UK PPVs.

[The Gaffer]

Rewatched Insurrection 2002 on a whim last night. Every now and then I'll realise these shows still exist in a vacuum alongside the canon shows that year. I really like watching them. That filmed house show feel gives them a few benefits that make them a viable alternative to digest as a weird snapshot of that year. You've got those In Your House level running times, odd production quirks (Did British WWE mats sound different? The bell certainly did. The exposure on the hard cams was all over the place etc..), hot crowds, weird match combinations, shoehorned Britishness and most importantly of all these things are never mentioned again or appear in clips by the WWE so they feel somewhat fresh to go back to. 

It also got me thinking of how a few of them were pretty hot deals at the time everyone was into wrestling. No, really! I know they're rightfully cast aside in terms of their creative importance but if you cast your mind back, because these were Box Office exclusives, Sky Sports used to heavily advertise them. Usually more than that year's WrestleMania or SummerSlam. That - combined with the fact that you didn't need to stay up until 4AM - usually meant everyone at school ordered it and about half that number recorded it to video cassette that would get bounced around for the next week. 

All of the above - combined with the fact that Capital Carnage was the first tape I ever owned - make these shows a bit of a comfort watch for yours truly. The quality goes from One Night Only right down to the murky depths of No Mercy 99. In between there's a bunch of Insurrections and Rebellions that are an odd watch back. 

Anyone any similar feelings or favourite moments from these shows? Anyone have any memories of attending any of them, even?

On a side note, I was genuinely surprised watching Insurrection last night to find that Planet Stasiak was for one brief moment in time a Paul Heyman guy, rubbing shoulders with the beast incarnate. 

Could it have been another one that put the one in twenty one and one?

[garynysmon]

As you said, by far the greatest novelty of those shows was being able to watch a live WWE event that wasn’t on at stupid o’clock on a school night.

[DavidB6937]

My only experience of WWF live before Capital Carnage had been a UK Rampage event where we sat on floor seats and struggled to see for most of the event. This time my parents were sensible enough to buy tiered seating thank fuck, although I do like looking back at my photos from the Rampage event and seeing who I saw live. Pretty mental really. Most dead obviously.

Timing wise this was the month after Survivor Series - Deadly Game so couldn't have asked for much more in terms of excitement. Granted, it wasn't the best card:

No.	Results[2]	Stipulations	Times[2]
1D	Droz defeated Mosh	Singles match	6:00
2	Gangrel defeated Al Snow (with Head)	Singles match	5:51
3	The Headbangers (Mosh and Thrasher) defeated The Legion of Doom (Animal and Droz)	Tag team match	3:21
4	Val Venis defeated Goldust	Singles match	5:33
5	Tiger Ali Singh defeated Edge	Singles match	2:51
6	Christian and Sable defeated Jacqueline and Marc Mero	Mixed tag team match	4:49
7	Ken Shamrock (c) (with Big Boss Man) defeated Steve Blackman by submission	Singles match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship	6:51
8	Triple H (with Chyna) defeated Jeff Jarrett (with Debra)	Singles match	6:55
9	The New Age Outlaws (Billy Gunn and Road Dogg) (c) defeated D'Lo Brown and Mark Henry	Tag team match for the WWF Tag Team Championship	12:34
10	The Rock (c) defeated X-Pac (with Chyna and Triple H) by disqualification	Singles match for the WWF Championship	12:34
11	Stone Cold Steve Austin defeated Kane, Mankind and The Undertaker (with Paul Bearer)	Fatal 4-Way match with Gerald Brisco as special guest referee	16:12

BUT in terms of seeing that amount of star power on a UK card LIVE was my wet dream basically.

I also nearly wet myself with excitement when Edge ran past me through the crowd.

And I got to see Jacqueline's boobs which was as mortifying as it was exciting.

Oh and Vinnie Jones!

Honestly I loved it live and I'll watch it every so often just for nostalgia kicks.

