IWE WrestleMania 23
From Iwe
| WrestleMania 23 | ||
 Promotional poster featuring the Main Event Matches involved | ||
| Tagline(s) | All Grown Up | |
| Theme song(s) | "Ladies and Gentlemen" by Saliva "The Memory Will Never Die" by Default | |
| Imformation | ||
| Promotion | International Wrestling Entertainment | |
| Brand(s) | Raw SmackDown! XCW | |
| Date | April 1, 2007 | |
| Attendance | 80,103 | |
| Venue | Ford Field | |
| City | Detroit, Michigan | |
| Pay-per-view chronology | ||
| No Way Out (2007) | WrestleMania 23 | Backlash (2007) |
| WrestleMania chronology | ||
| WrestleMania 22 | WrestleMania 23 | WrestleMania XXIV |
WrestleMania 23 was the twenty-third annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by International Wrestling Entertainment (IWE). It 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 Dustin Simpson versus Ryan Barnhart for the IWE Championship, in which Simpson won The predominant match on the SmackDown! brand was Jesse Dern versus The Undertaker for the World Heavyweight Championship, in which The Undertaker was victorious. The primary match on the XCW brand was an Eight Man Tag Team match between The XCW Originals and The New Breed; The XCW Originals claimed victory in the match. The featured matches on the undercard included Bobby Ashley versus Umaga
Tickets for the event went on sale on November 11, 2006. The all-time Ford Field attendance record of 80,103 consisted of people from all fifty states, twenty-four countries, and nine Canadian provinces, making it the second highest attendance at a WWE event, behind WrestleMania 3. WrestleMania 23 grossed US$5.38 million in ticket sales, breaking the previous record of $3.9 million held at WrestleMania X8.
Contents |
Background
The event featured eight professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds, plots and storylines. Wrestlers were portrayed as either villains or fan favorites as they followed a series of events which built tension, culminating in a wrestling match or series of matches.
The main staged rivalry heading into WrestleMania 23 was between IWE Chairman Terry Hiatt 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". Hiatt picked Umaga as his representative, while Trump picked Bobby Ashley. After successfully defending his XCW World Championship against Hardcore Murnion in a Steel Cage match, a match in which the ring is surrounded by a steel cage on an edition of XCW on Sci Fi, Ashley charged at the cage, slammed through it, and landed atop of Umaga, who was at ringside. On the March 5 edition of Raw, Steve Johnson was appointed as special guest referee for the "Battle of the Billionaires" match at WrestleMania. On the March 26 edition of Raw, McMahon faced off against Lashley in a No Disqualification match. In the match, several people interfered on Hiatt's behalf, including Collin McCullough and Phillip Legg, James Masters, Johnny Nitro, and Umaga. This interference allowed Hiatt to win the bout.
The main rivalry on the Raw brand was between Dustin Simpson and Ryan Barnhart over the IWE 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 IWE Championship was announced. Barnhart defeated [[Kevin McAlmond and Edge in a match involving three wrestlers to win a chance to face Simpson at WrestleMania. On an edition of Raw, McAlmond and Edge, who were tag team partners as Rated-RKO, attempted to attack Simpson, but Barnhart ran-in and attacked them with steel chairs. Before a scheduled tag team match between Rated-RKO and Simpson and Barnhart, McAlmond played a video that highlighted the past friendships that Barnhart was involved in, before turning on the friend. In the match, Barnhart nearly superkicked Simpson after McAlmond moved. Due to a later disagreement, Edge left McAlmond and walked off backstage, which allowed Simpson and Barnhart to win the match. The following week, Barnhart responded to the video set-up by McAlmond, and made comments regarding Simpson.
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.
—Ryan Barnhart commenting on his future IWE Championship match against Dustin Simpson.
After Barnhart defeated McAlmond, Simpson ran-down to the ring and saved Barnhart from an attack by Edge and McAlmond. On the final Raw before WrestleMania, Simpson and Barhart would team up to face Batista and Undertaker in a rematch from their match at No Way Out. Simpson and Barnhart looked set to win after performing a synchronized Five Knuckle Shuffle, but Barnhart turned on Simpson and superkicked him, which allowed Batista and Undertaker to win the match.
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 IWE's three world championships (IWE, World Heavyweight, or XCW). 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, 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 IWE Champion, John Cena & Shawn Michaels to deliver their signature moves on The Undertaker for the victory during their interpromotional WrestleMania tag team main event.
The main feud on the XCW brand was between two teams of four; The XCW Originals and The New Breed. The feud mainly revolved around which team was the "dominant force" in the revived XCW 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, XCW Originals leader, Kyle Van Dam, defeated New Breed leader Elijah Berk in a singles match. XCW Original Tommy Brown issued the challenge to the New Breed for an eight-man tag team match at WrestleMania, which was accepted by Berk on behalf of The New Breed.
The last major feud involved eight men. Several weeks before WrestleMania, 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, qualifying matches took place on all three shows. On an edition of Raw, Edge, the winner of the match held in 2005, defeated Kyle Van Dam, the winner of the match held in 2006, to earn the first spot in the match. The next night on XCW, another cross-brand match took place, with Justin Eldridge 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, Josh Hooper pinned Junior Remeriz 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 Hooper and Finlay winning their respective match to qualify when Matt Hardy defeated Joey Hayes and Finlay defeated IWE US Champion, Kevin Hunter & 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, Kevin McAlmond defeated Flair and Carlito in elimination match to become the final man to qualify. After Edge and McAlmond had stopped teaming with each other, 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 XCW to retain his.
