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Welcome to My (And Not Sly's) House
Rebellion 2001
Date: November 3, 2001
Location: M.E.N. Arena, Manchester, England
Attendance: 15,612
Commentators: Jim Ross, Paul Heyman
I continue my war on Europe here with the next to last European PPV, Rebellion 2001. This is at the very tail end of the Alliance era so the main event is Austin vs. Rock for the title. Well you cant say theyre giving us a weak main event. This card actually looks great on paper, but Ive been fooled by stuff like that before. That being said, lets get to it.
The opening video is of course about Austin vs. Rock. Could it be about anything else? A lot of the audio clips are from the Mania buildup also which is fine. Ross doesnt exactly seem huge on being here tonight. Theres a WCW Title match tonight with Angle, who just joined the Alliance, challenging Jericho.
Intercontinental Title: Christian vs. Edge
This is in a cage. Well you cant say theyre starting slowly here. Christian is European Champion here and Edge is IC Champion. Christian won his title the Tuesday before this in America. In other words, the Canadian won the European Title in America but isnt defending the European Title in Europe against a Canadian but will when he gets back to America. Well it was the WORLD Wrestling Federation.
Theyre still brothers at this point. Christian tries to run early on which gets him nowhere. Why couldnt this be on that Inside the Steel Cage thing I watched recently? Edge misses a spear and his shoulder hits the post. Its pin, submission or escape here. Back breaker gets two for Christian. Its weird seeing him in the shirt and with long hair still.
Ross says Edge has spent more time on the canvas than Rembrandt. The match has been going on less than five minutes and hes already busting out the metaphors. Christian almost gets out but Edge makes the DIVING, yes DIVING I say, save. Almost all Christian here. And of course as I say that Edge gets a release Gordbuster from the middle rope and a cross body for two.
And we hit the chinlock for awhile now. Ross: we would never be argumentative. Paul: I disagree with that. Funny stuff. Another good one: Ross: you never praised Christian this much before he joined the Alliance. Paul: we werent paying him then. These two are awesome together. Edge gets a spear out of NOWHERE to put Christian down but he cant capitalize.
Edgecution gets two. I still like that better as a finisher than the Spear. Edge-O-Matic gets less than three as well. They slug it out and Christian eats cage. Christian gets one leg over the top and thats about it. In a very fun ending, Christian gets most of the way out as in he needs to drop to get out.
Edge grabs his boots and crotches him against the cage. He takes the tape off his wrists and ties Christians boots together and climbs out to win it. That was a nice little ending and it worked much better than most of the other generic endings you usually get. Also nice to see an escape rather than a stupid pin or something.
Rating: C. Pretty basic stuff here but the crowd was into it and things went pretty well here, especially considering its not like this is anything special outside of a big house show. The ending really helped it out a lot. A good ending like that can work wonders for something like this and it certainly did here.
We recap Angle joining the Alliance which wound up being a ploy by Vince to make the WWF Team win at Survivor Series.
Chavo is interviewing the Divas tonight. Bill DeMott comes up and says that HE is doing that tonight. These two were fired from the Alliance and were doing some weird fired angle that went nowhere. Theyll do the interviews tonight apparently. Trish has no shirt on and they get all nervous. She suggests they talk to Lita. More on this later I guess. Great.
Scotty 2 Hotty vs. The Hurricane
Heymans intro for Hurricane is great stuff. Basic stuff to start so far with nothing really going on early on. Hurricane (Gregory/Shane Helms) is in the Alliance here. This is just going nowhere at all. The bulldog to set up the Worm is blocked. Crowd is more or less dead here. Helms gets a Blockbuster for two.
We get whats called a Ne-Han in No Mercy from the Hurricane. You cross the other guys arms in an X shape and pull back on them like a camel clutch. And then Hurricane lets it go to put on his cape. And so much for that as Scotty gets a DDT and both guys are down. and both guys are down. Kick by Scotty gets two.
Hurricane does a Worm of his own which doesnt work. Chokeslam gets two. A rollup with ropes gets two. Eye of the Hurricane is blocked into the bulldog and theres the Worm. I hate that move. Since its a chop to the neck after the other guy has forever to get better, it gets the in.
