Reported by Paul Nemer of WrestleView.com
» On Sunday, August 11, 2002 at 10:16 PM EST

Sunday Night Heat Report: August 11, 2002
Announcers: D'Lo Brown & The Coach
Report by: David Michaud of WrestleView.com

Welcome again to the Sunday Night Heat report. Before I begin, I'd like to make a correction concerning last week's report. As was pointed out by my anal retentive "friend", I failed to spell Pretty-Boy Lycra properly last week by excluding the hyphen. Some of you out there just flat out don't like my new gimmick, and that's fair. So here's what we'll do kids - I'll get a new moniker as soon as Justin Credible scores a clean win. On with the show.

Before the action even starts, we are shown a recap of RAW regarding the angle between former best friends HHH and Shawn Michaels. I'll rip on that later. All that is shown for now are clips of HHH hitting Shawn with the Pedigree, the various "suspects" who might have injured Shawn and HHH denying responsibility.

Shawn Stasiak vs. Shelton Benjamin

Either the cheers got dubbed in during post-production or the fans are really starting to get behind the rookie, Shelton. The match starts off with the two wrestlers locking up in the middle of the ring. Stasiak breaks away and taunts Shelton who chases him to the ropes. The two go back at it in a solid display of mat wrestling exchanges. Judging by the lack of sound from the audience I'm guessing that this match isn't doing much for the crowd. The screw-up of the match occurs when Shelton comes off the ropes and attempts what appears to be leapfrog over Stasiak. Apparently Stasiak didn't get the memo. From the camera angle used, it looked like Stasiak just got a face full of Shelton's crotch before crashing to the mat. Shelton's deadly crotch is enough to stun Stasiak long enough for a two count. The action picks up again and Stasiak tries to whip his opponent over the ropes but Shelton hangs on and manages to "skin the cat" (for those of you who don't know, that simply means he hauled himself back over the ropes and in to the ring). Shelton then returns the favour and launches Stasiak out of the ring. But Stasiak has the veteran's edge here and he lures Shelton close enough to the ring apron to pull the rookie out of the ring and nail him with a suplex on the floor. Stasiak rolls Shelton back in to the ring and commences punishing Shelton with a series of punches and then rams him in to the corner. Another suplex on Shelton yields only a two count. Stasiak starts trying to wear his opponent down now with a submission maneuver. Shelton tries to power out but fails then manages a roll up on Stasiak for two. Stasiak comes back with a big power slam but doesn't attempt the pin as he becomes magically "distracted" by the boos of the crowd. Shelton capitalizes and scores a backdrop and a one count on Stasiak. Just kidding, it was a two count. It's always two! Stasiak hits Shelton with a spine buster and pins him for two. For those of you who actually thought Stasiak was due for win, well, it ends in a sequence eerily reminiscent of Shelton's battle last week against Justin Credible. Shelton attempts the super kick but Stasiak catches his foot. Shelton then nails Stasiak in the head with a spinning heel kick and scores the pin fall victory. My apologies to all you die hard Stasiak fans out there.

Winner: Shelton Benjamin

Highlights of last week's confrontation between D'Lo Brown and Raven are shown. Guess what! They're actually going to follow through and start a feud here tonight by pitting these two grapplers against each other. Should be good.

-COMMERCIAL-

Kane's comeback video is shown. Apparently the fire is still burning. I wonder if the WWE will ever stop using crappy new metal for their videos. Unfortunately, the collective musical tastes of teenage boys means that mediocre tripe will continue to be used for packaging WWE videos. Of course, that's just my opinion.

Sean O'Haire vs. Justin Credible

Two questions before I start on the recap of this match:

1. Why is Sean part of the RAW brand when clearly he needs to be on Smackdown, beating the crap out of Chuck?

2. Does anybody out there honestly think Justin is going to win this one? If so, what are you smoking?

Anyways, Sean quickly establishes his dominance in this match up while Justin cries, "Get him off". I laugh. Not the most interesting match with just some basic moves and counter moves being utilized. Eventually Sean is able to set up Justin for a diving snap mare off the second rope. Very cool looking move and the roll through and pose by Sean is a nice touch. Suddenly Justin starts fighting back, focusing on Sean's left shoulder after the big man accidentally drives it in to the turnbuckle. But even an injured Sean is too much man for Justin. A slam, a couple of big shots and a super kick from Sean and he attempts to pin Justin but only gets a two count. Sean then decides to take the match up a level (not a bad idea at this point), and heads for the top rope. Justin is ready however and lands a super kick of his own on a mid-flight O'Haire. It still isn't enough to put Sean away and he kicks out of the pin attempt. Just when you're almost completely bored with this match, Sean puts on one last power display - picks up Justin and hits his finisher, Cruel Intentions. 1, 2, 3 and you can check off another loss for Justin Needofanewcareer.

