World Wrestling Federation – Rebellion 2001 – 3rd November 2001
By the time the WWF reached the United Kingdom for the second UK-exclusive ppv of the year the Invasion angle was very much winding down. The majority of the WCW/ECW talent they’d acquired as part of the buyout had been jobbed out, crushed and eradicated, most of the WWF guys had ‘gallantly’ clung to their spots and the angle itself had pretty much completely been reduced to WWF guys fighting WWF guys and McMahon family members squabbling with each other. It was a sad demise to what could have been one of the greatest periods in professional wrestling history – if only Vince and his team had found the grapefruits (and stumped up the cash) to bring in some of the serious WCW talent, and actually pushed them on a relatively even keel against the WWF guys. There are only actually four Alliance guys on the whole show (DDP, Hurricane, Stacy and Torrie) who didn’t work for the WWF before the WCW buyout in fact. The main event is a rematch of WrestleMania 17, with The Rock challenging Stone Cold for the WWF Championship. That’s a huge deal, and it’s supplemented by Chris Jericho’s WCW Title defence against new Alliance-defector Kurt Angle, Edge and Christian battling inside a Steel Cage and Tajiri looking for revenge on the ‘Alliance Commissioner’ William Regal. Jim Ross and Paul Heyman are calling the action from Manchester, UK.
Edge vs Christian – WWF Intercontinental Title Steel Cage Match
More arbitrary title changes have occurred since No Mercy it seems, as Christian is now WWF European Champion. He fought valiantly but ultimately fell to defeat and lost is IC Title to brother Edge in a Ladder Match at No Mercy and now tries to win back that championship.
The cage they are using for this is an old-school, thick metal bar cage rather than the chain-link mesh style they’ve used in the modern era. Christian tries to attack Edge as he gets into the ring – a move which comes back to haunt him as Edge is given the opportunity to choke him with his ring jacket. The challenger makes an early attempt to escape to victory, and when that doesn’t work he tosses his brother shoulder-first into the cage. Edge is very much on the defensive and gets another couple of rough trips into the steel and a few offensive manoeuvres to his midsection to deal with. He barely stays in the match – just grabbing Christian’s leg as he tries to leave the cage through the door. A crossbody block from the top rope brings him back into proceedings, only for Christian to block the Edgecution and counter with a catapult into the cage. Even Edge wants to win by escape at this stage, and gets all the way to the top rope before his former tag team partner hauls him back into the ring with a back superplex for 2. SPEAR out of nowhere! Both men go down! Inverted DDT blocked…Edge-O-Matic blocked. Unprettier COUNTERED to the Edge-O-Matic for 2! Together they fight on the top rope…and Christian is able to hop over the top of the cage towards the floor! He is within inches of victory when Edge CROTCHES him through the metal bars of the cage. He then TAPES Christian’s feet to the ring ropes (meaning he can’t get them on the floor) and climbs out himself to retain the Intercontinental Title at 12:47.
Rating - ** - You can’t deny that these two were working extremely hard here (which is a welcome change from the norm on these UK-ppv’s). Unfortunately the cage largely served to restrict what they could do, rather than enhance the feud between them. As I said at No Mercy, Edge and Christian seem preoccupied with popping a crowd with specific stunts and pre-arranged spots rather than trying to wrestle a solid match – something which was never their role in the TLC-era. Here, on a house show where they were extremely limited in what bumps they could take, inside a structure which kept their room to work to a minimum they looked very short on ideas. Having said that, the finish was extraordinarily innovative and was probably worth a star on the rating by itself.
Highlights of Kurt Angle defecting to The Alliance from the preceding episode of Raw are shown.
Alliance members Chavo Guerrero and Hugh Morrus (wearing WWF shirts and holding WWF microphones) bicker about who gets to interview the divas. They barge in on a topless Trish who sends them packing promising to help them interview Lita later…
Scotty 2 Hotty vs The Hurricane
I think Grand Masta Sexay had been fired by this point, so Scotty was forced to go it alone – and his singles career had mostly amounted to being a background foot soldier on Team WWF. Tonight he steps onto the front lines to face the Alliance’s resident superhero – The Hurricane.
