Insurrextion 2000

Legacy Review

Insurrextion 2000

May 6, 2000 from the Earls Court Exhibition Centre in London

Commentary: Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler

As usual for UK PPVs this is coming only 6 days after the last "regular" PPV, that being Backlash and the Rock finally winning the WWF Title as a face. This is the second year for the spring UK only PPV, and after its original name of No Mercy was taken for the regular October PPV it needed a new one. Enter Insurrextion with an X as all things were in the late '90s-early aughts, the name that will stick for this show until the end of the UK only PPVs in 2003.

The opening video plays more like a TV commercial than a PPV opening video. It probably was the commercial repurposed. I don't think there's any pyro left in the UK either.

Too Cool def The Radicalz in 7:00- The quickly being left behind duo of Perry Saturn and Light Heavyweight champ Dean Malenko are representing the Radicalz here. The pecking order within the group has already become very clear. Say what you will about Too Cool's wrestling acumen, they were over as hell in their heyday. Sexay is making his return after a legit knee procedure that can't have been too serious because he wasn't on the shelf very long. The Radicalz try the Suzuki-Gun jump. Sexay responds by powerslamming Saturn while still in full entrance gear. Too Cool hit some double teams. Saturn and Scotty do a long counter run and Saturn hits a back elbow. Then Scotty and Malenko show off the chemistry they've built up during their Light Heavyweight title feud. Malenko hits a Russian leg sweep. Sexay gets baited in and Saturn gives Scotty the old Greco Roman nut stomp. Again Sexay is baited in for a double team. Malenko swaps in without a tag to cover for 2. Scotty flips out of a back suplex attempt and rolls Malenko up. Saturn pulls the ref out, which pisses Sexay off. Malenko and Saturn shove each other! There's been some brewing dissension there. Scotty rolls Malenko up again and Saturn breaks the pin up. Scotty sunset flip on Malenko for 2. He plants Malenko on the top rope and hits a superplex. Tags on both sides. Sexay hits slams, hiptosses and clotheslines. He tackles both Radicalz off the top rope. DONNYBROOK! Scotty hits Saturn with a bulldog and time stops as he does, once again, the DOUBLE Worm. Saturn accidentally clotheslines Malenko while trying to avoid a double team. The Radicalz collide and Malenko's head falls into Saturn's crotch. That's not as nasty as it sounds. In a wrestling way. Sexay goes up, puts the goggles on, hits the hip hop drop, and it's over. Rock solid tag stuff. **1/2

Malenko is pissed at Saturn. Saturn hits Malenko! Full on pub brawl between the teammates! The ref gaggle has to run in to break it up.

We get a promo for the next regular PPV, Judgement Day. After that Vince makes his way out. He blames Linda for Trips' loss at Backlash. And Austin. But mostly Linda. Then he says "Every genius has a plan", but he's noncommittal on which side he'll be on in the main event, his son's or his son in law's, only saying a McMahon family member will walk out with the title. Commentary wants to know.

 

Kane (w/Paul Bearer) def Bull Buchanan in 3:31- Jump start #2 with Kane quickly taking control. After a rough backdrop counter Buchanan hits a DDT that's completely no sold. Buchanan hits a springboard ax handle off the top and the scissors kick. Legdrop for 2. Punches fire Kane back up. Big boot. Buchanan hits a jawbreaker. He jumps off the second rope right into a Kane goozle. Chokeslam and good night. An extended squash, and given the participants I have zero issue with that booking. 1/2*

Trips and Steph are doing their usual backstage lounging. Steph is also unsure what side her dad will be on. Trips doesn't like that answer.