Rating: D. This match sucked. It was just boring on all accounts and the fans could tell. This should have been a dark match so of course they let it go on the actual show. Scotty was over for absolutely no apparent reason. This went nowhere at all and was boring beyond belief. Also, the freaking Worm got the pin. Get on to something else.
Trish tries to get the fired dudes the interview with Lita. Shes in her underwear and looks DAMN good in her yellow thong. She throws them out.
DDP is the way too happy guy at this point. He thinks England is way too depressed. Sweet damn Vince never got this guy at all.
Diamond Dallas Page vs. Big Show
Make this quick. The only good thing about their match at Starrcade was the ending. It has to be better here right? Also get Page his Nirvana knockoff song. Show is in the one piece swimsuit here. Show goes straight at him and Page is in trouble. Heyman wants to know why Show doesnt pick on someone his own size. That would be because there is no one his own size according to JR.
Ross talks about Shows weight in stones. Heyman says at least as much as Richards and Jagger combined. The commentary has been awesome tonight. DDP goes for the leg to take him down for a change. He gets kind of a jumping fist off the top which is supposed to be a clothesline. Figure four is blocked by Show. Chokeslam is blocked into the Diamond Cutter for no cover because Page is down but eventually gets two. Chokeslam ends it soon thereafter.
Rating: N/A. Boring match that was more or less a squash. When the Diamond Cutter gets two, you know DDP is dead. This went nowhere at all for the most part and at least it was short.
Post match Page says that wasnt a bad thing but rather a good thing because now he gets to leave England.
The fired dudes go in and Molly has no mask but is in her superhero outfit. Shes mad that they saw her without her cape. These segments suck and hard.
Shane is talking to Austin, Angle and Debra. They shouldnt be worried about Survivor Series bur rather tonight. The table theyre at is round and you know the lines Angle is going to use. Shane is Merlin. When Angle got way into stuff he was hilarious.
WCW Tag Titles: Dudley Boys vs. Hardy Boyz vs. APA
The Dudleyz have the belts here. And remember, D-Von is the weak one. This is under elimination rules. No Stacy here with the Dudleys which is a shame as she looked awesome in those camo shorts. The Hardys were on the verge of having some problems. Bubba vs. Matt starts us off. Ok so there is more or less ZERO reason for the APA to tag in to start right?
Bubba looks odd for some reason. I think its the lack of wrist tape. Bradshaw in now vs. Matt. The fans boo which they claim is due to Matt getting beaten down but Im not so sure on that one. Are you sure its not due to the show kind of sucking? The APA beats up Jeff as the fans want tables. It should be noted that one of the six guys here ever wrestled in WCW and hes also the one that has most recently appeared on WWE Television.
Theyre just killing time here to get one of the teams, likely the APA, out. Fallaway Slam to D-Von from the middle rope gets no cover. The Hardys go to the floor for a bit leaving Farooq in trouble. They run in just in time to hit a Twist of Fate on Farrooq to end him and get us down to the predictable tag match.
D-Von gets out some tables to a huge face pop. Jeff gets a nice baseball slide to take him out as the table is driven into his face. It turns into the basic match between these two which while ok isnt anything special. They talk about Lennox Lewis fighting D-Von or something like that. Heyman really likes talking about the Dudleys and their resume.
Now well talk about Angle vs. Jericho as there is nothing that hasnt been said about these teams already I suppose. Jeff crotches Bubba on the top and gets a rana for two. D-Von and Matt both come in with Matt naturally taking control. Poetry in Motion to Bubba and then to D-Von. The Swanton misses D-Von though and Matt walks into a bad 3D to retain.
Rating: D+. And so what? I mean seriously, who cares at this point? These teams feuded for so long and so many times that it got boring beyond belief to watch them fight again and again. I think the Dudleys beat them in a cage match at Survivor Series which was the final match between them. APA had no business being there so they were there anyway. Nothing special here at all.
Dont try this at home. Try it away from home though.
Heyman is in Dudley glasses.
We see some stuff of Jericho accidently hitting Rock which cost them a tag match. Its not like this match is happening anytime soon or that theyre fighting tonight. Were just trying to waste some time.