The opening minute is light on physicality and heavy on superhero poses. Eventually the posing becomes too much as Hurricane turns his back on Scotty for way too long and is punished with a satellite headscissors. The superhero blocks The Worm by tossing him into the ringpost and pops up quickly with a jumping neckbreaker for 2. He follows that with a blockbuster – working on the neck to soften it up for the Eye Of The Hurricane. Stranglehold camel clutch applied, leaving S2H in real trouble on the canvas. It’s the opportunity Hurricane needs to fasten his cape and head upstairs. Scotty counters his top rope dive into a DDT to put them both on the canvas. A superkick from the former Light Heavyweight Champion finds the mark, but Helms dumps him on his back seconds later and looks to set him up for ‘The Slug’ (his Worm spoof). That’s blocked, as the Hurri-Chokeslam. Eye Of The Hurricane countered to The Worm. Scotty picks up the win at 08:54
Rating - ** - Scotty’s act was really tired at this point, so I don’t know whether it was more perplexing that WWF opted to put him over Hurricane (a fresh new gimmick with genuine upside), or the fact that the Manchester crowd supported Scotty over Helms. For a filler WWF cruiserweight bout this was fine. In the ring Hurricane was really decent, but his Hurricane gimmick was still being fine-tuned at this stage. He carried the bulk of the workload here so it was mostly solid.
Trish Stratus has hooked Chavo and Hugh up with a Lita interview – prompting them to sneak into her locker room as she stands in her bra and panties getting ready. Naturally she isn’t impressed.
Dallas Page gets some promo time showcasing his new ‘self help guru’ gimmick. At the time it got a lot of flak, and understandably so as it represented WWF turning a former WCW main event talent into a comedy undercard act…but in fairness, it was entertaining. And given how DDP would go on to become a legitimate self-help guru in his post-wrestling career through his yoga and rehab work with the likes of Jake Roberts and Scott Hall it was undeniably an extension of his real life personality.
Diamond Dallas Page vs Big Show
This is another WWF vs Alliance battle and the first time we’ve seen DDP on ppv of any kind since he was demolished by Undertaker (again) at Summerslam. It doesn’t get easier for him though, with his opponent tonight being the 36-stone Big Show.
Show isn’t interested in DDP’s ‘psycho-babble’ (JR’s words, not mine) and sets to work decking the former WCW Champion. Page’s attempt at a headlock is brushed aside, with Show knocking him out of the ring with a tackle then slowly advancing out after him for a press slam back inside. Next Page thinks about working Big Show’s leg…and hits the DIAMOND CUTTER! That’s a rare sight in the WWF, but it’s no sold seconds later so Show can win with a chokeslam at 03:15
Rating - DUD - I have no idea who DDP was pissing off backstage to get continually buried like this. Looking at the positives, he did at least get some offence in on Big Show before he was completely squashed here.
WWF care so little about Page that they cue up Big Show’s music halfway through his attempts to get some heat back by slating the UK on the microphone.
