Rebellion 1999: The Rock and Triple H Rescue a UK Undercard

Rebellion opens with an odd but useful title setup. Jeff Jarrett arrives as WWF Intercontinental Champion and D-Lo Brown as WWF European Champion, with a coin toss deciding which belt will be defended. The Intercontinental Championship wins the toss.

The six-minute match is faster than most of the undercard. Brown supplies the movement and power bursts while Jarrett works the arm and tries to slow him down. The Birmingham crowd gives D-Lo more energy than the match would have in a neutral building.

Miss Kitty creates the decisive distraction. Jarrett uses the vacuum cleaner he brought to ringside and scores the pin to retain. The finish is cartoonish but completely consistent with his character at the time.

J.D. Dunn rated the match two and a half stars and called it fast-paced and fun. Retro Pro Wrestling also describes it as a solid opening effort. WrestleFile lands at B- / 7.1.

The Godfather against Gangrel is filler in the most literal sense. Neither wrestler has meaningful stakes attached to the result, and the match exists mainly to keep two popular television characters on the UK card. The crowd still responds to both entrances.

Gangrel briefly controls with a DDT and basic offense before Godfather turns the match around. There is no sustained story beyond waiting for the Ho Train. The short runtime is a benefit.

Godfather hits the Ho Train and Pimp Drop for the pin. The post-match dancing with referee Tim White is remembered more clearly than the wrestling. That tells the story of the bout.

Dunn rated it half a star, and Retro Pro Wrestling called it the definition of filler. There is nothing offensive here, only very little reason to revisit it. WrestleFile lands at D+ / 5.2.

Val Venis and Mark Henry receive barely enough time to establish a match before it ends. Henry's size gives Venis a simple obstacle, but the result is never presented as important. The bout feels transplanted from weekly television.

Venis keeps moving and avoids allowing Henry to settle into long control spots. A Russian legsweep and quick strikes create the only real momentum shift. Henry misses enough offense for the finish to arrive abruptly.

Venis lands the Money Shot and gets the pin. No angle grows from the result and neither wrestler leaves the card in a meaningfully different position. It is pure undercard maintenance.

Dunn rated the match one star and Retro Pro Wrestling described it as uneventful. The brevity prevents it from becoming worse. WrestleFile lands at D+ / 5.0.

Four women are placed into a championship match that receives far too little time to function as one. Ivory, Jacqueline, Luna Vachon and Tori have distinct personalities, but the structure asks them to compress everything into a few rushed minutes. The title feels secondary.

Jacqueline does much of the useful work while Ivory waits for openings. Luna brings aggression and Tori adds motion, but nobody receives enough uninterrupted time to create a real threat. The match stays crowded without becoming exciting.

Ivory eventually uses the championship belt on Jacqueline and scores the pin. The cheap finish preserves the champion while giving the challengers little meaningful payoff. The division remains trapped in short-form presentation.

Dunn rated the match half a star, and later reviews are similarly cold. The wrestlers have more ability than the format allows them to show. WrestleFile lands at D- / 4.2.

Chris Jericho against Road Dogg is the first undercard match with enough time and hostility to feel like an actual pay-per-view program. Jericho had previously put Road Dogg through a table, giving the opening brawl a clear reason to be aggressive. The crowd responds immediately.

Road Dogg works with more urgency than his usual tag-team formula. Jericho answers with the springboard dropkick, German suplexes and the Walls of Jericho threat while Curtis Hughes provides occasional interference. The match keeps a steady pace for nearly twelve minutes.

The closing sequence becomes messier after the referee is bumped. Hughes uses a chair, Road Dogg fights him off and Jericho takes advantage with a low blow. The finish is cheap but fits the heel act.

Dunn rated the match two and three-quarter stars and called it fine, while Retro Pro Wrestling was more enthusiastic and labeled it terrific. The crowd investment pushes it above most of the card. WrestleFile lands at B / 7.7.

Chyna and Jeff Jarrett get another chapter only six days after Unforgiven. The match is presented as a direct continuation of their Intercontinental Championship rivalry, but it is too short to become a full sequel. The crowd is firmly behind Chyna.

