Review by Bob Morris

I had the opportunity to view a tape of one of those WWF pay per views which are only aired in the United Kingdom, this one being the most recent of them, Rebellion.

The show aired back in October 1999, and interestingly enough, it's the last PPV which was fully booked under the Vince Russo era. It paints an interesting picture of certain wrestlers who the WWF tried to push, but things just didn't work out, as well as how other wrestlers needed to be pushed in a different direction in order to really hit a groove.

Most notable about the PPV was the attempt to get the British Bulldog over as a major player, but as the WWF would learn, the Bulldog was never going to be a main eventer or massively over outside of the UK. While the attempts to get Bulldog near the top worked for the fans in England, it didn't work outside of the United States.

While I realize Davey Boy Smith is trying to straighten things out with his personal life, it has become painfully obvious that Smith is no longer in wrestling condition to begin with and really should call it a career. I realize the wrestling business means a lot to him, but there are plenty of other opportunities for him in the WWF to contribute.

And it's also worth noting that, after the Smith experiment failed, Vince McMahon decided to get forget the nostalgic trip down memory lane and focus on pushing other talent. Seems like that's a lesson WCW could learn, as they just don't want to stop bringing back what only worked in the late 80's and early 90's.

And with this PPV also being the last one Russo put together, it also demonstrated exactly where some of his weaknesses were, namely overbooking, angles strictly for cheap heat, angles which didn't get wrestlers any heat, and some ideas which were just bad to begin with.

My ramblings aside, here's a review of WWF Rebellion, And yes, I know Scott Keith is usually the one to do these reviews, but if you don't like the way I wrote it, complain to me, and don't complain to Scott and insist he do the review himself…give the guy a break for once.

Anyway, on to the show…

* Aired in Birmingham, England, and your hosts are JR and Michael Hayes.

* Opening match: Jeff Jarrett vs. D-Lo Brown…hold on a second, let me make a revision here…

* Opening sports entertainment segment: Jeff Jarrett and Miss Kitty bring a vacuum cleaner to the ring, as Jarrett goes off on his tangent about how women should stay in the kitchen and all that stuff. And while Jarrett is one of WCW's top heels now, it was because he stopped acting like a jerk who hated women, and started acting like a jerk, just because he could and no other reason than that. THAT is how one gets over as a heel. He says he has a thousand pounds (which he later calls "dollars") that he will give to any woman who can demonstrate her proper role. A planted fan is brought into the ring, and Jarrett makes her vacuum crumbs in the ring, and when she doesn't do it to her liking, he puts the figure-four on her. Chyna makes the save. A coin flip is then held to determine whether Jarrett's IC title or D-Lo's Euro title will be on the line…and it ends up being Jarrett's. Now, after all that, we get to…

* Intercontinental title match: Jeff Jarrett (w/Miss Kitty) vs. D-Lo Brown: D-Lo is WAY over with the fans in attendance. D-Lo starts off fast with a flying forearm and a powerslam, but only gets two. Jarrett does the spot where he attempts a rana, only to get powerbombed by D-Lo for two, and then the IC champ bails out. D-Lo chases him, but Jarrett catches him back in the ring and applies a sleeper. D-Lo powers out to hit a delayed vertical suplex. He goes to the second rope, but Jarrett catches him coming off. He then gets a nice spot by grabbing D-Lo shoulder, then leaping to the second rope and jumping off for a faceslam of sorts. Jeff tries a corner charge, but D-Lo catches him with the Sky-Hi, but is too winded to cover. Tilt a whirl slam, bodyslam, and a legdrop get two for D-Lo. Jarrett nails D-Lo with an elbow to the face, but gets caught on the top rope and superplexed by D-Lo for two. Jarrett tries the figure four, but D-Lo kicks him through the ropes. Miss Kitty gets on the apron to distract the referee, as Jarrett nails D-Lo with the vacuum, then gets the pinfall. Good enough opener. ***

* After the match, Jarrett gets on the mic and challenges Chyna to a match.

