They are not given much spotlight and appear to be happening with Zero Fanfare, but early use of WWE Programs such as Heat, Velocity and Shotgun Saturday Night were used to occasionally host matches that brought viewers and brought some stakes. Now, fans can check out shows like the main event and watch fun matches between talents who don’t often get the chance to shine on Raw or Smackdown.
It’s always been the goal of the show, using talent that isn’t working on the main show. They were also a fun way to guide new talents who needed to get used to the way things go in WWE. Velocity has first seen many WWE fans, say, young Brian Danielson. Due to the way these shows were held and their purpose, there were a lot of crazy matchups that many fans might not have known what happened on one of these broadcasts.
10
John Price vs Brian Danielson
speed
date | Match length | winner |
|---|---|---|
February 8, 2003 | 3:44 | John Cena |
This was one of the most famous examples and was also used in Brian’s WWE 2K19 showcase mode. It was a “Doctor of Tuganomics” in the Chinese era, and Brian worked for New Japan Pro Wrestling and Ring of Honor. Cena and Bryan only had three minutes so the match wasn’t something to write at home, but fashion is a real eye-catcher.
Brian lacked the amount of red/maroon he would later become known, but Cena wore the brightest yellow highlighter he could create.
9
WWE Championship: Rock Vs. Humanity
Half-time fever
date | Match length | winner |
|---|---|---|
January 31, 1999 | 17:19 | Humanity |
Another very big match was the WWF World Heavyweight Championship match at the 1999 Halftime Heat Show. This show was a tape event in advance without an audience, and the humanity and rock brawl saw everything around the arena as a last chance for humanity to win the title before WrestleMania 15.
Humanity came out as Victor, but ended up losing the title in an episode of Raw just before the Big Show, giving fans the first article on Rock vs. Stone Cold in Wrestlemania.
8
Fateful army vs. Rock and Roll Express
Shotgun on Saturday night
date | Match length | winner |
|---|---|---|
January 24, 1998 | 3:29 | The destiny of the army |
Rock n’Roll Express and The Legion of Doom are known as some of the biggest tag teams of their era, but it can be shocking to know that they rarely interact in the ring. They first shared the ring back in 1988 at the MSW Show, but they didn’t have their first true 2-2 match until about ten years later.
It happened at the short-lived Shotgun Saturday Night Show, which took place from January 1997 to August 1999. The match lasted only three minutes.
7
Edge vs Perfect
Sunday night heat
date | Match length | winner |
|---|---|---|
March 3, 2002 | 3:52 | corner |
Edge began his WWE career in 1996. This was the same year that Kurt Hennig ended his second and most popular tenure in the company. Kurt returned in the Royal Rumble in 2002, and continued his brief return, and had the opportunity to compete with new faces such as Brock Lesnar, Rob Van Dam, subject matter here, Edge and more.
Perfect and Edge actually shared the ring once when they faced off on an episode of Heat. It didn’t last long, and Edge got a DQ victory, and a few months later Hennig’s time at work ended.
6
Hardcore Championship: Rob Vandum vs. Jerry Lynn
Sunday night heat
date | Match length | winner |
|---|---|---|
August 5, 2001 | 6:16 | Rob Van Dam |
Rob Van Damn vs. Jerry Lynn was one of the feuds that carried extreme championship wrestling, making the show a must-see at its peak. Between 1997 and 2001, they shared the ring many times and faced each other for the ECW World Television Championship. They would join WWE after ECW collapsed, but they couldn’t compete as much as elsewhere.
RVD and Lynn each other in a single match that took place in the August 2001 episode of Heat. They competed in the Hardcore Championship and managed to do the main event, but only wrestled for about six minutes. They didn’t wrestling with each other again until 2011 when they were working for TNA.
5
WWE Championship: Kurt Angle Vs. Crush
Sunday night heat
date | Match length | winner |
|---|---|---|
November 12, 2000 | 3:26 | Cart angle |
Most of these entries were wild in the sense that fans may not have known these wrestlers were facing each other. This match was a bit weird to think of Clash Holly playing a World Championship match against Kurt Angle in 2000. The match must have been received well enough. So Crush will have a rematch with Raw in the same month.
No doubt about that, Crush has done an incredible job in WWE and in the Hardcore Championships, but few people may have thought Crush had a chance to win a world title.
4
Cody Rhodes vs Shane McMahon
Superstar
date | Match length | winner |
|---|---|---|
April 16, 2009 | 14:04 | Cody Rhodes |
Cody Rhodes in 2009 was far from the star he’s been in recent years. In 2009, Rhodes was a member of the Legacy alongside Randy Orton and Ted Diviaze Jr., who opposed McMahon, Triple H and Batista, culminating in a six-man tag match in the backlash that year. To hype the match, Rhodes and Shane square in the episode of the Superstar.
It was actually the main event of the program’s debut episode. The superstar was caught up in 2016, with the main event becoming WWE’s major minor show.
3
Papi Chulo (Kono River) vs. Tiger Mask
Super Astros
date | Match length | winner |
|---|---|---|
June 6, 1999 | n/a | Daddy cool |
Tiger Mask 4 is known for his tenure at New Japan’s Pro Wrestling. Here he is one of the most decorated junior heavyweight wrestlers of all time. He has won six IWGP junior heavyweight titles and two titles in his 21-year career. He was mainly wrestling in Japan, but he headed to WWE for several matches.
They were held at a show called the Super Astros, which was very short-lived and focused on Latin American wrestlers. Tiger Mask will work one single match in WWE. This is against Essa Rios, who appeared on the show and also known as Papi Chulo.
2
Rob Conway Vs. Koko B. Ware
Sunday night heat
date | Match length | winner |
|---|---|---|
October 28, 2005 | 2:29 | Rob Conway |
Coco B. Ware was a neatly popular star of his career, and his biggest achievement was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2009. Coco worked for WWE from 1986 to 1994, but made his first match return in 2005 when he wrestled with Rob Conway on Sunday night’s Heat.
This was his first match in WWE since 1994, and eventually his last match, returning to the independence scene, eventually retiring in 2019.
1
: Champion vs Champion: CM Punk vs. Seamus
Main Event
date | Match length | winner |
|---|---|---|
October 3, 2012 | 16:06 | CM Punk |
And to close things off, there is the debut episode of the WWE Main Event featuring WWE Champion CM Punk with WWE Heavyweight Champion Sheamus. They were allowed to go for 16 minutes and ended up playing a relatively decent match. The real Shocker was that WWE decided to have this as the opening game of the show.
The main event will be sent to Justin Gabriel and Tyson Kid vs. Santino Marella and Zack Ryder. This match is also historic. This is the first time Punk and Sheamus have wrestled 1-1, along with a dark match on Raw shortly before this episode of the main event.
