Dark Pegasus Video Review: Rebellion 2000

Rebellion 2000 by J.D. Dunn December 2, 2000 Live from Sheffield, England. Your hosts are Jim Ross and Tazz who get along remarkably well after feuding for several weeks earlier in the year. Commissioner Mick Foley and Vice Commissioner Debra arrive for the show and announce that Triple H refused to be on the show if he couldn’t be in the main event. Debra changes the main event to a “No DQ, No COR.” Kurt Angle comes out and begs for the fatal fourway to be cancelled. All commissionary decisions are final. Three-team, Elimination Tables Match: T&A (w/Trish Stratus) vs. The Dudley Boyz vs. Edge & Christian. Pigtails for Trish tonight. Albert goes monsterish and puts a table through the Dudleyz. D-Von saves Bubba from going through a table but eats a boot from Test. Edge blind tags himself in and hits Bubba with a cheapshot. Then, he runs over and tags Test back in while Test is still getting out of the ring from the first tag. Funny. Tazz corrects the call of the backdrop/neckbreaker combo. Albert sets up a table to superplex Bubba through, but Edge & Christian sneak in and put Albert through the table to eliminate T&A at 4:29. Christian goes for a table but has a hard time finding one. Once he does, D-Von dropkicks it back into their faces. A false tag leads to more punishment for D-Von. D-Von hits Saving Grace and tags Bubba. Bubba cleans house with a sideslam but gets speared by Edge. E&C’s version of the Wazzup Drop backfires, and Edge headbutts Christian in his two wise men. The real Wazzup Drop follows. Christian tackles Edge to block the 3D but winds up getting put through the table himself with the move at 9:57. T&A didn’t add much, so this was your usual E&C versus the Dudleyz match. **1/4 Lita is happy to be in England for the first time, and she wants to reclaim her Women’s Title. WWF Women’s Title: Ivory (w/Steven Richards) vs. Lita. Ross notes that if the bun in Ivory’s hair was any tighter, “she’d look Oriental.” She’d look like a rug? Btw, the Chinese Embassy is on the phone, Jimbo. They said she’d look more like… well, you. Before the match, Ivory and Richards explain that they *had* to attack Lita at Survivor Series because she immorally shows her underwear when she wrestles. Lita storms the ring and hits a series of quick moves including a seated dropkick. She snaps Richards’ throat off the top rope using his tie. He distracts Lita long enough for Ivory to jump her from behind. A Northern Lights Suplex gets two for Ivory, but Lita comes back with a headscissors. She hits the Twist of Fate but stops to wipe Richards out with a suicida. Lita comes back in with a sunset flip, but Richards reaches in and keeps Ivory from going over. Ivory picks up the pin and the win at 2:56. Not bad, outside of Lita’s dropkicks. ** Finally, The Rock has come back to Sheffield. And he has tiny glasses that don’t fit his head. Hardcore Title: Steve Blackman vs. Perry Saturn. They do a little actual wrestling first, but Perry takes things to the floor with a plancha. Ross and Tazz debate the difference between a “slobberknocker” and a “rocketbustah.” Blackman goes low with a metal shelf and hits Saturn in the back of the head with it. Blackman wedges a trash can in the ropes but gets drop toeholded into it. Saturn nails him with a metal sheet and gets two. A Crucifix gets two for Saturn. Blackman gets tossed and tries to skin-the-cat, but Saturn nails him in the face with the shelf. Saturn tries a tope, but Blackman hauls off and nails him in the face with the shelf. Blackman gets medieval on him with the weapons and bicycle kicks the chair back into Saturn’s face. That picks up the win at 6:02. Brisk little match. **1/4 William Regal talks about how amazing it is to be home again, especially since England doesn’t have any worthwhile heroes. European Title: William Regal vs. Crash Holly (w/Molly Holly). Crash attacks during Regal’s long pre-match promo. Regal beats him back and hits a suplex. A chinlock follows. Crash counters a hiptoss to a rollup for two. Regal stays on top with a high-crotch suplex for two. The Goku-Raku Stretch kills some time, and Regal puts his feet on the ropes like a good little heel. Crash comes back with a huracanrana, but Regal blocks his headscissors and hits a facebuster at 4:33. Oh, but Crash’s foot was on the ropes. The ref turns to the ring announcer to restart the match, so Molly comes off the top with a missile dropkick. Crash covers as the ref turns around and picks up the European Title at 4:59. Regal attacks the Hollys from behind and leaves with the title. *3/4 Backstage, Kurt Angle asks Chris Benoit to help him retain the title tonight. Benoit bares more than a passing resemblance to Jack Bauer here. Mixed Tag: “The One” Billy Gunn & Chyna vs. Eddy Guerrero & Dean Malenko. Eddy screwed around on Chyna, leading to the dissolution of their relationship. Billy Gunn told him to leave her alone because Billy is her friend and all, so we get this match. Eddy jumps the Gunn (heh) and dropkicks his leg out from his… leg. Gunn comes back with a tilt-o-whirl slam. Eddy begs off, but Gunn hits him with a clothesline. The Radicalz get whipped into one another, and the faces hit stereo Military Presses. The Radicalz take a breather. Malenko tries to put Chyna in a Texas Cloverleaf, but she counters to a small package. Eddy trips her up from the floor, though. She plays face-in-peril. You know, usually it’s the more talented member of the team who plays face-in-peril, so what does that tell you about the dynamics of the face team? Chyna goes low on Dean who was trying to slip over her shoulder. Billy gets the hot tag and double clotheslines the Radz. Dean runs into a powerslam, but Eddy makes the save. Dean takes the Fameasser. Eddy has to save again. Finally, Gunn hits the Cobra Clutch Slam on Dean to pick up the win at 7:27. Dean and Eddy should have cheated to win here, given