 

Road Dogg (w/Tori) def Bradshaw (w/Faarooq) in 5:58- Jump start #3. Tori tries to join and gets backed off by Bradshaw. Faarooq hops into commentary for about 2 seconds, then sees Bradshaw still stalking Tori on the floor and backs his partner up by jumping Dogg. Ref Jimmy Korderas tosses Faarooq out! Shortest commentary stint in wrestling history. Red carded per JR, but I also would likely have made that reference since one my closest friends is a Premier/Champions League nut. I usually only watch international footy when the World Cup or Euros come around. They get back in the ring with Bradshaw in control. Suplex with a floatover for 2. Bradshaw targets Dogg's ribs, placing a lot of punches in that area. HUGE buckle whip. Swinging neckbreaker for 2. Bradshaw puts Dogg in a torture rack! Lex Luger shoutout. Dogg fights out but runs into a big boot for 2. Dogg gets a boot up in the corner, ducks a clothesline and hits a DDT. Bradshaw hooks up for a powerbomb but Dogg backdrops out, then dropkicks Bradshaw out of the ring. Bradshaw flies right back in with a tackle! Dogg goes into his dancing jabs. Flying forearm and shimmy legdrop for 2. Bradshaw dodges in the corner. Clothesline from Hell! Tori gets on the apron. Dogg gets a roll up for 2. The pumphandle slam, minus gratuitous grinding, hits and Dogg gets the pin. Another match that overdelivered considering the participants. **

Next up the Kat and Mae Young vs Terri and Fabulous Moolah rivalry continues with an arm wrestling contest hosted by, who else, Lawler. We get a ton of the usual heel stalling BS and Terri pulls her bottoms down to distract Lawler. Once they get going they actually get into it, until Terri spits water in Kat's face to keep from losing. Young takes Terri's water bottle and pours it all over her and I guess in there Kat got the win. Terri then pulls Kat's top off! I don't see how that's punishment for anybody. Sadly the camera angles keep us from seeing anything. Pixellating at Armageddon, now camera tricks here. Kat keeps trying be we keep being denied.

We get a slam cut from Kat barely keeping her damn near perfect tits covered to a close up of Rikishi's ass. Damn you Kevin Dunn. Bunk trip cancelled again. At least Mae Young kept them put away this time.

 

Rikishi and Showkishi def The Dudley Boyz in 7:10- We're still in the period of Big Show just wanting to have fun. Now he's Rikishi's clone, complete with his own thong. He's even dyed his hair and beard Rikishi's color. Jump start #4. D'Von tries to chop Show down. Big boot from Show. Headbutts and corner clothesline. Double headbutt on D'Von. Rikishi Samoan drops Bubba Ray. He fights off Dudley double teams but the Dudleyz keep trying and eventually D'Von drop toe holds him into a Bubba Ray elbow drop. That puts Rikishi in peril for a bit. Bubba Ray hits a big chop and a short clothesline. Rikishi and his hard Samoan head no sell a DDT. Superkick for 2. The Dudleyz get Rikishi back down and hit the crotch headbutt. Ref Tim White has to legit jump almost out of his shoes to dodge Rikishi hitting the ropes. Rikishi hits a double clothesline and tags Show. Side suplex on Bubba Ray for 2. Double corner squash and we get the mandatory double stinkface. That only pisses Bubba Ray off and he brawls with Rikishi to the floor. While there he gets a table out. A UK table by the looks of it. Clothesline off the second rope on Show for 2. Edge and Christian run in! Edge spears Bubba Ray. Show hits the chokeslam and it's over. Meh. *1/4

The rest of Too Cool come out. They want the Dudleyz to stay. Everyone swaps glasses and we have a six way dance! Yes, the Dudleyz too. As if that wasn't enough, Bubba Ray actually goes one on one with Rikishi. In dancing. Fun times all around. But, the table never got broken. Bubba Ray is unsatisfied.

Kurt Angle tours London and seems to be making legitimate inroads as an unintentional face. We can see during his promo that Benoit has a huge shiner from Chris Jericho accidentally hitting him for real with the IC belt on Smackdown the past week.