Chavo and Hugh’s Excellent Adventures in the women’s locker room continue as they barge in on Mighty Molly. Unlike Trish and Lita, she is fully dressed…but screams and is indignant anyway – since they barged in on a super-heroine ‘without her cape’. That was pretty funny…
Shane McMahon has summoned Steve Austin (with Debra) and Kurt Angle for a pep talk. Austin is amusingly condescending towards Kurt…who goofily calls them the Knights Of The Roundtable. Steve (with the ‘what’ gimmick in it’s early stages) has me in hysterics with his responses
Dudley Boyz vs Acolytes vs Hardy Boyz – WCW Tag Title Match
Why would the Alliance book their top team (the Dudleyz) into a defence of their Tag Championship against TWO World Wrestling Federation teams? It’s a minor thing, but it’s retarded little issues like that which all added up to the big ball of suck that was the Invasion. Somewhere since No Mercy Bubba and D-Von have lost the WWF Tag Titles, but won the WCW equivalent from Matt and Jeff. They defend them under elimination rules here…
Bubba Ray couldn’t be bothered to tape his wrists for a house show apparently. He is double teamed by Bradshaw and Matt, knocking him out of the ring so the WWF guys can settle it amongst themselves. Heyman is wearing Dudley glasses on commentary apparently. The APA have an easy time beating down the Hardyz (far be it from them to bump or sell for a team who have risked their lives and health making the tag division twice as entertaining as Faarooq and Bradshaw ever did in the last two years), but probably grow complacent – allowing D-Von to jump Faarooq from behind. Bradshaw saves his partner from the Wassup Headbutt and gives Bubba an AVALANCHE FALLAWAY SLAM! 3-D II on Faarooq! Matt sneaks in to capitalise, eliminating Faarooq and the Acolytes with a Twist Of Fate at 05:29. Amusingly the sound guy then plays the Dudley Boyz music, giving you a big clue (as if you needed it) as to who would win. The Hardyz join forces to take it to the champions – frustrating them so much that Bubba orders D-Von to retrieve a table. Bubba Bomb drops Jeff, but only after he’d dropkicked the aforementioned table out of D-Von Dudley’s hands. Typical Jeff Hardy face in peril segment ensues, giving Paul E. plenty of time to run through the credentials and achievements of the Dudley Boyz – much to the annoyance of Jim Ross. Jeff manages a low blow on Bubba and scrambles to the top for a frankensteiner – setting him up for the hot tag. Poetry In Motion drops Bubba, and Jeff cleverly perches on the middle rope as D-Von avoids the same move on him. Swanton Bomb misses though, and the Dudleyz retain with a 3-D at 11:59
Rating - ** - I think all three teams had past their prime by this stage (miles past their prime in the case of the APA), but they were more than capable of working a filler house show formula tag. In truth, the Hardyz and the Dudleyz were sleepwalking through their usual spots in the second half – which wasn’t a bad thing, but they certainly weren’t doing anything fresh or overly engaging. Matt and Jeff would be feuding by the end of the year and all three teams got separated in the 2002 brand extension.
Next we get highlights of the continuing dissension between WWF representatives The Rock and Chris Jericho. A miscue between them cost them the WWF Tag Titles on Smackdown – and since they both have big main events tonight, and will both represent Team WWF at Survivor Series, Vince needs them to bury the hatchet. They shake hands but Jericho can’t resist mocking Rock…and they get into a brawl.
William Regal vs Tajiri
Here we have another grudge match, with Tajiri (representing the WWF) gunning for revenge on his former boss – who defected to join the Alliance before No Mercy. The Buzzsaw was Regal’s sidekick during his time as WWF Commissioner, so this is a real opportunity for him to step out of Regal’s shadow in his own home country.
There’s not a lot of home-country support for Regal, with the Manchester crowd popping big as Tajiri socks him with an early kick across the face. Despite his martial arts proficiency, Tajiri has an obvious size disadvantage and it shows as the Alliance Commissioner tosses him around on the outside. Even a standing moonsault has minimal impact – with Regal absorbing it and chopping the Japanese Buzzsaw down with a knee smash. Tajiri is game and keeps throwing kicks and strikes back in Regal’s direction despite a real ass-kicking…and gets a huge reaction for the Tarantula in the corner. Top rope moonsault misses though, allowing Regal to win with the Regal Stretch at 05:54
Rating - * - Too short and rushed to achieve anything. Regal’s style isn’t ideally suited to short, snappy little matches with a guy like Tajiri – but they certainly had a go.
Unhappy in defeat, Tajiri unleashes the Green Mist on Commissioner Regal before departing.
Kurt Angle rambles about how stupid the ‘Y2J’ nickname is
Chris Jericho vs Kurt Angle – WCW World Title Match
Having defected on Raw earlier in the week, Kurt will be looking to bring the WCW Championship back under Alliance control, and add it to the WCW US Title he’d won from Rhyno at the end of October too. Jericho was riding the crest of a wave having ‘won the big one’ at No Mercy when he took the WCW Title from The Rock. He still has issues with the People’s Champion but is undeniably loyal to the WWF and will want to put those aside to fight for the World Wrestling Federations honour.