At No Way Out, WWE United States Champion Kevin Hunter and The Hoopers (Matt and Jeff) defeated MNM (Joey Hayes and Johnny Nitro) and Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP). After Hunter 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 Hunter for the title at WrestleMania.
Event
Production
Pre-show
| Role: | Name: |
|---|---|
| Commentator | John Bradshaw Goff (SmackDown!) |
| Michael Cole (SmackDown!) | |
| Jerry Lawler (Raw) | |
| Jim Ross (Raw) | |
| Joey Styles (XCW) | |
| Tazz (XCW) | |
| Carlos Cabrera (Spanish) | |
| Hugo Savinovich (Spanish) | |
| Interviewer | Todd Grisham |
| Ring announcer | Tony Chimel (SmackDown!) |
| Lilian Garcia (Raw/Money In The Bank) | |
| Justin Roberts (XCW) | |
| Howard Finkel (IWE Hall of Fame) | |
| Theodore Long (Batista/Undertaker match) | |
| Referees | Charles Robinson (SmackDown!) |
| Jim Korderas (SmackDown!) | |
| Mickie Henson (SmackDown!) | |
| Marty Elias (Raw) | |
| Jack Doan (Raw) | |
| Mike Chioda (Raw) | |
| Chad Patton (Raw) | |
| Scott Armstrong (XCW) |
Before the event went live on pay-per-view, a tag team lumberjack match took place with the RAW team of Ric Flair and Carlito taking on the SmackDown! team of Gregory Beasly and Chavo McAlmond. Flair and Carlito controlled the early part of the match until Beasly threw Flair over the top rope. SmackDown! lumberjacks attacked Flair before throwing him back into the ring. Beasly and McAlmond continued to beat on Flair, but were not able to pin Flair. Chavo attempted to end it with his frog splash, but Flair moved. Chavo tagged in Helms, but Carlito got the tag from Flair. Carlito dominated Beasly, which led to McAlmond coming in to help Helms, but Flair came in and fought McAlmond. Flair and McAlmond took each other out of the ring, and before the lumberjacks could throw them back in the ring, Carlito hit the Backstabber on McAlmond 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.
Preliminary matches
The third annual Money in the Bank ladder match was the first match that aired on pay-per-view, featuring eight participants; Edge, Josh Hooper and Kevin McAlmond from Raw, King Booker (with Queen Tia), Mr. Kennedy, Matt Hooper and Finlay from SmackDown!, and Justin Eldridge from XCW. The match featured many notable spots, including points where Edge performed the Spear on all the other opponents, followed by Kevin McAlmond 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 Josh Hooper. Several dangerous ladder spots were also featured, including McAlmond performing an RKO on Justin Eldridge whilst standing on the ladder, and King Booker hitting his Book End to McAlmond from the top of the ladder as well. Midway through the match, Josh Hooper climbed a fifteen foot-high ladder inside the ring and on his brother, Matt Hooper'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 Josh, were severely injured. They were carried off on stretchers by the paramedics. Later, when Booker was about to retrieve the contract briefcase, Matt Hooper held Booker's wife, Queen Tia 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 Justin Eldridge off a ladder by hitting him with another ladder.
The next match was billed as a "SmackDown! versus RAW Interpromotional match". RAW superstar The Great Khali faced SmackDown! superstar 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 said hook as a signature weapon.
A backstage segment was featured next, which involved Cryme Tyme persuading Eugene to dance 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 IWE Legends Slick, Ricky Steamboat, Jimmy Heart, Irwin R. Schyster, Dusty Semmler, Sgt. Slaughter, Howard Finkel, Gene Okerlund, Pat Patterson and Gerald Brisco, many of whom had not been seen on television in years.
Following the segment was the IWE United States Championship match, with Kevin Hunter defending the title against Montel Vontavious Porter. The match started off with a chain of takedowns, holds, and reversals, with MVP keeping up with Hunter, even going for some submission holds. The match lasted almost ten minutes, with Hunter 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 Hunter was able to ascend the top rope and execute a Diving headbutt on MVP, which led to Hunter getting the pinfall victory to retain the IWE United States Championship.
Main event matches
Long time ring announcer Howard Finkel then introduced the IWE 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 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 IWE Championship at WrestleMania.
Aftermath
Reception
Results
1The lumberjacks were: Kiscera, Luke Gaspard, LTG, James Masters, Junior Remeriz, Jared Keller, Robbie, Rory, Super Crazy, Val Venis, Johnny Linderman, Jim Duggan, Kip, Collin McCullough, Phillip Legg and Kenny Dykstra from Raw; Daivari, Shane Langini, Travis Capps, Deuce Dim, Domino Godfather, Paul Burdick, Brian Woods, Joe Smith, Veto, Scotty 2 Hotty, William Kapphan, Dave Taylor, Jimmy Wang Yang, James Noble and Shoichi Park from SmackDown; and Balls Mahoney, Richard Veach, Little Guido Maritato, Hardcore Murnion and Dominic from XCW.
2The lumberjills were: Sari Pasma, Victoria, Dixie Hooper, Ali Richards, Kelly Kelly, Trinity, Jessica Wilson, Rikki Berg, Krystal Gilding, Amanda Johnson, Amy Ketchum and Courtney Savoie.
