WrestleMania 23

The event was held at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan.

WrestleMania is considered World Wrestling Entertainment's (WWE) flagship pay-per-view (PPV) event, having first been held in 1985. It has become the longest-running professional wrestling event in history and is held annually between mid-March to mid-April.[7] It was the first of WWE's original four pay-per-views, which includes Royal Rumble, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series, referred to as the "Big Four".[8] WrestleMania 23 was scheduled to be held on April 1, 2007, at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan. The event featured wrestlers from the Raw, SmackDown!, and ECW brands. It was the first to feature ECW, a relaunch of the former Extreme Championship Wrestling promotion that became a WWE brand in June 2006, subsequently also being the first to feature the ECW World Championship (although it was not defended at this event as the champion competed in a non-title match).[9]

An attendance record setting 80,103 fans at Ford Field for WrestleMania 23

The set design for WrestleMania 23 began development in October 2006 after WWE set designer, Jason Robinson, first received the final logo for the event.[10] Robinson and his team first surveyed Ford Field in July 2006 and began planning out the staging and lighting designs. After returning to the stadium in January 2007 for more site surveying, Robinson and his team finalized the set's design in February.[10] The final design resulted in WrestleMania 23 having the largest set ever built for a WrestleMania event.[11] It incorporated 414 LED video screens and automated lights, 10 spotlights, 56 searchlights, 50,000 ft of cable for pyrotechnics and other use, and 35 stage flamethrowers used to produce 30 ft high and 6 ft wide flames, all which gave the set a unique look for each performer's entrance and an expanded stage lighting element of 300 ft in width and 100 ft in height using the specialized stage lighting instruments.[11][12] The ramp used to reach the ring from the entrance set was 187 ft in length.[13]

Though it took three weeks to fully prepare Ford Field, set assembly began the week before WrestleMania 23 and was completed shortly before the day of the event.[12] It took a week for three hundred staff members, unloading and working from forty semi-trucks, to build the set and assemble the event's lighting within Ford Field, far more than the usual forty hours, one hundred staff members, and fourteen semi-trucks required for the production of WWE's weekly television events.[10][11] After the event concluded, it took around thirty hours to disassemble the set and lighting, also far more than the usual three hours required for WWE's weekly television events.[10][12]

WrestleMania 23 featured professional wrestling matches involving wrestlers from existing scripted feuds and storylines played out on WWE's television programs. Wrestlers portrayed faces (heroes) or heels (villains) as they followed a series of events that built tension and culminated in a match or a series of matches.[14][15]

Stone Cold Steve Austin was the special guest referee for the "Battle of the Billionaires" match

The main staged rivalry heading into WrestleMania 23 was between WWE Chairman Vince McMahon and future 45th President of the United States Donald Trump. On the January 8 episode 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.[16] During McMahon's "Fan Appreciation Night" on the January 29 episode of Raw, Trump interrupted and dropped large sums of money into the arena.[17] 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".[18] McMahon picked Umaga as his representative,[19] 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.[20] 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.[21] 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.[22]

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 Triple Threat match to win a chance to face Cena at WrestleMania.[23] 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.[19] 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.[24] The following week, Michaels responded to the video set-up by Orton, and made comments regarding Cena.[21]

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.[21]

After Michaels defeated Orton, Cena ran-down to the ring and saved Michaels from an attack by Edge and Orton.[21] 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.[22]

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. At 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 to The Undertaker, allowing Raw's WWE Champion, John Cena and Shawn Michaels to deliver their signature moves on The Undertaker for the victory during their inter-promotional WrestleMania 23 tag team main event. On the final Raw before WrestleMania during a rematch between Cena and Michaels against Batista and Undertaker from No Way Out, Undertaker walked out of the match in response to Batista attacking him during the first encounter, leaving Batista to fight alone against Cena and Michaels. However, Batista and Undertaker would end up winning the match after Michaels betrayed Cena by hitting him with a superkick, which allowed Batista to pin Cena for the win.

Elijah Burke was the leader of the New Breed stable

The main feud on the ECW brand was between two teams of four; The ECW Originals and The New Breed. The feud mainly revolved around which team was the "dominant force" in the revived ECW brand. The two factions of four-faced off in several tag team matches throughout the weeks prior to the event. The New Breed seemed to have dominated for several weeks; however, ECW Originals leader, Rob Van Dam, defeated New Breed leader Elijah Burke in a singles match. ECW Original Tommy Dreamer issued the challenge to the New Breed for an eight-man tag team match at WrestleMania 23, which was accepted by Burke on behalf of The New Breed.

