WrestleMania 21 WrestleMania 21 was the twenty - first annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay - per - view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment ( WWE ) . It was presented by Snickers and took place on April 3 , 2005 , at the Staples Center in Los Angeles , California . The event was a joint - promotion pay - per - view , featuring performers from the Raw and SmackDown brands . The main match on the Raw brand was Triple H versus Batista for the World Heavyweight Championship , which Batista won by pinfall after executing a Batista Bomb . The predominant match on the SmackDown brand was John " Bradshaw " Layfield versus John Cena for the WWE Championship , which Cena won by pinfall after performing an FU . Another primary match was an interpromotional match between The Undertaker versus Randy Orton , which Undertaker won by pinfall after performing a Tombstone Piledriver . The featured matches on the undercard were Kurt Angle versus Shawn Michaels and a Money in the Bank ladder match . The event also featured the return of Stone Cold Steve Austin who started his part - time appearances with WWE at this event . WrestleMania 21 was the first WrestleMania held at the Staples Center , but the fifth to take place in the Southern California metropolitan area ( following WrestleMania 2 , WrestleMania VII , WrestleMania XII , and WrestleMania 2000 ) . Tickets sold out in less than one minute for the event , making it the fastest ticket sell - out in the company ' s history as well as the fastest ticket sell - out at the Staples Center . The event drew a Staples Center record attendance of 20 , 193 people from 14 countries and 48 states and grossed more than $ 2 . 1 million in ticket sales , making it the highest grossing WWE event ever at the Staples Center , and the highest grossing of the five WrestleManias held in California . In addition to those in attendance , the event was seen by millions of fans in more than 90 countries . Background . The main rivalry heading into WrestleMania on the Raw brand was between Triple H and Batista , with the two feuding over the World Heavyweight Championship . At New Year ' s Revolution , on January 9 , Triple H won an Elimination Chamber match to win the vacant World Heavyweight Championship . Triple H won the match by last eliminating Randy Orton following outside interference from Evolution members Batista and Ric Flair . Three weeks later at the Royal Rumble , Triple H successfully defended the World title over Randy Orton at the same event where Batista won the 2005 Royal Rumble match , by last eliminating John Cena , earning the right to participate in the main event of WrestleMania 21 against the champion of his choice . On the February 8 episode of " Raw " , Triple H defeated Edge to retain the World title due to Batista ' s interference . Afterward , as Batista raised Triple H ' s hand and World Championship , Batista got a close look at the World Championship , then stared Triple H down , looking as if he was thinking about challenging Triple H for the World Championship . In an attempt to persuade Batista to challenge WWE Champion John " Bradshaw " Layfield rather than Triple H at WrestleMania , Triple H concocted a scheme to have Batista run over by a limousine resembling the one used by Layfield . Initially , Batista did not want help from Evolution and wanted to confront JBL by himself . Triple H insisted that Evolution accompany Batista anyway , saving him from the oncoming limousine . Batista became aware of the plot while eavesdropping on fellow Evolution members and signed a contract guaranteeing him a match with World Champion Triple H at WrestleMania , thus leaving Evolution and officially turning into a fan favorite . Batista pretended to sign with the SmackDown brand , giving Triple H and Flair the " thumbs up " , but turned it into a " thumbs down " ( alluding to the way Randy Orton was kicked out of Evolution after winning the world title at SummerSlam 2004 ) before attacking the pair . This led to Batista ' s departure from the stable . The main feud heading into WrestleMania on the SmackDown brand was between John " Bradshaw " Layfield and John Cena , with the two battling over the WWE Championship . At No Way Out , Cena defeated Kurt Angle to earn a spot in the SmackDown main event at WrestleMania . During the latter event , JBL successfully defended the WWE title against The Big Show in a Barbed Wire Steel Cage Match . As a result of Cena ' s win , he began a feud with John " Bradshaw " Layfield and his Cabinet . On the February 25 edition of " SmackDown " , Cena and The Big Show defeated JBL and Orlando Jordan . The following week , JBL cut a promo on Cena , and insulted him , while Cena defended his United States title against Jordan . Jordan won the match after the Basham Brothers distracted the referee , and JBL hit Cena with the WWE Championship belt . They then blew up Cena ' s customized design of the United States Championship , and replaced it with the original one . Later that night , Cena brought a steel lead pipe to the ring with him and