Rebellion '99

Legacy Review

Rebellion '99

October 2, 1999 from the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, England

Commentary: Jim Ross and Michael Hayes

This is the second of the two UK exclusive PPVs for '99, the first year to have two. The Rebellion name will stick for the fall show until the last one in 2002. It's only 6 days since Unforgiven and the UK PPVs have been little more than glorified house shows for most of them so I don't expect much big to happen here. On the plus side, this is the first UK PPV without a Tiger Ali Singh match. Not sure why Hayes is subbing for Lawler here. Might have to do with Lawler's failed Memphis mayoral campaign, this would be peak campaign season. One other thing, judging by the official match times and what's actually on the broadcast a good number of these matches seem to be clipped. All I can do it rate them based on what I can see.

There is one important bit of history here, as this is the last major WWF show to be booked by Vince Russo. Almost immediately after the crew got back to the US Russo handed in his papers and took off for WCW to put the final nails in their coffin.

Jeff Jarrett makes his entrance for the opening match, with Miss Kitty and ...a vacuum cleaner. So *that's* how they're going to get the air out.....shit, sorry, wrong movie. Jarrett does his usual anti-woman "all they're good for is cooking, cleaning and making babies" shtick and offers 1000 quid (or 1000 bucks, he floats between the two) to any woman that can prove his point. After some misfires he pulls a woman from the audience that looks like she might be underage. Jarrett pours some stuff in the ring and gets the woman to hoover it up. She doesn't do a good enough job so Jarrett shoves her. Figure four! The lady from the crowd sells it about as well as you'd expect from a non-indie wrestler plant (horribly). Chyna runs out and makes the save, 360 clotheslining Jarrett out of the ring. While Jarrett's recovering we have a coin toss in the ring to determine which title the opening match will be for. The IC title wins.

 

WWF Intercontinental Championship: Jeff Jarrett (c) (w/Miss Kitty) def WWF European Champion D'Lo Brown in 6:12- Not defending the European title on a UK show is certainly a choice. A jump start leads to some quick back and forth. Some of that Jarrett made mess is still in the ring. Brown hits a powerslam for 2. Spinebuster for 2. Jarrett grabs a rope, bails, takes the belt and leaves. Brown chases him down in the aisle and runs him back in. Jarrett gets the sleeper! After arm drops Brown comes back and counters into a delayed suplex. Brown comes off the second rope. Jarrett dropkicks him in midair! Jarrett dodges in the corner and hits the avalanche armbar slam. Brown hits a powerbomb and both guys are down. Brown gets up first and starts rolling on offense. He comes off the second rope again but Jarrett gets a boot up. Sunset flip. Brown counters with a stack up for 2. Brown hits a superplex, but Jarrett cradles him on the landing for 2. He goes for the figure four but Brown pushes out. Kitty gets on the apron. While she's distracting everyone Jarrett hits Brown with the vacuum cleaner! Cover and it's over. Perfectly acceptable. **1/2

After the match Jarrett challenges Chyna for a match tonight to settle things once and for all.

 

The Godfather def Gangrel in 6:19- Godfather's extra sized Ho Train entrance takes *forever*. As usual maybe 20% of them are OK. Gangrel seems to want one of the women. Godfather says nah. Once the ring is finally cleared of hos we get a basic start. Godfather blocks a hiptoss and hits a clothesline. He gives Gangrel all around the world buckle shots. Gangrel does some dodges and hits a DDT. He knocks Godfather around with some very basic offense. Slam and a pair of elbow drops for 2. Clothesline off the second rope for 2. Godfather dodges another shot off the second rope and goes into comeback mode. Legdrop for 2. Ho Train! The Pimp Drop hits and it's over. I think Godfather's entrance was longer than the match. 3/4*

Chyna is with Michael Cole and accepts Jarrett's challenge with a horrible promo. Bulldog interrupts (to boos even in England) and says he doesn't want to wrestle that "long haired freak" X-Pac tonight, he wants a title shot and he's going to go demand that from Vince RIGHT NOW.