The last major feud involved eight men. Several weeks before WrestleMania 23, it was announced that the Money in the Bank ladder match would be held again, as it was in the last two years. This year, however, there would be eight men involved, rather than six the two previous years had. Throughout the weeks leading up to WrestleMania 23, qualifying matches took place on all three shows. On an edition of Raw, Edge, the winner of the match held in 2005, defeated Rob Van Dam, the winner of the match held in 2006, to earn the first spot in the match. The next night on ECW, another cross-brand match took place, with CM Punk defeating Johnny Nitro to qualify. On that week's SmackDown!, King Booker became the third man to qualify, defeating Kane in a Falls Count Anywhere match after The Great Khali interfered. On the next edition of Raw, Jeff Hardy pinned Shelton Benjamin in a match to become the fourth man to qualify. The next night on ECW, Mr. Kennedy defeated Sabu in an Extreme Rules match to earn the fifth spot. On the next SmackDown!, two qualifying matches took place, with Matt Hardy and Finlay winning their respective match to qualify when Matt Hardy defeated Joey Mercury and Finlay defeated WWE US Champion, Chris Benoit & Montel Vontavious Porter in the Triple threat qualification match. The final qualifying match took place on Raw between Carlito and Ric Flair. The match was deemed a no-contest after The Great Khali interfered and attacked both men. The following week, on Raw, Randy Orton defeated Flair and Carlito in an elimination match to become the final man to qualify. After Edge and Orton had split as a team, the two attempted to get the other taken out of the Money in the Bank ladder match. Both men failed, however, as Edge won a "last chance" battle royal to retain his spot and Orton won a match on ECW to retain his.

At No Way Out, WWE United States Champion Chris Benoit and the Hardy Boyz (Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy) defeated MNM (Joey Mercury and Johnny Nitro) and Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP). After Benoit and MVP had some matches with the two in them (tag team and triple threat matches), MVP decided to start showing he was the "true" United States Champion. MVP would then have matches against the "champions" of other countries (including Luxembourg and Scotland, who in reality were jobbers), beating them within minutes. MVP then challenged Benoit for the title at WrestleMania 23.

Before the event went live on pay-per-view, Ric Flair and Carlito faced Gregory Helms and Chavo Guerrero in a tag team lumberjack match. Flair and Carlito controlled the early part of the match until Helms threw Flair over the top rope. The lumberjacks attacked Flair before throwing him back into the ring. Helms and Guerrero continued to beat on Flair, but couldn't pin Flair. Guerrero tried to end it with his frog splash, but Flair moved. Guerrero tagged in Helms, but Flair tagged in Carlito. Carlito dominated Helms, leading to Guerrero coming in to help Helms, but Flair came in and fought Guerrero. Flair and Guerrero took each other out of the ring, and before the lumberjacks could throw them back in the ring, Carlito hit the Backstabber on Guerrero to pick up the win for himself and Flair.

The event officially began with Aretha Franklin singing a rendition of "America the Beautiful", reprising her role from twenty years earlier at WrestleMania III.[26]

Mr. Kennedy grabs the briefcase to win the Money in the Bank ladder match

In the first match that aired, Edge, Randy Orton, Jeff Hardy, King Booker (with Queen Sharmell), Mr. Kennedy, Matt Hardy, Finlay, and CM Punk competed in the third annual Money in the Bank ladder match. The match featured many notable spots, including points where Edge performed the Spear on all the other opponents, followed by Orton doing the same by performing the RKO later in the match. Kennedy missed a Kenton Bomb, landing on a ladder, and received a Swanton Bomb from Jeff. Several dangerous ladders spots were also featured, including Orton performing an RKO on Punk off a ladder, and Booker performing a Book End to Orton off the ladder as well. Midway through the match, Jeff climbed a fifteen-foot-high ladder inside the ring and on his brother, Matt's urging, he performed a leg drop off of that ladder onto Edge, through another ladder bridged between the ring apron and the barricade. They were carried off on stretchers by the paramedics. Later, when Booker was about to retrieve the contract briefcase, Matt held Booker's wife, Sharmell as a hostage, threatening to perform a Twist of Fate on her. Booker went to her aid and received the Twist of Fate from Matt. Finlay fought Matt for some time in the ring, and also performed the 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 Punk off a ladder by hitting him with another ladder.[26]

The next match was billed as a "SmackDown! versus Raw Interpromotional match". Raw's The Great Khali faced SmackDown!'s Kane. It was a short match but contained a notable spot. In homage to Hulk Hogan slamming André the Giant twenty years earlier at WrestleMania III, Kane picked up Khali for the first time and body-slammed him to the mat. The match ended with Khali pinning Kane after a Giant Chokeslam. After the match, Khali choked Kane out with Kane's chained hook, which was a reference to Kane's movie, See No Evil, where his character used the hook as a signature weapon.[26]

A backstage segment was featured next, which involved Cryme Tyme persuading Eugene to dance with Extreme Expose instead he danced with Mae Young and The Fabulous Moolah, who were dressed as strippers as Cryme Tyme danced with Extreme Exposé. Also featured in the segment were WWE Legends Slick, Ricky Steamboat, Jimmy Hart, Irwin R. Schyster, Dusty Rhodes, Sgt. Slaughter, Howard Finkel, Gene Okerlund, Pat Patterson and Gerald Brisco, many of whom had not been seen on television in years until Farooq interrupted the festivities with his signature "DAMN!" catchphrase.[26]

