Where: Manchester, England
Backstory:
Chris Jericho is fresh off of winning the WWF owned version of the WCW title, and the WWF went to England for a British only PPV called Rebellion. This is near the end of the Invasion storyline, and Angle has just turned heel and joined up with the Alliance. This PPV really doesn't count in the US storyline development which is good and bad. It is basically a televised house show, but the British fans are really into the product and the company can just let the guys do their thing.
In Ring Analysis:
Both men circle each other several times. They lock up and jockey for position. Jericho gets a take down and they are exclusively wrestling until Angle tries to punch Jericho in the corner. Jericho blocks and hits Angle with punches and chops. Jericho throws Angle to the ropes and gets a back elbow. He tries to throw Angle into the ropes again, but Angle blocks with a fireman take down. Jericho is quick to get up and takes Angle down with a flying back heel kick. Jericho gets Angle with several knees to the head and a vertical suplex. He then hits another and rotates and hits a third. He covers but only gets a one count.
Jericho gets Angle up and throws him into the ropes. He goes for a clothesline but ANgle duck and hits a German suplex. Angle is a suplex machine at this point in his career, so it's natural for him to get the last laugh after Jericho utilized suplexes of his own. Angle taunts Jericho then tries to get him up for an Angle slam. Jericho blocks and tries for a Walls of Jericho. Angle struggles to the ropes so that Jericho has to break. Angle takes a breather on the ring apron, but Jericho hits a springboard dropkick to send Angle to the floor. Good work by both men to make that a natural move and not fight to force that spot in the match. Less seasoned workers are so concerned with getting in their signature spots that they will blatantly choreograph it just to make it happen.
Jericho follows Angle outside and uses more chops. He rams Angle into the ringpost. Jericho goes inside the ring to break the referee's count, but on his way back out Angle gets the advantage. He punches and chops Jericho in retaliation. Jericho blocks a punch and throws Angle into the ringside steps. Angle is thrown back in and Jericho heads to the top rope. He hits a crossbody block on Angle which he overshoots by about six inches. It gets a two count. Both men are up and Jeircho punches Angle which brings him to one knee but he was playing possum as he tries to sneak on an anklelock. Great work by Angle.
Jericho kicks off the attempt and throws Angle shoulder first into the ringpost. Jericho gives Angle another one, and brings him out and hits a shoulder breaker. That was a nice sequence of moves focused on the shoulder. Jericho throws Angle into the ropes and Angle attempts a sunset flip. Jericho blocks and locks in an arm bar for more pressure on the shoulder. Angle fights out, but Jericho elbows him down to keep control. Jericho with more chops and keeps working on the shoulder. Jericho throws Angle into the ropes, but Angle tries to lock on an overhead belly to belly suplex. Jericho breaks out, but then later runs into a stun gun from Angle and the tide has turned.
Angle hits the overhead belly-to-belly suplex that he wanted earlier, but is still selling the shoulder. Angle pounds away at Jericho. Jericho tries to fight back but gets caught trying a missile dropkick which Angle tries turn into his own Walls of Jericho. Jericho bridges out and leg scissors Angle off of him. Jericho as the advantage for a little bit until Angle hits another belly-to-belly suplex which Jericho barely kicks out of it. Angle then settles into a reverse chinlock. Jericho looks to be out, but he raises his arm after the ref checks him. Jericho fights his way up, but Angle uses a single leg takedown to keep him down. Angle locks in another reverse chinlock on Jericho. Randy Orton in an interview talked about loving this move as a heel because it just pisses the fans off and as a heel, isn't that what you really want?
Jericho fights up again, and hits an ensiguri on Angle for a double knockdown. The referee counts both men down, but they are up at 9. Jericho hits the first punch blocking an attempt by Angle. He then hits Angle with a forearm, shoulderblock and a neckbreaker. he then hits a slightly awkward hurricanrana. Angle reverses an Irish whip into an attempted German suplex, but Jericho reverses and gets an anklelock. Angle fights his way to the ropes to make Jericho release.
Jericho then has a suplex attempt blocked by Angle which leads to a series of rolling german suplexes. He goes for the pinfall but only gets 2. Angle then locks in the angle lock, but Jericho counters into the Walls of Jericho. Angle struggles around, but finally makes it to the ropes. Angle gets the advantage on Jericho after a forearm to the back of the head. Jericho reverses an Irish whip into the corner and hits a modified bulldog onto Angle. Jericho goes for a Lionsault, but Angle puts his knees up to catch him in the abdomen. Angle goes to finish Jericho off with a Angle Slam, but Jericho rolls Angle up into a pinfall for the three count.
Winner by pinfall in 14:55: Chris Jericho ***1/2
After the match Angle attacks Jericho and hits the Angle Slam finally. He then hits another one for good measure and taunts the crowd. That's a good way for Angle to get his heat back after losing clean.
This was definitely different due to the match being in England. Both men wrestled a more straightforward match which was safe and didn't include any crazy stuff. The crowd liked it, and I did too. I feel Jericho needed more strikes as he used too many chops for my liking. He's not the best puncher, so I understand his mentality though.
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