Insurrextion - Wembley Arena, London England, May 4th 2002

This is the final event presented by the World Wrestling Federation. I was 14 years old at the time and clearly remember watching this show live on Sky Box Office and then being enormously confused when I tuned into Raw to be slapped in the face by the name change to WWE and World Wrestling Entertainment. I have written a whole separate article about the name change, why it happened and what it means which you can read here;

Interestingly, while this isn’t the last WWF or WWE show to take place in the UK this was the final “Pay Per View” event to be held in London until Money in the Bank 2023. 

The opening video package is pretty generic and features soundbites from feuds and promos that have nothing to do with what we’re getting tonight - it’s like an artistic jigsaw. Also the audio isn’t off on your device or on my recording, that’s what it sounded like on the show itself. The audio all night was weirdly off.

This show does have one of the better looking stages for a UK exclusive PPV and I’m a big fan. I miss these big physical stages in general. 

WWF Intercontinental Championship

Eddie Guerrero © vs. Rob Van Dam

This match gets a brief video package, which I assume is an unfinished version of what we’ll see in their rematch at Judgment Day in a couple of weeks.

King sets up tonight’s running joke early, promising to teach JR “the Queen’s English” tonight. The first word he goes with is “loopy” meaning crazy. I feel like the Americans probably use that one too, no?

The two men circle and exchange grapples but its a stalemate. Eddie bails to the outside on the next exchange and RVD follows with a dive to the floor. The fighting on the outside benefits Latino Heat and after sending RVD into the ringsteps controls the match in the ring with slams and a senton flip over the ropes for a near fall. 

King’s next word for JR is “cream-crackered” meaning tired. JR is baffled. 

Eddie grinds down Van Dam with sleepers and then turns his focus to the legs with chop blocks and an Indian Death Lock. RVD does get a near fall after Eddie gets into an argument with the referee and gets rolled up for it but the champion immediately goes right back to the legs of his challenger.

RVD finally mounts a comeback with a big spin kick and gets back into the match with strikes as King teaches JR the next word in his UK-exclusive vocabulary “Pete Tong” which is Cockney rhyming slang more than an actual word. It means things are going wrong for Eddie Guerrero. 

The fans are really into this and chanted “Eddie Sucks” loudly as he worked over Rob’s leg and pop huge for the various nearfalls RVD gets off spinning kicks and an impressive moonsault.

Eddie avoids the Five Star Frog Splash and goes out to get the Intercontinental title belt to use as a weapon. The referee stops him so he shoves the referee, which gets Latino Heat disqualified. RVD wins the match but not the title. A furious Eddie chases the referee around the ring and runs right into a spinning heel kick and RVD - who has stopped selling his leg entirely now that the match is over - sends the fans home happy by laying out Eddie with the IC title belt and finishing with a Five Star Frog Splash. Long time fans of these reviews and readers of my UK shows will be delighted to know that the airhorns are back and the fans (English football hooligans no doubt) continually honk their damn horns all night long. Eugh. This was a really good match though. 

Backstage, Terri interviews Molly Holly and WWF Women’s Champion Jazz. The wholesome Molly calls Terri trash, and says she and Jazz have a problem with their opponents tonight too for the same reason - women should not expose their sacred bodies. She has The Sun newspaper and shows off Page 3, which for the uninformed was a daily tabloid paper where women, usually teenagers, exposed their breasts which is wild in hindsight. They’ve stopped doing that now but I agree with Molly here. Terri accuses them both of being jealous because she has nice boobs and they don’t. 

WWF Women’s Champion Jazz and Molly Holly vs. Trish Stratus and Jacqueline

I should mention here that this is a Raw-brand only show. In a couple of years that became common for all PPVs for was another UK exclusive thing in 2002 and 2003 because these shows are basically just house shows anyway. 

King has another English expression to share in this match when talking about Jazz. “You don’t look at the mantlepiece while stoking the fire” which is deeply misogynistic but in fairness is quite funny. He also calls Trish a “fit bird” and Jazz “a minger” and “a boiler” which is less funny but does track for his personality and opinions on women.

