WWE Heat
Heat logo used from October 1, 2000 – May 30, 2008
Created by	Vince McMahon
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	513
Production
Running time	45 minutes (television) 35 minutes (webcast)
Original release
Network	USA Network
Release	August 2, 1998 (1998-8-2) – September 24, 2000 (2000-9-24)
Network	MTV
Release	October 1, 2000 (2000-10-1) – March 30, 2003 (2003-3-30)
Network	The New TNN/Spike TV
Release	February 23, 2003 (2003-2-23) – September 25, 2005 (2005-9-25)
Network	Webcast on WWE.com
Release	September 30, 2005 (2005-9-30) – May 30, 2008 (2008-5-30)
Related
WWE Vintage Collection

WWE Heat (formerly known asSunday Night Heat and also known asHeat) is an Americanprofessional wrestlingtelevision program that was produced byWorld Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and aired from August 2, 1998 to May 30, 2008. Originally produced under the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) banner, it aired onUSA Network (1998–2000),MTV (2000–2003), andTNN/Spike TV (2003–2005) in the United States,CTV Sportsnet in Canada, andChannel 4,Sky1, andSky Sports in the United Kingdom. From 2002, due to theWWE brand extension,Heat served as a supplementary show to theRaw brand, focusing more exclusively on its mid-card performers and matches, and was recorded before the week's television taping ofRaw.

Heat was most recently streamed on WWE.com on Friday afternoons for North American viewers from 2005 to 2008. However, the show was still televised internationally and showed in the United Kingdom onChannel 4 and then later onSky Sports 3, Australia onFox8, India onTEN Sports, Germany on Premiere Sport Portal, France on Action, Spain on Sportmania and C+ Deportes -both channels fromDigital+, the Middle East on ShowSports4, thePhilippines onJack TV, and Japan onJ Sports. The final episode was uploaded to WWE.com.^[1] The show was replaced internationally withWWE Vintage Collection, a program featuring classic matches.^[2]

On May 7, 2018, the first 52 episodes ofWWE Heat were made available to stream on theWWE Network.^[3]

The show was originally introduced on the USA Network on August 2, 1998 in the United States. The one-hour show would be broadcast on Sunday nights, being taped earlier in the week after Raw. It was the second primary program of the WWF's weekly television show line-up, serving as a supplement to theMonday Night Raw program.Heat would feature a format similar to that ofMonday Night Raw, in that continuing feuds from the previous week would progress during the show, and the following day'sMonday Night Raw would be heavily promoted. On scheduled WWF pay-per-view event nights,Heat would also serve as a preview show to the events. The show was initially signed for only 6 episodes, but proved to be very popular and was continued.

With the premiere ofSmackDown! in August 1999, coverage ofHeat was significantly reduced in favor of the newer show. The debut ofSmackDown! also led toHeat being taped beforeSmackDown! with matches for WWF syndication programs likeJakked/Metal being taped beforeRaw broadcasts. WhenSmackDown! premiered,Heat briefly became a complete weekly summary show, featuring occasional interviews and music videos. After only a few weeks following the format change,Heat began airing exclusive matches again.

Occasionally, special editions of the show aired heavily promoted. ForSuper Bowl XXXIII in 1999,Heat aired asHalftime Heat on the USA Network during halftime of the Super Bowl. These specials ended following the show's move toMTV in 2000. When the show started airing on MTV in late 2000, it was broadcast live fromWWF New York. WWF personalities and performers would appear at the restaurant as special guests whileMichael Cole andTazz provided commentary to matches.

The United Kingdom's coverage Heat began in January 2000, whenChannel 4 started broadcasting the show at 4pm on Sundays, as a part ofT4 – which also included broadcasting four WWF PPVs a year. These one-hour shows were amagazine-type show, usually featuring three or four brief matches as well as highlights fromRaw andSmackDown!. As with the North American airing, exclusive matches taped beforeSmackDown! were aired on this version of the show.

A separate commentary team was used on airings in the United Kingdom, with references aimed more at that specific audience. During commentary,Raw andSmackDown! were referred to as taking place on Friday and Saturday respectively, which were the days they were broadcast in the United Kingdom onSky Sports – as opposed to the manner in which the two programs were often referred to by the North American broadcast dates of Monday and Thursday. The two-personannounce team was a mix of individuals includingKevin Kelly,Michael Cole,Michael Hayes andJonathan Coachman. During the middle of 2000,Heat started to get moved around the Channel 4 schedule, usually between the afternoon and midnight. Towards the end of 2000, the show was permanently moved to being broadcast in the early-hours of Monday mornings. The show stayed in the time-slot until December 2001 whenChannel 4's deal with the WWF expired in the United Kingdom.