They go to the mat and, much like his series with Benoit earlier in the year, Kurt finds that Jericho is a pretty tough proposition for him there. It’s Jericho’s speed on the mat and through the air that sees him seize the early advantage – busting out rolling vertical suplexes. Angle Slam blocked, but as is the Walls Of Jericho…and Y2J knocks the Olympian out of the ring with a springboard dropkick. Angle hasn’t got out of the blocks yet and next has his shoulder driven repeatedly into the ringpost. It takes every bit of his gold medal-winning mat prowess to escape an armbar, and Angle finally propels himself into the contest by hurling his opponent torso-first into the ring ropes. Walls Of Jericho attempted on the WCW Champion, although Jericho has plenty of experience of that hold and how to escape it so Kurt settles for giving him a belly to belly suplex instead. Jericho is being kept down for elongated periods for the first time in the match and the Alliance-representative challenger is starting to pick him apart. He wears him out with chinlocks, kicks at the legs and moves quickly to knock Y2J back to the deck anytime he looks to build some momentum. The champion does eventually mount a comeback attempt though, hitting a hurricanrana then latching onto Kurt’s leg to put him in the Anklelock! Angle escapes into the rolling Germans…but when he attempts his own Anklelock Chris counters to the WALLS OF JERICHO! No submission there so Jericho lines his opponent up for the Lionsault…but it gets knees! Angle Slam…COUNTERED to a roll-up! Jericho wins at 14:49!
Rating - **** - This reminded me a lot of Angle/Benoit at WrestleMania. Everything was so smooth and fluent, much of it was spent in holds and counter-holds on the canvas and the entire match conveyed just how skilled and evenly matched these two competitors are. Ultimately the finish played right into that – with every finisher being countered (Anklelock, Walls Of Jericho, Lionsault, Angle Slam) and Jericho snatching a hard-fought victory through a roll-up. These guys always have good matches together, but this may be the best I’ve seen in my retrospective journey through WWF ppv’s thus far.
Angle attacks Jericho after the match and lays him out with repeated Angle Slams.
The Rock chats to Michael Cole about whether he likes pie or strudel
Mighty Molly/Stacy Keibler vs Lita/Torrie Wilson
This is an Alliance vs WWF divas tag – so you’ll notice that Mighty Molly represents the Alliance (she is the sidekick of Hurricane after all), whilst Torrie is now classified as a WWF lady. She has history with former friend Stacy Keibler so will want to settle that score tonight. To shoehorn as much hotness in as possible, Trish Stratus is special referee for this.
Stacy and Torrie start, and although she holds her own with Wilson, Stacy is soon comprehensively destroyed by Lita. Team WWF isolate their leggy adversary, prompting the more experienced member of the Alliance team, Molly, to attack Torrie from behind. Together she and Keibler choke Tajiri’s girlfriend in their corner…and when Lita tries to get in and do something about it they apply a camel clutch/Boston crab combo on her behind Trish’s back. Hot tag to Lita who is an even match to Mighty Molly…but the super-heroine thinks fast to block the Poetry In Motion! Twist Of Fate instead! Lita pins Mighty Molly at 04:15
Rating - * - All five women are attractive, but if they wanted to position this as a serious match (rather than the usual divas t&a display) they should have just booked Lita vs Molly – and put Torrie and Stacy in their corners or something. Hot as they are, I don’t think there’s much interest in watching Torrie and Stacy work some extremely shabby and very basic wrestling holds for any length of time.
Stacy Keibler complains about Trish’s refereeing…so gets bulldogged.
Steve Austin vs The Rock – WWF Title Match
This is our WrestleMania main event rematch. In Houston at the start of April it was Austin who took the WWF Championship from The Rock – but only with the help of Vince McMahon. The next night Austin, McMahon and Triple H put a bloody beating on Rock inside a steel cage, then placed him under an indefinite suspension. The Rock finally returned to the company following Austin’s controversial defection to The Alliance at Invasion and after heavy recruitment from both sides, opted to remain loyal to the WWF (albeit only after getting some revenge on Vince with a Rock Bottom). He later admitted that a part of his reasoning for joining Team WWF was that it put him on the opposite team to Stone Cold – and he wanted payback for his treatment at WrestleMania. Having been sidelined by Booker T and Chris Jericho for months, he now finally gets his hands on the Rattlesnake in what could possibly be the biggest ever main event for these UK-exclusive shows.
