WWE Halftime Heat live results: NXT six-man tag match
Preview by Joseph Currier
Twenty years after Mankind defeated The Rock to win the WWF Championship, Halftime Heat makes its return tonight.
Velveteen Dream, Aleister Black & Ricochet will team up to face Tommaso Ciampa, Johnny Gargano & Adam Cole in an NXT six-man tag match. It will take place at the Performance Center and air live on the WWE Network, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, WWE.com, and the WWE app during halftime of tonight’s Super Bowl.
The tag match was set up by a brawl that took place after NXT TakeOver: Phoenix went off the air. Velveteen Dream confronted Ciampa and Gargano as they were on the stage, Cole, Black, and Ricochet joined them, and it led to the sides needing to be kept apart.
Vic Joseph and Shawn Michaels will be on commentary for Halftime Heat.
The New England Patriots and Los Angeles Rams are facing off in tonight’s Super Bowl, with Maroon 5 headlining the halftime show.
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While a maraton of NXT matches air on the Halftime Heat live stream, the Super Bowl itself had one pro wrestling reference during the game. Deatrich Wise Jr. of the New England Patriots clotheslined Los Angeles Rams running back CJ Anderson during the first play of the second quarter.
Retired pro football player and color commentator Tony Romo said “Hulk Hogan would be proud” of what Romo called a “fantastic clothesline.”
“About 300-400 people inside the Performance Center for Halftime Heat, seems like largely a friends and family Super Bowl party with wrestling,” Bryan Alvarez noted in a tweet.
An introductory video explained what is NXT as the live feed opened from the Performance Center. The set had a vibe similar to studio wrestling TV shows back in the day — but retrofitted with LED screens and HD cameras.
Aleister Black, Ricochet & Velveteen Dream defeated Adam Cole, NXT North American Champion Johnny Gargano & NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa
Dream pinned Cole in a great PWG-style match. It was mostly all action. Gargano started the match with Ricochet, and Ricochet soon thereafter launched into a flurry of flight. Gargano used a heelish tactic to cut him off with an eye poke. Vic Joseph on commentary played up Gargano being reluctant to tag Ciampa. He instead tagged Cole.
Cole traded strikes with Black until Black mowed him down with kicks. Dream made a bling tag before springboarding into the ring to clothesline Ciampa. Dream was on fire when he crouched down into a football stance, but Ciampa punched him in the face. Dream answered back with a springboard ax handle off the middle rope.
The babyface team cleared the ring and then one by one they flipped into a pose. Moments later the match turned into a Gordon Solie Pier-Sixer — which the heels capitalized on as they posted Dream. They began working him over. Gargano snuffed out a hope spot with a slingshot spear on Dream.
Cole jumped off the middle rope only to meet a superkick from Dream. A hot tag led to Ricochet running wild. After a springboard elbow by Ricochet, a standing moonsault press got him a two count. Black was in next to ran wild on Gargano — leading to another near fall.
Black did a springboard moonsault to the floor that began a chain reaction of highspots. Gargano dived through the ropes. Dream flew off the top rope. Ricochet dived over the ropes. Back in the ring, Black with a meteora for a close two and half count.
A series of exchanges too rapid to recall led into another close near fall where Gargano kicked out of cover by Dream. In a callback or sorts to an infamous spot on a TakeOver show, Ricochet moonsaulted off the top rope to meet a superkick in mid-air from Cole. Somehow, Ricochet kicked out. He also avoided the Last Shot and schoolboyed Cole.
All six squared off as brawl erupted inside the ring. Gargano gave Ricochet a reverse rana to send him rolling outside. Black then dispatched Gargano with a knee strike. Dream and Ciampa spilled over the top rope doing a suplex spot. Cole leaped off the ropes into a Canadian Destroyer on Ricochet. Again, Ricochet somehow kicked out.
The heel team had a three-on-one advantage with Ricochet surrounded in the ring. They measured him for a triple superkick, and Cole covered him. Black jumped into the ring at the last moment to make a save.
Dream faced off against all three. He was cleaning house until eating a double superkick. Meanwhile, Black Mass wiped out Gargano. A Dream Driver on Ciampa sent him rolling outside. Cole was hit with Black Mass before taking a Dream Driver.
Ricochet re-joined the party with a springboard 450 on Cole. To finish the match, Dream leapt off the top rope with a flying elbow drop — and he then covered Cole for the pinfall.
The babyface team celebrated their victory as the show closed. While a world title change twenty years ago was more newsworthy at the time, this six-man tag match was arguably much better than the empty arena match during the first Halftime Heat. Overall, the special was great showcase for NXT.