[The Dart]

23 minutes ago, Gay as FOOK said:

 Anyone have any memories of attending any of them, even?

Absolutely as Insurrextion 2002 was the first ever WWE show I went to (been to a lot more since then!).

Although it was the last ever televised WWF show, some of the merchandise being sold had the WWE logo on it, which was a clue that something was going on and they announced the change to WWE the next day.   Linda McMahon was also there, spotted by my friend, probably on business regarding the name change.  We bought VIP tickets, the main reason being the show had already sold out before we decided to go and VIP was all that's available (good seats you'd think, nope, we were literally back row of Wembley Arena, although very much central to the ring, but it was what came with the VIP package that was great). 

VIP included a meet and greet with 2 unnamed stars before the show, who turned out to be Booker T and RVD which I was happy about.   I forgot to get a photo with Booker T though as I was panicking as I thought I'd lost my bag.   The gift bag had all sorts in, a programme, videos, signed photos, balloons, the bag itself was pretty nice too.   They probably lobbed a few extra bits in as they were offloading as much merch with the WWF logo on as they could.  And then, the main thing was an all you can eat buffet with the nicest hot dogs I've had, while watching last year's Insurrextion on a massive screen.   Although they would occasionally turn the audio off to play songs from Forceable Entry.

Loved the show, what with it being my first ever WWE show live although looking back it wasn't brilliant.   Getting to see Austin wrestle live so close to his retirement is the standout memory.

One weird thing about the show was before it started Debra came out to cut a promo talking about her man Steve Austin was going to win his match.   Was so weird as they had no on screen relationship.

[Wrasslin]

7 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said:

My only experience of WWF live before Capital Carnage had been a UK Rampage event where we sat on floor seats and struggled to see for most of the event. This time my parents were sensible enough to buy tiered seating thank fuck, although I do like looking back at my photos from the Rampage event and seeing who I saw live. Pretty mental really. Most dead obviously.

Timing wise this was the month after Survivor Series - Deadly Game so couldn't have asked for much more in terms of excitement. Granted, it wasn't the best card:

No.	Results[2]	Stipulations	Times[2]
1D	Droz defeated Mosh	Singles match	6:00
2	Gangrel defeated Al Snow (with Head)	Singles match	5:51
3	The Headbangers (Mosh and Thrasher) defeated The Legion of Doom (Animal and Droz)	Tag team match	3:21
4	Val Venis defeated Goldust	Singles match	5:33
5	Tiger Ali Singh defeated Edge	Singles match	2:51
6	Christian and Sable defeated Jacqueline and Marc Mero	Mixed tag team match	4:49
7	Ken Shamrock (c) (with Big Boss Man) defeated Steve Blackman by submission	Singles match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship	6:51
8	Triple H (with Chyna) defeated Jeff Jarrett (with Debra)	Singles match	6:55
9	The New Age Outlaws (Billy Gunn and Road Dogg) (c) defeated D'Lo Brown and Mark Henry	Tag team match for the WWF Tag Team Championship	12:34
10	The Rock (c) defeated X-Pac (with Chyna and Triple H) by disqualification	Singles match for the WWF Championship	12:34
11	Stone Cold Steve Austin defeated Kane, Mankind and The Undertaker (with Paul Bearer)	Fatal 4-Way match with Gerald Brisco as special guest referee	16:12

BUT in terms of seeing that amount of star power on a UK card LIVE was my wet dream basically.

I also nearly wet myself with excitement when Edge ran past me through the crowd.

And I got to see Jacqueline's boobs which was as mortifying as it was exciting.

Oh and Vinnie Jones!

Honestly I loved it live and I'll watch it every so often just for nostalgia kicks.

Stacked card at the top though! Rock, Kane, Taker, Foley, Triple H, Austin is a good lot.