* Godfather vs. Gangrel: One nice thing about the ho trains in England is that the woman where skimpy outfits…and I mean SKIMPY. Other than that, the match is strictly here to give the WWF an excuse to put the Godfather on the card. Ho Train splash, Pimp Drop, three count, been there, done that. 1/2*

* Michael Cole interviews Chyna, who accepts Jarrett's challenge. British Bulldog comes out and bitches to Chyna about "Triple Edge" not giving him a title shot. Do Edge and Christian have a triplet brother they didn't tell us about?

* Val Venis vs. Mark Henry: Eluding to angles that never worked for wrestlers in the WWF, the premier example is "Mark Henry is a sex addict" as he gets ZERO HEAT from the English fans. And considering these fans are pretty noisy most of the night and popping for most everything, that tells you something. Val is a decent worker, but can't carry Henry, who moves too slowly to get anything going. Money Shot from Val finishes it. Next. 1/2*

* Bulldog storms into Vince McMahon's office and bitches some more. He flings a trash can across the room, knocking out Stephanie. This, of course, led to the amnesia angle, which was thankfully killed after a few weeks, being kept in place only to push back the Test/Steph wedding because Russo had bolted from the WWF two weeks before the wedding was set to air. Better times would be ahead for Stephanie, though.

* Women's title match: Ivory vs. Jacqueline vs. Tori vs. Luna: Everyone beats up Ivory, then Ivory gets Jackie to beat up the other two. Comedy spots ensue, then Ivory nails Jackie with the title belt for the pin. And no, nobody's top was torn off after the match, much to the disappointment of the crowd. DUD

* Stephanie gets loaded onto a stretcher. Elsewhere, Bulldog refuses to apologize, saying it was "an accident," stumbling over his words at times.

* Road Dogg vs. Chris Jericho (w/Mr. Hughes): Another experiment that failed: Hughes taking on the role Ralphus served in WCW. The problem here was Ralphus was goofy, and Hughes wasn't, and besides, the WWF fanbase wasn't really interested in seeing Jericho bring over his WCW gimmicks. They just dug his character, which was why he got over so easily. And going back to how English fans are like, they don't just pop for Road Dogg's catch phrases, they actually chant his name during the match. That tells you the fans there are paying attention to the match, and have an appreciation for the wrestling and not just the catch phrases. Basic stuff and plenty of resting for the early part of the match. Jericho does pull off some nice moves, including his springboard dropkick and a springboard bulldog. This match shows why Road Dogg works better as a face, because he can spend much of the match selling and thus hiding his limited repertoire. Jericho nails a powerbomb, but Road Dogg blocks the Walls of Jericho. Jericho misses the Lionsault, and the ref gets bumped, as Road Dogg hits his punches and kneedrop. Hughes nails Road Dogg with a chair, but Jericho only gets two. Hughes tries to interfere again, but Road Dogg catches him in the act. Jericho sneaks in a low blow and gets the pin. Que? A pin on a low blow? Decent match, but a bad ending. **1/2

* Jeff Jarrett vs. Chyna: You know, I was always told that if you don't have anything nice to say…Bulldog runs in for the DQ. DUD Bulldog then powerslams Chyna after the match, and Jarrett slaps on the figure-four.

* Big Show vs. Kane: Match is under no DQ rules. JR marks out over how impressive a dropkick from Big Show is, although Show clearly misses Kane. Show does get in a nice inverted DDT for two. Kane comes back with an enzuigiri and a flying clothesline, but when he goes for the chokeslam, Show breaks it up. They fight outside the ring for a while, and Show gets a chair. Back in the ring, Kane kicks the chair in Show's face, then bodyslams him and gets the pin. Match was there. *

* Michael Cole interviews Triple H, who says he only cares about the World title. Pretty generic interview from him, which explains why it took him a while to get over.

* British Bulldog vs. X-Pac: By now, the fans have turned on Bulldog for his action tonight. Too bad the heat didn't last overseas. Bulldog dominates the match with his shitty offense, much of it being restholds. X-Pac does get in the spinning heel kick and bronco buster, but gets caught by Bulldog and dropped crotch-first across the top rope. Powerslam finishes it. Nothing match. 1/2*

* Hardcore and Crash Holly talk about how "here in England, stones are pounds, and pounds are money." Funny bit.