In the fourth match, Chris Benoit faced Montel Vontavious Porter for the United States Championship. The match started off with a chain of takedowns, holds, and reversals, with MVP keeping up with Benoit, even going for some submission holds. The match lasted almost ten minutes, with Benoit attempting to lock in some of his signature submission holds, but MVP successfully reversed them, including the Crippler Crossface. The two exchanged suplexes and holds until Benoit executed a Diving headbutt on MVP, which led to Benoit getting the pinfall victory to retain the WWE United States Championship. This was Benoit's last WrestleMania match.[26]

Long-time ring announcer Howard Finkel then introduced the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2007. The next match featured Batista defending the World Heavyweight Championship against The Undertaker. The match started with Batista performing a Spear on Undertaker as the bell sounded. The match went back and forth, with both men countering each other and performing their finishers. Undertaker performed a Chokeslam, but Batista kicked out of the pinfall attempt. Undertaker was then able to perform a Last Ride to Batista for a near-fall. Midway through the match, Undertaker performed an Over The Top Rope Suicide Dive on Batista. At one point, Batista was able to perform a running powerslam on Undertaker through a broadcast table. Back in the ring, Batista executed a Spinebuster followed by a Batista Bomb for a near-fall. 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.[26]

Bobby Lashley represented Donald Trump in the "Battle of the Billionaires".

The ECW Originals (Rob Van Dam, Sabu, Tommy Dreamer, and The Sandman) took on The New Breed (Elijah Burke, Kevin Thorn, Marcus Cor Von, and Matt Striker) next. The match started off with Cor Von working over Sabu. That changed when Cor Von tagged Striker, who missed an elbow after whipping Sabu into the ropes, allowing Sandman to get tagged. Sandman dominated Striker, and eventually tagged Van Dam. Van Dam used also dominated Striker but was poked in the eye, allowing Striker to tag in Burke. Burke had early success, but Van Dam regained the advantage and tagged Sandman again. Sandman worked on Burke until tagging Dreamer. Dreamer also beat down Burke until Cor Von received a blind tag and hit Dreamer from behind. Cor Von attacked Dreamer relentlessly and went over and punched Sabu, which distracted the referee and allowed Dreamer to be triple-teamed by Thorn, Burke, and Striker. Cor Von tagged in Burke who almost pinned Dreamer. Thorn entered next and almost performed his finishing move called the Original Sin. Dreamer managed to escape but was unable to tag his partners. Thorn tagged in Cor Von again who also almost pinned Dreamer. Cor Von tagged Thorn again, and Thorn resumed the beat down on Dreamer. Thorn tagged Striker next, and Striker attempted a suplex that Dreamer blocked and Dreamer suplexed Striker instead. Striker did not try to tag his partners and tried to stop Dreamer, but Dreamer tagged in Sabu. Sabu began to manhandle Striker and executed a leg drop from the top rope. Van Dam was then tagged in. Burke broke up Van Dam's pin attempt, which led to all competitors entering the ring. While the referee was distracted, Ariel gave Striker a chair. But Van Dam gave Striker an Van Daminator when he kicked the chair into Striker's face. Van Dam pinned Striker after a Five-Star Frog Splash to win the match for The Originals.[26]

The match that WWE billed as the "Battle of the Billionaires" was next, as Umaga (accompanied by Vince McMahon and his handler Armando Alejandro Estrada) fought Bobby Lashley (accompanied by Donald Trump). Stone Cold Steve Austin served as the special guest referee. Trump 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 the referee, called the match while being biased toward Umaga. After Umaga got a near-fall on Lashley, Austin pulled Shane out of the ring, gave him a Stunner, and went back to the ring. Umaga attempted a Samoan Spike on Austin, but he avoided it and Stunned Umaga. Lashley took the opportunity and speared Umaga, then pinned him to get the victory. After the match, Trump and Lashley shaved Vince's head bald, followed by Austin executing a Stunner on Trump.[26]

The next match was Melina against Ashley in a Lumberjill Match for the WWE Women's Championship. The match was short, as Melina Bridge pinned Ashley to retain the title. After the match, the lumberjills began brawling in the ring.[26]

The main event was John Cena against Shawn Michaels for the WWE Championship. Cena made a grand entrance by driving a Ford Mustang through the streets of Detroit and smashing through a glass panel upon entering the stadium. After a back and forth match, the longest of the night, Cena applied the STF on Michaels, Michaels submitted and Cena retained the title.[26]

Rockford-Montgomery Labs, through their brand 360 OTC, was named as the official sponsor of the event. On January 19, 2008, WWE filed a lawsuit against the company alleging non-payment of the sponsorship funds.[38] A similar lawsuit was also filed by NASCAR Cup Series team Bill Davis Racing, which had run WWE and WrestleMania 23 sponsorship as part of their sponsorship deal with 360 OTC.[39][40]