Halftime Heat will be live from Performance Center!

A brawl was reported after the NXT Takeover: Pheonix event show went off air featuring NXT champion Tommaso Ciampa, North American champion Johnny Gargano, Adam Cole, Alister Black, Velveteen Dream, and Ricochet. Then on Royal Rumble Kick off show, NXT trainer Shawn Michaels announced that this brawl will lead to a six man tag match with Gargano, Ciampa, and Cole on one side and Ricochet, Black, and Dream on the other team which will air during the halftime show of NFL’s Super Bowl 53.

Back on Jan. 31, 1999, during the halftime show for Super Bowl XXXIII, the then-WWF (World Wrestling Federation) ran a special edition of its Sunday Night Heat show named Halftime Heat. The special airing had the Rock defending his WWF World Heavyweight championship against Mankind in an Anything Goes match in an empty arena, days after snatching the belt from one-third of Mick Foley’s personas at the 1999 Royal Rumble. The wild match was pre-recorded to air on the USA Network, countering Fox’s Super Bowl halftime show starring Gloria Estefan and Stevie Wonder.

This year again, WWE has scheduled a special Halftime Heat which will be aired live to the WWE Network and other WWE digital platforms. WWE officials want to air Sunday’s special live to avoid spoilers. WWE could bring local fans into the Performance Center and could also use other Wrestlers as extras in the crowd. A repeat of the empty arena like the one they did with The Rock and Mick Foley’s match 20 years ago is also possible. It was previously speculated that the match would be taped at Wednesday’s WWE NXT TV tapings from Full Sail University.