 

Kurt Angle def Chris Benoit in 6:04- Bit of a pop for Angle. During his prematch promo he goes after the children of London to try to get some heel heat back. Man, Benoit's eye is UGLY. Just before the match starts Crash Holly's music plays and he comes out to join commentary. Crash says he's been looking all over for an Englishman to challenge him for the Hardcore title and hasn't gotten any takers. Setup. While the camera is on Crash we can hear Benoit attacking Angle with chops. These two with no lockup, I'm calling it jump start #5. Snap suplex from Benoit. More chops. Angle turns things around with a hot shot. He dodges a swing and gouges Benoit's bad eye. Benoit falls to the floor in pain. Angle hops out and stays on it. Back in Angle beats Benoit down in the corner. Benoit slugs back. Angle snap belly to belly suplex! Regular suplex for 2. Clothesline for 2. Benoit takes a Bret bump and Angle follows up with a buckle shot on the bad eye. Another corner whip and this time Angle takes a hard Bret bump! Off the rebound it's ROLLLLLLLLLING GERMANS time. Benoit bridges on the third for 2. Small package from Benoit for 2. The crossface is on! Angle thumbs the bad eye to break it up. Back suplex from Benoit. He goes up top. Angle dodges the headbutt! Another eye gouge. Benoit takes a wild half blind swing. Angle ducks it, hooks up and hits the Angle Slam! That gets the pin! Not bad at all. Even with Angle being less than a year in and considering Benoit's bad eye that was pretty much their floor match. **3/4

Shane seems pretty certain Vince will be on his side tonight.

Bulldog's music hits! He charges in with ref Teddy Long in tow! Crash tries to run even though Bulldog is giving him what he asked for. Bulldog grabs him and the bell is rung.

 

WWF Hardcore Championship: "The British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith def Crash Holly (c) in 3:37- Kinda sad that this is all they can trust Bulldog with in his home country, but....at this point this really is all you can trust Bulldog with. He knocks Crash up the aisle and suplexes him on the ramp. Whip reversal and Bulldog goes into the UK show wooden stairs. Crash goes under the ring and gets some toys out. He chokes Bulldog with a strap. Mop handle shot. He goes out and gets the very not steel chair he was sitting in for commentary. Reversal and Bulldog drop toe holds Crash into the chair. Return mop handle shot from Bulldog. He breaks the handle over Crash's back. Running powerslam! Bulldog gets the pin and wins the title! 3/4*

That is essentially it for Davey Boy Smith. This was his final appearance on a major show. He'd work a few more weekly TV matches (including dropping the Hardcore title back to Crash) before leaving WWF later in the month and quietly retiring. He came out of retirement in May of 2002 to work a couple of tag matches with his son Harry Smith (later to be DBS Jr) in a Canadian indie before his early death later that same month at just 39 years old.

Earlier today Edge and Christian charged a kid five quid for an autograph, then blocked a fan out of a photo the fan asked for. Yes, they're settling into their new heel personas very nicely. We're not too far away from the start of the legendary Five Second Pose.

 

WWF Tag Team Championship: The Hardy Boyz def Edge & Christian (c) by DQ in 12:53- No jump start! Matt and Christian start with Christian stalling like crazy. They go nose to nose and exchange slaps. Speed runs, with Matt getting a shoulderblock and Christian hitting a dropkick and armdrag into an ARMBAR. Matt slams out and pounds Christian down in the corner, then the Hardyz double up the pound down in their corner. Edge tags in and hits a swinging neckbreaker on Jeff. Jeff floats over in the corner to flying headscissors Edge to the floor. He loads up a dive but Edge gets the hell out of town. Small reset in the ring. Edge blocks for Jeff in the corner. Christian tries to do the same for Edge but the Hardyz outsmart them. Matt roll up for 2. He and Christian exchange chops. The Hardyz hit the both ends double legdrop, then stack E&C up in the corner and hit Poetry in Motion on both of them. E&C maneuver Jeff into taking a punch off the apron into the guardrail. Edge covers for 2. E&C double diving headbutt for 2. Christian powerslam for 2. He pulls Jeff down by the hair to kill a comeback. E&C swap without tags to keep Jeff isolated and in peril. Jeff dodges an Edge dropkick and jackknife covers him. They bridge up, the backslide is blocked, Edge counters into a powerbomb attempt, Jeff counters that into a roll up for 2. Very nice sequence. Clothesline from Edge. Front facelock fight and they do the phantom tag spot. Edge/Jeff midring crossbody collision! Christian runs in again. Matt hits an elbow off the top rope on Edge behind the ref's back and Jeff covers for a long 2. Jeff fights Edge off and finally gets the tag. Hot tag run for Matt. Sleeper DDT on Christian for 2. Matt gets stuck on the top rope. E&C stack up for a SUPERsuperplex! Jeff breaks the pin up. E&C go for a double backdrop but Jeff midair counters with a double dropkick! He clotheslines Edge 360 and out. Double faceplant on Christian. Jeff tope con hilo on Edge! Twist of Fate/Swanton Bomb combo on Christian! Edge comes in with the ring bell and uses it to draw the cheap DQ. Funny bit where the ref still points at the timekeeper to ring the bell even though Edge has it. Not the best finish, but it does fit in with E&C's new heelness. These teams are already at the point they can pretty much have a good match with each other in their sleep. They hit all their usual stuff for their matches, but at this point it was all still pretty fresh. ***1/4