 

Val Venus def Mark Henry in 3:47- Venus tries and badly misses in his prematch promo. Think his one note act was wearing pretty thin at this point. Venus ducks the lockup and throws some punches. I'd say "pounds" but with Venus that could be taken completely differently. Henry hits a powerslam for 2. Venus dumps Henry over the top and out. Baseball slide. He tries a slam on the floor and of course it fails miserably. Henry drops him on the guardrail. Back in Venus does some more weebles wobble stuff with Henry. He dodges a Henry avalanche and hits a Russian leg sweep for 2. Venus slips out of a press slam attempt and rolls Henry up for 2. He kicks Henry's leg out of his leg and .5 bulldogs him. Money Shot! That's it. Wow, that was a freaking squash. Henry got almost nothing in. Though with Henry that's probably for the best. 1/2*

We cut to the back and Cole is following Bulldog as he CHARGES into the McMahon family room. Vince, Shane and Steph are all there. Bulldog demands a title shot. Vince reminds him he already got one recently on weekly TV. Bulldog goes full ROID RAGE and tosses a trash can across the room! Shane and Vince look shocked and run across the room. STEPH'S DOWN!

 

Four Corners Match for the WWF Women's Championship: Ivory (c) def Tori, Luna Vachon and Jacqueline in 6:51- I'm sure there's some existing alliances here but honestly with this era of the women's division I couldn't be bothered. Neither could the writers half the time. Luna jumps Ivory to start. Tori suplexes Ivory. Everyone takes a turn to play "stomp the champ". Lots of covering and arguing and Ivory eventually does the smart thing and slides out to let the rest of them fight. Jacqueline tosses Luna and Tori around before being double suplexed. Double cover and Ivory comes back to break that up. Jacqueline and Ivory, who I'm guessing based on this were allies going in, start arguing and fighting. They do a big domino sleeper spot followed by a ricochet jawbreaker that puts everyone down. Ref Tim White gets squashed on a bunch of pin kickouts. Finally Ivory hits Jacqueline with the belt and pins her. It's a 1999 women's match. DUD

Steph is getting carted out on a stretcher with a neckbrace on. This, in a rare case of a UK PPV mattering, lead to the angle where Steph had amnesia for a bit. Pulling from more of the soap opera cliche classics. Cole is with with Bulldog elsewhere in the building, who gives zero fucks about hurting Steph while also maiming his promo. Man, what's with these promos tonight? Everyone's struggling with them.

 

Chris Jericho (w/Mr. Hughes) def WWF Tag Team Champion Road Dogg in 11:58- I'd love it if this match is because Dogg finally looked up "lugubrious" in the dictionary and decided it was an insult. Actually it's because Jarrett hurt Dogg's back so badly he had to miss a whole week or two of action. Career threatening. Dogg jumps Jericho from behind on the floor during Jericho's entrance. After getting in to ring the bell they go right back out and go into crowd brawl mode. When they get back to ringside Jericho gets run into the rail a couple of times. Back in the ring Jericho gets the edge. Dogg gives Jericho a HUGE hot shot. Corner X-Pac like kicks from Dogg. Jericho hits a corner clothesline. On a corner whip the other way Jericho flips upside down into the tree of woe and Dogg hits a corner dropkick. Now it's Jericho's turn to hit a hot shot. The springboard dropkick sends Dogg to the floor. Hughes gets a shot in. Jericho suplexes Dogg back in. Arrogant cover! Dogg reverses a double arm wringer. Jericho flips over and kicks out. Slingshot splash for 2. Hayes mentions the ref strike on commentary. Please, never ever bring that up again. So dumb. Jericho pushes the ref's count with chokes. Springboard bulldog! That gets a 2 count. Dogg starts to come back and Jericho gets crotched up top. Dogg hits a superplex. Swinging neckbreaker for 2. Jericho double leg takedown and he goes for the Walls. Dogg flips him to get free. German suplex from Jericho! Dogg dodges the Lionsault! He cranks up the dancing jabs. Jericho ducks and ref Mike Chioda takes one! Hughes comes in and nails Dogg with a chair. Cover and slow count. Dogg kicks out! Dogg hits a flying forearm. Hughes gets on the apron and takes a shot. Hey, my TV went out! What the hell? It's back! Jericho's covering and gets the pin! What? Low blow? From Jericho? No way, you can't be serious. **3/4

 

Chyna def Jeff Jarrett (w/Miss Kitty) by DQ in 4:28- Jarrett charges in and it's on. Chyna hits a clothesline. Jarrett gets a back elbow. He comes off the second rope crotch first onto Chyna's arm. Chyna goes for the Pedigree but Jarrett counters and slingshots her into the corner. Chyna hits an electric chair. Every single spot in this match so far was also in their Unforgiven match. Here's a new one: Bulldog runs in and attacks Chyna for a DQ. He plants her with the powerslam. After Bulldog leaves Jarrett puts the figure four on Chyna just because. 1/4*

