WWE Network Adding Sunday Night Heat Episodes Starting on May 7

The WWE Network library of content continues to grow with the announcement that episodes of WWE (back in the WWF days) Sunday Night Heat will debut on WWE Network starting next Monday, May 7. The report comes from the good people at WWE Network News, who confirmed that Sunday Night Heat will be added next Monday, but they can’t confirm how many episodes there will be.

When Sunday Night Heat started on August 2, 1998 it was the clear “B” show in WWE. Raw was really hot at the time with WWE doing great business thanks to the Attitude Era and Stone Cold Steve Austin as the top guy. It was a case of WWE wanting to capitalize on their growing audience, so Heat was put on Sunday nights and would run for one hour. It would be live one week and taped the other week, which was what Raw was doing most weeks. When there was a WWE PPV event, Heat served as a kickoff show for it. For the next year it was clearly the second most important WWE show, but when Smackdown started in August 1999 it meant that Heat was the “C” show, so it was less appealing to viewers.

Heat was on USA Network from August 1998 to September 2000, then it moved to MTV from October 2000 to March 2003, then to TNN/Spike TV from April 2003 to September 2005 and then it became a WWE.com only show from October 2005 until it ended on May 30, 2008.

On the early episodes of Heat, you can find Shane McMahon’s debut as a TV regular and he was really over the top in the role. It didn’t last that long, but it’s funny to look back on it now.

I think if the original upload of Heat episodes is something like the first two years then that should suffice those craving more of the Attitude Era. After that, Heat really became what a show like Main Event is today. It’s a show for midcard talent and those even lower on the totem pole to get to wrestle in front of the crowd before Raw or Smackdown began.

Is there anything must see on episodes of Heat on WWE Network? Not really. The better stuff was on Raw, but if you want to see more matches featuring midcard talent and more promo work from the top guys then it’s worth checking out. It’s also good for those of us that remember those years and want to see more complete storylines.

My favorite moment in Heat history? This promo from The Rock against Billy Gunn in the build to SummerSlam 1999. A pure classic.