the flow of the match, but it was an okay formula contest otherwise. **1/4 Chris Jericho vs. Kane. Ugh. What a useless feud this was. Jericho avoids an elbowdrop and takes Kane to the floor with a clothesline. Back in, Kane catches him with a powerslam and pummels Jericho. Kane grabs a Hangman, but Jericho shoves himself off the ropes to counter. Jericho comes off the top with a missile dropkick for two. He rolls Kane up for two but segues into a Walls of Jericho. Kane is too big, though, and he grabs Jericho for the chokeslam. Jericho slips out and hits a facebuster, but the Lionsault finds Kane’s knees. That sets up the chokeslam at 8:05. This was like a dress rehearsal for their Last Man Standing match at Armageddon. It was actually better, though. Jericho attacks Kane with a chair and puts him in the Walls. *3/4 Backstage, Trish Stratus makes fun of Lita for not winning the title earlier. She gets her lovely, smooth, round, supple ass handed to her as well as getting stripped down to her bra. WWF Tag Team Titles: The Right to Censor (w/Val Venis) vs. The Hardy Boyz. The RTC attacks the Boyz during their pre-match pose. The Hardyz hit stereo planchas, though. Bull and Jeff start. Jeff hits a headscissors but stops to play to the crowd and gets nailed by the Goodfather. Bright. Matt gets the tag and goes for the Twist of Fate. Val tries to use the tag title to break it up, but it backfires. Val makes up for it, posting Matt on the floor. Matt plays face-in-peril with the RTC working on his shoulder. Matt dives for a tag, but Goodfather catches him and slams him down with a spinebuster. The Hosanna Train misses, and Jeff gets the hot tag. The Hardyz run through their usual. Jeff covers after the Swanton, but Val Venis comes off the top with the splash. Goodfather covers, and the champs retain at 8:06. Not bad because the Hardyz are willing to bump around to make things interesting. **1/2 In the back, Edge & Christian refuse to help Kurt Angle. Elsewhere, The Radicalz jump the Undertaker from behind and injure his leg. The Undertaker vs. Chris Benoit. Oh, the jokes that could be made about his one. This would be the only major bout between the two (as in, on PPV), which is odd because this match isn’t bad at all and they had plenty of opportunities to do an extended feud. Taker doesn’t show up right away, so Benoit demands to take the win by forfeit. Sadly, after this PPV, Taker’s music would switch from “American Badass” to “Rollin’.” Not that I favor either one musically, but the Kid Rock tune seemed to fit much better. Taker does show up eventually, of course, and Benoit dives right at his leg like a – well, a rabid wolverine. Taker comes back with a press slam and the Old-School Ropewalk Forearm. Taker is doing the kind of selling that I hate. He has a bad leg, so he just does the move as he normally would do it and then grabs the leg. Big “Benoit sucks” chant. Taker pummels Benoit and tosses him into the barricade. A bearhug works the back more. Benoit fights out of it but runs right into a boot. Finally, Benoit slips out of a Tombstone and dropkicks Taker in the knee. Benoit ties him up with an Indian Deathlock, but Taker punches out of it. Benoit dropkicks the knee again and puts him in a leglock. Taker spins out of it but walks right into another low dropkick. FIGURE-FOUR! Taker rolls it over, but Benoit makes the ropes and goes back to the leg. A Swandive Headbutt to the leg sets up another figure-four attempt, but Taker reverses to a small package for the win at 12:18. Taker’s unwillingness to sell the leg other than for transitions dragged this down from the heights it could have reached. Check out his 2006 match with Kurt Angle for an example of what Taker could do with a fine mat wrestler when fully motivated. He looked like he just wanted to collect his appearance fee here. *** WWF Heavyweight Title, Fatal Four-way: Kurt Angle vs. Steve Austin vs. The Rock vs. Rikishi. Rock gets a huge pop, but that is absolutely DWARFED by Austin’s entrance. The faces clean house on the heels. Austin hits a spinebuster for two, but Rikishi yanks Austin to the floor. Rock sneaks in and gets two off a Samoan Drop. Rock tosses Angle, and he and Austin pinball Rikishi in between each other. Angle tries to leave with his belt but gets nailed from behind by the Rock. Austin hits Rikishi with the Thesz Press and then adds one to Angle. Rikishi hits Rock with a buttalanche, but the Rock goes low to avoid the Stinkface. A spinebuster sets up the People’s Elbow. Angle makes the save, and the heels take over for a bit. Austin and Rock use their Wondertwin powers to clear the ring and then go toe-to-toe. SLUGFEST! The sound you hear is Vince’s giddy “cha-ching” as the crowd erupts. Rock misses a swing and gets Stunnered. Rikishi and Angle make the save, though. Austin nails them both and stomps a mudhole in Kurt. Rock recovers and waits for Austin. ROCK BOTTOM! ONE, TWO, THRE-Rikishi pulls the ref out. Rock stops to argue and gets Angleslammed. No ref, though. Austin rolls Kurt up as the ref gets back in. He only gets two, though. Edge & Christian run in and attack Austin and the Rock. The Radicalz follow and save Rikishi from taking the fall to a Stunner. That leaves Angle and Rikishi. Angle gives him the Angleslam and picks up the win at 8:50. After the match, the Radicalz beatdown Austin and the Rock, but the faces make their own save. Benoit returns and goes after Rock again but eats a Rock Bottom. This was practically a tornado tag with a few exceptions. It was as good, and maybe a little better than the Hell in a Cell a few days later. Austin and Rock argue about the match but decide to bond over a beer. ***1/4

The 411: Not a bad show at all. The undercard is filled with average-to-decent matches, and the uppercard features one of the few Benoit versus Undertaker matches as well as a fine four-way match. Thumbs up.
Final Score:  7.0   [ Good ]