But double duty from Mosh and Droz

[garynysmon]

15 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said:

 

No.	Results[2]	Stipulations	Times[2]
1D	Droz defeated Mosh	Singles match	6:00
2	Gangrel defeated Al Snow (with Head)	Singles match	5:51
3	The Headbangers (Mosh and Thrasher) defeated The Legion of Doom (Animal and Droz)	Tag team match	3:21
4	Val Venis defeated Goldust	Singles match	5:33
5	Tiger Ali Singh defeated Edge	Singles match	2:51
6	Christian and Sable defeated Jacqueline and Marc Mero	Mixed tag team match	4:49
7	Ken Shamrock (c) (with Big Boss Man) defeated Steve Blackman by submission	Singles match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship	6:51
8	Triple H (with Chyna) defeated Jeff Jarrett (with Debra)	Singles match	6:55
9	The New Age Outlaws (Billy Gunn and Road Dogg) (c) defeated D'Lo Brown and Mark Henry	Tag team match for the WWF Tag Team Championship	12:34
10	The Rock (c) defeated X-Pac (with Chyna and Triple H) by disqualification	Singles match for the WWF Championship	12:34
11	Stone Cold Steve Austin defeated Kane, Mankind and The Undertaker (with Paul Bearer)	Fatal 4-Way match with Gerald Brisco as special guest referee	16:12

 

Look at those match running times 😍😍😍 Perfection. No messing about, whack on the finisher and get the next lot out.

Edited March 9, 2021 by garynysmon

[WyattSheepMask]

Got to make room for Vince, with his cup of tea, stoking the fire of racism with his “Britain’s next Prime Minister...” line

Edited March 9, 2021 by WyattSheepMask

[LaGoosh]

I went to Insurrextion 2000. The buzz around it at the time you'd have thought it was fucking Wrestlemania. Tickets were really hard to get but we were really lucky to get them. Looking back, the card and matches were basic house show fodder but it felt huge because WWF was just so hot at the time. The show itself was fine, just the crew going through their big spots you'd see on telly and everyone went home happy.

[The Gaffer]

12 minutes ago, WyattSheepMask said:

Got to make room for Vince, with his cup of tea, stoking the fire of racism with his “Britain’s next Prime Minister...” line

You English.

That promo is hilarious. I'll need to watch it back to see are my being too rose tinted, but X-Pac Vs. Rock on that show is a belter as well. Capital Carnage is also infamous for Ross having an attack of bells palsy moments into the show, though I was none the wiser wearing that tape out as a kid. 

Insurrection 2002 was also - of course - the last stop before the plane ride from hell. You can feel it brewing in the X-Pac Vs. Bradshaw bout. Both of them look absolutely knackered, though they seem to react by having quite a hard hitting match. 

Rebellion 2002 - a Smackdown exclusive - is proper wheels falling off stuff. That's probably the least remembered of the lot. 

No.	Results[5][1][6]	Stipulations	Times
1D	Bill DeMott defeated Shannon Moore	Singles match	8:26
2	Booker T defeated Matt Hardy	Singles match	12:01
3	Billy Kidman and Torrie Wilson defeated John Cena and Dawn Marie	Mixed tag team match	5:24
4	Funaki defeated Crash	Singles match	5:37
5	Jamie Noble (c) (with Nidia) defeated Rey Mysterio and Tajiri	Triple threat match for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship	12:47
6	Reverend D-Von and Ron Simmons defeated Chuck Palumbo and The Big Valbowski	Tag team match	4:09
7	Rikishi defeated Albert	Kiss My Ass match	7:17
8	Chris Benoit and Kurt Angle (c) defeated Los Guerreros (Eddie Guerrero and Chavo Guerrero)	Tag team match for the WWE Tag Team Championship	16:36
9	Brock Lesnar (c) and Paul Heyman defeated Edge	Handicap match for the WWE Championship	18:50
(c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match D – indicates the match was a dark match

[cobra_gordo]

We queued outside Sheffield arena for 4 hours and still didn't manage to get tickets to Rebellion 2000. Online ordering hadn't taken off by that point so there were hundreds of people stood outside. The day of the event I was at the cinema over the road from the arena and heard a load of chanting so legged it over and at least got to Taker, Kane, Dudleyz, Foley and a few others get off a coach. Missed Rock though. Also ended up being one of the better UK shows too.

