#231: The Rock vs. Mankind, WWE Halftime Heat (1/31/1999).
Hello, readers!
Tonight is Super Bowl LIX, where the Kansas City Chiefs will look to make NFL history by winning their third straight Bowl against the Philadelphia Eagles. Thatās what Wikipedia tells me, at least! I do not watch or care about football in the slightest ā though to be fair, Iāll be watching for the Kendrick Lamar Halftime Show, as well as the movie trailers thatāll be debuting during the game.
Speaking of Halftime shows, I thought Iād use the Super Bowl this year as an excuse to squeeze in an extra Blog post ā one centered around āHalftime Heat,ā an episode of WWE Sunday Night Heat that aired the same night as Super Bowl XXXIII in 1999. That year is significant for the WWE for a number of reasons. Firstly, they ran their first ā and as of now only ā Super Bowl commercial, showcasing professional wrestling to a huge worldwide audience, even if for a measly 30 seconds.
The other reason is that the promotion decided to run a big money match against that yearās Halftime Show ā an Empty Arena Match, which would see The Rock defend the WWE Championship against Mankind. WWE had to be pretty confident to do this against the lineup of Stevie Wonder, Gloria Estefan and the Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, but history says itās paid off, as this is one of the most memorable matches to take place in the Attitude Era.
Exactly one week before this, at the Royal Rumble, The Rock regained the WWE Championship from Mankind in their infamous I Quit Match ā you know, the one with the 11 unprotected chair shots to Mick Foleyās head, while his wife and children are watching in horror at ringside, and a documentary crew is filming all of it for the tell all āBeyond the Matā movie. No big deal. Well, during the match, Rock was able to find victory due to audio being played over the speakers from an earlier Mankind interview of him screaming āI Quitā over and over. Mankind was unconscious, and never actually said it in the match.
Mankind knew this, and the following night on Raw, he stole $100,000 of the Rockās money, and only promised to return it, should The Rock grant him a WWE Title match at Halftime Heat. The Rock accepted, and the match was signed as an Empty Arena showdown ā a first for the WWE. The spectacle of these two megastars going at it in front of 22,000 empty seats was a big sell for the audience to turn away from the Super Bowl for a bit. Who would win ā the soul of Stevie Wonder, or the carnage of the WWE?
In this match, there are No Disqualifications, No Count Outs, and Falls Count Anywhere. Vince McMahon is on commentary, and heās not allowed to interfere in this match.
The bell sounds, and they throw punches right away. Big back elbow by Mankind, and he gets a quick nearfall right away. Double arm DDT by the challenger, and Rock kicks out. Mankind pulls out Mr. Socko right away, and heās got the Mandible Claw on right away, but The Rock escapes and goes to the outside. Mankind hits a baseball slide, followed by a swinging neckbreaker on the floor. He covers, and Rock kicks out.
Mankind sends Rock head first into the timekeeperās table, and then onto the announcerās table. He throws him into the steel steps, then tells Vince that heās next! Rock reverses an Irish Whip and sends Mankind crashing through the ringside barricade! The Rock with some stomps to the head, and he gets a nearfall on the concrete floor. Rock then tosses Mankind into a row of chairs. He tosses some more on top of him, talking trash the whole time. Rock grabs a chair and swings it onto the pile of chairs laying on Mankindās head. Rock takes the headset and starts doing commentary for his own match. Mankind is back up, and he applies the Mandible Claw. Rock sounds like heās having an orgasm on the headset. Rock pulls him away, and hits a low blow. Now both men begin fighting their way up the steps, into the hundreds of rows of empty chairs.
Rock gives Mankind a right hand, and goes to the top of the steps. Mankind gives chase, as Vince McMahon sells the WWE to a potential new audience turning away from the R&B flavor of the Halftime Show. Rock hits Mankind several times with a trash can, and then kicks him down several flights of steps. He follows him down with the trash can, and pours the garbage onto him. One more hard shot to the side, and he kicks Mankind down some more stairs. Now theyāre going deep into the arena.