* Edge and Christian vs. The Acolytes vs. The Hollys: The match is under elimination rules, and the winners are the number one contenders for the tag team titles. Never mind that JR calls Edge and Christian the number one contenders as they make their way through the crowd, but we won't sweat details like that, because after all, this is Russo booking. The Hollys mix it up with both teams, with Crash taking a shit-kicking as he usually did during the Hollys matches. It ends up being a mess between the Acolytes and the Hollys, as Bradshaw and Faarooq constantly pound on Crash, with Hardcore breaking it up and hitting moves of his own. Bradshaw eventually catches Crash with the Clothesline from Hell and pins him. The Acolytes continue to control the match against Edge and Christian, as Christian plays Ricky Morton, but kicks out at two after a Faarooq spinebuster. Faarooq tries the Dominator, but Christian slips out of it, and hits a DDT. Tags are made, and Bradshaw hits Edge with a lariat, but Christian makes the save. Bradshaw tries to set up Edge for a superplex, but Edge counters with a tornado DDT and gets the pin to win the match for his team. I have no complaints with this match. ***

* World title match: Rock vs. Triple H: It's inside a steel cage, for your information. Rock does his usual catch-phrase filled speech, talking about Willy Wonka's chocolate factory, and the choice item to stick up HHH's rectal area is an Oompa Loompa. Slugfest to start, and HHH catches Rock with an elbow, but his escape attempt is stopped. Rock nails Triple H with an elbow, but when Triple H tries to stop him from escaping, Rock kicks him away, then leaps from the top rope, but is caught by HHH. Rock comes back with a swinging neckbreaker, but another escape attempt is stopped. Rock is the first of the wrestlers to get his head slammed into the cage. Rock comes back with a Samoan drop, but when he goes for a back body drop, Triple H USES HIS KNEE! HHH with another escape attempt, but Rock catches him and slams him off the top rope. Rock gets to his feet and manages to climb over the cage, but HHH goes after him and drags him back in. HHH tries a top rope leap, but gets caught in the Rock Bottom. Rock is slow to get up, and he and HHH end up both trying to escape at the same time, and as they fight at the top of the cage, both slip and get crotched simultaneously on the top rope. Rock tries to climb out again, but HHH catches him in a belly to back suplex. Triple H with the Pedigree, but he's too winded to take advantage. He crawls to the door, but Rock catches him. Triple H tries to bring a chair into the cage, but the referee stops him, and gets bumped in the process. Rock slips out the door, but there's no ref to award him the match. HHH gets out of the cage as well, and they brawl in the ringside area. Rock gets the mic and says he has a "present" for the fans, and he grabs a chair and waffles HHH with it. He then proceeds to beat the shit out of HHH outside the ring, who blades for fun, and Rock gets on the headset and mocks Triple H. Rock then tosses HHH onto the table, then climbs up the cage to the apron's level, then leaps off with an elbow. Both men are back in the cage, where HHH gets slung into the cage and DDT'ed. Rock begins to climb out as the referee awakens, but Bulldog comes out to stop him. Shane McMahon follows him out, and ends up getting powerslammed on the floor. The ref gets bumped again (AARRGGHH!), as do Pat Patterson and Gerald Brisco, who come out to try to stop the Bulldog. Back inside the cage, Rock nails Triple H with the Rock Bottom, but when he tries to crawl out the cage, Chyna comes down and slams the door in Rock's face. Both men end up battling on the top of the cage, with Chyna trying to stop Rockand getting nailed, then Bulldog climbing up and hitting Rock, as HHH escapes the cage to retain the title. The massive overbooking aside, it was still a great match. ***1/2, which would have been higher if not for the overbooking.

* Post-match, Bulldog goes into the cage to get to the Rock, but Vince McMahon comes down to ringside and locks the cage door. Bulldog is distracted, allowing Rock to give him the Rock Bottom and the People's Elbow to send the fans home happy.

Final Analysis: A pretty mediocre show overall, with a main event that was enjoyable, although overbooked, but still manages to save the show from being a complete waste of time. The Bulldog experiment didn't last long after this, though, and he ended up jobbing to Rock and being shuttled back into the midcard as a result.

The show itself wasn't terrible, but isn't a must-see either, so we'll say mildly recommended here.