Originally produced under the World Wrestling Federation banner (WWF),
Halftime Heat aired during a 20-minute block on
USA Network during
Super Bowl XXXIII in 1999, as a special episode of
Sunday Night Heat. The inaugural
Halftime Heat featured an
Empty arena match between
The Rock and
Mankind. The match was also accompanied by a
Super Bowl ad purchased by the WWF, tying into their
Attitude Era branding. During the match, Mankind won his second
WWF Championship.
Halftime Heat returned the following year, featuring highlights from the
Hardy Boyz taking on the
Dudley Boyz as well as the bikini contest, both from that year's
Royal Rumble. It concluded with an Interview with
Jim Ross and
Stone Cold Steve Austin, which discussed an injury update and his engagement to
Debra McMichael. It was announced in January 2019 that it would be brought back as a
special event on the
WWE Network,
YouTube,
Facebook and
Twitter. During the pre-show of the
Royal Rumble footage was shown of what happened after
NXT TakeOver: Phoenix went off the air, which led to the announcement of
Aleister Black,
Ricochet, and
Velveteen Dream taking on
Adam Cole,
Johnny Gargano, and
Tommaso Ciampa, during the returning
Halftime Heat.
Shawn Michaels was also announced as part of the announce team, and was joined by Vic Joseph. During the match, the team of Black, Ricochet and Dream were victorious. WWE personnel later announced that the match had 3 million viewers, making it the most watched NXT match in history. ==Events==