I had my upper rack at 600+ degrees last weekend doing wings. Removed the defuser, made a bed of Lump and added a couple small logs of Pecan. Plenty hot to cook pizzaNot sure how hot you can get the WSM, maybe consider running the pizza kettle without the middle section of the WSM if that is possible. Or, you can do what I did and just pickup a kettle on CL for $20-$30.