No.	Results[4][1][5]	Stipulations	Times
1	The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and D-Von) defeated Edge and Christian and T & A (Test and Albert) (with Trish Stratus)	Elimination tables match	9:55
2	Ivory (c) (with Steven Richards) defeated Lita	Singles match for the WWF Women's Championship	2:55
3	Steve Blackman (c) defeated Perry Saturn	Hardcore match for the WWF Hardcore Championship	6:03
4	Crash Holly (with Molly Holly) defeated William Regal (c)	Singles match for the WWF European Championship	5:10
5	Billy Gunn and Chyna defeated Dean Malenko and Eddie Guerrero	Tag team match	12:15
6	Kane defeated Chris Jericho	Singles match	8:04
7	Right to Censor (Bull Buchanan and The Goodfather) (c) (with Val Venis) defeated The Hardy Boyz (Matt and Jeff)	Tag team match for the WWF Tag Team Championship	8:05
8	The Undertaker defeated Chris Benoit	Singles match	12:15
9	Kurt Angle (c) defeated Rikishi, The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin	Fatal 4-Way match for the WWF Championship	8:50
(c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match

[theringmaster]

There is actually quite a lot of interesting back story to these shows as revealed by Bruce Pritchard.

 

-All UK shows in the 90's were actually promoted by a concert promoter in the UK and not wwe, so wwe were essentially a 'bought in act'.

 

-They were seen as 'house shows' in wwe eyes, so essentially 'non canon'.

 

-They were largely funded by Sky as a way to experiment with 'Box office shows', at the time only MASSIVE boxing events got Box office and Sky were experimenting what could go on Box office.

 

-To make them a draw they would think of 'first time match ups' as the main, they were some pretty incredible main event match ups over the years.

 

-There were talks of creating a 'UK exclusive show' weekly show making these PPV's something to work towards, the idea was to shoot exclusive matches and angles at Raw tapings  (this later would be the idea behind the version of Heat which would air on Channel 4 and in the end was a failed experiment), again this would be funded by Sky.

 

-One idea was a UK Exclusive championship, which obviously became a reality many years later and stars who were used extensly on UK shows but not on US tv, again, somethign which came to fution much later

[marc2j]

InsurreXtion 2001 was the first WWF event that my brother and I attended. (We've then did the tapings and house shows annually for a 6/7 year stretch and a couple Manias too).

Myself and my younger brother were mega fans and turning up at Earls Court was basically the culmination of a years long fandom. Our older brother, who at times had let us down with shit, had scored the tickets and he came with us and a couple of his mates too. We stayed up the night before and made signs. God knows what they said on them, but I certainly remember leaving them in the McDonalds down the road. We wandered back in to see them in the big McDs bin. Yeah probably about right to be honest.

This was May, after the Stone Cold heel turn. London didnt give a shit that Austin was a heel and the place went mental when he came out regardless. Everyone felt like they got a massive pop. Except for maybe X-Factor. There I was. Two rows from the very back of Earls Court jamming to Uncle Kracker. 'I know you hate X factor but you ain't gotta look at me like that.'

This was post smartening up, but pre realising UK PPVs were pointless and nothing of consequence would happen. So no surprise Austin ended up retaining via shenanigans. 

But it was a fantastic experience. My only experience of live wrestling before that was seeing Marty Jannetty in Barking. 

It kick started me spending thousands on tickets. Just an awesome experience. 

