Review by Adam Stephen Kelly
UK Certification 15 | UK RRP £19.99 | DVD Region 2 | Runtime 276 minutes
The WWE returned to England in November of 2001 and May of 2002 to present the two calendar UK-exclusive pay-per-view events on Sky Box Office, Rebellion and Insurrextion, which this new edition of Tagged Classics has paired up in a double-DVD set. They are two very different events that each chronicle different faces of the company. The WWE changed so much in six months with its re-branding and so both shows are almost like two ends of a tunnel. On the 2001 side, you've got a huge storyline that many consider to be either one of the best or worst in history, with plenty of familiar faces walking through the door, while 2002 gave way to such bright young stars as Brock Lesnar, and really laid the groundwork for how the company was going to be shaped from back then to the present.
Rebellion – November 3, 2001 ???
Taking place towards the end of the big WCW and ECW invasion angle, the Manchester Evening News Arena was the sold-out venue for Rebellion 2001, a surprisingly good show with a 15,000-strong crowd. Despite at times feeling a little like a house show, the event provided a number of bouts with a big fight feel, from the Intercontinental Championship being defended inside a steel cage in the opening match, to a WWE Title clash between two all-time greats in a rematch from what is often considered the greatest WrestleMania ever.
Intercontinental Championship Steel Cage Match: Edge (c) vs. Christian ??
The show was kicked off with a “brother vs brother” Steel Cage showdown between Intercontinental Champion Edge and European Champion and member of the Alliance, Christian. I remember watching this event live at the time and looked forward to this very match the most. I can't for the life of me remember what I thought of it back then, but taking a second look at it a decade on it was fairly disappointing. It was definitely no Bret Hart/Owen Hart from SummerSlam '94 as far as cage bouts go, one of only four WWE matches to receive a five-star rating from Dave Meltzer, if you care about his opinion. Edge and Christian battled inside an old school-style cage with bars – black rather than blue – and pretty much just brawled for 20 minutes, which I do believe makes this the very last televised match in WWE to use that style of cage (I presume they didn't go with the wire mesh structure because of transport or venue issues). Looking back though, it's obvious why the Superstars never went high risk since the show was exclusively broadcast in the UK. There simply was no need to go all out.
Scotty 2 Hotty vs. The Hurricane ???
This next match was surprisingly good and in fact is probably the best one-on-one performance I've ever seen from Scotty 2 Hotty. They were given time and put on a solid cruiserweight bout that saw Team WWE once again triumph over the Alliance to bring the night's score to 2-1, after the former member of Too Cool dropped the W... O... R... M, AKA one of the worst finishing maneuvers in professional wrestling history, on the throat of The Hurricane.
Diamond Dallas Page vs. The Big Show ?
These guys had absolutely no chemistry whatsoever in the ring, but thankfully their match was mercifully short. DDP, in his “That's not a bad thing... that is a good thing!” phase, seemed pretty rough around the edges and not very into the bout. The only entertaining part of it was seeing DDP plummeting to the canvas on the receiving end of a humungous Showstopper Chokeslam from The Big Show, which also put an end to the proceedings.
WCW Tag Team Championship Elimination Match: The Dudley Boyz (c) vs. The APA vs. The Hardy Boyz ???
It's incredibly refreshing to look back at a match like this and reminisce about when tag team wrestling in the WWE wasn't on the verge of extinction. Three of the defining teams of the Attitude Era went at it in a three-way eliminator that saw those damn Dudleyz (the only team in wrestling history to hold the respective tag team belts of WCW, WWE, ECW and TNA) retain the gold. The APA found themselves out of the bout quite quickly after Faarooq succumbed to a Twist of Fate from Matt Hardy following a 3D-B just moments prior. What followed was another stellar two-on-two encounter between the surviving teams of the utterly classic Edge & Christian/Dudley Boyz/Hardy Boyz feud. With some great action and signature moves aplenty, plus a table spot tease that unfortunately didn't quite materialise, this was a very enjoyable match-up.
William Regal vs. Tajiri ??
Right in the midst of their rivalry after Alliance Commissioner Regal turned his back on the Japanese Buzzsaw during their questionable friendship, these two strike-heavy athletes really took it to each other with some stiff, stiff offense in what was more of a fight than wrestling match. Following Regal's victory after he countered a Moonsault with his Regal Stretch modified STF, his chest was almost hard to look at it because of the bloody welts that were the result of Cruiserweight Champion Tajiri's hard kicks.
WCW Championship: Chris Jericho (c) vs. Kurt Angle ????
