thing was so half-assed that it barely lasted four months. Certainly a black eye on the NWA name and it didn’t do the WWF any favors either.

2) The set-up to the Kane/Vader feud was based on a couple of things. One person wrote in and said that Kane was basically going through all of Paul Bearer’s former wrestlers. Given that it really only consisted of Mankind and Vader, it’s not as dramatic as say when Bossman had to go through the entire Heenan family. Along with that, someone else said that Vader prevented a Kane run-in, which also set up the feud. This is all fine and good, but it still doesn’t excuse the WWF from failing to tell these stories in their video package. Finally, one fan wrote in saying that this was the mask vs. mask match, but that wouldn’t happen until their rematch in May.

3) Lastly, one reader told me that Savio was a logical choice to replace Shawn as the Boriquas had been helping DX for weeks. He explained that the Boriquas even thought they would join DX until they were double-crossed. If that’s the case, and my memory is a little fuzzy on that relationship, then the announcers should have done a better job at getting that point across.

Thanks again to everyone who wrote in. I love the feedback. Now let’s see how much I actually remember from this show…

Emanating from the Fleet Center in Boston, MA

Your commentators are Jim Ross and Jerry “the King” Lawler

- I should point out that on the live broadcast, the show opens with the Chris Warren Band (the guys that do the DX theme music) doing a version of The Star Spangled Banner. Now I’m not some mega-patriot, but I found this to be one of the least classy, most foul versions of the song I have ever heard.

We get a surprise to kick off the show as the “mystery team” turns out to be the Legion of Doom, who are in new outfits and are now being accompanied by Sunny. This revamping of OLD went over about as well as New Coke. Although, there isn’t a red-blooded male out there who won’t agree that Sunny looks jaw-droppingly amazing in her red and black outfit. As soon as LOD get their gear off, all the teams pile into the ring and we’re underway. Rules are that once one man is eliminated, the team is eliminated. Winner here gets a title shot at next month’s PPV. Not caught on screen, but later shown in a replay is our first elimination, Savio Vega, who was partnered with Miguel. Kurrgan comes out and eliminates one of his former teammates, Sniper or Recon. Once again, this happens off-camera. Looks like the production crew has some early Wrestlemania jitters. Now Barry Windham comes out and dumps Chainz, who was teaming with Bradshaw. D’Lo and Jacques both get tossed, neither of which is seen. The Rock and Roll Express are eliminated when Ricky Morton is thrown out. More eliminations happen, but I’m at a loss as to how they are being thrown out. Scott Taylor is backdropped out of the ring, ending his and Brian Christopher’s night. We’re now down to the new Midnight Express (Bob Holly and Bart Gunn), the Godwinns, Skull and 8-Ball and the Legion of Doom. After some punching and kicking action, Henry Godwinn clotheslines Skull out. However, before his partner leaves, he tosses out Phinneas. So I guess both teams are now gone. The Godwinns nail the LOD with their buckets for good measure before leaving. The Midnight Express try and dump Hawk, but he fights back. LOD toy with the Express for a few seconds before eventually clotheslining both of them out.

Bottom Line: What can you say about a battle royal? Not a whole lot frankly. Most are rather uninteresting and used to get the maximum number of guys onto the show. This was a notch below most battle royals, as it was mostly scrub teams in there and the camerawork was really poor. Also, it was pretty apparent that LOD was going to win since they were the only team to have their entrance televised. This, despite the fact that they didn’t deserve another title shot. I mean, you can wrap a dog turd up in pretty paper and a ribbon, but it doesn’t mean it stops being a dog turd. ½ *

Aguila gains an early upper hand with a spinning heel kick that knocks Taka to the outside. As Taka recovers, Aguila connects with an Asai moonsault. Now Taka turns the tide by throwing Aguila out and then springing off the top rope and onto him. Taka takes Aguila back inside and nails him a few times with dropkicks to the face. As Taka goes for a move from the top, Aguila leaps up and armdrags him to the mat. After throwing Taka to the floor, Aguila follows it up with a corkscrew plancha. Back in the ring, Taka tries a corkscrew moonsault from the top, but misses. Aguila goes up and connects with a regular moonsault. That gets a nearfall. Taka tries another high risk move, but can’t decide what to do. This allows Aguila to climb up with him. Taka knocks him down, but when he comes off to do a big splash, Aguila gets his knees up. Aguila sets Taka back up in the corner and nails him with a leaping hurricanrana. Taka comes right back with a top rope dropkick. Aguila escapes a Michinoku Driver attempt, but when he then goes for a hurricanrana, Taka reverses it into a powerbomb. Another moonsault attempt by Taka misses. Aguila goes up, but Taka nails him with a dropkick as he was coming down. Now Taka connects with the Michinoku Driver and scores the victory.

