Background WrestleMania 23

stone cold steve austin special guest referee battle of billionaires match

the main staged rivalry heading wrestlemania 23 between wwe chairman vince mcmahon , donald trump. on january 8 edition of raw, trump faced off against real-life rival, rosie o donnell. trump won contest, although local wrestlers portrayed trump , o donnell. during mcmahon s fan appreciation night on january 29 edition of raw, trump interrupted , dropped large sums of money arena. following month, 2 came match wrestlemania, stipulations match each had choose representative wrestle them , loser have head shaved bald. match billed battle of billionaires . mcmahon picked umaga representative, while trump picked bobby lashley. after defending ecw world championship against hardcore holly in steel cage match, match in ring surrounded steel cage on edition of ecw on sci fi, lashley charged @ cage, slammed through it, , landed atop of umaga, @ ringside. on march 5 edition of raw, steve austin appointed special guest referee battle of billionaires match @ wrestlemania 23. on march 26 edition of raw, mcmahon faced off against lashley in no disqualification match. in match, several people interfered on mcmahon s behalf, including lance cade , trevor murdoch, chris masters, johnny nitro, , umaga. interference allowed mcmahon win bout.

the main rivalry on raw brand between john cena , shawn michaels on wwe championship. after undertaker, winner of 2007 royal rumble match, made decision face batista world heavyweight championship @ wrestlemania, match determine next challenger wwe championship announced. michaels defeated randy orton , edge in match involving 3 wrestlers win chance face cena @ wrestlemania. on edition of raw, orton , edge, tag team partners rated-rko, attempted attack cena, michaels ran-in , attacked them steel chairs. before scheduled tag team match between rated-rko , cena , michaels, orton played video highlighted past friendships michaels involved in, before turning on friend. in match, michaels superkicked cena after orton moved. due later disagreement, edge left orton , walked off backstage, allowed cena , michaels win match. following week, michaels responded video set-up orton, , made comments regarding cena.

i have until wrestlemania. i’ve turned against partners , more importantly, i’ve stabbed friends in back. you, john, it’s different.

after michaels defeated orton, cena ran-down ring , saved michaels attack edge , orton. on final raw before wrestlemania, cena , michaels team face batista , undertaker in rematch match @ no way out. cena , michaels looked set win after performing synchronized 5 knuckle shuffle, michaels turned on cena , superkicked him, allowed batista , undertaker win match.

the main feud on smackdown! brand between batista , undertaker on world heavyweight championship. undertaker won 2007 royal rumble match earn championship match against 1 of wwe s 3 world championships (wwe, world heavyweight, or ecw). on february 5 episode of raw, undertaker chose challenge batista world heavyweight championship when chokeslammed him @ center of ring. in weeks leading wrestlemania 23, batista , undertaker partook in tag team matches. in beginning of feud, batista claimed have great respect undertaker; however, after several attacks undertaker, batista claimed have lost respect him @ no way out when batista gained payback delivering spinebuster undertaker, allowing raw s wwe champion, john cena , shawn michaels deliver signature moves on undertaker victory during interpromotional wrestlemania 23 tag team main event.

elijah burke leader of new breed stable

the main feud on ecw brand between 2 teams of four; ecw originals , new breed. feud revolved around team dominant force in revived ecw brand. 2 factions of 4 faced off in several tag team matches throughout weeks prior event. new breed seemed have dominated several weeks; however, ecw originals leader, rob van dam, defeated new breed leader elijah burke in singles match. ecw original tommy dreamer issued challenge new breed eight-man tag team match @ wrestlemania 23, accepted burke on behalf of new breed.

the last major feud involved 8 men. several weeks before wrestlemania 23, announced money in bank ladder match held again, in last 2 years. year, however, there 8 men involved, rather 6 2 previous years had. throughout weeks leading wrestlemania 23, qualifying matches took place on 3 shows. on edition of raw, edge, winner of match held in 2005, defeated rob van dam, winner of match held in 2006, earn first spot in match. next night on ecw, cross-brand match took place, cm punk defeating johnny nitro qualify. on week s smackdown!, king booker became third man qualify, defeating kane in falls count anywhere match after great khali interfered. on next edition of raw, jeff hardy pinned shelton benjamin in match become fourth man qualify. next night on ecw, mr. kennedy defeated sabu in extreme rules match earn fifth spot. on next smackdown!, 2 qualifying matches took place, matt hardy , finlay winning respective match qualify when matt hardy defeated joey mercury , finlay defeated wwe champion, chris benoit & montel vontavious porter in triple threat qualification match. final qualifying match took place on raw between carlito , ric flair. match deemed no contest after great khali interfered , attacked both men. following week, on raw, randy orton defeated flair , carlito in elimination match become final man qualify. after edge , orton had split team, 2 attempted other taken out of money in bank ladder match. both men failed, however, edge won last chance battle royal retain spot , orton won match on ecw retain his.

at no way out, wwe united states champion chris benoit , hardy boyz (matt , jeff) defeated mnm (joey mercury , johnny nitro) , montel vontavious porter (mvp). after benoit , mvp had matches 2 in them (tag team , triple threat matches), mvp decided start showing true united states champion. mvp have matches against champions of other countries (including luxembourg , scotland, in reality jobbers), beating them within minutes. mvp challenged benoit title @ wrestlemania 23.