| WWE Rebellion | |
|---|---|
 WWE Rebellion 2002 logo | |
| Promotion | World Wrestling Entertainment |
| Brand | SmackDown (2002) |
| First event | 1999 |
| Last event | 2002 |
WWE Rebellion was an annualprofessional wrestlingpay-per-view (PPV)event that was produced byWorld Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), an Americanprofessional wrestling promotion. Established in 1999, the events were held and broadcast exclusively in theUnited Kingdom. The first three events were held when the promotion was still called the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). Rebellion was also shown on theViewers Choice service inCanada, but was never televised in theUnited States. Rebellion had its own theme song titled "Rebellion".
To coincide with thebrand extension, the 2002 event was aSmackDown!-exclusive show, which was the promotion's first SmackDown!-exclusive PPV. Additionally, the 2002 event, which was the only held under the WWE name, was the final Rebellion PPV as UK-exclusive pay-per-views were discontinued in 2003 as WWE began to broadcastRaw andSmackDown! from the UK in 2004.
In May 1999, the Americanprofessional wrestling promotionWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) held apay-per-view calledNo Mercy, which was held in and broadcast exclusively for the United Kingdom.[1] The promotion scheduled another UK-exclusive event to be held in October that year. It was titledRebellion and was scheduled to be held on October 2, 1999, at theNational Indoor Arena inBirmingham, England.[2] The2000 event thus established Rebellion as one of the WWF's annual UK-exclusive PPVs, the other beingInsurrextion asNo Mercy instead became an annual U.S.-based event.[3]
The2001 event took place duringThe Invasion period for the WWF, which ended at the next pay-per-view,Survivor Series. All matches had one member of the WWF taking on one member ofThe Alliance (composed of wrestlers originally fromWorld Championship Wrestling andExtreme Championship Wrestling). Over the course of the evening, the WWF won six matches, while the Alliance won three.[4]
In early 2002, the promotion introduced thebrand extension, which divided its roster into two separate brands,Raw andSmackDown!, where wrestlers were exclusively assigned to perform.[5] Shortly after this, the promotion itself was renamed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).[6] The2002 event was in turn a SmackDown!-exclusive show and was WWE's first-ever SmackDown!-exclusive PPV held. It was also the last Rebellion event held as UK-exclusive PPVs were discontinued in 2003 as the company began to broadcastRaw andSmackDown from the UK in 2004.[7]
| SmackDown-branded event |
| # | Event | Date | City | Venue | Main event | Ref. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rebellion (1999) | October 2, 1999 | Birmingham, England | National Indoor Arena | Triple H (c) vs.The Rock in aSteel Cage match for theWWF Championship | [2][8] | |||
| 2 | Rebellion (2000) | December 2, 2000 | Sheffield, England | Sheffield Arena | Kurt Angle (c) vs.Rikishi vs.Stone Cold Steve Austin vs.The Rock in aFatal Four-Way match for theWWF Championship | [9][3] | |||
| 3 | Rebellion (2001) | November 3, 2001 | Manchester, England | Manchester Arena | Stone Cold Steve Austin (c) vs.The Rock for theWWF Championship | [4] | |||
| 4 | Rebellion (2002) | October 26, 2002 | Brock Lesnar (c) andPaul Heyman vs.Edge in aHandicap match for theWWE Championship | [7] | |||||
(c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match | |||||||||