Jackie attacks Molly but is shut down by a double team and isolated for a few minutes. She gets a hot tag to Trish who pairs off with Jazz and is also shut down by a double team and isolated. They are rushing through spots here so this won’t last long as Molly and Jazz tag in and out quickly to work over Trish as King and JR discuss how Molly is a virgin. To his credit, JR doesn’t care and says its none of our business. 

Trish eventually fights back and has the match won with a backslide on Jazz but the referee is distracted by Jackie accidentally so she kicks out. 

Trish eventually gets a hot tag to Jackie who takes down Jazz with a gorgeous DDT but the cover is broken up by Molly. Trish and Molly fight on the outside as Jazz stretches Jackie with a single leg boston crab but her attempted STF is stopped by a Trish dropkick to the head.

Molly comes back in and the four women brawl as the referee struggles to get control. Jackie takes down Molly with a tornado DDT as Trish hits a springboard bulldog on Jazz and they cover at the same time for a dominant and fun victory in a decent tag team match. Trish pinned the women’s champion but given that this is a UK exclusive house show on TV, it won’t mean anything by the time we get back to the states.

Backstage, X-Pac warms up for his match with his nWo partner Scott Hall. He’s still got Kane’s mask as his trophy. He says he’ll beat “that big dumb Texan” and then he’s never coming back to this stupid country. He tells Hall to stay in the back so he can win fair and square but I suspect he doesn’t mean it and that’s not the last we’ll see of him tonight.

X-Pac vs. Bradshaw

King calls Bradshaw “a massive bloke” which is true if not very insightful. X-Pac is fast and moves with strikes but Bradshaw slows him down with a backdrop and runs him from corner to corner with clotheslines. Bradshaw’s single push post-brand split continues but I suspect this match won’t last long. 

The big man blocks X-Pac’s spinning heel kick and turns it into a powerbomb and just brutalises the last ever Light Heavyweight Champion until a dropkick to the knee slows him down.

Pac exposes one of the turnbuckles right in front of the referee and runs his head into it over and over, which should be a disqualification and is an odd spot as normally an exposed turnbuckle bolt is a match ender but here its just used as a wear down so X-Pac can choke him in the corner. Bradshaw does come up bleeding after this assault in the corner and “vicious and ruthless” isn’t a terrible gimmick change for X-Pac.

Bradshaw mounts a comeback after a long period of being worked over and throws Pac across the ring with a fallaway slam which brings out Scott Hall. He hits Bradshaw in the head with X-Pac’s nunchucks but the big man kicks out and he avoids the Bronco Buster. He is distracted by Hall on the apron and turns into an X-Factor which gives Pac the victory, thanks to he fellow nWo member. 

Jonathan Coachman interviews The Undertaker backstage and asks about his match with Triple H tonight. This match has a bit of build but because of the brand split they haven’t been able to do it. Triple H is here on loan from Smackdown, but I suspect its really because the title change to Hogan was a last minute decision and this main event was originally intended to be for the Undisputed title. Undertaker talks more about Hulk Hogan and the beating he gave him on Raw. He does give some praise to The Game but says he likes to beat people up and tonight he is the biggest obstacle that Triple H has faced. The fans drove me nuts during this with their mistimed WHAT chants and the damn airhorn. They were so keen to do the WHAT chants they were just blurting it out while he was midsentence.

WWF Hardcore Championship

Steven Richards © vs. Booker T

Richards won the title on Raw and this is his first defence but when it comes to the Hardcore title, stats like that don’t feel nearly as important given how often it changes hands on the 24/7 rule. 

Booker gets a good reaction from the fans - he’s not officially a babyface yet but his comedy pairing with Goldust is working for him.

Booker beats Richards up pretty easily with kicks, trash can lids and trash cans. King’s next expression for JR is “bloody crackers” meaning “crazy”. I’m not mad at this night-long vocabulary lesson.

Richards mounts a comeback with some chops but is shut down again quickly as King calls the tin foil weapons Booker is using “sterling silver” which is beyond dumb. 

