Gimmick Some Lovin': WrestleMania X8 No Disqualification Match

The Feud

The Rock takes a moment to confirm that this is all still a work, right?

Like the match itself, the feud that leads to Wrestlemania is a victim of being surrounded by angles which are remembered far better by fans and by the company itself.

Flair had been a less-than-impartial co-owner of the World Wrestling Federation and had made Undertaker's aggression a frequent target of his hands-on management style. At the February 2002 No Way Out PPV event, Taker squared off against The Rock (whom Deadman, Inc., had tormented throughout the winter with vicious attacks), and Flair prevented further destruction of one of his franchise players by striking Undertaker with a lead pipe and setting up a Rock win.

An image from No Way Out 2002 that is at least three years too late to have any significant impact.

Unfortunately, that show is far more frequently remembered for the return, after a significant hiatus in which they nearly managed to destroy two different wrestling companies, of Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and Hollywood Hulk Hogan as the reformed New World Order. The trio received a significantly larger share of television time and story focus than Taker and Flair, despite Big Evil's displays of some truly diabolical heel work throughout the month of March.

The Undertaker had challenged Flair to a Mania match to avenge Naitch's constant meddling, but Flair asserted that he could not due to his executive role in the company. Taker made a more forceful case for the match by bloodying both Arn Anderson and David Flair (the latter of whom Undertaker held hostage during a training session and continued to torture in a series of pretapes).

These attacks forced Flair's hand, and he accepted the Dead Man's challenge in a quintessentially Flair promo; Flair's violent retaliation, however, left fans caught in the crossfire and landed "The Nature Boy" a storyline suspension from the WWF Board of Directors, to be reviewed after Wrestlemania.

McMahon, for his part, would exploit Flair's temper and attempt to sway the Board's decision by pushing Ric to further his series of increasingly bad decisions in regards to his feud with Undertaker. McMahon, in his mind, could regain control of his company either by provoking Flair to show himself as unfit for leadership or by allowing Undertaker to send Flair into an early and immediate retirement