All four guys continue to fight after the, er, improvised bell. The Dudleyz run in to join the scrum! 3D on Christian! Bubba Ray gets the UK table out again. Table shot for Edge! The UK table broke like a pro. Bubba Ray is now satisfied.

Video recap of Chyna turning on Jericho to go with Eddie because his LATINO HEAT was irresistible.

 

WWF European Championship: Eddie Guerrero (c) (w/Chyna) def WWF Intercontinental Champion Chris Jericho in 12:56- Jericho had just defeated Benoit on Smackdown to regain the IC title (reign #3 of his record 9), but would drop it back to Benoit the Raw after this show. It takes a whole two seconds for Lawler's fake Hispanic accent to get really annoying. Before the match there's a coin flip to determine which title will be on the line, "won" by the European title. Like there wasn't going to be a European title match in the UK. That was as legit as a War Games advantage coin flip. As soon as the coin flip is done we get jump start #7 as Guerrero lays into Jericho. Long speed run, Jericho gets a monkey flip and 360 clotheslines Guerrero out. Guerrero tries to walk. Chyna pushes him back toward the ring! Jericho runs out and collects him. Back in Guerrero hits a powerslam. Jericho hot shots Guerrero onto the top turnbuckle and hits a clothesline for 2. He stretches Guerrero's arms out. Guerrero gets up and we have an arm leverage fight. Jericho hits some chops. Guerrero small package for 2. Jericho delayed suplex and arrogant cover. A spinning heel kick sends Guerrero to the floor. Guerrero dodges a baseball slide. He leads Jericho around the ring into a Chyna clothesline. Or, more accurately, Chyna putting her arm up and Jericho running into it. It's a big arm. Top rope fight and Jericho hits a superplex. Guerrero dodges in the corner and hits a European uppercut. Hurricanrana off the top for 2. Guerrero puts on a Canadian backbreaker. On the Canadian. They go into some rapid fire cradle counters. Clothesline from Guerrero and he puts on an abdominal stretch. Jericho fights out, but Guerrero cuts him off with an eye poke and chops. Jericho does the backdrop faceplant. He goes for a powerbomb but Guerrero sunset flip counters for 2. Another European uppercut. Guerrero hooks on the Gory Special. Jericho reverses it! Very nice. He gets Guerrero up in an electric chair and faceplants him down. Bulldog for 2. A not so pretty flying forearm for 2. Jericho goes for a pop up powerbomb. Guerrero blocks it and both guys tumble over the top rope to the floor! Guerrero complains to ref Tim White that his back is hurt. While he's distracted Chyna DDTs Jericho in the ring! Guerrero crawls in and covers for a LONG 2. Jericho hits the double powerbomb. Lionsault! Chyna distracts White. Jericho springboard dropkicks her off the apron. But, she'd slid the European title belt in. Guerrero nails Jericho with it, covers and gets the win. Rock solid stuff. Like Benoit/Angle this was just about their floor match, they were definitely more in house show mode than PPV steal the show mode. ***

Trips and Shane argue in the back with Steph in the middle trying to make peace.

