Rebellion 1999 - National Indoor Arena, Birmingham England, October 2nd, 1999

Rebellion! This isn’t the first UK only event, but 1998’s Capital Carnage was terrible so I didn’t cover it. Seriously, It’s a terrible show especially compared to the other ones around it in December 1998. You’re not missing out. 

The opening video is actually pretty great, by the standards of the WWF doing “English banter” and I laughed out loud for “kick some bum.”

The commentary team is Jim Ross and….Michael Hayes. (He’s alright). For fans of trivia, this arena is also where the UK series of Gladiators was filmed. 

WWF Intercontinental Championship

Jeff Jarrett © (w/Miss Kitty) vs. WWF European Champion D’Lo Brown

This match is champion vs. champion and a coin toss will decide which of their titles is on the line. I quite like that! 

Jarrett and Miss Kitty come out first with Jeff carrying a hoover. He cuts another promo about how a woman’s place is in the kitchen and offers £1000 to any woman who’ll come out of the crowd and into the ring to accept his challenge to clean up a mess and prove his point. He pours some oatmeal (porridge oats) on the mat. After calling a couple of them too ugly he picks a girl who looks about 16 years old. The girl hoovers up the mess as Jeff tells her she’s missed a spot (she’s actually not very good at hoovering) until he finally shoves her over and puts her in the figure four! 

Chyna runs in and makes the save, attacking Jarrett and sending him packing out of the ring with a low blow! 

Chyna leaves triumphant and this was actually a really good angle for a UK-only show! Jeff seems to be bleeding from his mouth after being slammed into the announcers desk. While Jarrett sells the coin toss happens and it will be Jarrett’s Intercontinental Championship on the line! Jeff protests as D’Lo’s music plays. Brown is announced as residing from Birmingham England which should have got a pop but didn’t. 

The action here is good as it always is between these two men and the fans are rabid, chanting for “D’Lo”. Brown comes out of a sleeper with legitimately one of the nicest, cleanest vertical suplexes I’ve ever seen but Jeff gets control back when he dropkicks D’Lo out of the air when he comes off the middle rope. 

After several big moves and near falls, Miss Kitty (who looks lovely in a red dress) distracts the referee and Jeff Jarrett is able to use the hoover (or vacuum cleaner if you’re fancy) as a weapon and pins D’Lo to retain his Intercontinental title.

Afterwards, he gets back on the mic and says he’s sick of Chyna and challenges her to a match later tonight! (He doesn’t specify whether the title will be on the line). 

The Godfather vs. Gangrel

When The Godfather enters, he does the same entranc he always does but I never seem to mention for some reason - he comes out without the hoes and the fans boo, and then he brings the hoes out. They must be able to get away with more on Sky Box Office because the four women who come out with him are all in bras and very tiny thongs. They are leaving VERY little to the imagination.

He sends them over to the announce desk and the gyrate and cuddle up to JR and Hayes. That feels like a rib on Jerry Lawler who isn’t here tonight but I’m sure would be blowing out the mics with his screaming if he was.

Even though his entrance featured attractive women in their underwear…I still prefer Gangrel’s. Love that theme song. 

The Godfather wins a short one sided match with his Hoe Train splash in the corner and then Pimp Drop death valley driver. Not much to say about this one but its fun to see a couple of the more gimmicked wrestlers.

The Godfather huddles with the hoes before sending them over to dance with Tim White the referee. He gyrates and then they get him on the mat and roll around with him. 

Backstage, Chyna is interviewed by Michael Cole who obviously accepts Jeff Jarrett’s challenge. She says that she doesn’t have penis envy but Jeff has vagina envy.

She’s then interrupted by The British Bulldog who says the people are here to see him. He doesn’t want to face “that long haired freak” X-Pac, he wants a WWF title match tonight and he’s going to find Vince McMahon.