The cameras find both men fighting in the kitchen, as Rock breaks a mop over Mankindās back, and then he gets thrown into a rack of cotton candy. Rock then takes Socko and throws him in the oven! He murdered him! Rock then hits Mankindās body off the hot oven, and then decks him with a cookie sheet. Big elbow to the head on the prep table! Rock with a loaf of bread to the head! I hope it wasnāt stale. Pinfall attempt by the champion, and Mankind kicks out.
Mankind collapses onto a stack of plates, as The Rock takes a swig of Jack Daniels. Mankind grabs him and sends him into the plates, and then brains him with a huge bag of popcorn! Mankind is missing a shoe, as they make their way into catering! Rock says the popcorn has too much salt, as he spits it at Foleyās face. Another trash can shot to the head, as both men begin throwing platters of food and utensils at each other. Mankind says the sauce burns! Rock says itās mild!
Mankind goes for a piledriver, and Rock counters with a back body drop onto a bunch of spaghetti! Mankind with a low blow out of nowhere, and Rock is able to kick out of that pin attempt. Rock takes a can of soda, and pours it all over Mankindās head. Now both men make their way into the office area of the building, as Rock kicks Mankind into a chair. The phone in the office rings, and Rock answers. He says Mankind isnāt available, as his mouth has Rockās foot in his mouth.
The phone rings again. Rock answers, and says Mankind is tied up. He then proceeds to tie the phone cord around his neck! The Rock proceeds to hit on, and shame, a woman, before Mankind rushes him out of the office and slams him head first into a door. He drags Rock farther down the hallway, and they make their way out to the loading dock of the arena. Mankind has the upper hand, but Rock attempts to fire back with some punches.
Double punch by both men, and theyāre both down for a moment. Mankind has Socko back somehow, and heās applied the Mandible Claw again! He forces Rock to the concrete, and the champion seems dazed for a moment. Mankind drags him towards a forklift, and then takes control of it. He uses the machine to lower a pallet of kegs onto Rockās chest ā not enough to crush him, but enough to keep his shoulders down, as Mankind gets the 3 to win the match and his 2nd WWE Championship!
What a fun little garbage match. This was your typical WWE brawl of 1999, filled with plenty of punches and kicks to satisfy those nostalgia needs. It was a lot of fun, to be fair. The sight of an empty arena for this period was crazy, and seeing these two take full advantage of it made the match worthwhile. As much as I enjoy the Sting/Kurt Angle Empty Arena Match from TNA in 2009, they didnāt do nearly enough with the stipulation as they couldāve. That wasnāt an issue here.
Rows of chairs, flights of stairs, garbage cans, food platters, phone cords, and a damn forklift are just the tip of the iceberg as far as weapon usage in this one. Rock dominated much of this, as he shouldāve, considering he nearly killed Mick Foley a week before this (in actuality, TWO DAYS before this, since this was a taped match). Mankind bumped his ass off for him, as he did for much of their long running feud.
There was good comedy throughout, like Rock sampling some of the food he was throwing at Mankind, or Mankind drilling Rock in the head with popcorn like it was Royal Rumble 1999 all over again. The sight of these two essentially having a food fight in catering over the most important title in American wrestling at the time is fucking bonkers to me. It says a lot about the star power and the momentum that the WWE had at this time that they could do something like this against the Halftime Show, and be confident in how it would turn out.
It also speaks to the popularity of The Rock and Mankind as well, as WWE couldāve easily used this as a way to showcase Stone Cold Steve Austin for a half hour. Instead of their biggest star, they used these two guys to beat the shit out of each other for our delight. Using a forklift to win the match was pure spectacle for Mankind, and a perfect way to cap off this bizarre little match. I really donāt have anything negative to say about this. Itās fun, itās stupid, itās hilarious, and itās total garbage. And I never get tired of watching it.