WWF Rebellion (December 2000)

From Sheffield, England; Your Hosts are Jim Ross and Tazz.

Opening Elimination Tables Match: Edge & Christian v The Dudley Boyz v T&A: D-Von Dudley starts with Albert, and manages to match power with the bigger man before bringing Bubba Dudley in. T&A end up doubling on Bubba, but a backdrop through a table misses, and E&C come in illegally to put Albert through a table at 4:25 to eliminate the team. With the Dudley's now weakened, E&C go to work on D-Von, and the crowd is WAY into this heat segment. D-Von manages to baseball slide a table into their faces to allow the tag to Bubba, and he's a house of arson - but runs into a spear from Edge. E&C try for their own version of the Wassup Drop, but it ends up backfiring, and Christian takes the Death Drop through a table at 9:55. Gee, big surprise there. Stuff like this reads as stupid fourteen years later, but the table gimmick was still super hot at the time, and the crowd was rabid for this from bell-to-bell. ¼*

WWF Women's Title Match: Ivory v Lita: Agh, I'd almost forgotten how ridiculously annoying the RTC's entrance theme was. Lita rushes in for an attack before the bell, and she snapmares Ivory into a seated dropkick for two. Side suplex gets two, so Steven Richards distracts her, and Ivory takes over with a bootchoke in the corner. Legdrop for two, and Ivory delivers a northern lights suplex for two. Sidewalk slam, but Lita counters with a headscissors, and follows with a dropkick. Twist of Fate, but Richards is up on the apron again, so Lita spears him off, then sunset flips Ivory - only to have the champ drop to her knees to retain at 2:57. Too short to be anything, but it was actually going quite well while it lasted. *

WWF Hardcore Title Match: Steve Blackman v Saturn: Blackman takes too long showboating, and gets attacking before the bell, but manages to reverse a cross corner whip, and dropkick his challenger. Enzuigiri misses, leading a reversal sequence that ends in Saturn tossing him out over the top, then following with a plancha for two on the floor. Snap suplex, but Blackman reverses, and reaches underneath the ring to find some handy weapons. He beats on Saturn with them for a while, but a whip into a corner-mounted trashcan gets reversed for two. Blackman tries a backslide for two, but runs into a crucifix for two, and Saturn dumps him again. He tries following with a sloppy tope (Blackman was out of position - too close to the announce table), but gets whacked with a cookie sheet anyway. Saturn grabs a fire extinguisher to stop the comeback, but a drop-toehold onto a chair gets reversed, and Blackman unloads with his kendo sticks for two. Saturn tries an inside cradle for two, but runs into a Bicycle Kick for the pin at 6:02. These two had some undeniable chemistry here, but the match type was working against them. I'd have loved to see them just do a straight match, because even though this was fine, it would have been significantly better if they didn't break the flow to deal with weapons every few seconds. * ¼

WWF European Title Match: William Regal v Crash Holly: Regal stops to cut a heel promo before the bell (to dissuade cheering, since he's English), and it works, as the crowd gets right behind Crash when he Pearl Harbors him. That's the kind of simple (but effective) shit that these guys who came up through the WWE system today have no idea how to do, and the business is worse off for it. Holly snaps off a quick headscissors and a dropkick, but a charge into the corner misses, and Regal slams him for two. Backelbow and a vertical suplex get a series of nearfalls, and Regal grounds him with a chinlock. Crash escapes and tries a victory roll for two, but Regal swats him down, as Tazz seems to get confused as to whether the UK is Regal's home 'state, or city.' William with a side suplex for two, and he slaps on a straightjacket - using the ropes for leverage. He gets caught, and Holly fires off a backslide for two, then a schoolboy for two. Diving backelbow gets two, and a rana is worth another two. Headscissors, but Regal drops him onto his face, and gets the pin at 4:59 - the referee missing Holly's foot on the ropes. Molly Holly alerts him to it, and adds a missile dropkick for good measure - Crash winning the title off of it at 5:05. Nothing special, but totally decent and watchable. And Crash would, of course, lose the title back to Regal a couple of days later. * ¼

Mixed Tag Team Match: Eddie Guerrero and Dean Malenko v Billy Gunn and Chyna: Holy shit, Billy Gunn was actually Intercontinental Champion at this point? Eww. Eddie attacks him from behind (oh, the irony), and dropkicks his knee. He tries working it, but Billy snaps off a tilt-a-whirl slam, and a short-clothesline for two. That draws Dean in, and Chyna follows for a quick brawl - cleaning house on the Radicalz. Chyna's pandering Union Jack shirt is something else. Dean seems to think so, too, but he gets destroyed with clotheslines, and Chyna cradles him for two, then hits the handspring elbow. She goes for the kill, but Eddie trips her up from the floor, and the Radicalz cut the ring in half on her. Dean misses a charge in the corner and takes a DDT to allow the tag, and Billy is a house of arson to trigger a four-way brawl - Gunn finishing Malenko with the One and Only (perhaps the stupidest finisher name of all time) at 7:26. Not my cup of Earl Grey, but it was short enough, and the crowd was into it. ¼*

