So now the once-indestructible "Road Warriors" - now mocked up and presenting as _LOD 2000_ are reduced to opening matches because they no longer matter, it appears. I know that eventually every wrestler (or tag-team, as in this case) reaches their pinnacle and has to come crashing back to earth (I also know that Mike Hegstrand's [Road Warrior Hawk] struggles with alcohol and substance abuse played a big part in the eventual downfall of the LOD.) but man, it hurts to see them as almost a caricature of their former selves. While I realize that pro wrestling is "scripted" and storylines are written, changed, and re-written, when the Road Warriors first burst onto the scene, they were not only _written_ to be tough: they were genuinely scary tough guys whom many other wrestlers actually did not want to get into a ring with. (Wrestling documentaries tell how stiff and unyielding these guys were, especially early in their careers.) In any event, this "LOD 2000" team - which now tends to feature Sunny more than Hawk or Animal - opens the card, accompanies not only by "Sunny" but also by Darren Drozdov (aka "Puke") against "Eight-Ball" and "Skull" of DOA (Dept. of Anarchy?). The match is fairly uneventful and features not much of anything other than several ringside shots of Sunny and some interference by "Droz" (or "Puke" as he eventually comes to be known.) Now Dwayne Johnson's "Rocky Maivia" (or 'The Rock' as he is now being introduced) comes out for an in-ring promo, and gets jumped by Ron Simmons' "Farooq". "Farooq" winds up injuring Rocky's neck, setting up a questionable match for the Intercontinental Championship belt later on the card, as dictated by "Commissioner Slaughter". After this is an extremely yawn-inducing match between Steve Blackman vs Jeff Jarrett. Jarrett _could be_ an interesting character but his ring entrances are sooooooo long, so boring, so self-promoting (yes, I know that's part of his character) that it just wastes a lot of time that could be either better spent on other parts of the card or trimmed entirely. I don't dislike Blackman's character (the same can't be said for the Jeff Jarrett persona) but he's just kind of "there"; a very cut, physically imposing figure that seems really stiff and ill-at-ease in a wrestling ring. Even knowing pretty much how this one would end, I still just wanted it to be over with; sadly, they made it last way too long (and it still ended the way I expected.) Now comes the match where, supposedly "Sable" is going to have someone wrestle Marc Mero for her "independence" from him. This takes a really weird twist (IMO, not the best writing the WWE has ever come up with) and Sable winds up "fighting" Mero herself. Fast-forward to "The Rock" agonizing over his temporary paralysis (courtesy of the previous attack by "Farooq", and yet, in spite of not being able to feel his hands or move his fingers, etc, "Commissioner Slaughter" insists that The Rock _will_ indeed have to defend the IC belt. The suspense continues to build... Now we have yet another one of those goofy matches featuring a mess of little Japanese wrestlers (I don't mean midgets; I just mean the really agile, tumbling acrobats posing as pro wrestlers) in some kind of weird handicap match with "Bradshaw". This one I skipped through as fast as possible. Now we have the IC title belt match between "Farooq" and "The Rock" and it comes with a surprise ending (along with a slightly questionable ending, IMO. I mean, the ref's hand DID hit the mat three times.) Next up, what _should have been_ a really intriguing match between "Kane" vs "Vader". Unfortunately, "Vader" (Leon White) just never could really put together an interesting match, and as much as Glenn Jacobs ("Kane") tried to carry the match, it was still dull, plodding, and slow and even the conclusion was drab. Makes you wonder if he (Leon White) is almost done? Now there's a "special presentation" that should have been **just** a presentation (and nothing more). I think it's cool when WWE recognizes some of these old-timers who paved the way for what is modern "sports entertainment". Unfortunately, they wanted to make a story out of this, so they wrote in a completely ridiculous - and very ill-performed - script involving Jerry Lawler. Do yourself a huge favor and just fast-forward through this; it completely blows chunks, even for the world of professional wrestling. Next on the card was the six-man tag-team match between members of "De-Generation X" (Billy Gunn, Road Dogg, Triple H) vs members of "The New Nation" (D'Lo Brown, Owen Hart, Kama Mustafa). Again, this was another match that I had little interest in; it _did_ turn out to be a decent match (much better and far less lopsided than what I was expecting) and had an unexpected conclusion. Now we come to the much-anticipated "main event" where "Stone Cold Steve Austin" has to compete not only against Mick Foley's "Dude Love" character (now very much an "establishment man" in the pockets of Vince McMahon) but also has to compete against Vince McMahon being the "special referee" along with fellow "establishment men" Jerry Brisco as the "special timekeeper" and Pat Patterson as the "special ring announcer". Of course the deck is stacked very much against him but it's all part of the storyline...and what a storyline it is. When you get to the "introductions" of the Main Event, you may feel like you're going to throw up in your mouth a little (or maybe a lot!) but stick with it: as nauseating as it is, it's actually quite funny (especially when you take into consideration that it _is_ strictly for entertainment purposes) as they just **ooze** the accolades of all the "corporation" guys in a (very effective!) major attempt to create "heat" in the crowd. The match itself was absolutely great, with Steve Austin and Mick Foley both playing their parts wonderfully, and the evil Vince "Mr. McMahon" playing his part every bit as well. The conclusion of the match couldn't have been better, IMO. Overall, there wasn't much to get overly excited about on this particular card but that Main Event was definitely worth it. You could skip pretty much anything and everything _except_ the main event and you wouldn't miss much (if anything) but you definitely want to watch that match between "Stone Cold Steve Austin" vs "Dude Love". Just a great match!