 

No DQ: Kane def The Big Show in 8:38- These two have been feuding for months and pretty much nothing good has come out of it, but they're both big guys so it continues. Vince rules. They go nose to nose before the bell and we get some back and forth slugging. Show hits a running dropkick that sends Kane 360 to the floor! Well, "hits" is a stretch. Show dropkicked and the gust of air from it hit Kane. Kane punches away in the corner until Show shoves him off. Show hits some knees in the corner. Kane hits a clothesline. And a standing dropkick! He tries a slam but Show blocks it. Slow, plodding Show offense time. He starts hitting some corner chops. After a few Kane blocks and slugs back. Bret bump from Kane and Show, with extreme difficulty, gives him a reverse DDT for 2. Boston crab from Show, but he put it on right by the ropes so they actually have to move further away from them. Kane starts to power crawl and Show just gives up on the hold. That was pointless. Enguzuri from Kane! He scoops but Show falls on him. Kane dodges an elbow drop. DDT from Kane. Clothesline off the top rope. Goozle! Show kicks free and Kane falls to the floor. Show throws him into the WOODEN stairs. No noise. Show goes over and gets a chair. Kane kicks it back in his face, gets the impossible big guy bodyslam, and that gets the pin. *

 

"The British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith def X-Pac in 5:23- Bulldog's getting booed in his home country so I guess they succeeded on that front. After working Unforgiven in his classic tights he's now wrestling in his Attitude Era blue jeans. Lockup! Bulldog pushes Pac out. Pac gets an armdrag and crotch chops. Bulldog cranks a headlock. Pac flips out of a blocked hiptoss but leaps right into a Bulldog slam. Bulldog tosses him out and Pac gets run into the guardrail. Delayed suplex from Bulldog back in for 2. Pac fights out of a chinlock but runs into a knee to the gut. They've been working it fine and I appreciate the classics in wrestling, but everything in this match has been paint by numbers super generic so far. The most basic layout you could imagine. Bulldog goes back to the chinlock and they do the arm drops. Pac quickly counters out of a sleeper and hits a heel kick. Kick combo. Bronco buster. Bulldog presses Pac, crotches him on the top rope, then scoops him up from that position, hits the powerslam, and it's over. Again, it's worked fine, but it's a super generic match. *3/4

Crash Holly confounds Hardcore Holly with the fact that in the UK pounds are money and you weigh in stone.

 

Triangle Elimination Match: Edge & Christian def The Hollys and The Acolytes in 8:42- E&C are still officially #1 contenders despite losing a title match at Unforgiven, and are defending that spot in this match. The Hollys are announced as "over 800 pounds". I guess the "delusional superhevyweight" thing is still going. Crash carries his scale to the ring as part of that. The Hollys, of course, argue before the bell. Lots of jawing after the bell among all the teams before Hardcore and Edge start. Quick speed run and Edge hits a backdrop, followed by a leg lariat. More speed and dropkick from Hardcore. Crash tags in and immediately gets knocked around. Eye poke on Christian and we have a double tag. Faarooq powerslams Hardcore for 2. Hardcore counters a Dominator attempt into a back suplex. After a tag Hardcore saves Crash from Bradshaw, until Bradshaw hits the back superplex. Hardcore comes in illegally and suplexes Bradshaw, then starts knocking Faarooq around. Clothesline from Hell on Crash! Bradshaw pins Crash and the Hollys are gone. Edge flies in with a missile dropkick on Bradshaw for 2. Swinging neckbreaker. E&C double tackle on Bradshaw. Bradshaw plants Edge with a big boot. Edge ducks a Faarooq clothesline and hits a spinning heel kick. Bradshaw gets the tag and cuts Edge off. Edge backdrops out of a powerbomb. Tag to Christian. Bradshaw catches Christian on a double team and hits the fallaway slam. Faarooq slaps on a bear hug. Christian punches out but runs into a spinebuster for 2. Acolyte sloppy double slam for 2. Christian continues to stay in peril. He gets a faceplant on Faarooq. The tag is cut off again. Christian slips out of the Dominator. DDT! Tag to Edge! Dropkicks for everyone. Christian plancha on Faarooq! Brasdshaw Clothesline from Hell on Edge! Christian slides in, saves the pin, then slides back out to continue with Faarooq. Smooth. Edge fights off a Bradshaw superplex. Tornado DDT! That gets the win! The Hollys were their usual mess, but the Acolytes and E&C did some really nice formula tag and power vs speed stuff. **1/4