Chris Jericho v Kane: Jericho attacks, and fires a dropkick before clotheslining Kane over the top. He follows with a springboard dropkick, but a flying bodypress on the way back in is countered into a running powerslam for two. High elevation flapjack, and he tries a hangman, but Jericho escapes, and manages to dropkick Kane out of the sky as he tries a flying clothesline. Jericho mounts a comeback with an enzuigiri and a missile dropkick for two, and a schoolboy gets two. Walls, but Kane grabs him by the throat to block, so Chris settles for a bulldog. Springboard moonsault is blocked with lifted knees, and Kane hits the chokeslam for the pin at 8:06. Paint-by-numbers stuff. ½*

WWF Tag Team Title Match: The Goodfather and Bull Buchanan v The Hardy Boyz: Man, this was not a good month for WWF titles, was it? Crash Holly? Billy Gunn? The Goodfather and Bull fucking Buchanan? Good on them for trying new guys, but FUCK! Big brawl to start, and the Boyz knock them out to the floor for stereo planchas. The dust settles on Bull and Jeff Hardy to start, and Jeff manages to outrun him for a while, but runs into a clothesline from Goodfather on the apron. They try cutting the ring in half, but Matt gets in, so they grab the title belts, but that backfires as well, and Matt gets two on Buchanan. A cheapshot allows the champs to properly cut the ring in half on Matt, but Goodfather misses the Ho Train (or whatever he was calling it with this gimmick), and Jeff tags in for the four-way brawl. Cue a few high risk maneuvers, before he runs into a cheapshot from Val Venis, and gets pinned at 8:08. Not terrible or anything, just really dull. ¼*

The Undertaker v Chris Benoit: 'Taker has a bad wheel at the hands of the Radicalz, and Benoit goes right after it - wrapping it around the middle rope and unloading. Undertaker shrugs it off and press-slams him, so Benoit tries kicking at the leg, but 'Taker ignores him, and hits the ropewalk forearm for two. Big boot knocks Benoit to the floor, so Chris sweeps him to try and wrap the leg around the post - only for 'Taker to pull back, and bang his head off of it. Undertaker follows out for another couple of shots into the post, and gets two out of it on the way back in. Bearhug, but Benoit fires off a few nice headbutts to escape, so Undertaker big boots him again for two. Snake eyes, but Benoit slips free, and hits a breathtaking dropkick to the knee. Not only was his timing there impeccable, but it was so brilliantly fluid. Leglock, but 'Taker slugs free, so Benoit dropkicks the knee again. Figure four, so Undertaker reverses, but Benoit is in the ropes. Slugfest goes Chris' way with a side suplex, and he hits a gorgeous flying headbutt to the knee to setup another figure four, but this time 'Taker cradles him for the pin at 12:18. No wonder we all hated Undertaker around then. The more I rewatch stuff from this period, the more shocking that he actually became a good worker again later on, and had classic matches. This was like watching Benoit flashback to the Sid matches from WCW, with the big guy refusing to sell, and making him look weak. I'm tempted to go 'dud,' but Benoit worked hard enough to give it ½*

Main Event: WWF Title Fatal Four-Way Match: Kurt Angle v The Rock v Steve Austin v Rikishi: First fall wins. Big brawl to start, with Rock going for Rikishi on the floor, and Austin for Angle in the ring. Austin hits a quick spinebuster on Angle for two, and a vertical suplex is worth two. They switch to Rock/Angle in the ring, and Rocky delivers a Samoan drop for two, then tosses Kurt out just as Austin rolls Rikishi in. They double-team the fat man, and Kurt uses the breather to grab the title belt and leave, but Rock drags him back - as Austin gives a Thesz press and a pointed elbowdrop on Rikishi for two. Same deal for Kurt, and he dumps him out to choke with some cable as Rock/Rikishi have a go in the ring. Rocky with a jumping clothesline for two, but he gets cornered with an avalanche to setup the stinkface - which he actually takes. No wonder the guy bailed for Hollywood. I bet Michael Bay rarely ever makes you smell his ass in public. The smell of feces acts like spinach, however, and he quickly spinebusters Rikishi to setup the People's Elbow for two - broken up by Angle. Rock and Austin clean house, and with everyone else out of the way, they launch into a slugfest - Austin controlling, and hitting the Stunner for two, when Angle saves again. He hooks the leg himself, but Rikishi breaks it up, and ends up getting two on Rock out of the deal. Austin clotheslines them both, but turns into a Rock Bottom for two - the count broken when Rikishi drags the referee out. Rock protests, but the distraction proves enough to allow Angle an Olympic Slam for two. Austin schoolboys Kurt for two, so Edge & Christian run in to brawl with Stone Cold. That allows Rikishi to go after Rock, but he hits Bottom for two - Edge breaking up the count. Stunner for Rikishi, but now the Radicalz break up the count, and attack Austin - allowing Angle to sneak up on Rikishi with another Olympic Slam to retain at 8:51. Well, that was certainly brisk. Was the show running long, or something? Not a classic match, but a totally fun, chaotic, non-stop brawl, with lots of fun combinations. **

BUExperience: A couple of decent matches on the undercard, and a super fun main event are the highlights, but that’s not near enough to carry an entire show – especially an entire UK-only show, where the wrestling needs to be top notch to make it worthwhile.

DUD