Mark Henry vs. Val Venis

The face and heel divide is unclear here. Val plays the good guy but he turned heel on Mankind on Smackdown a couple of days ago. Mark Henry is the heel, but he’s trying to make up with D’Lo Brown and gave us that emotional speech about his sex addiction seemingly turning babyface again. But also I’m sure this card was put together weeks ago and so it doesn’t really matter.

I don’t have loads to say about this one so I’ll take this chance to talk about the real enemy on this show - air horns. The fans LOVE tooting out tunes relentlessly with air horns. Very annoying.

Val Venis wins a short, competent match clean with the Money Shot splash.

Backstage, The British Bulldog busts into the McMahon’s locker room and confronts Vince and Shane demanding a WWF title shot. In a rage, Bulldog throws a trash can which hits Stephanie McMahon! Vince and Shane flip out and scream for a medic. 

Four Corners match for the WWF Women’s Championship

Ivory © vs. Tori vs. Jacqueline vs. Luna 

Tori enters first and I swear as few matches as she’s had, she’s had entirely different ring gear every time. I’m going to say it though - I think she’s incredible looking. Jackie enters second, then Luna and then the champ, Ivory. None of the four get much of a reaction but I’d say Luna got the loudest cheer? She has been around the longest - she debuted in the WWF in 1993. 

It is nice to see the women’s division get some real time and real depth. There’s still the usual amount of rolling around in their pants and being called “cat fights” but to see four legit female wrestlers in a proper match for the title is nice. Ivory has been great too, even if these women still doing get much of a reaction from the live crowds.

The commentators spend most of this match talking about the physical well being of Stephanie McMahon. Nice job, Bulldog.

All four women get a moment to shine and in the end, Ivory retains after hitting Jackie with the WWF women’s title belt.

Backstage, Stephanie McMahon is put in a neck brace and loaded onto a stretcher by the St. Johns Ambulance men. They both look VERY much like they’re from Birmingham. Michael Cole catches up with Bulldog and says he owes Vince an apology. He refuses and says that Vince owes him an apology for not giving him a fair title shot (the one on Smackdown doesn’t count - The Rock was the referee. To be fair, he’s right). 

WWF Tag Team Champion Roaddogg vs. Chris Jericho (w/Curtis Hughes)

Roaddogg rattles off his usual pre-match promo. He’s back at full strength having Mr. Ass back as his partner, and being one half of the tag team champions again. Billy Gunn isn’t here tonight though. 

Y2J gets a great reaction - by all accounts he was unpopular backstage and the office wasn’t very high on him at this stage in his career (or so he says in his own book) but I’m enjoying what he’s doing and working with the live fans. 

Roaddogg wastes no time and attacks Jericho on the outside and they fight out into the stands and brawl through the crowd, with the referee in tow. It looks like he’s mostly there to keep the fans back! 

Once it's back in the ring, Jericho takes control but Roaddogg counters with a brutal looking hangman across the top rope and then a series of boots right to the face! This feels really heated.

The two men trade advantage back and forth and with a little help from Curtis Hughes, Y2J does manage to take over. I’d really be enjoying this match if not for the absolutely relentless tooting of the airhorns in the crowd. Over and over and over. It’s insane.

Roaddogg hits a massive superplex for a near fall and Jericho battles back with a german suplex.

As the two trade moves, the referee gets knocked down. Roadogg seems to have the match won but when he goes to check on the referee, Curtis Hughes gets in the ring and blasts Roaddogg across the back with a steel chair. In a pretty gross bit of commentary, JR starts talking about paralysis due to the back injury but Roaddogg kicks out! Another distraction from Hughes lets Jericho kick Roaddogg low and win the match.

That was a great match that felt really heated. Roaddogg has quietly had an amazing 1999, honestly. 

Footage from a fan event where The Rock and The Big Show did a signing at Virgin Records (remember them?). It was apparently so exciting that they take a moment to get a comment from a local police officer who said that the crowds have been very well behaved. That’s nice. 