Vince is talking to Jericho and Rock is apparently on the other side of him. He wants them to bury the hatchet so they can beat the Alliance. They need to get along tonight. Why do they need to get along tonight? Who cares I guess, but Vince orders it so be it. They shake hands and Jericho says try not to lose another big one. Rock says he has something Jericho can take to the ring with him and drills him before a bunch of suits break it up.
Tajiri vs. William Regal
Before we get started Regal says hes their role model. He makes fun of David Beckham and Man U. Tajiri is Cruiserweight Champion at this point. DAMN Tajiri could throw some kicks. Regal gets into a grappling match where of course hes going to dominate. This isnt much more than a midcard match but at least they had been feuding recently so this makes sense. Regal gets a modified Tazmission more or less on Tajiri who comes back anyway.
Something tells me this isnt going to last long. Tajiri gets crotched on the top rope as Regal keeps control. He chops the living hell out of Regal as the fans arent exactly thrilled by this. Missile dropkick gets two. Handspring elbow hits to pop the crowd a bit. Tarantula hooks Regal and Tajiri goes up for the moonsault and crashes. Regal Stretch ends it immediately afterwards.
Rating: D+. Nothing special at all here with Tajiri having maybe a minute of offense total. This was more filler which theyve been spacing apart pretty badly so far tonight. This went nowhere as did the feud due to the whole Alliance thing dying off soon after this. They were better as a comedy tag team.
Tajiri spits mist in his face post match.
Angle runs down British fans and makes fun of the name Y2J. This involves singing the Mickey Mouse Club song.
WCW World Title: Chris Jericho vs. Kurt Angle
Well this should be awesome. That big old WCW belt looks great on Jericho. Angle is the US Champion apparently. Its still the old belt design which I actually like less than the current one which isnt typical for me. They hit the mat almost immediately with Jericho throwing punches and forearms, making this almost like an MMA fight, at least in spirit.
Spinwheel kick takes down Angle for no cover. Three Amigos hit before they have a name. Walls cant hook on so Jericho hits the springboard dropkick to send Angle to the floor. Jericho follows and chops the hell out of Angle. Back in the ring and Angle almost gets the ankle lock. Angles shoulder eats post. Well not really as theres no opening there or anything but you get the concept.
Angle gets the momentum and starts busting out the suplexes. He goes for the Walls as we begin the countdown to Jericho hooking the ankle lock on him. Angle cant get it anyway so its not like it really matters. We hit the chinlock as the fans are WAY behind Jericho here. How un-American they are indeed. Jericho gets a rolling cradle for two.
And then back to the chinlock as theyre kind of wasting time here. Enziguri counters the ankle lock and everyone other than the referee is down. Jericho cranks it up a bit and gets a rana for two. Yep I was right. Jericho rolls through a victory roll and grabs the ankle lock. A rope is grabbed shortly thereafter anyway so its not like it meant anything. Rolling Germans have Jericho in trouble.
Theres the real ankle lock but Jericho counters into the Walls. Lionsault eats knees though and its Angle Slam time. So much for that though as Angle gets rolled up for the pin and Jericho retains. How often do you see a clean finish between these two? I cant think of one with about as limited thinking as possible.
Rating: B-. Nothing that special here but it was ok for the most part. These two always work well together for the most part and they had a decent match here. I still dont like the way it sounds when they say this was for the WCW Title as that always sounded really odd. Decent match but theyve had better.
Angle beats up Jericho after the match.
Cole asks how Rock can focus on Jericho. Rock calls him a great journalists. Thank goodness he doesnt remember that line. And so much for that as Rock implies that Cole is gay. To be fair he says it doesnt matter. Solid Rock promo here as always and dare I say, vintage?
Mighty Molly/Stacy Keibler vs. Lita/Torrie Wilson
Trish is referee here due to reasons of hotness. It says a lot when Molly is the least attractive person in a match. Stacy in camo top and leather skirt works to put it mildly. Heyman says he and Lita wear the same style of underwear. Oh dear. Stacy and Torrie start us off. This is more or less about what you would expect. Trish cant do much in the ring yet so Lita and Molly are going to be carrying this one.
