Greetings everyone. I hope you all had a great Christmas and a wonderful New Year. I know I did. Well, unfortunately the break is over and it’s time to go back on the old grind once again.
Last Monday Night on Raw we witnessed the return of the Great One known as the Rock. He came out and had a great promo with WWE Champion CM Punk in preparation for their title match at the Royal Rumble. This week’s “Remember When” once again deals with the most electrifying man in all of Sports Entertainment.
Remember when the Rock and Mankind had an Empty Arena match?
It was January 31, 1999. During a very special edition of Sunday Night Heat called “Halftime Heat”. This was after the Rock regained the WWF Title after defeating Mankind in an I Quit match at the Royal Rumble. A week or so later the Title was on the line once again, this time in an “Empty Arena” match. This match came about when Vince McMahon awarded the Rock $100,000 for helping Vince win the Rumble match. It turned out that Mankind stole the money and was willing to give it back in exchange for a rematch.
The concept of this match is the arena is completely empty, it’s just the combatants, and the referee. Pinfalls and submissions count anywhere in the building. Vince McMahon took the commentary duties for this match. This match was also during halftime of Super Bowl XXXIII hence the name “Halftime Heat”. My favorite part of this match was the Rock’s trash talking when he had the upper hand. They were fighting all of the arena. In the stands, the kitchen, the catering area, the office, and even the loading dock. It ended with Mankind dropping a crate full of barrels on the Rock and Mankind cover for the 3 count.
It’ll be the Rock vs. CM Punk for the WWE Title at the Royal Rumble. What say you? How do you see the outcome of this match going?
Ringsidehustle.com 
I watched this match a few weeks ago. The complete uncut and uncensored match is on Mick Foley’s “Cheap Pops and Hard Knocks” DVD.
LikeLike
You always pick an interesting topic, Jeremy! I must of watched this 3 or 4 times over the years, great stuff. Very interesting. I miss Sunday Night Heat, it used to be always on over here.
What I love most about Punk/Rock is that you’re not only looking forward to see what happens at the RR but I think people are more interested to see what happens next week on Raw!
LikeLike
That’s what happens when you have a feud people care about. If I didn’t have exams I would actually stay up all night this Monday to watch a 3 hour Raw.
LikeLike
It has to be hard to do one of those without the crowd to feed off of.
LikeLike
Easily my favorite Empty Arena Match.
As far as how Punk/Rock will g, I’m just hoping Punk retains, since everyone has been thinking Rock will win since July.
LikeLike
They did a great job recreating this match on the WWE ’13 game. It was a blast to play through!
I’m not a huge fan of empty arena matches, honestly. I think the crowd reaction and interaction is part of what makes a match truly special. However, all that comsidered, this one wasn’t bad. Definitely better than the Funk/Lawler match from Memphis. If you haven’t seen it, you should check it out just for how funny it is.
Rock’s gonna win at RR. I don’t think he would have came back for anything less. Especially with the time commitment he’s made to the company between now and Mania.
LikeLike