Chyna vs. WWF Intercontinental Champion Jeff Jarrett (w/Miss Kitty)

The match isn’t announced as being for the Intercontinental title. Jeff just wants to settle this as a personal grudge match. I didn’t mention it earlier but it feels worth saying here - Chyna looks a bit gorgeous tonight.

Jarrett works fast and aggressively but when he goes for an axe handle off the middle rope, Chyna catches him with a low blow. Jeff counters the Pedigree attempt into a slingshot in the corner and chokes Chyna on the ropes. They’re working so fast together.

Chyna gets control and tries to set up a figure four of her own but she’s clotheslined by The British Bulldog to cause the disqualification.

Bulldog plants her with a running powerslam and then as he’s arguing with the referees Jarrett picks his spot and puts Chyna in the figure four.

No Disqualification match

The Big Show vs. Kane

These two have clashed on and off PPV a bunch of times in the past few months but with The Undertaker now gone, it feels like The Big Show has had a bit of a reset back to just being a big, mean midcarder. Their rivalry has been intense at points so it makes sense that it's no disqualification. 

The Big Show throws a dropkick and JR loses his mind!

Kane sells as The Big Show works him over including with a massive boston crab but Kane keeps coming back.

In the end, this short match’s finish comes out of no where when The Big Show gets a steel chair. Kane kicks it back in his face and then gives him an impressive bodyslam which gets a pop mostly due to the size of the two men to pin and defeat The Big Show.

Not a great match but way too short to be bad.

Michael Cole interviews Triple H and asks for his comments on The British Bulldog as well as on the Chyna and Jeff Jarrett situation. Triple H says he doesn’t give a crap about any of them including Chyna - he only cares about his WWF title and about beating The Rock tonight.

The British Bulldog vs. X-Pac

The fans give X-Pac a big cheer but in his home country, The Bulldog is roundly booed. Honestly the reaction is more polite indifference? Poor guy.

X-Pac bumps around and makes Bulldog look like a million bucks off a gorilla press and a delayed vertical suplex.

He battles back with a spinning heel kick and the Bronco Buster but Bulldog hands X-Pac crotch first across the top rope and then hits the running powerslam to win a short, spirited match clean as a whistle. 

You think they’d have let him cut a promo or something.

Backstage, Hardcore and Crash Holly have a little banter about stones vs. pounds (as in lbs) and pounds being money (as in GBP). 

The Acolytes (Bradshaw and Faarooq) vs. The Holly Cousins (Hardcore and Crash Holly) vs. Edge and Christian

Edge and Christian are officially the number one contenders for the tag team titles, but they are for some reason defending that right in this match. It’s under elimination rules.

This match is physical and The Hollys get a lot of the early shine. Crash takes a massive suplex off the top from Bradshaw and Hardcore almost eliminates The Acolytes with a jackhammer on Faarooq but a stiff clothsline from hell from Bradshaw is enough to eliminate the fighting Hollys.

The bigger men isolate Christian and wear him down with a bearhug and slams. He does try to fight out of it but is quickly shut down and Bradshaw sends him into the corner with a brutal irish whip. The fans really come alive for Christian’s hope spots and comebacks and its nice to see Edge and Christian starting to get over. 

Faarooq stops the hot tag and goes for a Dominator but its countered into a DDT and finally Edge gets the hot tag. He comes in with a pair of dropkicks and lots of fire.

Christian takes out Faarooq with a great dive to the outside and then breaks up Bradshaw’s pin on Edge after a stiff clothesline.

Bradshaw sets up Edge for a superplex but its countered into a tornado DDT and Edge pins Bradshaw to win the match. So Edge and Christian are still the number one contenders for the tag team titles.

Fair play, for a UK only PPV this one has its own dedicated video package. Bit of effort is made for the English which doesn’t happen so much anymore. The video package is worth seeing because it features all of The Rock’s antics on Smackdown as a special referee and that was all very funny.

After a full recap of all of The British Bulldog’s antics tonight (we in the UK are to be ashamed of him, says JR. Shut up, Jim. I’m not his mum).