Apparently over 50,000 tickets were sold in an hour for Mania 18. Molly comes in as were waiting for Lita to come in and clean house. Stacy does the leg choke to a pop. Lita gets knocked down and the heels double team for a bit. Make your own orgy jokes. Molly does what she can but Torrie is kind of uncarryable. Theres Lita and its over in less than a minute with the Twist of Fate to Molly.
Rating: D. The match sucked but the girls looked good. Thats all there is to this and thats all there was ever going to be on this.
Post match Trish hits Stacy with a horrible bulldog.
We recap Rock vs. Austin which is more or less billed as a Mania rematch which isnt true but whatever. Its more Alliance vs. WWF stuff in short. One thing I never got: Austin says hes leaving the WWF to find better competition. If hes fighting WWF guys isnt he fighting the same competition hes always been fighting? They clip a good portion of this from the Mania package.
WWF World Title: The Rock vs. Steve Austin
Not a bad main event I wouldnt think. Austin jumps Rock as hes posing on the ropes. You dont interrupt the Rocks posing! Rock chops away and hits a swinging neckbreaker before the vest comes off the champion. Rock Bottom doesnt hit as Austin goes over the top. On the floor now and water is spit into Austins face.
They fight up the ramp and you cant see a freaking thing. Ah theres a spotlight. Much better. Rock reverses a suplex on the stage and Austin bounces off the steel. Austin wants a Piledriver but he winds up bouncing off the stage again. Back towards the ring now and its still mostly Rock. That is until he takes a slingshot and bounces head first off the post.
Austin flips off the crowd and almost gets caught in a rollup. It only gets two though and right back onto offense for Austin. They head to the floor even more and onto the announce table. Rock blocks another Piledriver and gets off. WHAT IS THE FUCKING DEAL WITH THE AIRHORNS? Do you British people think those are cool or something? Knock it off!
Theyve been in the ring about two minutes out of maybe ten. Austin chokes him with the cables and then they chop it out. He drops Rock on the table again and might have hurt his knee. Back in the ring for a change and Austin lands the Thesz Press. The screw you elbow gets two as theres a good deal of time left in this. Austin wastes time by yelling at the crowd and Rock comes back with some of Austins stuff, including the elbow for two.
We get a sleeper by the bald one. Doesnt it amaze you that the rear naked choke takes like a few seconds to get a submission but a sleeper can last like a minute and the guy is fine? Naturally Rocks arm goes up at the third drop like the hero that he is. Naturally Rock gets a sleeper on Austin because thats just how things work. Also just how things work, his lasts like four seconds.
Austin gets a Boston Crab for no apparent reason. Its more like a Liontamer than anything else which makes it more awesome. The look on Austins face is downright creepy looking. Rock gets about his 9th wind and takes over again with a belly to belly for two. And there goes the referee of course. Stunner is blocked and Austin walks into a spinebuster and the Sharpshooter which doesnt make Austin tap but theres no referee.
Austin puts Rock in the Sharpshooter on Rock and its somehow better than Rocks. Ok scratch that it sucks. And now Rock has it on Austin until Angle runs down and pops Rock with the chair. Cue Jericho who Ill bet is going to hit Rock with the chair. Jericho gets Angle out and Rock sees him with the chair, thinking it was him that popped him with it. And there they go.
Rock Bottom hits Austin and theres still no referee. Angle is back in now and takes care of Rock again. DAMN that referee can stay down through a lot. That didnt last long as another spinebuster takes Austin down again. Angle breaks up the elbow with a belt shot though and a Stunner keeps the title on Austin.
Rating: B. These two have great matches time after time and this wasnt their best but still was solid. This felt like a major match like it was supposed to be and thats really all you can ask for at a show like this. Pretty good match and long with over twenty minutes. This was solid enough stuff but the ton of run-ins and the long ref bump kind of hurt it. Solid main event.
Overall Rating: C+. This was better than most of these shows but still nothing great. There is some solid stuff here but the problem is that its all been done before and been done far better than it was here. Im not a fan of these shows at all as they never are much of anything but this was better than the majority of them. Nothing really worth seeing specifically but Ive seen far worse shows. This was ok.