Winner: Sean O'Haire

We cut backstage to Terri interviewing Spike Dudley and Steven Richards. Terri is quick to point out that there's actually no reason for these two to fight tonight and I couldn't agree more. After putting on two solid matches against Matt Hardy, Steven's reward to is to wrestle Spike? This doesn't seem to bother Steven however he does take exception to Spike believing he can win this match. Steven actually makes the whole bit fairly entertaining as he becomes increasingly agitated at Spike mocking his abilities.

-COMMERCIAL-

We come back to highlight's from last Monday's RAW match featuring RVD and Y2J. With a little luck we'll be seeing more of the same in the weeks and months to come.

-COMMERCIAL-

Steven Richards vs. Spike Dudley: It should be noted that for all the criticism Spike receives at the hands of those cynical internet wrestling reporters, the crowd is really cheering his entrance. Then again, the crowd also cheers Hogan. The match starts with some jaw jacking between the two opponents then Spike scores two roll-up attempts but doesn't actually manage to keep Steven down for the three count. A back bridge by Spike yields the same result. Spike's dominance ends when he runs his shoulder in to the corner. Steven scores a series of three suplexes, attempts a pin but Spike kicks out at two. Neck breaker on Spike, another pin and again Spike kicks out at two. Steven then commences stomping and choking his opponent in the corner. He picks Spike up and signals for some move but Spike counters before we even know what Steven was going to try. Spike goes for the Dudley Dog but Steven counters and tosses Spike away. Steven then applies a camel clutch/full nelson submission hold yet somehow Spike manages to make it to the ropes. All this has become too much for Steven's delicate psyche and he exits the ring to acquire a steel chair. As Steven gets back in the ring, Spike hits the battering ram and makes his second attempt at the Dudley Dog. Steven counters and tattoos Spike with the chair. Unfortunately for Steven, the ref saw it and calls for the bell. Steven leaves the ring area hugging the chair and muttering like a mad man.

Winner: (via DQ) Spike Dudley

-COMMERCIAL-

More highlights from RAW are shown. Featured is HHH's live-to-air chitchat with Shawn Michaels. We're also shown bits of footage to remind us all of who the "suspects" were. To be blunt, that whole segment really honked bobo. It was poorly scripted and even more poorly acted out. I'm not even going to get in to that whole security camera nonsense but I will give it a cheesiness rating of Old Cheddar. The only good thing to come out of all this is that we have now been promised the dream match of HHH vs. Shawn Michaels at SummerSlam.

-COMMERCIAL-

D'Lo Brown vs. Johnny Stamboli

Yeah, you read that right. Raven does come down to ringside on crutches before the match starts. Apparently, he sprained his ankle during last week's altercation with D'Lo. Raven then takes the opportunity to verbally berate both D'Lo and the crowd in his usual custom of attempting to string together as many big words as he can. Raven claims that D'Lo owes him for last week and so has managed to acquire the services of Johnny Stamboli. According to Raven, Johnny isn't unfamiliar with the term "debt collection". Huzzah for stereotypes! D'Lo scores a sunset flip early on in the match but no pin. The two combatants trade blows then D'Lo sends Stamboli airborne with a back body drop and hits him with a super kick. The crowd starts chanting for D'Lo and he doesn't disappoint, delivering the Shakey Shakey Leg Drop on a prone Stamboli. Raven manages to distract D'Lo, causing D'Lo to lean out between the ropes. Raven then smashes D'Lo over the head with one of his crutches. That one the ref didn't see. A stunned and dazed D'Lo stumbles right into the Fagettaboutit from Stamboli. Pin on D'Lo and it's all over.

Winner: Johnny Stamboli

That's it folks. Not the best episode of Heat I've ever seen but I do like the way this feud between D'Lo and Raven is building. Once again, feel free to send me an email regarding this report or the WWE in general. No opinion is too worthless. Cheers.