Steel Cage match for the WWF Championship

Triple H © vs. The Rock

The Rock comes out and climbs up the cage and gives the UK faithful a classic Rock promo. They’re rabid for him (but still keep doing the airhorn while he speaks like idiots). He takes a moment to make fun of a couple of fans who have a pro-Triple H sign too and says he’s going to shove an oompa loompa up Triple H’s ass. It’s not as funny when I recap it. As it happens, The Rock also debuted his much more energetic “IF YA SMELL…” version of his theme song tonight. He’ll use that for the rest of his run as a full time performer. 

These two know each other really well by now and they work together effortlessly. They lock up and send each other into the cage early and that's how they transition between who’s in control of the match. The Rock actually dominates early and this cage match can only be won by escape with no referee in the ring. 

Triple H catches The Rock in the guts as he jumps from the top rope and focuses his attack on The Rock’s ribs and stomach.

The Rock hits a samoan drop but is too tired early to climb out. Triple H battles back with his face buster across the knee and that's how it goes - they trade big moves and then stop each other from climbing out.

The first big spot is The Rock whipping Triple H from the top of the cage down to the mat in a sort of arm drag. 

The Rock almost wins it off that and gets both his legs over the cage to the outside but Triple H is able to drag him back over. They fight on the top rope and both fall, crotching themselves face to face on the top rope in a good spot.

Triple H jumps at The Rock from the top rope and is caught in a Rock Bottom! If pinfalls counted, we’d have a new champion. 

The Rock tries to escape but a little more back and forth leads to a Pedigree! 

Triple H crawls out the door but The Rock catches his legs and pulls him back inside. Triple H grabs a steel chair and tries to drag it back in but the referee stops him (which doesn’t make sense because it's No DQ but the referee is Earl Hebner and he sucks). The referee goes down and The Rock escapes (JR screams himself hoarse at there being a new champion) but with no referee to ring the bell, the match isn’t over. Triple H follows him out and the two fight into the crowd for a moment before The Rock punches Triple H back inside. 

The two fight around the ring outside the cage but there's no referee to declare a winner. 

The Rock blasts Triple H right in the head with a steel chair and then grabs a headset to join commentary and talk some trash as Triple H begins to bleed. (it's not blood, its monkey piss says The Rock). They fight up on the announce desk (which we see are just cheap, non-gimmickd folding tables) and The Rock lays Triple H out and then dives off the apron with an elbow which breaks the table (kind of). The Rock drags Triple H back into the ring and bounces him off the cage walls. At this point he’s just waiting for the referee to wake up so he can climb out again and win. 

The Rock drops Triple H with a DDT and he starts to climb. The door is sitting wide open Rock, go that way! The British Bulldog runs to the ring and climbs the cage to meet The Rock and the two fight as they hang off the cage.

Bulldog dumps The Rock back into the ring but Shane McMahon is quick to run down and attack the Bulldog because of him hurting Stephanie. The Bulldog drops him with a running powerslam on the outside. Then Patterson and Brisco run down and Bulldog beats them up too. Davey Boy gets in the ring and beats up both men, throwing Triple H into the cage but with a low blow, The Rock stops him and then he gives Triple H another Rock Bottom. The Rock has to escape and crawls to the door but as he gets there, Chyna runs down and slams the cage door on his head. 

A bloody Triple H climbs over the cage and The Rock catches him, holding him by the hair and in an impressive spot, Triple H dangles and kicks his legs. With The Bulldog attacking him from inside and with Chyna helping from the outside Triple H manages to climb down in front of the referee and officially retain the WWF title.

The British Bulldog gives The Rock another powerslam in the ring. As Triple H leaves, Vince McMahon comes down to the ring and chains the cage door shut, trapping Bulldog inside with The Rock. The Rock revives and starts to beat up Davey Boy and plants him with a Rock Bottom and then a People’s Elbow. The Rock celebrates in the ring atop of the cage to close the PPV event.