Realising his title is in jeopardy, Austin attacks Rock during his entrance – but it has minimal effect and Rock immediately goes after his bad neck with a swinging neckbreaker. It is an intensely personal rivalry between these two men and the championship almost seems like an irrelevance as they leave the ring and brawl all around ringside. SUPLEX ON THE STAGE from Rock to Austin! For a guy who was reportedly starting to really struggle physically at this point (Austin had been working hurt for a while) that is a crazy bump. And Stone Cold keeps tossing himself around, with Rock back dropping him on the stage seconds later then bending his spine around the edge of the ring. The champion tries to make it hard for his challenger to breathe – first by targeting the ribs then by choking him over the ropes. They fight onto the announce table where The Rock avoids a piledriver by punching Stone Cold in the nuts…but moments later finds himself dropped across his chest again; this time across the wooden surface of that commentary table. A gourdbuster drops him south onto the table again, and it doesn’t give way meaning the wood is driven deep into Rocky’s sternum. Back in the ring Austin takes care to drive an elbow drop right across the pectoral region to do yet more damage to Rock’s chest. It’s already pretty tough for the challenger to catch his breath – and it becomes even worse moments later as Stone Cold slaps on a sleeper hold. When The Rock escapes that hold it’s mere moments before he’s in a Boston crab instead! In the end it’s Austin’s determination to piss off referee Hebner and the Manchester crowd which afford Rock the chance to escape that submission, but he has taken such punishment he is noticeably slowed and hurt as he tries to take the fight to the champion. Poor Earl Hebner is advertently struck by both competitors in quick succession…and lies unconscious on the apron as Rock traps Austin in the Sharpshooter. He still isn’t moving when Austin counters it to the Texas Cloverleaf either! Kurt Angle runs in and nails Rock in the back with a steel chair…only for Chris Jericho to come to Rock’s aid and beat Angle down with a chair too! But Rock didn’t see Angle – and thinks it was Y2J who hit him! Rock and Jericho start brawling! STUNNER COUNTERED TO THE ROCK BOTTOM! Hebner is STILL down though, and back comes Kurt to rough up Rock again. He bounces Rock back towards the STONE COLD STUNNER! Austin retains at 22:09
Rating - **** - It’s Austin vs The Rock. Even on a glorified house show and with a finish that included ref bumps and multiple run-ins this was still pretty great. Logically, this was the match that made the most sense for them to work – with Austin trying to cheap shot Rock at the start, only to be beaten down and all over ringside by the challenger who was hellbent on getting revenge for WrestleMania. Austin has proven to be a cunning and resourceful champ throughout 2001, and this was evident again here as he devised the strategy of working Rock’s midsection to give him the edge.
Kurt Angle is the recipient of a vaunted Steve Austin hug after the match, to howls of derision from the British crowd.
Tape Rating - ** - In fairness, this UK-exclusive ppv was pretty much as good as the vast majority of the actual pay-per-view shows WWF ran after WrestleMania in 2001. Nothing on the undercard is particularly good, but then again very little of it is downright horrible either – and unlike some shows this year, this event had two really strong and enjoyable main events. Jericho/Angle provided a hard and evenly fought championship bout and culminated with a clean win for Y2J (he didn’t get many of those as champion), whilst the Austin/Rock rematch was probably as good as could have been expected given the amped-up house show circumstances it was set against. Most of the show had clean winners and losers, there were some effective and entertaining backstage segments, the matches I wanted to see got more than five minutes (a welcome change from recent UK-ppv’s). I’m not saying this is an incredible DVD by any means, but I certainly found it a more rewarding watch than some shows from this year (Invasion and Judgment Day immediately come to mind).
Top 3 Matches
3) Edge vs Christian (**)
2) Steve Austin vs The Rock (****)
1) Chris Jericho vs Kurt Angle (****)