BL: This was simply ok. Personally, I liked Taka’s match against Pantera from last month better. Here, we were back to the problem of hitting big spots, followed by no-selling. On top of that, Taka seemed to have an off night as he wasn’t as crisp as he normally is. At this point, this division either needs to give Taka some legitimate feuds or just scrap the division. **

- One of tonight’s “celebrities”, Gennifer Flowers, interviews The Rock on various issues as if he were running the country. Nothing terribly revealing or funny here, but it did its job of furthering The Rock’s character as a big egomaniac. We’ll see more of America’s cesspool, I mean our celebrity guests later on in the show.

Nice to see the European title being defended on PPV for the first time since last August. Sheesh! The Chris Warren Band is back to play HHH’s music. In this match, Chyna will be handcuffed to Comissioner Slaughter to prevent her from interfering. Owen comes in and immediately takes down HHH. A hurricanrana by Owen gets 2. HHH tosses Owen to the outside. As he gets up, Chyna tries to take a swing at him, but Slaughter pulls her back. Then, HHH tries a sneak attack, but Owen catches him and throws him into the guardrail. Back inside, Owen goes for an early Sharpshooter, but HHH thumbs him in the eye. HHH catches Owen with his head down and knees him. A high knee by HHH gets a nearfall. Owen begins to mount a comeback, but when he charges at HHH, he gets booted. HHH follows that up with a DDT. That gets 2. Now HHH begins to work on Owen’s ankle, which had been previously injured. Again, Owen tries to fight back. Once more, Owen charges, but when HHH tries to boot him, Owen ducks under him and crotches HHH on the post. A missile dropkick by Owen gets 2. Owen whips HHH and he messes up the flip, flop and fly. As HHH staggers toward Owen, he gets hit with an enziguri. The move, however, injured Owen just as much as it did HHH. HHH blocks a hurricanrana attempt and powerbombs Owen. That gives him a nearfall. HHH goes for the Pedigree, but Owen reverses it and tries for the Sharpshooter. HHH manages to shove Owen off, but Owen falls down right between HHH’s legs. Another Pedigree attempt by HHH and another reversal by Owen. This time Owen is able to lock on the Sharpshooter. Crowd is really starting to get into it now. Chyna manages to pull herself close enough to help HHH reach the ropes. As Owen argues with the referee, Chyna throws powder is Slaughter’s face. Owen goes over to yell at Chyna, which allows HHH to knee him from behind. The referee admonishes HHH, so Chyna gets up and lowblows Owen. HHH grabs Owen, hits him with the Pedigree and that’s all she wrote.

Postmatch: Once freed, Chyna gives Slaughter a stiff forearm and then throws him over the guardrail.

BL: I really wanted to like this match, but something prevented it from being better. The ending was strong enough, although I think Owen should have gone over. I guess my complaint lies in the slow beginning. There was nothing wrong with it, they just did nothing interesting. I think things would have been a lot better had HHH worked on Owen’s ankle earlier, since the announcers made a point of telling us it had been injured before the match. ** ½

- Just a quick aside…I find it funny that even though the WWF had gone in a new direction recently with the whole “Attitude” campaign, they still have the old, cheesy Wrestlemania theme that Linda McMahon uses as her theme music nowadays in between matches here.

- The video package for the upcoming mixed tag match really doesn’t tell us anything new, but there is one interesting bit of footage. Some clips from a RAW involving Sable, Luna and Vince Russo. I have no idea what he was doing out there or if he was even out there as Vince Russo. But if I had to guess, I would have to say it was probably to try and convince the ladies to somehow find a way to make-out during their match.

