WWE Heat

**WWE Heat** was a professional wrestling show made by World Wrestling Entertainment.

During its televised history in the United States, it was shown on the USA Network, MTV and Spike TV.

From 2005 to 2008, it was streamed on WWE.com on Fridays for North American viewers, but it was still televised internationally. The final episode was streamed on May 30, 2008.

Internationally it was replaced by WWE Vintage Collection a program which featured matches from past WWE events and hosted by WWE 2006 Hall of Fame inductee "Mean" Gene Okerlund.

### 1998

The show made its debut on August 2, 1998 on the USA Network as _WWF Sunday Night Heat_. It began as the second most important show in WWF Programming, after _WWF Monday Night Raw_. _Heat_ would feature backstage interview segments and in-ring action. Main event stars such as The Rock, Mankind and Triple H would appear often to help further the storylines which occurred on _Monday Night Raw_. _Heat_ itself led to a big ratings draw for the USA Network.

### 1999-2002

When _SmackDown!_ was created in 1999, _Heat_s importance lowered as well as ratings. With the debut of _SmackDown!_, it led to _Heat_ being taped before _SmackDown!_ When  _SmackDown!_ debuted in August 1999, it briefly became a recap show, with exclusive interviews and feuds from the past of WWF Programming being made into music videos. That lasted only a couple of weeks, and it then returned to airing exclusive matches.

The WWF also aired two _Halftime HEAT_ television specials, which aired during Super Bowl XXXIII on the USA Network. During this period the show moved to MTV as part of a deal between Viacom and the WWE. When the show moved to MTV, it began broadcasting live from WWF New York.

### 2002-2005

In 2002, the show reverted to its previous format of taping the matches before _Raw_. Since the brand extension in 2002  _Heat_ became exclusive to the _Raw_ brand, the only exception being pay-per-view nights, which were broadcast live from the PPV venues and could involve wrestlers from the _SmackDown!_ brand.

In 2002 _SmackDown!_ branched off its own secondary show, _Velocity,_ which mirrored the same format as _Heat_.

### 2005-2008

_Heat_ and _Velocity_ were not picked up by the USA Network when WWE moved _Raw_ back to the USA Network in October 2005. That left Americans no way of watching the weekend programmes on Television. WWE then decided to begin streaming those programs on WWE.com exclusively for the audience in the United States. _Sunday Night Heat_ soon was renamed _WWE Heat_ as it no longer aired on Sundays.

_Heat_ was still broadcast internationally because of previous commitments. For a short time, a special 30-minute live edition of _Heat_ began airing in place of the traditional pretaped Free For All PPV pre-show. That lasted from No Mercy 2005 to Backlash 2006.

When WWE began airing in high definition, _Heat_ began using the same set as _Raw_, _SmackDown!_, and _ECW_.

The final episode was streamed on WWE.com on May 30, 2008. It was replaced internationally by _WWE Vintage Collection_.

## Commentator history

|Commentator|Year(s) Active|
| --- | --- |
|Shane McMahon|1998|
|Jim Cornette|1998 - 1999|
|Michael Cole|1998 - 2002, 2005|
|Kevin Kelly|1998 - 2000|
|Michael Hayes|1999 - 2002|
|Dan Jackson|1999|
|Tazz|2000 - 2001|
|Jonathan Coachman|2001 - 2007|
|Raven|2001 - 2002|
|Al Snow|2001 - 2004|
|Chris Leary|2001|
|Marc Lloyd|2002 - 2005|
|D'Lo Brown|2002 - 2003|
|Lita|2002 - 2003|
|Todd Grisham|2004 - 2008|
|Lisa Moretti|2004 - 2005|
|Joey Styles|2006|
|Steve Romero|2006|
|Jack Korpela|2007 - 2008|
|Josh Mathews|2007 - 2008|

## Related pages

- WWE Raw

## Infobox (television)

- **image**: WWEHeatHD.jpg
- **caption**: _Heat's_ version of the Universal HD set that debuted January 25, 2008.
- **creator**: Vince McMahon
- **runtime**: 46 minutes (televised)
36 minutes (web cast)
- **starring**: World Wrestling Entertainment roster#RAW Brand, Raw Brand
- **country**: United States
- **network**: USA Network (1998-2000)
MTV (2000-2003)
Spike (TV network), Spike TV (2003-2005)
Webcast on WWE.com (2005-2008)
- **num episodes**: 513