 

Triple Threat Match for the WWF Championship: The Rock (c) def Triple H (w/Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley) and Shane McMahon (w/Vince McMahon) in 15:37- This definitely feels like a handicap match at the start. Rock and HHH want Shane to stand aside and let them duke it out. Shane does and we have a slugfest start. The final jump start count for tonight is 7 out of 9 for those keeping score. Shane sticks his nose in and Rock punches it. Rock swings a backdrop counter kick in Shane's direction that misses by miles but Shane sells it anyway. Rock punches HHH in the corner until he does the Trips flip. Then Shane takes corner punches and also does the flip! On the floor Rock takes Lawler's crown, puts it on Shane, then punches him. HHH drops Rock on the guardrail and we go into a 2 on 1 beatdown. Rock clotheslines Shane in the ring, but HHH immediately grabs him for a neckbreaker. HHH and Shane take turns hitting Rock. Shane is doing his usual showboating dancing before swinging punches. HHH says anything you can do I can do better and starts up his own pre-punch dancing! OK, that's pretty damn funny. Shane takes the hint and cranks up the dancing even more! Before he can swing Rock clotheslines him! Too much showboating. Rock joins the trend, doing a little shuffling of his own, then hits a full on Dusty Rhodes bionic elbow! Fantastic. HHH facebuster and Shane clothesline on Rock for 2. Vince takes an opening to choke Rock. Shane elbow off the second rope. HHH kneedrop for 2. HHH slaps a sleeper on Rock. He holds it for a while, adding some knees to the back. Arm drops and Rock fights back up. He puts a sleeper on Shane while still in HHH's sleeper! It's a sleeper chain! Everyone gets jawbreakered and everyone's down. Rock punch flurry. He ducks a couple of HHH clotheslines but then runs into the high knee. Shane breaks the cover up! Here we go. Shane says he was confused but HHH doesn't believe him and shoves him. HHH turns his back and Shane clotheslines him! Shane tries a moonsault but sees it's missing and lands on his feet, but right in the middle of the other two. Rock clothesline on Shane. DDT on Trips right after Trips loudly shouted "DDT!". One of HHH's famous loud spot calls. Steph gets on the apron. Rock DDT on Shane, but ref Mike Chioda is tied up with Steph. Shane gets Rock from behind and tries to hit him with the Pedigree but doesn't know how to do it. Rock slingshots Shane right into Chioda, then HHH finishes Chioda off by squashing them both in the corner. Vince trips Rock. Rock grabs Vince. HHH comes from behind and hits Rock with Steph's women's title belt. No ref. Vince calls out for someone. Stooge Gerald Brisco with a ref shirt on runs in. Rock kicks out! Shane gets a chair and accidentally hits HHH with it. Vince gets in and attacks Rock. He goes for a chairshot but Rock's staredown stops him. HHH low blows Rock. Pedigree! Brisco counts awful slow. Rock kicks out! HHH argues with Brisco and punches him out! A second Pedigree. Vince pulls the ref shirt off Brisco, puts it on, and goes to count. Earl Hebner runs in! Hebner was still mad at Vince for Vince firing him. He pulls Vince out of the ring! They argue on the floor. Hebner ducks a Vince punch and Vince punches he post! Meanwhile Shane "accidentally" crotches HHH on the top rope. Vince chases Hebner around and into the ring. Vince runs into a Rock Bottom! Rock punches HHH off the top rope. Spinebuster on Shane! People's Elbow! Hebner counts and it's over! Like Backlash it's overbooked all to hell and almost all of it is straight out of the Austin vs McMahon playbook with Rock now in Austin's place, but so far it still works just fine. Again, it helps that HHH and Rock have phenomenal chemistry and are almost guaranteed to have a good match no matter what. ***1/2

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- It's nothing hugely special, but it's definitely the best UK exclusive PPV since the original (and excellent) One Night Only in '97. A fun house show night on PPV.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C+