Interesting note…there have only been two other mixed tag team matches in Wrestlemania history and Goldust and Luna have ties to both of them. Goldust’s father, Dusty Rhodes was involved in the first one at Wrestlemania VI and Luna was part of the second one at WM X when her and Bam Bam Bigelow took on Doink and Dink. Goldust pounds away on Mero to begin. Mero comes right back, forcing Goldust to tag out. Luna demands Sable, but when she’s tagged in, Luna runs away scared and tags Goldust back in. After Goldust gets beat on some more, Sable is tagged back in, but Luna refuses to fight her. Goldust boots a charging Mero and finally is able to go on the offensive. Both men go for a crossbody, but Mero gets the better of it and pins Goldust for 2. Goldust catches Mero with his head down and uppercuts him. A mid-ring collision knocks both men down. Finally, the men tag out and the women go at it. Sable tackles Luna and pounds away on her. Luna nearly pops out of her top as Sable snapmares her. Sable then clotheslines Luna out of the ring. Luna tags out and as Goldust approaches the face corner, Sable coldcocks him. On the outside, Mero throws Goldust into the steps. As the referee admonishes Sable, Mero lowblows Goldust. Goldust escapes the TKO and DDTs Mero. That gets 2. Now Mero gets out of the Curtain Call and gives Goldust a high knee. A springboard moonsault by Mero gets 2. After elbowing Mero, Goldust goes up top, but Mero recovers and crotches him. Mero goes up and connects with a hurricanrana. As Mero goes off the ropes, Luna kicks him. Mero is about to punch Luna when Goldust comes charging. Mero catches it and ducks out of the way, causing Goldust and Luna to collide. This leads to Mero connecting with the TKO. Mero covers, but Luna attacks him. With Luna on his back, Mero walks over to his corner and Sable tags him. She covers Goldust, but the referee is distracted. Luna tries to splash Sable from the top, but nails Goldust instead. Sable powerbombs Luna and covers, but Luna kicks out at 2. Luna mounts some brief offense before Sable gets her up and nails her with a TKO. Sable covers and gets the 1, 2, 3.

Postmatch: Mero celebrates like he won a title, while Sable still looks pissed off.

BL: Now this had the fun and excitement that the last match failed to have. It wasn’t a technical classic, but it gave the fans exactly what they wanted. They played it smart by having the men wrestle the majority of the match and have Sable hit her big spots. ***

- Tennessee Lee comes out and introduces Jeff Jarrett and Gennifer Flowers. I guess Jarrett has dumped the gimmick of being NWA champion and is now back to being the country western star again. Yippee! Anyway, Jarrett’s appearance is meaningless, but Gennifer is out as guest ring announcer for the next match.

Shamrock runs into the ring and knocks down The Rock right away. J.R. mentions that if The Rock is disqualified in this match, he’ll lose the title. After he’s clotheslined to the outside, The Rock decides to leave. Shamrock follows him out there and they brawl in the aisle. Back inside, Shamrock continues to stay on the attack. The Rock manages to toss Shamrock out of the ring. Then he throws him into the steel steps. In the ring, the People’s Elbow gets 2. Again, the fight is back out on the floor. Shamrock grabs a chair, but when he goes to use it, the referee stops him. This prompts Shamrock to shove the referee down. Meanwhile, The Rock grabs the chair and delivers a vile, unprotected chairshot to Shamrock’s face. Shamrock somehow kicks out at 2. A powerslam by Shamrock gets 2. After an overhead belly-to-belly, Shamrock slaps on the ankle lock. The Rock doesn’t last long and quickly taps. New champion!

Postmatch: The rest of the Nation members come in, but Shamrock quickly fends them off. Shamrock then goes and puts the ankle lock back on The Rock. Farooq comes down, but then just stares at The Rock and leaves. After having the hold on for quite some time, the Usual Bunch of Idiots come out and Shamrock beats them up. Once everything settles down, Howard Finkel announces that the referee has reversed his decision because Shamrock refused to let go of the ankle lock. Therefore, still YOUR Intercontinental Champion, The Rock.

Post Postmatch: The announcement causes Shamrock to run down the aisle, dump The Rock off of his stretcher and beat him up some more in the aisle.

BL: It’s never a good sign when the postmatch antics take longer than the actual match. The action from bell to bell wasn’t very long and wasn’t very good. The constant in and out of the ring prevented the match from having any flow. And once again we get a false finish. Why couldn’t they just give Shamrock the belt? Instead, they clip him at the knees by having him look stupid in these matches. And for what? So The Rock could be a Honky champion? Not smart. *