In April 2002, the show returned to its original filming schedule, again beforeRaw. Eventually, the live from WWF New York format was retired, and was replaced as being theRaw brand's second show. Ratings were still moderate forHeat, although the show lost some popularity onceSmackDown! began to air. This version also featured highlights from that week'sRaw, and the name change was introduced to the show in May 2002, when it became known asWWE Sunday Night Heat (the May 5, 2002 episode, along with theInsurrextion United Kingdom-exclusive pay-per-view held the same day, were the last broadcasts of any kind under the WWF name).Heat returned to the United Kingdom and Ireland in January 2003 on Sky One (with repeats on Sky Sports), though the coverage became Sky Sports exclusive in January 2005 along with most of WWE's programming. In the United States,Heat stayed with MTV until March 2003 when it was transferred over to The New TNN (later rebranded to Spike TV). It stayed in that timeslot until the contract withViacom expired.

Heat andVelocity were not picked up by theUSA Network when WWE moved its programming over to that network in October 2005, leaving Americans no way to watch WWE weekend shows on television. To solve this problem, WWE decided tostream the shows on their website exclusively for the U.S. audience, with new editions posted every Friday afternoon. Additionally, prior to every PPV event, WWE would continue to air a live bonus 30-minuteHeat pre-show on the PPV channel.Backlash 2006 would be the final PPV event to feature a liveHeat pre-show before that particular version ofHeat was discontinued.^[4]Sunday Night Heat was soon renamed toWWE Heat, as it no longer aired on Sundays.

Heat was still shown internationally to fulfill international programming commitments. When WWE wenthigh definition in January 2008,Heat began using the sameHD set asRaw,SmackDown, andECW. After 10 years of programming and 513 episodes, the final episode ofWWE Heat was uploaded to WWE.com on May 30, 2008. It was the most watched episode ofHeat since it debuted on WWE.com. The show was replaced internationally with a new show featuring classic matches, calledWWE Vintage Collection.

Atthe 2019 Royal Rumble it was announced that WWE would be bringing backHalftime Heat featuring superstars fromNXT during theSuper Bowl LIII halftime show.^[5][6]

Starting withSummerSlam 1998 and ending withBacklash 2006, Heat aired special live episodes as the pre-show or countdown to several WWE pay-per-views.

Though the majority of title changes would take place onRaw,SmackDown!, orpay-per-view events, theWWF Championship changed hands on a specialHalftime Heat that aired during the half-time ofSuper Bowl XXXIII on January 31, 1999 whenMankind defeatedThe Rock in an empty arena match to win the title. This special episode received the highest rating ofSunday Night Heat with a rating of 6.6.^[7]

Additionally, theLight Heavyweight Championship changed hands onHeat on three occasions.^[8][9] The first took place on the February 13, 2000 airing whenEssa Rios (in his first appearance under that name and with the debutingLita) defeatedGillberg. The second change sawCrash Holly defeatDean Malenko on the March 18, 2001 episode. In the final change, the debutingJerry Lynn defeated Crash Holly on a live edition before theBacklash pay-per-view on April 29, 2001.

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There have been many commentators in the history ofHeat. Industry veterans andRaw broadcastersJim Ross andJerry Lawler have done commentary on the show. The show was also the launchpad forShane McMahon's on-camera career in WWE, originally placed in the role of a commentator for the program. In October 2000, the show was hosted byRebecca Budig and MTV VJ/RapperDJ Skribble when it moved from USA Network to MTV.

Often wrestlers would take the role of color commentators on the show withAl Snow,Tommy Dreamer,Raven, andD'Lo Brown all holding this position mostly as a replacement for an announcer who was unavailable. During the show's run on MTV,DivaLita also served as a commentator following her major neck injury.

Before the WWE-producedExtreme Championship Wrestling reunion pay-per-viewOne Night Stand 2005 took place, a specialExtreme Heat episode was broadcast and hosted byJonathan Coachman andMichael Cole.

During one episode when Jonathan Coachman was unavailable, former ECW announcer (and then-leadRaw announcer)Joey Styles took part in the show. Styles then quit instoryline, however, on the following Monday's'Raw, meaning Grisham ran the show alone.

• WWE Superstars
• WWE Raw
• WWE Velocity
• WWE Bottom Line
• WWE Experience

• WWE Heat atIMDb
• Media related toWWE Heat at Wikimedia Commons

• 1998 American television series debuts
• 2005 web series debuts
• 2008 web series endings
• 2008 American television series endings
• MTV original programming
• Spike (TV network) original programming
• USA Network original programming
• Television series by WWE
• WWE webcasts
• WWE Raw
• American non-fiction web series

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