Here’s Part 23 of our WrestleMania Retrospective series, looking back at past WrestleMania events as we march towards WrestleMania 29 on April 7th
WrestleMania 23 (2007)
Tagline: All Grown Up
Sponsor:Â 360 OTC
Date:Â April 1, 2007
Venue:Â Ford Field, Detroit, Michigan
America the Beautiful: Aretha Franklin
Attendance:Â 80,103
The Undertaker’s Streak: 15-0 (Def. Batista)
WrestleMania 23 was the twenty-third annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was presented by 360 OTC and took place on April 1, 2007 at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan.The event was the first WrestleMania at Ford Field and the second to take place in the Detroit metropolitan area (following WrestleMania III, at the Pontiac Silverdome, in Pontiac, Michigan).
The event was a joint-brand pay-per-view, featuring performers from the Raw, SmackDown!, and ECW brands. Eight professional wrestling matches were featured on the event’s supercard, a scheduling of more than one main event. The main match on the Raw brand was John Cena versus Shawn Michaels for the WWE Championship, in which Cena won.The predominant match on the SmackDown! brand was Batista versus The Undertaker for the World Heavyweight Championship, in which The Undertaker was victorious.The primary match on the ECW brand was an Eight Man Tag Team match between The ECW Originals and The New Breed; The ECW Originals claimed victory in the match. The featured matches on the undercard included Bobby Lashley versus Umaga and an interpromotional Money in the Bank ladder match.
Tickets for the event went on sale on November 11, 2006. WrestleMania 23 grossed US$5.38 million in ticket sales, breaking the previous record of $3.9 million held at WrestleMania X8. WWE estimated that $25 million was pumped into the Detroit economy. The all-time Ford Field attendance record of 80,103 consisted of people from all fifty states, twenty-four countries, and nine Canadian provinces With 1.2 million buys, the event had the highest WWE PPV buyrate in history,
Money In The Bank
The third annual Money in the Bank ladder match was the first match that aired on pay-per-view, featuring eight participants; Edge, Jeff Hardy and Randy Orton from Raw, King Booker (with Queen Sharmell), Mr. Kennedy, Matt Hardy and Dave Finlay from SmackDown!, and CM Punk from ECW. The match featured many notable spots, including points where Edge performed the Spear on all the other opponents, followed by Randy Orton doing the same by leveling many of the participants with his RKO later in the match. Mr. Kennedy missed a Kenton Bomb and landed on a ladder on the back of his neck. He instead received a Swanton Bomb from Jeff Hardy. Several dangerous ladder spots were also featured, including Orton performing an RKO on CM Punk whilst standing on the ladder, and King Booker hitting his Book End to Orton from the top of the ladder as well. Midway through the match, Jeff Hardy climbed a fifteen foot-high ladder inside the ring and on his brother, Matt Hardy’s urging, he performed a leg drop off of that ladder onto Edge, who was lying prone on another ladder outside the ring, set-up on the ring apron and the barricade. Due to the impact, the ladder on which Edge was placed, broke in half and he, along with Jeff, were severely injured. They were carried off on stretchers by the paramedics. Later, when Booker was about to retrieve the contract briefcase, Matt Hardy held Booker’s wife, Queen Sharmell as a hostage, threatening to perform his Twist of Fate on her. Booker went to her aid and received the Twist of Fate from Matt. Finlay fought Matt for sometime in the ring, and also performed his Celtic Cross to Matt onto a ladder. Finlay’s associate Hornswoggle emerged from under the ring and attempted to retrieve the briefcase for Finlay. He was stopped by Kennedy, who performed his Green Bay Plunge on Hornswoggle. Kennedy went on to win the match, only after knocking CM Punk off a ladder by hitting him with another ladder.
Battle of the Billionaires
The main rivalry heading into WrestleMania 23 was between WWE Chairman Vince McMahon and Donald Trump. On the January 8 edition of Raw, Trump faced off against his real-life rival, Rosie O’Donnell. Trump won the contest, although local wrestlers portrayed Trump and O’Donnell. During McMahon’s “Fan Appreciation Night” on the January 29 edition of Raw, Trump interrupted and dropped large sums of money into the arena. The following month, the two came up with a match for WrestleMania, where the stipulations for the match were that they each had to choose a representative to wrestle for them and the loser would have his head shaved bald. This match was then billed as the “Battle of the Billionaires”. McMahon picked Umaga as his representative, while Trump picked Bobby Lashley. After successfully defending his ECW World Championship against Hardcore Holly in a Steel Cage match, a match in which the ring is surrounded by a steel cage on an edition of ECW on Sci Fi, Lashley charged at the cage, slammed through it, and landed atop of Umaga, who was at ringside. On the March 5 edition of Raw, Steve Austin was appointed as special guest referee for the “Battle of the Billionaires” match at WrestleMania 23. On the March 26 edition of Raw, McMahon faced off against Lashley in a No Disqualification match. In the match, several people interfered on McMahon’s behalf, including Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch, Chris Masters, Johnny Nitro, and Umaga. This interference allowed McMahon to win the bout.
The match that WWE billed as the “Battle of the Billionaires” was next, as Umaga (representing Vince McMahon) fought Bobby Lashley (representing Donald Trump), with Steve Austin serving as the special guest referee. Umaga was accompanied to the ring by Vince McMahon and by his “handler” Armando Alejandro Estrada. Lashley was being managed by Donald Trump, who was attended to by Tara Connor. Midway through the match, Austin was attacked by Umaga, causing him to become incapacitated and was taken out of the match for several minutes. Shane McMahon, who attempted to replace him as referee, called the match while being biased towards Umaga. After Umaga got a near-fall on Lashley, Austin pulled Shane out of the ring, gave him a Stunner, and continued refereeing the match. Lashley won the match after a Stunner from Austin and a Spear.After the match, Trump and Lashley shaved McMahon’s head bald, followed by Austin executing a Stunner on McMahon.