 

No.	Results[2][6]	Stipulations	Times[1]
1	Eddie Guerrero defeated Grand Master Sexay	Singles match	4:30
2	The Radicalz (Perry Saturn and Dean Malenko) (with Terri Runnels) defeated The Hollys(Crash Holly, Hardcore Holly and Molly Holly)	Mixed tag team match	5:37
3	Bradshaw defeated Big Show	Singles match	3:20
4	Edge and Christian defeated The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley), The Hardy Boyz (Jeff Hardy and Matt Hardy) and X-Factor (Justin Credible and X-Pac) (with Albert)	Four-Way Elimination match	13:20
5	Chris Benoit defeated Kurt Angle 2-0	Two-out-of-three falls match	14:23
6	Chris Jericho defeated William Regal by submission	Singles match for the Queen's Cup	14:46
7	The Undertaker defeated The Power Trip (Stone Cold Steve Austin (c) and Triple H) (with Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley)	Handicap match for the WWF Championship Undertaker could only win the title by pinning Austin.	17:12
(c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match

[Supremo]

No Mercy 1999 in Manchester was my first ever live pro-wrestling event. It wasn’t until years later that I discovered it was a universally hated show. Let me tell you - as a fourteen year old it was the greatest thing I’d ever seen.

WWF was so hot at the time that it didn’t matter how by the numbers it was or how half the roster was doing another show on the same night. To see these guys in the flesh, hear Mankind say, “wanker,” and to have the spectacle of tens of thousands of flashbulbs go off when Stone Cold was hitting the Stunner. It was absolutely thrilling. I remember sending my younger brother to get us both some merchandise and the queue was so long he missed about three matches. I was wearing the ugliest bright blue Reebok jumper at the event and realising I could see myself when I watched it back on VHS was ridiculously exciting. Also the first time I ever realised that Billy Gunn is the most deceptively tall man who’s ever lived. He looked humongous. 

After that we attended pretty much every event they hosted at Manchester Arena. Looking back at some of them, these cards are fantastic and it seems insane now to have what were essentially house show lineups this good. Rebellion 2001 is a blinder!

Steel Cage Match for the WWF IC Championship: Edge vs. Christian

Scotty 2 Hotty vs. The Hurricane

Big Show vs. DDP

WCW Tag Team Elimination Match: Dudleyz vs. APA vs. Hardyz

William Regal vs. Tajri

WCW Championship: Chris Jericho vs. Kurt Angle

Torrie Wilson & Lita vs. Stacy Keibler & Mighty Molly

WWF Championship Match: Stone Cold vs. The Rock

I remember we’d been chatting to some girls in front of us at this event and were such a bunch of smarky dickheads at this point, thinking we knew it all, that a bet was made that we could guess all the results ahead of time. We had Powerslam magazine subscriptions, for fuck’s sake. Nobody knew more than us about da biz! Chris Jericho vs. Kurt Angle, for example? For a title? In the UK? There was zero chance Kurt Angle was winning and to prove how clever we were someone bet their freshly purchased Chris Jericho T-shirt on that result. It was only once the bet was made and the match began that the possibility of a DQ or count out crossed our tiny minds and hushed, panicked discussions began about whether a T-shirt should change hands on a DQ or count out. Despite a clean sweep of predictions and a plethora of inside terms, the girls still didn’t want to get off with any us. Unbelievable.

I also remember Stone Cold and Rock doing their big song and dance house show routine once the cameras had stopped rolling. Laugh out loud funny. Sent everyone home happy. There was a real buzz in the air as we got the coach home. Brilliant stuff.

Edited March 9, 2021 by Supremo

[JNLister]

1 hour ago, WyattSheepMask said:

Got to make room for Vince, with his cup of tea, stoking the fire of racism with his “Britain’s next Prime Minister...” line

 

(And yeah, not Pakistani heritage, but Punjabi is as close as you can get.)

[Your Fight Site]

1 hour ago, theringmaster said:

(this later would be the idea behind the version of Heat which would air on Channel 4 and in the end was a failed experiment), again this would be funded by Sky.

Silly question: but the version of Heat we got in the UK was different to the US version? I never really watched Heat when it was on (WCW fan, innit) so assumed it was just the show that would be shown Stateside as well.