Belfast rebellion

MÓC

I was at it and thought it was excellent, and I aint even a big wrestling fan. Would like to get a video of it at some stage.

Place: Belfast City, Ireland
Date : 25th October 2002
Arena: Odyssey Arena
Reported by: Ciaran Haren, rajahwwf.com reader

Hey Rajah,

I'm just back from the 'Road to Rebellion' show held here in Belfast, at the Odyssey arena and what an experience! I have seen the WWE before but that was over 12 years ago, and since the UK get a couple of special PPV's a year its only fair they should finally make it back to Ireland. I don't think they'll regret it, the show was fantastic, the wrestlers were all on top form, and the crowd were as hot as they come. I think the attendance was roughly 10,000 which was a sell-out, but the noise we made was a lot louder than I have heard from many of the American crowds (20,000 plus) .... but maybe its because you are all spoilt over there and can see it more regularly. Anyways, it was a fantastic show as I've said, so I will try to recap on as much of it as I possibly can! (Some may not be in order)

Tony Chimel the ring announcer comes out to a HUGE pop, you'd have thought it was Hogan or the Rock! He thanks us all for coming and says its great to be in Belfast (cheap pop) ... then announces that the Undertaker won't be there due to unforseen circumstances, which gets its fair share of boo's. But I think Belfast were more than happy with his replacement, none other than Booker T! He swiftly announces the first match....

Tajiri & Jamie Noble vs Kidman & Rey Mysterio:

Fantastic cruiserweight action! Tajiri came out 1st to a huge pop...then came Noble ... even though they fought at No Mercy... hmmm. Anyways next out was Kidman and Rey both to a huge ovation. Lots of fast paced action, reversals, and each man hit their usual signature moves. Kidmans shooting star press is awesome to see, and after several chants of '619 619', Rey finally hit it! Winners: Rey & Kidman

Funaki & Shannon Moore vs Crash & Hugh Morris

Another fast paced excellent match, the crowd were suprisingly into it (as they remained throughout the whole show). Hugh Morris looked quite good, been a while since I saw him wrestle. He looks a lot leaner but him and Crash played off as heels quite well. I was happy to see Funaki there because I was wearing my 'Evil' t shirt. I thought he might be able to sense my evilness but he didn't even look up at me. Oh well! Hugh Morris missed his moonsault off the top rope, but it still looked very impressive! Crash mocked Funaki by pulling out a Japanese headband and wearing it throughout the match.... but evilness prevailed in the end (I can't remember how though lol) Winners : Moore & Funaki

Matt Hardy vs.... ????

Mattitude V 1.0 came out to quite a big pop .... but he got on the mic and sure enough dissed Belfast and its people, same old heel routine. He talks about beating the Undertaker and how Taker was scared to face him. He issued an open challenge to anyone that was brave enough to take him out, including everyone in the arena! I thought about taking him up but before I could even think about it ...... Booker T! He comes out to a huge roar from the crowd. Lots of posing and stop-starting... but once the match got underway it was very entertaining. Seeing the spin-a-roonie in person is something I have been waiting for a very long time and Booker didn't disappoint! The end came when Booker countered the Twist of Fate, set Matt up for the Scissors kick and... WHAM... pins for the 1-2-3. Great stuff! Winner: Booker T

John Cena & Albert vs Chuck & Val Venis

If you are notic ing a trend of a lot of tag matches...then you are absolutely right! But this is a good thing, as we got to see a lot more wrestlers showcase their talents. The crowd were all over Cena and Albert for the whole match, with our section starting off a lot of 'Shave your back' chants, and 'Cena' sucks! Cena was actually quite impressive, I didn't realise how built he was. There was a kid in the row behind me I must make special mention of. He must have only been about 6 years old, and he came off with a load of funny one-liners throughout the night. Cena was wearing illuminous orange attire and he kept shouting 'Cena is wearing gay colours'! I guess you had to be there to hear it though, but he could be the next Jerry Lawler! Anyways, back to the match which was very solid, crowd were solidly behind Chuck and Val who played the face roles very well indeed. Albert is HUGE, and was quit! e impressive throughout the match, finally hitting the baldo-bomb on Val to pick up the victory. Val and Chuck then leave to a great ovation. Winners: Albert & Cena

Reverend D'Von w/Ron Simmonds vs Rikishi

D'Von got on the mic and again started to make fun of the city etc etc, usual cheap heel heat. Then Farooq, oops Simmonds said he didn't see many black people here which raised a few laughs. Rikishi came out to a huge cheer and announced he had called up a special guest to be in his corner to even the odds. Said he was from Carrikfergus (in Northern Ireland) ... Fit Finlay! I think he is a booker/agent now with WWE, but anyways he came out in a Belfast Giants jersey (our local ice hockey team) and was well received. Rikishi won the match with a Rikishi Driver, which looked devestating by the way! Afterwards there was a double stinkface, with Rikishi doing the honours on D'Von and Fit Finlay doing the same on Ron, quite funny I can assure you. Rikishi wouldn't let Finlay leave, insisting he stay and dance. Finlay eventually agrees but says he has some more people he would love to invite out ..... the Belfast ! Giants then hit the ring to a huge ovation and proceed to dance and generally make fools of themselves! Was very bizzare, yet highly entertaining of course. Winner: Rikishi

MÓC

Intermission:

Gave us all a chance to get our breaths back before the next half of the show .....