Booker is way more giving for Steven Richards than you’d expect a former world champion to be. King calls Richards “a merchant banker” which he doesn’t explain but is more cockney rhyming slang you can figure out yourselves.

Richards gets a nearfall on the outside with a trash can which he threw from the inside out - I liked that spot. He slows it down with a long sleeper which is weird in a hardcore match but Booker fights out of that. This is way longer than I expected. Bubba Ray Dudley has been the main driving force of the hardcore division since the brand split but he’s not here tonight as he has a family emergency at home.

Booker sticks a trackcan on Richards’ head and puts him down with a missile dropkick but he kicks out. 

Booker puts Richards down with a Book End and that’s enough to win the match and the Hardcore title! He gets no time to celebrate as Crash Holly runs down and rolls Booker up with a referee of his own and wins the Hardcore title! He takes a minute to celebrate and pays for it with a Scissors Kick. Booker T covers and just like that he’s a two time Hardcore champion. He’s then jumped by Justin Credible and Tommy Dreamer and they beat Booker up two on one, setting up a table. The champion fights them both off with a pair of superkicks and then Booker delights the fans with a Spinarooni. He’s then given a low blow out of nowhere by women’s champion Jazz! Richards flapjacks Booker onto the table which doesn’t break so he smartly kicks out of the pin so Richards can repeat the spot, breaking the table the second time and that is enough for Richards to regain his Hardcore title and run away before any more title changes. That was four in just a few minutes! 

The Hardy Boyz (Matt and Jeff Hardy) vs. Brock Lesnar (w/Paul Heyman) and Shawn Stasiak

This is a very odd match on paper but thankfully we do get a little bit of explanation and even a video package. They are REALLY pushing Brock here.

Backstage, Craziak explains how happy and excited he is to be Brock’s partner tonight. Heyman explains that The Hardyz were signed for a tag team match on this show so the only way Brock could get his hands on them was to pick a partner, and Shawn better just stand on the apron and not do anything. This is noteworthy as it’s the first time we hear Brock himself actually speak on TV, getting into Stasiak’s face and warning him to do exactly as Heyman says or he’ll get a worse beating than he did on Raw. 

Stasiak doesn't listen and runs to the ring, past Lesnar and Heyman and starts the match against their will. He does actually get some moves in on Jeff Hardy which is more than he’s managed so far on Raw.

It doesn’t last long and Brock tags himself in and dominates Matt Hardy, beating him from corner to corner, methodically working him over as Heyman screams that he’s the Next Big Thing and to “HURT HIM!”. Heyman in 2025 is known as one of the greatest managers/agents/corner men whatever you want to call it in wrestling history but even in this early stage he adds so much to Brock’s presentation.

Brock misses a corner charge, hitting the ring post so Stasiak tags in just as Matt manages to tag out to Jeff and he runs wild having no issue beating up Shawn. 

The Hardyz knocked Brock off the apron and quickly beat Stasiak with a Twist of Fate and Swanton Bomb combo, winning the match! Their joy lasts seconds as Lesnar rushes the ring and with ease demolishes all three men with F5s to both Matt and Jeff and then drilling Stasiak with his running, spinning powerbomb. 

The Hardyz win but the story continues to be the physical strength, size and speed of the Next Big Thing, Brock Lesnar.

There’s coverage of the Insurrextion Charity Dinner, which was basically just an auction to raise money for Make-a-Wish, who the WWF/WWE has had a relationship with for decades. It’s a nice thing, and I was hoping I’d recognise some celebrities in the crowd but it was just business people.

Jonathan Coachman interviews William Regal who is looking to regain his European title in his home country. They cheer for him initially but then he talks about how great he is, and how disgusting his fellow Englishmen are with their “divvy children”. He also calls Spike Dudley a “shitehawk” which is funny. He did always know how to get away with swearing on these UK shows as the Yanks didn’t know what did and didn’t count as swearing here. 

