page_title: WrestleMania 23
section_title: Preliminary matches
hierarchical_section_title: WrestleMania 23 / Event / Preliminary matches
caption_attribution_description: English: Mr. Kennedy retrieving the Money in the Bank briefcase
context_page_description: WrestleMania 23 was the 23rd annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment. 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.
  The event was a joint-brand pay-per-view, featuring performers from the Raw, SmackDown!, and ECW brands. Eight professional wrestling matches were scheduled for the event, which featured a 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 saw ECW Champion Bobby Lashley defeat Raw's Intercontinental Champion Umaga in a match where either Trump or McMahon would be shaved bald if their wrestler lost. Other featured matches included an eight-man tag team match between The ECW Originals and The New Breed and an eight-man interpromotional Money in the Bank ladder match.
context_section_description: 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.
  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.
  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.
  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.
caption: Mr. Kennedy grabs the briefcase to win the Money in the Bank ladder match
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