The Undertaker vs Batista
The main feud on the SmackDown! brand was between Batista and The Undertaker over the World Heavyweight Championship. Undertaker won the 2007 Royal Rumble match to earn a championship match against any one of WWE’s three world championships (WWE, World Heavyweight, or ECW). On the February 5 episode of Raw, Undertaker chose to challenge Batista for the World Heavyweight Championship when he chokeslammed him at the center of the ring. In the weeks leading to WrestleMania 23, Batista and Undertaker partook in tag team matches. In the beginning of the feud, Batista claimed to have great respect for The Undertaker; however, after several attacks by The Undertaker, Batista claimed to have lost all respect for him especially at No Way Out when Batista gained some payback by delivering a Spinebuster over The Undertaker, allowing Raw’s WWE Champion, John Cena & Shawn Michaels to deliver their signature moves on The Undertaker for the victory during their interpromotional WrestleMania 23 tag team main event.
The next match featured Batista defending the World Heavyweight Championship against The Undertaker. The match started with Batista performing a running tackle, as known as a Spear, which he had recently adopted as a secondary finisher, to Undertaker as the bell sounded. The match went back and forth, with both men countering each other and performing their finishers. Undertaker thought he had the match won after he hit the Chokeslam, but Batista kicked out of the pin attempt. The Undertaker was then able to perform an Last Ride to Batista. Batista was also able to execute his finisher, the Batista Bomb, a sitdown powerbomb. Midway through the match, Undertaker vaulted over the top rope and onto Batista. At one point, Batista was able to perform a running powerslam on The Undertaker through an announce table. Back in the ring, Batista executed a Spinebuster by grabbing The Undertaker by the waist and slamming him down to the mat back first, followed by a Batista Bomb. Undertaker then pinned Batista following a Tombstone piledriver to become the World Heavyweight Champion and emerge from WrestleMania with his winning streak intact. The Undertaker’s win made him the first wrestler to have won both the World Heavyweight Championship and the WWE Championship at WrestleMania.
Shawn Michaels vs John Cena
The main rivalry on the Raw brand was between John Cena and Shawn Michaels over the WWE Championship. After The Undertaker, the winner of the 2007 Royal Rumble match, made his decision to face Batista for the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania, a match to determine the next challenger to the WWE Championship was announced. Michaels defeated Randy Orton and Edge in a match involving three wrestlers to win a chance to face Cena at WrestleMania. On an edition of Raw, Orton and Edge, who were tag team partners as Rated-RKO, attempted to attack Cena, but Michaels ran-in and attacked them with steel chairs. Before a scheduled tag team match between Rated-RKO and Cena and Michaels, Orton played a video that highlighted the past friendships that Michaels was involved in, before turning on the friend. In the match, Michaels nearly superkicked Cena after Orton moved. Due to a later disagreement, Edge left Orton and walked off backstage, which allowed Cena and Michaels to win the match. The following week, Michaels responded to the video set-up by Orton, and made comments regarding Cena.
I will have your back until WrestleMania. I’ve turned against all my partners and more importantly, I’ve stabbed all my friends in the back. But with you, John, it’s different.
—Shawn Michaels commenting on his future WWE Championship match against John Cena.
After Michaels defeated Orton, Cena ran-down to the ring and saved Michaels from an attack by Edge and Orton. On the final Raw before WrestleMania, Cena and Michaels would team up to face Batista and Undertaker in a rematch from their match at No Way Out. Cena and Michaels looked set to win after performing a synchronized Five Knuckle Shuffle, but Michaels turned on Cena and superkicked him, which allowed Batista and Undertaker to win the match.
In the WrestleMania 23 main event, which saw John Cena defend his WWE Championship against Shawn Michaels, The match contained several notable spots, including Michaels hitting a Piledriver on Cena onto steel steps outside the ring. Cena was unable to execute an FU during the match, and Michaels also failed to execute Sweet Chin Music several times. Later in the match, Cena managed to place Michaels in the STFU submission hold, with Michaels reaching the ropes to break the hold. Cena then managed to place Michaels in the STFU again, and as a result, Michaels tapped out and Cena retained the WWE Championship.
WrestleMania 23 Results
• Ric Flair and Carlito defeated Gregory Helms and Chavo Guerrero Tag team lumberjack match
• Mr. Kennedy defeated CM Punk , Randy Orton , Finlay , Matt Hardy , King Booker , Jeff Hardy and Edge Money In the bank ladder match
• The Great Khali defeated Kane Singles match
• Chris Benoit (c) defeated Montel Vontavious Porter Singles match for the WWE United States Championship
• The Undertaker defeated Batista (c) Singles match for the World Heavyweight Championship
• The ECW Originals (Rob Van Dam, Tommy Dreamer, Sabu and The Sandman) defeated The New Breed (Elijah Burke, Marcus Cor Von, Matt Striker and Kevin Thorn) (with Ariel)
• Bobby Lashley (with Donald Trump) defeated Umaga (with Vince McMahon and Armando Alejandro Estrada) Hair vs. Hair match with Stone Cold Steve Austin as Special Guest Referee . The match’s alternative’s title is a “Battle of the Billionares” match.
• Melina (c) defeated Ashley Lumberjill match for the WWE Women’s Championship
• John Cena (c) defeated Shawn Michaels Singles match for the WWE Championship