WWF European Championship

Spike Dudley © vs. William Regal

King calls Spike “titchy”, meaning small which is accurate if nothing else. He is “150lbs soaking wet”. I was always a fan of Spike but I am confused how this European title reign ended up lasting so long - I was sure he’d lose it back to Regal almost immediately.

Regal dominates Spike but when the little man fights back he gets boos. They always tried so hard to get the English fans to turn on Regal on these UK shows and it was always a bad idea. They should have just booked him against someone unpopular and learned into it.

Spike flips out of the corner and lands awkwardly on his ankle, collapsing and holding it as the referee calls for the trainer. The match hasn’t ended so I’m immediately suspicious this is just a storyline. In fairness on the slow motion replay, Spike’s ankle did wobble and buckle a little and it looked pretty real. 

The trainer actually cuts Spike’s laces with scissors in order to remove his boot and check the ankle and he’s helped out of the ring. The fans do kindly cheer Spike as he’s assisted to the back by the referee and trainer. Regal actually jumps them from behind, bringing the one-legged Spike back to the ring. The bell hasn’t run so it is still officially going but what doesn’t make sense is that the referee doesn’t ring the bell now and allows the match to continue. 

Regal brutalises Spike, focusing the attack on his now bootless ankle and drills him with a powerbomb, but refusing to pin him and keeping the match going.

It backfires massively as Spike counters a suplex attempt into a small package which gets three and Spike retains the European title!

A furious Regal slips his brass knuckles on and knocks Spike out before leaving like a sore loser, but the fans still cheer for their fellow countryman.

Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. The Big Show

Special Guest Referee: Ric Flair

Ric being the referee for this match is news to everyone as he comes out first, as King and JR react in shock and disappointment that he’s putting himself in this position again. He screwed Stone Cold at Backlash by accident and made things worse, and he screwed the nWo on Raw and made things worse too. He does at least say that he’ll be the second referee and just stand outside the ring, here to support and make sure Scott Hall and X-Pac don’t get involved. That is smart.

This match gets a little video package which much like the RVD and Eddie one earlier I assume is a preview of the longer one we’ll see at Judgment Day.

Big Show wasn’t on Raw this past week so this is the first time we’ve seen him since he joined the nWo and I like what they’ve done with his theme song, where his usual “WELL ITS THE BIG SHOW” plays and the morphs into the nWo theme. Before the match, Flair once again sucks up to Stone Cold and calls him The Man. He is, but I feel like Ric doesn’t mean it.

The fans go NUTS for the Rattlesnake and rightfully so. We are, sadly, getting very close to the end of his full time career which I’ll talk about a lot more after Judgment Day but he’s still my favourite of all time. 

Big Show threatens to break Austin in half but he’s unintimidated.

They lock up and Show shoves Austin across the ring a couple of times as the fans chant “you fat bastard” at the 500lbs Big Show. That’s not very nice but it was accurate. His waistline had damn near doubled since his debut in 1999. 

This is amazingly only the second time these two men have gone one on one in a televised match - the first was in February 1999 right after Show’s debut when he was still Paul Wight. 

King describes Austin as “gaspin” and needing a few jars, a few bevvies. All accurate as its all English parlance for wanting a drink. 

Austin works on Show’s legs and does actually control the early going of this match. In his book, Stone Cold described really enjoying these house shows and European tour matches with Big Show, a man who he had known in real life for years by this point but hardly ever worked with. He liked the challenge of having a good match with someone so much bigger, and saw it as his responsibility to get the still-young Show to fire up, show some aggression and find his main event heel character. The book itself is terrible though - lacks any detail or heart and was ghost written as a mostly bland and cheerful retelling of Austin’s career, glossing over the big and/or important moments and anything unpleasant in real life. 

Austin’s onslaught on Show’s leg doesn’t last long as the power makes the difference and he fights back by kicking Austin off him and then slows things down, dominating him with clotheslines and a painful looking suplex. 

He batters Austin around the ring, running him into the ring post and then grinds him down in the ring with a bear hub, seemingly focusing his own attack on Stone Cold’s lower back. The match itself is fine, but the bearhug looks terrible - Show’s arms are too loose so it looks like a long hug rather than painful.