Date: November 3, 2001
Location: M.E.N. Arena, Manchester, England
Attendance: 15,612
Commentators: Jim Ross, Paul Heyman
I continue my war on Europe here with the next to last European PPV, Rebellion 2001. This is at the very tail end of the Alliance era so the main event is Austin vs. Rock for the title. Well you cant say theyre giving us a weak main event. This card actually looks great on paper, but Ive been fooled by stuff like that before. That being said, lets get to it.
The opening video is of course about Austin vs. Rock. Could it be about anything else? A lot of the audio clips are from the Mania buildup also which is fine. Ross doesnt exactly seem huge on being here tonight. Theres a WCW Title match tonight with Angle, who just joined the Alliance, challenging Jericho.
Intercontinental Title: Christian vs. Edge
This is in a cage. Well you cant say theyre starting slowly here. Christian is European Champion here and Edge is IC Champion. Christian won his title the Tuesday before this in America. In other words, the Canadian won the European Title in America but isnt defending the European Title in Europe against a Canadian but will when he gets back to America. Well it was the WORLD Wrestling Federation.
Theyre still brothers at this point. Christian tries to run early on which gets him nowhere. Why couldnt this be on that Inside the Steel Cage thing I watched recently? Edge misses a spear and his shoulder hits the post. Its pin, submission or escape here. Back breaker gets two for Christian. Its weird seeing him in the shirt and with long hair still.
Ross says Edge has spent more time on the canvas than Rembrandt. The match has been going on less than five minutes and hes already busting out the metaphors. Christian almost gets out but Edge makes the DIVING, yes DIVING I say, save. Almost all Christian here. And of course as I say that Edge gets a release Gordbuster from the middle rope and a cross body for two.
And we hit the chinlock for awhile now. Ross: we would never be argumentative. Paul: I disagree with that. Funny stuff. Another good one: Ross: you never praised Christian this much before he joined the Alliance. Paul: we werent paying him then. These two are awesome together. Edge gets a spear out of NOWHERE to put Christian down but he cant capitalize.
Edgecution gets two. I still like that better as a finisher than the Spear. Edge-O-Matic gets less than three as well. They slug it out and Christian eats cage. Christian gets one leg over the top and thats about it. In a very fun ending, Christian gets most of the way out as in he needs to drop to get out.
Edge grabs his boots and crotches him against the cage. He takes the tape off his wrists and ties Christians boots together and climbs out to win it. That was a nice little ending and it worked much better than most of the other generic endings you usually get. Also nice to see an escape rather than a stupid pin or something.
Rating: C. Pretty basic stuff here but the crowd was into it and things went pretty well here, especially considering its not like this is anything special outside of a big house show. The ending really helped it out a lot. A good ending like that can work wonders for something like this and it certainly did here.
We recap Angle joining the Alliance which wound up being a ploy by Vince to make the WWF Team win at Survivor Series.
Chavo is interviewing the Divas tonight. Bill DeMott comes up and says that HE is doing that tonight. These two were fired from the Alliance and were doing some weird fired angle that went nowhere. Theyll do the interviews tonight apparently. Trish has no shirt on and they get all nervous. She suggests they talk to Lita. More on this later I guess. Great.
Scotty 2 Hotty vs. The Hurricane
Heymans intro for Hurricane is great stuff. Basic stuff to start so far with nothing really going on early on. Hurricane (Gregory/Shane Helms) is in the Alliance here. This is just going nowhere at all. The bulldog to set up the Worm is blocked. Crowd is more or less dead here. Helms gets a Blockbuster for two.
We get whats called a Ne-Han in No Mercy from the Hurricane. You cross the other guys arms in an X shape and pull back on them like a camel clutch. And then Hurricane lets it go to put on his cape. And so much for that as Scotty gets a DDT and both guys are down. and both guys are down. Kick by Scotty gets two.
Hurricane does a Worm of his own which doesnt work. Chokeslam gets two. A rollup with ropes gets two. Eye of the Hurricane is blocked into the bulldog and theres the Worm. I hate that move. Since its a chop to the neck after the other guy has forever to get better, it gets the in.