Rules are that the team who puts their opponents into the dumpster and closes the lid, wins. We begin with all four men brawling around the ring. Cactus sets Road Dogg up in front of the dumpster and then hits him with a running knee. From the apron, Cactus tries diving onto Road Dogg, but Badd Ass shoves him out of the way and Cactus goes crashing into the dumpster. Badd Ass whips Chainsaw into the railing and then backdrops him into the dumpster. Now Road Dogg does a Russian leg sweep on Cactus into the dumpster. Ouch! The Outlaws then repeatedly slam the dumpster lids onto Cactus and Chainsaw’s heads. Both faces are thrown into the dumpster, but when Road Dogg tries to close the lid, Cactus pops out and puts the Mandible Claw on him. Chainsaw is back out and attacks Badd Ass with a cookie sheet. Now Cactus connects with the Cactus Elbow, while holding onto a cookie sheet. Cactus looks under the ring and pulls out a ladder. After it’s set up in the ring, Cactus and Badd Ass begin to brawl on it. Road Dogg nails Chainsaw with a cookie sheet, which causes him to fall backwards into the ladder. The ladder tips over and Cactus and Badd Ass go crashing into the dumpster. Awesome bump! As Cactus manages to get out, the Outlaws grab Chainsaw and powebomb him into the dumpster. Another big bump! Now the Outlaws brawl with Cactus in the aisle and then through the crowd. We cut to the back and see the brawl has continued backstage. Cactus manages to hit both Outlaws with a chair. Then he piles both of them onto a forklift. Chainsaw has found his way back there now, drives the forklift and dumps both Outlaws into another dumpster. Cactus closes the lid and we have new champions.

BL: A decent brawl that had a handful of cool spots. However, I felt it could have been longer. Frankly, everything has seemed short-changed thus far. Finally, we had a satisfying finish to a title match tonight. After letdowns in the European and Intercontinental title matches, the faces finally came out on top here. Although, this one wouldn’t last either as the decision would be overturned the next night, when it was decided that the Outlaws had been placed in an illegal dumpster. **

- The video package for the Taker/Kane match tells their rather uninteresting story. You know…the one where Taker accidentally burned his family’s mortuary when he was a child. Then Kane, his half-charred brother came back for revenge by locking him in a casket and setting it on fire. Only for the Undertaker to return from the dead and vow to fight his brother in the squared circle. A very mundane story that happens to your everyday Jonses and Smiths.

We get some pre-match excitement as Pete Rose comes out and rips on the Boston crowd (not that difficult to do). Then Kane comes out and tombstones Pete Rose! Crowd absolutely loves that. It’s weird that they would allow a monster heel to do a move that would generate such a face pop. Now Taker gets a big entrance by walking down to the ring under a row of flaming torches held by druids. Cool visual! We get the epic staredown before they begin to slug it out. Kane tries to set Taker up in a tree of woe, but he can’t quite hook his legs. Now Kane is giving Taker some rough turnbuckle treatment. It’s been all Kane thus far. Taker hops up on Kane’s shoulders and tries to punch him, but Kane just throws him off in an ugly looking spot. On the outside, Kane continues to dominate. This includes using the steps on Taker. When Kane goes back inside, Paul Bearer is able to get in a few cheap shots of his own. Taker tries to mount a comeback, but Kane sets him right back down with a chokeslam. Kane covers, but picks Taker up at 2. Uh oh, that’s never good. Taker punches his way out of a chinlock, but Kane knocks him down with a clothesline. After another chinlock by Kane, Taker escapes by picking up Kane and tossing him outside. Then Taker tries a suicide plancha, but Kane sidesteps him and Taker goes crashing into the Spanish announcers’ table. Back inside, Kane connects with a top rope clothesline. That gets 2 ¾ . Taker somehow gets Kane up for the Tombstone, but Kane reverses it and delivers one of his own. Somehow, Taker kicks out before 3. Taker begins his comeback and chokeslams Kane. He follows that up with a Tombstone. Kane manages to kick out, however. J.R. sells it as if he just saw Jesus Christ rise from the dead. Taker manages to get a second Tombstone and still Kane kicks out. A top rope clothesline, followed by a third Tombstone finally put Kane away.

Postmatch: Paul Bearer brings in a chair, which Kane uses to brutalize Taker. This includes Kane giving Taker a Tombstone on said chair. Clearly, this issue is far from over.

BL: I’m kinda torn on this match. On one hand, the amount of abuse that Taker took should have been enough to put him away. On the other hand, I was digging the “rope-a-dope” concept they were going with as far as strategy goes. Aside from a couple of headlocks, the action was pretty consistent here. This didn’t drag on nearly as long as I remember it going in the past. ** ¾

- The video package for the main event focuses more on the special enforcer, Mike Tyson, than it does on either of the combatants. I wonder what kind of bodily harm Tyson threatened to do if he wasn’t the focus of the match. I shudder to think.

