) Richards works over Gunn in the corner with strikes. Richards delivers a swinging neckbreaker for a two count. Gunn kicks Richards and comes off the ropes with a neckbreaker of his own. Gunn sends Richards into the corner and delivers several stomps. Gunn hits a tilt a whirl slam for another two count. Gunn continues to work over Richards with strikes. Gunn press slams Richards to the mat. Gunn signals for the One and Only. Gunn nails Richards with a short arm clothesline and hits the cobra clutch slam for the win. (*. I mean it’s basically a squash on Richards and likely means he’s heading for a repackaging. Gunn seems to have new life and I’m liking his work.)
4.) Big Show is introduced and he makes his way out to the stage. After a commercial break, Show is with Cole and Tazz for an interview on the stage. Show warns Cole to not have a smart mouth with him. Cole wants to talk about college basketball. Show says he was on the bench handing out water. Show knew he needed to do something else. Show recalls his previous jobs before getting into sports entertainment. Show mentions eating a toothpaste sandwich at one point to survive. Show puts over the WWF as the one place you want to be. The one man you want to work for is Vince McMahon. Show puts over Vince as being a genius. Show is on track to become WWF World Champion again. Show isn’t going back to WCW.
5.) Prior to the next match, Taka has a microphone and there’s the voiceover deal again. Taka says they are exceptionally evil. Funaki simply says “indeed.”
6.) Credible and Pac quickly go to work, but Taka nails Pac with a spinning heel kick. Taka hits a double baseball slide and a springboard moonsault to the floor! Funaki keeps a chin lock on Pac, but Credible trips Taka. Credible accidentally dropkicks Pac and Taka gets a two count on Credible. Pac pulls the ropes to send Funaki crashing to the floor. Funaki is rammed into the post groin first. Credible rams Funaki into the corner face first and Pac pummels Funaki with strikes in the corner. Pac hits the bronco buster on Funaki and taunts the fans before stomping Funaki. Pac shoulder rams Funaki in the corner and Credible hits a sit out powerbomb. Pac returns and Funaki connects with a double clothesline. Taka gets the tag and hits a springboard double dropkick. Taka dropkicks Credible and drop toe holds Pac. Funaki has a chin lock on Pac and Taka hits a dropkick. Credible clotheslines Funaki followed by a double superkick to Taka for the win. (**1/2. A solid sprint of a match and I could get behind a tag team of Pac and Credible. Taka and Funaki were fun in there with Taka standing out with his offense.)
7.) WWF World News Update is up next for the first time. Tazz is at the podium and says after a recent trip to the UK for the Insurrextion pay-per-view. Tazz says a form of hand and mouth disease came back with them. We see footage from RAW where Rikishi performed the stink face on Stephanie. This is a bad spoof of the SNL news update segment. Big Show got the stink face on Smackdown. Michael Cole laughs at that and Big Show comes back out to press slam Cole onto security guys on the couch.
8.) Malenko gets a headlock, but Lynn breaks free and they trade head scissors on the mat. Malenko dumps Lynn to the apron, but Lynn arm drags Malenko after coming back into the ring. Lynn dropkicks Malenko to the floor. They roll back into the ring and have a standoff. Malenko kicks Lynn in the midsection a few times. Lynn gets an inside cradle to counter the cloverleaf. Malenko drops Lynn with a clothesline. Malenko stomps Lynn and hits a back suplex for a two count. Lynn sends Malenko into the corner and runs into a powerslam by Malenko for a two count. Malenko elbow strikes Lynn and delivers a boot in the corner. Lynn gets a rollup on Malenko for a two count. They trade a series of pin attempts before a double clothesline and they both kick out at two. Lynn is decked into the corner chest first and rammed back first into the corner. Malenko sits Lynn on the top rope looking for a superplex and hits it, but Lynn gets a cradle for a two count. Malenko nearly wins with a backslide. Lynn kicks Malenko away and is put on the top rope. Lynn hits a tornado DDT to win the match. (**. The chemistry seemed off a bit, but it was still a decent match between these two former ECW wrestlers. I was left a bit disappointed.)
9.) Michael Cole and Tazz ask Big Show his prediction for Steve Austin vs. Undertaker at Judgment Day. Show picks Austin and says he’s hunting for the gold regardless of who has it. Show says he asked Bradshaw and Faarooq to be his partner and they laughed at him. Show wants a piece of Test anytime anywhere. Show will kick his ass and send him back where he came from.
Final Thoughts:
A fine episode of Heat this week with a good tag match leading the way. The Big Show stuff wasn’t all that interesting or done well, at all. Heat needs to be just matches and brief recaps of stuff on RAW. Keep it simple.
Thanks for reading.