page_title: WrestleMania 25
section_title: Storylines
hierarchical_section_title: WrestleMania 25 / Production / Storylines
caption_attribution_description: English: Randy Orton at a live event on Monday Night Raw in Tampa, Florida 2008.
context_page_description: WrestleMania 25 was the 25th annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment. It took place on April 5, 2009, at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas. The event featured talent from all three WWE brands: Raw, SmackDown, and ECW. It was the second WrestleMania to be held in Houston, with the first being WrestleMania X-Seven at the Reliant Astrodome, which was held in 2001.
  Eight matches were held on the event's card, which featured a supercard, a scheduling of more than one main bout. The first of these matches saw The Undertaker defeat Shawn Michaels. The second was a Triple Threat match for the World Heavyweight Championship, which saw John Cena defeat the champion, Edge, and the third participant in the match, The Big Show, to win the championship. The final match of the night was a singles match for the WWE Championship that featured the champion, Triple H, defeating Randy Orton to retain the title. Featured matches on the undercard included Jeff Hardy versus Matt Hardy in an Extreme Rules match, Chris Jericho versus the team of Roddy Piper, Ricky Steamboat and Jimmy Snuka, and the annual Money in the Bank ladder match.
context_section_description: WrestleMania featured professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds, plots, and storylines that were played out on Raw, Friday Night SmackDown, and ECW on Sci Fi—World Wrestling Entertainment's (WWE) primary television programs. Wrestlers were portrayed as either a villain or a hero as they followed a series of events that built tension, and culminated into a wrestling match or series of matches. The event featured wrestlers from WWE's Raw, SmackDown, and ECW brands—a storyline division in which WWE's employees are assigned to a television program of the same name.
  John "Bradshaw" Layfield defeated CM Punk on March 9, 2009 on an episode of Raw to win the WWE Intercontinental Championship. A week later, JBL's old rival, Rey Mysterio, issued a challenge to face JBL for his Intercontinental title at Wrestlemania 25. With the match accepted by JBL, this would be the first time since Wrestlemania 18 that the aforementioned title belt would be defended on a Wrestlemania card. On the March 30th episode of Raw, JBL was pinned by Mysterio in a non-title match.
  At No Way Out, Shawn Michaels defeated John "Bradshaw" Layfield in a match with the added stipulation that if JBL had won, he would have become the owner of Michaels' name and likeness. On the February 16 episode of Raw, Michaels challenged JBL to a match, with the winner advancing to WrestleMania to challenge The Undertaker to attempt to end his undefeated streak at the event. The next week on Raw, Michaels defeated JBL, but it was later announced that another competitor would stand in his way to prevent him from advancing to the show in the form of Vladimir Kozlov, who also made a challenge to The Undertaker; the two wrestled the next week on Raw with Michaels defeating Kozlov, and earning his match with The Undertaker. The next week on Raw, The Undertaker and Michaels defeated Kozlov and JBL in a tag match. After the match, Michaels attacked The Undertaker. The pair played mind games with each other over the following weeks.
  The headline of WrestleMania 25 was on the entire show of Raw, with a confrontation over the WWE Championship, rooted at the 2009 Royal Rumble pay-per-view event in January by Randy Orton winning the Royal Rumble match. Per the traditional stipulation of the match, Orton was given the opportunity to choose to wrestle for the WWE, World Heavyweight, or ECW Championship at WrestleMania. Simultaneously, Orton began to assault the McMahon family, the owners of the WWE. During this conflict, Orton punted both Vince and Shane McMahon (father and son, respectively) in the head as well as RKO-ing Stephanie McMahon (Vince's daughter), which enraged the WWE Champion (and Stephanie's husband) Triple H. On the March 2 episode of Raw, Triple H convinced Orton to use his title opportunity in a match for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania. The following weeks saw Triple H attack Orton both backstage and at his house. In retaliation, Orton attacked Triple H's wife Stephanie McMahon. As a result, Triple H recruited his brother-in-law and father-in-law, Shane and Vince McMahon respectively.
  After the main event of the March 2 episode of Raw, SmackDown general manager Vickie Guerrero announced that her husband, Edge, would defend his World Heavyweight Championship against Big Show at WrestleMania. A contract to be signed to make the match official was intended to be held on the next episode of SmackDown; however, John Cena, from whom Edge won the World Heavyweight Championship at the previous month's pay per view, No Way Out (in the Elimination Chamber match), interfered with the signing before whispering a message in Vickie's ear prompting the signing to be canceled. The next week on Raw, Vickie announced to the surprise of Edge and The Big Show that Cena would be in the matchmaking it a Triple Threat match. It was soon revealed that the match would involve the new challenger based on Cena extorting Guerrero with footage of the general manager having adulterous relations with The Big Show. The next week on Raw, Edg
caption: Randy Orton, challenger for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 25
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