Austin fights back with punches and a Thez press jumping off the middle rope. Show swings with a big kick but hits referee Nick Patrick, knocking him down. Austin strikes with a Stone Cold Stunner but there’s no referee to count. Austin calls for Flair to do it but he’s pulled out of the ring by Scott Hall and X-Pac. Flair grabs a weapon from under the ring - I think it was a broom? - and chases Hall and Pac away from the ring. That leaves Stone Cold and Show one on one. To everyone’s shock, the suspended Kevin Nash comes through the crowd but Austin ducks his attempt to hit him with X-Pac’s nunchucks, taking out Big Show. 

A Stunner to Nash, a Stunner to Show and he crawls into a cover as Nick Patrick recovers to win this match, overcoming the entire nWo to do it!

Ric Flair comes back down to the ring with a steel chair and chases off Kevin Nash, leaving Stone Cold in peace to celebrate with beers for the excited British fans.

This was way better than it had any right to be - slow in the middle when Show was in control of course but it told a good story and had a fun, exciting finish. Ric Flair runs back to the ring and tries to join in with Austin’s beer bash, asking for a microphone so he can tell Austin that he’s the man and that he promised not to let him down! Flair believes that he’s proven himself to Stone Cold and continues to suck up to the Rattlesnake but it’s all for nothing as Austin still doesn’t trust him and drops him with a Stone Cold Stunner too! DTA - Don’t Trust Anybody.

Triple H vs. The Undertaker

This match makes sense on paper as Triple H being loaned by Smackdown to give this show a huge main event between two men with an issue is logical. However, I think it just confirms that Hogan winning the title at Backlash was unplanned and this match and feud was originally intended to be for the Undisputed title, which would have allowed Triple H to appear on both brands anyway. 

Decent video package for this too. I do really appreciate the effort they’ve gone to to make this show feel like a real PPV. They’ve gotten much better at that since the first UK exclusive shows. Some of the audio of them talking trash to each other was in fact them both respectively talking to Hulk Hogan and have been clipped but that’s fine - it still applies.

Triple H attacks quickly but is shut down with a reversal off the ropes and a big boot, giving Undertaker the first nearfall of the match. They’re wasting no time and get right into the main body of the match with Undertaker dominating Triple H in the corner and getting more near falls off clotheslines and shoulder tackles. He focuses on The Game’s left arm and comes off the top rope with Old School. Or he tries to at least but Triple H armwhips him off the top instead.

Undertaker quickly recovers and goes back to slowly working over Triple H, laying him across the ring apron and dropping elbows and then a big leg drop across his exposed neck which always looks great and Triple H sells big, flailing around holding the back of his head and neck.

Every time Triple H fights back and picks up the pace of this match it’s like Undertaker realises they’re in danger of the match getting interesting and shuts it down with a chopblock or clothesline and goes back to a long hold on the mat, this time on the leg.

Undertaker hits the ropes hard and the top rope actually snaps with Undertaker collapsing awkwardly. That looked really dangerous and could have broken his neck! They wrestle the rest of the match basically unable to use the ropes as the top rope hangs limply and they’re forced to go back to a chin lock to presumably discuss things and figure out what to do next. 

They trade big moves with Triple H getting a near fall off a back suplex and a swinging neckbreaker, and then countering a chokeslam attempt into a DDT for another. 

Undertaker sends Triple H to the corner and there’s a loud bang as it turns out that’s the one that has snapped, causing the issue with the top rope. He hits a chokeslam but The Game kicks out. 

They continue to trade big moves and a running big boot is countered into a high knee. Triple H follows with the Pedigree and wins a match which I thought was slow and a bit tedious but picked up pace for the finish. JR did what he could, screaming about the big moves and physicality. He might have a point given that they apparently broke steel to break the ring. 

There’s no post match shenanigans as Triple H celebrates and the Undertaker just leaves - a flat finish to a decent show. They should have let Stone Cold and Big Show go on last!