Chavo & Eddie Guererro vs Kurt Angle & Chris Benoit (Tag time titles)

This was probably the best match of the night, which I'm sure comes as no suprise to anyone that watches Smackdown on a regular basis. The heels enter to a lot of heat, but Eddie is cheered a lot, then chants of 'Eddie sucks' were soon to be heard...that always confuses me but anyways! Benoit comes out to a good cheer and Angle comes out to probably the biggest cheer of the night! As usual, everyone chants 'You suck' along with his theme, but I don't think people mean it anymore, its just for comedy purposes...and I'm sure he didn't mind as there were a lot of 'Angle' chants during the match. Match was excellent, we got to see the crossface, lots of suplexes, the ankle-lock and the Benoit flying headbutt which he managed to connect (for a change!). Crowd were all over Eddie and Chavo, but they play excellent 'baddies' so I'm sure it just made them even determined to push harder...and it showed. At this st! age a fight broke out right next to us between a girl and a boy, it got quite nasty and was eventually split up by the arena staff. I read about these fights all the time at live events but I wasn't expecting to see one. I didn't focus on it because I knew this match was nearing its end and didn't want to miss it. End came when Angle hits the Angleslam on Chavo (I think) to get the 1-2-3. After the match, a confrontation between Kurt and Benoit leads to Benoit locking Angle in the Crossface. Kurt soon reversed it into the Ankle lock, but Eddie and Chavo come back in the ring. Kurt and Benoit clear them out and eventually shake hands and hold the titles high, much to the crowds delight. Winners: Kurt & Benoit

Dawn Marie vs Torrie Wilson : Bra and Panties match

Both Divas come out to good responses (what do you expect, well over half the crowd was male hehe) then we have the typical womans matchup. Not to say it wasn't good, I was quite impressed by some of the athleticism. Hmmm maybe I was in a state of hypnosis though at all the lovely sights on display. Torries top comes off first, then Dawn's, then Torrie wins by taking off Dawn's pants. How nice of her! Torrie then teases us by starting to pull down her own trousers.....ahem! Winner: Torrie Wilson (glad her pervy dad wasn't there!)

Main Event: Brock Lesnar vs Edge WWE Title Match

Edge comes out to a very loud response and gets the crowd going before the match. Brock comes out, minus Paul E Heyman. This is the first time I have seen him come out on his own since he has joined the WWE. Brock is HUGE and VERY impressive. Match takes a while to start, Brock gets mad with the fans (and Edge) and threatens to leave. He ripped up a sign pulled from the crowd and kick/throws about the ring steps in his tantrum. Edge runs up to meet him on the entrance aisle and they battle back to the ring. Brock basically dominates the whole match, but Edge got to hit all of his signature moves. The ref took a bump (it looked quite pathetic, he didn't even get touched) and Edge hit the Edge-cution on Brock but the ref is down and out (suprise suprise) Brock eventually won by hitting a hugely impressive looking F-5 to get the 1-2-3 pinfall. All you Brock haters are entitled to hate the big man if you like, but ! I came away very impressed by him and he has totally deserved the push he has gotten thus far. Winner: Brock Lesnar

Aftermath.....

Edge slowly makes it back onto his feet and says he doesn't want to leave Belfast on such a bad note. He says that he used to tag with his brother Christian (lots of boooo's) and they had a special thing known as the '5 second pose'. Edge says he is looking for the biggest 'Edge-head' in the arena to take Christians place. He finds a little boy close to ringside and puts him on his shoulders and poses for the fans to finish off an excellent show.

I came away hugely impressed, this was even better than any Smackdown shows I have seen recently. Big shout out to my lil brother Kevin...and my good mates Eoin Scollay and John Jordan! We all left knowing that we got a better show than we had ever dreamed of.

Biggest Pops:
Kurt Angle
Edge
Rey Mysterio
Rikishi
Benoit

Biggest Heat:
Eddie/Chavo
Albert
Matt Hardy
D'Von
Jamie Noble

herbie747

Yeah, great show. I was there too. It was a pity about all of that Belfast Giants crap. How boring can it get? A bunch of wannabe hockey players dancing around a ring they don't deserve to be in for 15mins. zzzzzzzzz
Other than that though it was an excellent show.
Hopefully they'll include Ireland in their tour next time, so we don't have to travel up north to the UK. It was only a few hours away, but they played Helsinki for christs sake and it wasn't even a sellout! The Point Depot it just as big as the Odyssey.