Chyna dominates the brief exchange with power offense and appears ready to hit the Pedigree. Jarrett has little opportunity to establish control before the outside story arrives. The entire match functions as setup.

British Bulldog interferes and attacks Chyna, producing the disqualification. Jarrett then applies the figure-four after the bell. The result keeps Chyna protected while adding Bulldog to the night's running story.

Dunn rated it half a star because there is almost no match to grade. Its value comes from continuity with No Mercy rather than wrestling quality. WrestleFile lands at C- / 5.9.

Kane and Big Show receive another chance to solve a matchup that had produced poor results earlier in 1999. The No Disqualification label promises more chaos than the match actually uses. Most of the bout remains a standard power contest.

The improvement comes from both wrestlers moving more than expected. Big Show even attempts a running dropkick, while Kane uses quicker strikes and a flying clothesline to keep the pace from collapsing. The crowd appreciates the spectacle of two giants working harder.

Show eventually reaches for a chair. Kane kicks it back into his face and follows with an impressive bodyslam for the pin. The finish gives the match a memorable visual without overcomplicating it.

Dunn rated the match two stars and called it perhaps their best match together to that point. That is modest praise but accurate. WrestleFile lands at C+ / 6.5.

British Bulldog returns to a UK pay-per-view in a strange position: a hometown wrestler being booed for demanding a title shot. X-Pac gives him the smaller, quicker opponent needed to make five minutes reasonably active. The crowd cares more about Bulldog's storyline than the match.

X-Pac creates the early speed before Bulldog slows him down with power offense. The contrast is obvious and functional. There is not enough time for the match to develop beyond the basic formula.

Bulldog crotches X-Pac on the top rope and finishes with the running powerslam. The clean victory keeps him relevant to the Rock and Triple H story later in the night. It also gives the British audience a Bulldog win even while the character is a heel.

Dunn rated the match one star and called it short and inoffensive. The broader storyline gives it slightly more usefulness than the wrestling alone. WrestleFile lands at C / 6.1.

The triangle elimination match again shows WWF's tag division beginning to outgrow the rest of the 1999 undercard. Edge and Christian defend their number-one-contender status against the Acolytes and the Holly cousins. The lineup offers speed, power and developing team chemistry.

The Hollys are eliminated first after Bradshaw catches Crash with the Clothesline From Hell. That leaves the more interesting pairing of Edge and Christian against Faarooq and Bradshaw. Christian absorbs the power offense until Edge can enter with the faster comeback.

Edge eventually catches Bradshaw with a tornado DDT and secures the final pin. The result keeps Edge and Christian moving toward the tag titles while preserving the Acolytes as a physical threat. The match does useful division-building work.

Dunn rated it two and a half stars and thought it improved once the Hollys were eliminated. Retro Pro Wrestling also describes the closing portion as good tag wrestling. WrestleFile lands at B- / 7.4.

Triple H and The Rock finally give Rebellion the major-event match the undercard has been missing. Their long rivalry already includes excellent matches, and the steel cage gives the Birmingham audience a headline attraction unavailable on ordinary television. The crowd treats it accordingly.

The opening half uses the cage's escape rules to create repeated races rather than immediate weapon violence. Each man gets close to leaving and is dragged back, while the Pedigree and Rock Bottom are positioned as opportunities to buy climbing time. The structure is simple and effective.

The match becomes much more interesting after Earl Hebner is knocked down. Rock escapes while no official is available to recognize it, and the fight spills outside before both men return to the cage. The loophole lets the match expand without pretending the escape never happened.

British Bulldog and Chyna eventually become decisive. Chyna slams the cage door into Rock and Bulldog later pulls him back inside, allowing Triple H to escape over the top and retain. The interference is heavy but tied directly to the night's running stories.

Dunn rated the match three and a quarter stars and argued that the interference actually made the cage match more interesting. Retro Pro Wrestling calls it tremendous and the clear reason to see the event. WrestleFile lands at A- / 8.6.