While the cage is being set up we get a long video recap of all the goings on between Trips, Rock, Bulldog and Austin in the past week since Unforgiven. The most notable thing is the famous moment on Smackdown when Rock did a People's Elbow on Bulldog sliding across the ring in his fancy shoes and somehow keeping his balance. Side thought, I'm not sure why Austin didn't make the trip to the UK. He hadn't been wrestling for a month or so, probably resting his post-Owen Hart piledriver incident messed up neck during what's traditionally the slower season. Of course it turned out to be bad timing because Austin was about to be out for quite a bit longer. Fortunately they had built up other stars to fill the gap in the interim.

 

Steel Cage Match for the WWF Championship: Triple H (c) def The Rock in 20:33- The cage is the old blue car cage painted black. It's classic WWF escape only rules tonight. Birmingham is bonkers for the Rock. Rock cuts a longish Willy Wonka themed promo before the match. Weird but OK. Both guys let thing soak in a bit before we start with some extended back and forth slugging. HHH hits a back elbow and makes the first climb attempt. Rock pulls him back down and pops him again. More punchy/kicky from Rock, but not in a dull way. That was his wheelhouse. He gives HHH a back elbow and goes to climb. After a HHH distraction Rock tries coming off the second rope but HHH gives him a shot in the gut. HHH pounds Rock down in the corner and hits the Harley Race high knee. Rock hits a swinging neckbreaker. Another climb attempt. HHH pulls him down and Rock goes face first into the top turnbuckle with a typical crazy Rock sell. Rock is the first one to go into the cage. More back and forth slugging. Rock gets a Samoan drop. HHH facebuster and clothesline. He climbs and gets halfway over the cage top before Rock pulls him back down. There was almost a Shawn Michaels bare ass moment there but they avoided it. Rock climbs and gets over to the other side. HHH manages to drag him back over. Slugfest standing on the top rope. Both fall and get crotched! Icepacks on standby. Another near HHH ass exposure on a climb attempt. He decides to leap off the top rope....RIGHT INTO A ROCK BOTTOM! Rock tries to climb. HHH gets to him quickly and back suplexes him off the ropes. Rock slugs back and hits a powerslam. HHH pulls Rock down from another climb. Rock hooks up for the Rock Bottom. HHH quickly back elbows out. Pedigree! HHH crawls for the door. Rock just grabs a foot before he can get out. HHH grabs a chair that's conveniently in arm's reach and tries to bring it in. Hebner tries to take the chair away. HHH hits him with the chair and he collapses! Rock falls out the door and hits the floor! Commentary thinks he's won, but Hebner is out and can't call it. They fight around the ring and, even in a cage match, we get the mandatory late '90s main event crowd brawl. HHH takes a couple of announce table shots. Rock gets a mic and says he's won but the ref didn't see it, so here's a present. Chairshot to HHH's head! Rock then grabs a commentary headset and calls his own match. HHH is bleeding. Rock beats him on the announce table some more. Rock climbs up the cage a couple of rungs, not too high. Elbow off the cage! The announce table half breaks. Rock drags HHH back into the ring. All around the world cage shots for HHH. DDT. Hebner is finally stirring. Rock decides to climb instead of using the door. Not sure about that, that's pure stubbornness. Here comes Bulldog. You knew he was getting involved. He drags Rock back up the cage into the ring. Here comes Shane! Shane is all over the Bulldog! For Steph! Bulldog quickly overpowers him. He powerslams Shane on the floor! Patterson and Brisco come out and Bulldog takes them out too. Bulldog gets in the ring and pounds on both Rock and HHH. He hates everyone. Rock low blows Bulldog to put him down. Rock Bottom on HHH! Rock crawls for the door. Now Chyna is out. She slams the door on Rock. HHH climbs and gets over. Rock grabs his hair and drags him back up. Slugfest on the top of the cage. Chyna climbs up. Rock pops her! Bulldog drags Rock down. HHH takes that opening to fall to the floor and win. Solidly good match with all the overbooking that was mandatory in this era, but at this point these two could probably have a good match with each other in their sleep. ***1/4

 

After the bell Vince struts down the aisle, past HHH and to the ring. He locks the cage door and flips Bulldog off! Rock Bottom on Bulldog! People's Elbow! Sending the crowd home happy and end show.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Pretty much another UK house show on TV, but not a totally terrible one and at least this one has an angle that plays into the "main canon" so to speak.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C-