As the Alliance's latest acquisition from the WWE, United States Champion Kurt Angle had a lot to prove and was tasked with bringing yet another World Title to the WCW and ECW convergence, which, as long as “Stone Cold” Steve Austin retained his WWE Championship in the main event, would have given the Alliance pretty much all the gold available to them. This didn't happen of course, since titles never changed hands at house shows and live events such as Rebellion and Insurrextion, save the Hardcore belt. Championships aside, this was exactly the kind of match you would expect from the pairing of Jericho and Angle, two truly excellent, technically-gifted wrestlers. Suplexes galore.
Divas Tag Team Match – Special Referee Trish Stratus: Mighty Molly & Stacy Keibler vs. Torrie Wilson & Lita ??
Just like at Rebellion 2000, we saw another short and sweet Divas bout that puts most of the action we see featuring women these days to absolute shame. These five women combined beauty and talent and could certainly show a thing or two to many of the Divas in today's locker room.
WWE Championship: Steve Austin (c) vs. The Rock ????
Now this is how you headline a pay-per-view. A rematch from WrestleMania X7 earlier in the year, the leader of the Alliance Steve Austin faced Team WWE's The Rock in an outstanding bout that was more akin to a sanctioned Street Fight than anything else. This match on its own made the event as a whole feel so much bigger with its sheer intensity. An epic back-and-forth brawl that went from inside the squared circle and up to the top of the stage, referee Earl Hebner let them do just about anything they wanted even though it wasn't a no disqualification match. Kurt Angle ended up in the ring, nailing The Rock with a steel chair to the back, which the People's Champion believed was in fact Chris Jericho after he made the save. This misconstrued chair shot lead to The Rock and Y2J blowing up before Angle managed to hit the challenger with Austin's title while Hebner was knocked out, allowing for a quick Stunner to seal the deal and put a brilliant exclamation point on the show as it came to a close.
Insurrextion – May 4, 2002 ??
In a touch of irony, the penultimate Insurrextion was the very last pay-per-view that aired as a World Wrestling Federation production, as later in the month of course, the WWF became World Wrestling Entertainment. This was a somewhat fragile time for the company as the brand split had just happened, with Ric Flair owning RAW and Vince McMahon owning SmackDown in an authority figure storyline, and the rosters of both brands proved that there just wasn't enough star power between the two. This translated badly to Insurrextion at the Wembley Arena in London, where, compared to Rebellion six months prior, there just weren't enough matches that felt important, and most of them were re-runs from the two-week-old Backlash PPV.
Intercontinental Championship: Eddie Guerrero (c) vs. Rob Van Dam ??
A rematch from Backlash where Guerrero captured the Intercontinental Title in dubious circumstances from RVD, it was another case of Frog Splash vs. Frog Splash as Insurrextion began. This was a solid opener hindered by a horrible DQ finish where Guerrero pushed the referee down to the canvas after being prevented from using his championship belt as a weapon. The theme of the bout was the title holder working on the educated feet of the ex-champion, cutting off his strongest and most reliable form of offense, but after a good few minutes of sustaining damage, RVD apparently forgot towards the end of the match as he sprang off the ropes and showed no signs of injured wheels. This, to some degree, deemed the bulk of the match pointless.
Divas Tag Team Match: Trish Stratus & Jacqueline vs. Molly Holly & Jazz ??
Stratus was in action on this UK pay-per-view unlike at Rebellion where she was a guest referee, facing off against powerhouse Women's Champion Jazz and Molly Holly in her virtuous, Right to Censor-esque gimmick. A good effort from all four women (especially since Jazz warded off “Who let the dogs out?” and “You're a man” chants from the crowd), with Stratus and Jazz doing most of the work, added up to another decent showing from the Divas.
Bradshaw vs. X-Pac ??
The APA were split up by the brand extension with Bradshaw being a RAW Superstar and Faarooq pretty much dwindling on SmackDown. The big Texan Bradshaw's post-Acolytes Protection Agency singles run laid the foundations for the wrestler who would become the infamous multi-millionaire heel known as JBL. For the time being however, he was one of the most popular Superstars on the Monday night show, but how over he was seemingly didn't have any effect on this match at Insurrextion, since he lost to the New World Order's X-Pac thanks to the assistance of Scott Hall, just days before the troubled star was released from his contract.
Hardcore Championship: Steven Richards (c) vs. Booker T ??