Rating: D. This match sucked. It was just boring on all accounts and the fans could tell. This should have been a dark match so of course they let it go on the actual show. Scotty was over for absolutely no apparent reason. This went nowhere at all and was boring beyond belief. Also, the freaking Worm got the pin. Get on to something else.
Trish tries to get the fired dudes the interview with Lita. Shes in her underwear and looks DAMN good in her yellow thong. She throws them out.
DDP is the way too happy guy at this point. He thinks England is way too depressed. Sweet damn Vince never got this guy at all.
Diamond Dallas Page vs. Big Show
Make this quick. The only good thing about their match at Starrcade was the ending. It has to be better here right? Also get Page his Nirvana knockoff song. Show is in the one piece swimsuit here. Show goes straight at him and Page is in trouble. Heyman wants to know why Show doesnt pick on someone his own size. That would be because there is no one his own size according to JR.
Ross talks about Shows weight in stones. Heyman says at least as much as Richards and Jagger combined. The commentary has been awesome tonight. DDP goes for the leg to take him down for a change. He gets kind of a jumping fist off the top which is supposed to be a clothesline. Figure four is blocked by Show. Chokeslam is blocked into the Diamond Cutter for no cover because Page is down but eventually gets two. Chokeslam ends it soon thereafter.
Rating: N/A. Boring match that was more or less a squash. When the Diamond Cutter gets two, you know DDP is dead. This went nowhere at all for the most part and at least it was short.
Post match Page says that wasnt a bad thing but rather a good thing because now he gets to leave England.
The fired dudes go in and Molly has no mask but is in her superhero outfit. Shes mad that they saw her without her cape. These segments suck and hard.
Shane is talking to Austin, Angle and Debra. They shouldnt be worried about Survivor Series bur rather tonight. The table theyre at is round and you know the lines Angle is going to use. Shane is Merlin. When Angle got way into stuff he was hilarious.
WCW Tag Titles: Dudley Boys vs. Hardy Boyz vs. APA
The Dudleyz have the belts here. And remember, D-Von is the weak one. This is under elimination rules. No Stacy here with the Dudleys which is a shame as she looked awesome in those camo shorts. The Hardys were on the verge of having some problems. Bubba vs. Matt starts us off. Ok so there is more or less ZERO reason for the APA to tag in to start right?
Bubba looks odd for some reason. I think its the lack of wrist tape. Bradshaw in now vs. Matt. The fans boo which they claim is due to Matt getting beaten down but Im not so sure on that one. Are you sure its not due to the show kind of sucking? The APA beats up Jeff as the fans want tables. It should be noted that one of the six guys here ever wrestled in WCW and hes also the one that has most recently appeared on WWE Television.
Theyre just killing time here to get one of the teams, likely the APA, out. Fallaway Slam to D-Von from the middle rope gets no cover. The Hardys go to the floor for a bit leaving Farooq in trouble. They run in just in time to hit a Twist of Fate on Farrooq to end him and get us down to the predictable tag match.
D-Von gets out some tables to a huge face pop. Jeff gets a nice baseball slide to take him out as the table is driven into his face. It turns into the basic match between these two which while ok isnt anything special. They talk about Lennox Lewis fighting D-Von or something like that. Heyman really likes talking about the Dudleys and their resume.
Now well talk about Angle vs. Jericho as there is nothing that hasnt been said about these teams already I suppose. Jeff crotches Bubba on the top and gets a rana for two. D-Von and Matt both come in with Matt naturally taking control. Poetry in Motion to Bubba and then to D-Von. The Swanton misses D-Von though and Matt walks into a bad 3D to retain.
Rating: D+. And so what? I mean seriously, who cares at this point? These teams feuded for so long and so many times that it got boring beyond belief to watch them fight again and again. I think the Dudleys beat them in a cage match at Survivor Series which was the final match between them. APA had no business being there so they were there anyway. Nothing special here at all.
Dont try this at home. Try it away from home though.
Heyman is in Dudley glasses.
We see some stuff of Jericho accidently hitting Rock which cost them a tag match. Its not like this match is happening anytime soon or that theyre fighting tonight. Were just trying to waste some time.
