World Wrestling Entertainment presents Heat
Date: 5/4/2003
From: Boston, MA
NOTE: Al Snow is back on commentary with Coach, and he hopes to be on the commentary team for a long time to come.
MATCH #1: LANCE STORM VS. SPIKE DUDLEY
FINISH: Storm counters a victory roll and pins Dudley for the win.
Bob’s Take: Spike tries to win the match early with rollups, but Storm avoided it. Spike showed some high risk offense leaping off the top to the floor. Storm stops Spike by sending Spike chest first into the corner. Spike battled back with a head scissors and forearm strikes. Spike’s offense is actually not too bad especially when you might expect him to be hardcore focused. Spike is clearly more than capable of having some quality wrestling matches without match gimmicks. Spike almost wins following a top rope double stomp. The finish didn’t feel nearly as decisive as you might expect it to be. Regardless, this was a solid opener for Heat.
Match Rating: **
MATCH #2: MOLLY HOLLY VS. IVORY
NOTE: Jacqueline is the referee for the match.
FINISH: Ivory wins following an electric chair slam.
Bob’s Take: They start off with some slow mat wrestling action, and naturally the crowd chants they want to see puppies when the women are trying to actually wrestle. The action is quite dull for a good portion of the match. Ivory gets a pop for how she covers Molly after a sit out slam, which was a bit sexual in nature. The finish was fine, and I wasn’t expecting Ivory to actually win here, at all. However, the match was rather boring to me.
Match Rating: *
MATCH #3: THREE MINUTE WARNING (JAMAL & ROSEY) VS. ARCH KINCAID & JASON PORCARO
FINISH: Jamal pins Porcaro following a swinging side slam.
Bob’s Take: As you’d expect, 3MW have little issue with destroying Kincaid and Porcaro. 3MW is a team that I greatly enjoy when they get the chance to manhandle smaller opponents. I kind of wish they had a stronger push in the tag division. Shockingly, Jamal did all the work as Rosey didn’t even legally tag team.
Match Rating: SQUASH
MAIN EVENT: MAVEN VS. RICO
FINISH: Rico avoids a missile dropkick and finishes Maven off with a spin kick for the win.
Bob’s Take: Al Snow notes that Maven is his legacy when it comes to in-ring wrestling, and that seems to be a bit extreme thing to say. I certainly wouldn’t say that’s the case. Rico gets control early on with a mule kick and maintained control for a bit. Rico drives Maven down with a neckbreaker, but still couldn’t finish off Maven. Maven fought back with a spinning heel kick and flapjack. Maven hit a nice middle rope bulldog, but still couldn’t finish off Rico. Maven missed a missile dropkick leading to the finish. I’m a fan of Rico, and this feels like a quality win for his character. Remember, Rico has beaten Ric Flair in the WWE.
Match Rating: *1/2
Final Thoughts:
An average episode this week for Heat. I probably most enjoyed the 3MW squash, but there wasn’t anything I’d label as being horrible.
Thanks for reading.