This was quite an odd pairing on paper considering Booker T was a WCW main eventer and multi-time World Champion, as well as another heel, but Richards' original opponent, Bubba Ray Dudley, who had lost the title just a few days beforehand on the most recent episode of RAW after being pinned by the fellow ECW original, was over in the States due to a family emergency. Despite his hardcore origins, Richards was the one who didn't want to be anywhere near the weaponry that Booker T threw into the ring. In fact, this was more like a standard wrestling bout with very little hardcore action at all, save for a couple of tray shots and a missile dropkick involving a trashcan. The five-time WCW champ scored the victory after kicking out of the Steven Kick and countering a Clothesline into a huge Book End that folded his opponent up like an according. But a moment later, he was rolled up by Crash Holly and lost the belt, although regained it about five seconds later with an Axe Kick while Holly was showboating. Tommy Dreamer and Justin Credible then stormed down to the ring for a shot at the Hardcore Championship and brought out a table, but they were quickly fought off by T. Richards' associate Jazz then appeared out of nowhere and hit a low blow, allowing the former champion to sneak in and capitalise with a Flapjack on the table, which didn't break. After a two-count, he tried again with the wood imploding this time and he walked away from the ring how he entered – with the gold around his waist. How I miss the 24/7 rule and the chaos of the Hardcore Championship.
The Hardy Boyz vs. Brock Lesnar & Shawn Stasiak ?
Right before this match, backstage footage played that showed Lesnar's manager Paul Heyman trying to convince Stasiak to just stand on the apron and watch for the duration of the tag team contest, while “the next big thing” destroyed the Hardy brothers. The borderline insane (kayfabe) Stasiak didn't quite see himself in such a capacity in the devious Heyman's plans and instead of letting Lesnar do all the work, ran down to the ring and got the match started before his partner had even climbed through the ropes. Lesnar managed to do some damage when he finally became the legal man, but once the hotheaded Stasiak decided to tag himself back into the action, you knew the end was nigh and indeed it was. A Twist of Fate and a Swanton Bomb later and it was lights out for Planet Stasiak, although a heartbeat later it was lights out for all three men, as Brock Lesnar decimated them all with F-5s to the Hardyz and a huge Powerbomb to his partner.
European Championship: Spike Dudley (c) vs. William Regal ?
Dudley used Regal's brass knuckles to capture the European Title in their match at Backlash and so, naturally, Regal wanted revenge, and in his home country to boot. That was the story leading into this dreadful championship rematch that lasted about three minutes. Dudley went for the Dudley Dog about 30 seconds in, only to “land awkwardly” on his ankle and subsequently require medical attention from the trainer, who ran on down to the ring. As Dudley was being helped to his feet on the outside, presumably with the match about to be ruled a no-contest through injury, Regal assaulted him from behind and dragged him back into the ring where he attempted a Suplex, only for it to be countered into a small package for the win. Just dire and senseless.
Special Referee Ric Flair: The Big Show vs. Steve Austin ?
Yes, I know perfectly well that this is a “Stone Cold” Steve Austin match, but it was just flat-out boring. For 16 minutes these two icons went toe-to-toe in a slow-paced and sluggish bout that just seemed to go on and on. It also suffered from being horrendously overbooked, with RAW owner Ric Flair coming out just before the match to announce that he would be the second referee, behind Nick Patrick, and would make sure that the New World Order wouldn't interfere. They did of course once Patrick had taken a bump, but Flair chased them away with a Singapore cane. The lack of a referee enabled Kevin Nash to appear from the crowd with X-Pac's nunchuks, but Austin dodged the bullet and hit Big Sexy with a Stunner, before delivering two to Show to take him down to the canvas and pick up the victory.
Triple H vs. The Undertaker ???
This wasn't the smartest of feuds since the brand split had only just taken effect and both Triple H and The Undertaker were on separate shows – Hunter on SmackDown and the Deadman on RAW. Already the problem of balancing top stars on each brand had arisen. It was also the second time that they had crossed paths inside a year, with the two facing off at WrestleMania X7 in one of the headline matches. They put on a good bout to end the show, despite having to avoid using Irish Whips and high risk moves for the latter half of it because the top rope completely gave way, but it didn't live up to their match at the 17th grandaddy of them all, nor does it compare to their epic encounter nearly a decade later at the 27th.
EXTRAS ?? The Rebellion 2001 disc contains Get This Rebellion Started: the video package that opened the event highlighting The Rock and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin's feud that lead into the championship main event; Angle Defects: footage from a then-recent episode of RAW where Kurt Angle turned his back on the WWE and joined the Alliance; The Rock vs. “Stone Cold” Steve Austin: the video that played just before their match. These three extras aren't really necessary however since you can see them as part of the show itself. The disc also features two great bonus matches: The Rock vs. Chris Jericho for the WCW Championship from the November 5, 2001 edition of RAW, and The Undertaker vs. Steve Austin and Kurt Angle in a Handicap Match from SmackDown on November 8, 2001. As far as Insurrextion goes, only the event is included.