Vince is talking to Jericho and Rock is apparently on the other side of him. He wants them to bury the hatchet so they can beat the Alliance. They need to get along tonight. Why do they need to get along tonight? Who cares I guess, but Vince orders it so be it. They shake hands and Jericho says try not to lose another big one. Rock says he has something Jericho can take to the ring with him and drills him before a bunch of suits break it up.
Tajiri vs. William Regal
Before we get started Regal says hes their role model. He makes fun of David Beckham and Man U. Tajiri is Cruiserweight Champion at this point. DAMN Tajiri could throw some kicks. Regal gets into a grappling match where of course hes going to dominate. This isnt much more than a midcard match but at least they had been feuding recently so this makes sense. Regal gets a modified Tazmission more or less on Tajiri who comes back anyway.
Something tells me this isnt going to last long. Tajiri gets crotched on the top rope as Regal keeps control. He chops the living hell out of Regal as the fans arent exactly thrilled by this. Missile dropkick gets two. Handspring elbow hits to pop the crowd a bit. Tarantula hooks Regal and Tajiri goes up for the moonsault and crashes. Regal Stretch ends it immediately afterwards.
Rating: D+. Nothing special at all here with Tajiri having maybe a minute of offense total. This was more filler which theyve been spacing apart pretty badly so far tonight. This went nowhere as did the feud due to the whole Alliance thing dying off soon after this. They were better as a comedy tag team.
Tajiri spits mist in his face post match.
Angle runs down British fans and makes fun of the name Y2J. This involves singing the Mickey Mouse Club song.
WCW World Title: Chris Jericho vs. Kurt Angle
Well this should be awesome. That big old WCW belt looks great on Jericho. Angle is the US Champion apparently. Its still the old belt design which I actually like less than the current one which isnt typical for me. They hit the mat almost immediately with Jericho throwing punches and forearms, making this almost like an MMA fight, at least in spirit.
Spinwheel kick takes down Angle for no cover. Three Amigos hit before they have a name. Walls cant hook on so Jericho hits the springboard dropkick to send Angle to the floor. Jericho follows and chops the hell out of Angle. Back in the ring and Angle almost gets the ankle lock. Angles shoulder eats post. Well not really as theres no opening there or anything but you get the concept.
Angle gets the momentum and starts busting out the suplexes. He goes for the Walls as we begin the countdown to Jericho hooking the ankle lock on him. Angle cant get it anyway so its not like it really matters. We hit the chinlock as the fans are WAY behind Jericho here. How un-American they are indeed. Jericho gets a rolling cradle for two.
And then back to the chinlock as theyre kind of wasting time here. Enziguri counters the ankle lock and everyone other than the referee is down. Jericho cranks it up a bit and gets a rana for two. Yep I was right. Jericho rolls through a victory roll and grabs the ankle lock. A rope is grabbed shortly thereafter anyway so its not like it meant anything. Rolling Germans have Jericho in trouble.
Theres the real ankle lock but Jericho counters into the Walls. Lionsault eats knees though and its Angle Slam time. So much for that though as Angle gets rolled up for the pin and Jericho retains. How often do you see a clean finish between these two? I cant think of one with about as limited thinking as possible.
Rating: B-. Nothing that special here but it was ok for the most part. These two always work well together for the most part and they had a decent match here. I still dont like the way it sounds when they say this was for the WCW Title as that always sounded really odd. Decent match but theyve had better.
Angle beats up Jericho after the match.
Cole asks how Rock can focus on Jericho. Rock calls him a great journalists. Thank goodness he doesnt remember that line. And so much for that as Rock implies that Cole is gay. To be fair he says it doesnt matter. Solid Rock promo here as always and dare I say, vintage?
Mighty Molly/Stacy Keibler vs. Lita/Torrie Wilson
Trish is referee here due to reasons of hotness. It says a lot when Molly is the least attractive person in a match. Stacy in camo top and leather skirt works to put it mildly. Heyman says he and Lita wear the same style of underwear. Oh dear. Stacy and Torrie start us off. This is more or less about what you would expect. Trish cant do much in the ring yet so Lita and Molly are going to be carrying this one.