Just so everyone’s clear, Tyson is not the in-ring referee, but a second one on the outside. Also, a few weeks before this event, Tyson joined DX, (in Cleveland’s own Gund Arena, I might add) so the belief is that Tyson will be biased during this match. Before Shawn comes out, he dedicates this match to “Earl”, referring to senior referee, Earl Hebner, who was in intensive care at the time of this show. We get a little stalling from Shawn, which Austin responds to with two fingers. Finally, Austin baits Shawn into a fight and we’re underway. We’ve hardly begun and we already have a gratuitous Shawn Michaels’ ass shot. With Shawn’s pants still half down, Austin backdrops him out of the ring and onto HHH. Austin tries to attack Shawn on the floor, but HHH grabs him and throws him into the guardrail. The referee sees this and ejects HHH and Chyna. Austin helps HHH leave by throwing him down the aisle. However, Shawn grabs a cymbal from the Chris Warren Band and blasts Austin with it. Back inside, Austin regains the upper hand when he punches Shawn, who was coming off the top rope. Austin whips Shawn, who tries to flip, flop and fly, but he hits the corner hard and just collapses. Shawn tries to do a move off the ropes, but Austin catches him with a reverese atomic drop. Knowing Shawn’s condition, it’s getting tough to watch this. Austin goes for a Stunner, but Shawn shoves him off. Shawn tries to rest on the apron, but Austin knocks him off. On the floor, Austin rams Shawn’s face into the steps. In the ring, Shawn escapes a chinlock with a jawjack. Shawn tries to injure Austin’s leg on the post, but Austin pulls him into the post instead. As the two brawl, Shawn backdrops Austin over the rail and into the crowd. Then, Shawn takes the ring bell and blasts Austin in the head with it. Shawn, clearly in real pain, tries to punch away at Austin in the ring. The crowd heckles Shawn, so he flips them off. This prompts Austin to tackle Shawn and punch him. Shawn manages to grab Austin’s leg and ram it a few times into the post. In the ring, Shawn continues to work on Austin’s knee. As Shawn tries to do a figure four leglock, Austin shoves him off and into the post. Austin then grabs him and rolls him up for 2. However, Shawn goes right back to Austin’s leg. As Austin tries to take a breather, Shawn hits him with a baseball slide that sends Austin onto the table. Tyson then throws Austin back into the ring. Inside, Shawn is able to lock on the figure four leglock. Shawn uses the ropes for leverage, but Tyson doesn’t do anything about it. Austin finally manages to turn the hold over. Both men are up and Austin grabs Shawn and delivers a slingshot that sends Shawn into the post. That gets 2. Shawn slaps on a sleeper and as Austin tries to escape, he crushes the referee in the corner. Now Austin is on a roll, doing a little mudhole stomping in the corner. Shawn connects with the flying forearm and then kips up (albeit a little slower than usual). Going up top, Shawn connects with the big elbow. Now Shawn begins to tune up the band. Shawn goes for the superkick, but Austin dodges it. Austin goes for the Stunner, but Shawn shoves him off. Another superkick attempt and this time Austin grabs his leg, spins him around and hits the Stunner. Austin covers, Tyson comes in and counts the three. New champion!

Postmatch: Austin hands Tyson an Austin t-shirt, which Tyson raises. Shawn sees this, yells at Tyson and then tries to deck him. Tyson, however, blocks it and nails Shawn. The confetti begins to fly and the Austin era has begun.

BL: This one is as tough to watch as the Bret Hart/Mr. Perfect match from Summerslam ’91. Shawn back prevented this from being an absolute classic. Having said that, you have to give Shawn all the credit in the world for giving it his all out there. The match wasn’t without its slow spots, but that final sequence was just perfect. Austin gets the big win and a nice start to his championship run. *** ½

Final Thoughts: Everything seems in place here. Big matches that stemmed from long simmering feuds. Big name outsiders as added draws. All the added visuals and pyrotechnics that you would expect. Yes, everything seemed set for a perfect Wrestlemania. Yet somehow it falls a little short. Small things added up over the show. There were some production issues that could have been better. The main event was hampered by Shawn’s injury. And most grating of all was the finish to some of the title matches. I still believe that the face should have gone over in either the European or Intercontinental title matches. It’s Wrestlemania, send the fans home happy. Even the tag title finish was flat, as it took place backstage and the live crowd wasn’t sure if it was over. So, overall there are some flaws here, but it’s still decent enough to check out, especially for Austin fans.

Next time, we’ve got women stripping each other of their clothes, while another one is held in a cage. Is this a WWF PPV or some porno movie?