Apparently over 50,000 tickets were sold in an hour for Mania 18. Molly comes in as were waiting for Lita to come in and clean house. Stacy does the leg choke to a pop. Lita gets knocked down and the heels double team for a bit. Make your own orgy jokes. Molly does what she can but Torrie is kind of uncarryable. Theres Lita and its over in less than a minute with the Twist of Fate to Molly.
Rating: D. The match sucked but the girls looked good. Thats all there is to this and thats all there was ever going to be on this.
Post match Trish hits Stacy with a horrible bulldog.
We recap Rock vs. Austin which is more or less billed as a Mania rematch which isnt true but whatever. Its more Alliance vs. WWF stuff in short. One thing I never got: Austin says hes leaving the WWF to find better competition. If hes fighting WWF guys isnt he fighting the same competition hes always been fighting? They clip a good portion of this from the Mania package.
WWF World Title: The Rock vs. Steve Austin
Not a bad main event I wouldnt think. Austin jumps Rock as hes posing on the ropes. You dont interrupt the Rocks posing! Rock chops away and hits a swinging neckbreaker before the vest comes off the champion. Rock Bottom doesnt hit as Austin goes over the top. On the floor now and water is spit into Austins face.
They fight up the ramp and you cant see a freaking thing. Ah theres a spotlight. Much better. Rock reverses a suplex on the stage and Austin bounces off the steel. Austin wants a Piledriver but he winds up bouncing off the stage again. Back towards the ring now and its still mostly Rock. That is until he takes a slingshot and bounces head first off the post.
Austin flips off the crowd and almost gets caught in a rollup. It only gets two though and right back onto offense for Austin. They head to the floor even more and onto the announce table. Rock blocks another Piledriver and gets off. WHAT IS THE FUCKING DEAL WITH THE AIRHORNS? Do you British people think those are cool or something? Knock it off!
Theyve been in the ring about two minutes out of maybe ten. Austin chokes him with the cables and then they chop it out. He drops Rock on the table again and might have hurt his knee. Back in the ring for a change and Austin lands the Thesz Press. The screw you elbow gets two as theres a good deal of time left in this. Austin wastes time by yelling at the crowd and Rock comes back with some of Austins stuff, including the elbow for two.
We get a sleeper by the bald one. Doesnt it amaze you that the rear naked choke takes like a few seconds to get a submission but a sleeper can last like a minute and the guy is fine? Naturally Rocks arm goes up at the third drop like the hero that he is. Naturally Rock gets a sleeper on Austin because thats just how things work. Also just how things work, his lasts like four seconds.
Austin gets a Boston Crab for no apparent reason. Its more like a Liontamer than anything else which makes it more awesome. The look on Austins face is downright creepy looking. Rock gets about his 9th wind and takes over again with a belly to belly for two. And there goes the referee of course. Stunner is blocked and Austin walks into a spinebuster and the Sharpshooter which doesnt make Austin tap but theres no referee.
Austin puts Rock in the Sharpshooter on Rock and its somehow better than Rocks. Ok scratch that it sucks. And now Rock has it on Austin until Angle runs down and pops Rock with the chair. Cue Jericho who Ill bet is going to hit Rock with the chair. Jericho gets Angle out and Rock sees him with the chair, thinking it was him that popped him with it. And there they go.
Rock Bottom hits Austin and theres still no referee. Angle is back in now and takes care of Rock again. DAMN that referee can stay down through a lot. That didnt last long as another spinebuster takes Austin down again. Angle breaks up the elbow with a belt shot though and a Stunner keeps the title on Austin.
Rating: B. These two have great matches time after time and this wasnt their best but still was solid. This felt like a major match like it was supposed to be and thats really all you can ask for at a show like this. Pretty good match and long with over twenty minutes. This was solid enough stuff but the ton of run-ins and the long ref bump kind of hurt it. Solid main event.
Overall Rating: C+. This was better than most of these shows but still nothing great. There is some solid stuff here but the problem is that its all been done before and been done far better than it was here. Im not a fan of these shows at all as they never are much of anything but this was better than the majority of them. Nothing really worth seeing specifically but Ive seen far worse shows. This was ok.