ordered JBL to come out to the ring and fight him , only to have the SmackDown General Manager , Theodore Long make his way to the ring and inform Cena that he had to wait until WrestleMania to get his hands on JBL . Cena then gave the ultimatum for Long to be part of a solution or part of the problem . Cena then stated " Since you ' re not going to bring JBL out here , then you ' re part of then problem . " Cena then nailed Teddy Long with an FU and was thrown out of the arena . During JBL ' s match that night , Cena returned and attacked The Cabinet . The next week , Long announced that if Cena laid a hand on JBL , apart from in matches , he would lose his WrestleMania match . In a Six - Man Tag Team match that night , John Cena and the WWE Tag Team Champions , Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio defeated JBL and the Basham Brothers , but Cena had to stop himself from attacking JBL after the bell had rung . On a later edition of " SmackDown ! " , Long clarified that if JBL physically provoked Cena , then Cena could retaliate . Cena then attempted to provoke JBL , by vandalising his limousine , and spray painting " FU " on JBL ' s shirt . On the last " SmackDown ! " before WrestleMania , however , JBL interrupted Cena ' s match against Carlito and had Cena arrested for vandalism and , once Cena was handcuffed , JBL nailed him with a low blow and ended the show by leaving Cena laying defenseless . A heavily promoted match for the event was an interpromotional match between SmackDown superstar Kurt Angle and Raw superstar Shawn Michaels . Their match stemmed from the Royal Rumble , the pay - per - view event two months prior to WrestleMania . At the Royal Rumble , Angle relentlessly attacked Shawn Michaels after Michaels had eliminated him from the Royal Rumble match . The next month at No Way Out , Angle lost a number one contenders match to John Cena , losing a spot in the SmackDown main event at WrestleMania . The next night on " Raw " , Michaels told SmackDown General Manager Theodore Long to inform Angle that he had challenged him to a match at WrestleMania . On the February 28 edition of " Raw " , after Michaels defeated Edge in a Street Fight , Angle attacked Michaels and accepted his challenge . On the next edition of " SmackDown ! " , Michaels ambushed Angle in the ring , and the two of them brawled , until security broke it up . Angle claimed that he was better than Michaels , and said he would prove it by achieving everything that Michaels had , but doing it faster . He then won a ladder match , mocking Michaels match from WrestleMania X . He then challenged Marty Jannetty , Michaels former tag team partner to a match . He won after Jannetty tapped out . Angle also persuaded Michaels ' former manager , Sensational Sherri to do a spoof of Michaels ' theme song , " Sexy Boy " , calling his version " Sexy Kurt " . Michaels , however , interrupted and played a video highlighting all his accomplishments . When Sherri got emotional from watching the video , Angle put her in the Ankle Lock . Angle also interfered in Michaels ' match against Muhammad Hassan on the last edition of " Raw " before the pay - per - view , which resulted in Michaels defeating Hassan by disqualification . The other interpromotional match on the card was between Randy Orton and The Undertaker , with Orton representing Raw and Undertaker representing SmackDown . The feud first started on the March 7 edition of " Raw " when Orton challenged Undertaker to a match at WrestleMania billed as " " Legend vs . Legend Killer " " match . Orton had been inspired by WWE Hall of Fame member , " Superstar " Billy Graham , who encouraged him to " go where no wrestler has gone before " . Three days later on " SmackDown " , Undertaker accepted Orton ' s challenge . On the March 14 episode of " Raw " , during Chris Jericho ' s " Highlight Reel " segment , Jake " The Snake " Roberts , attempted to give Orton advice about his match with Undertaker at WrestleMania , but received an RKO by Orton when Orton wasn ' t cooperating . On March 17 , a contract signing for the match was scheduled to take place , and was attended by the SmackDown General Manager , Theodore Long , and Raw General Manager , Eric Bischoff . The Undertaker immediately signed the contract ; however , before Orton signed the contract , he cut a promo on the Undertaker , stating that he has nothing but respect for him and then claimed that the legend of the Undertaker will become a myth when his 12 – 0 undefeated streak at WrestleMania , would soon be 12 – 1 . Afterwords , he then slapped the Undertaker . Orton fled the ring after the Undertaker began to fill the arena with smoke , and didn ' t sign the contract . The next week on " Raw " , Orton claimed that his confidence was at an all - time high , despite what happened on " SmackDown " the week before . Shortly thereafter , Orton turned into a villain and furthered his " Legend Killer " gimmick by performing an RKO on Stacy Keibler , who was his girlfriend at the time . Orton taunted the Undertaker for the next couple weeks , but the Undertaker responded with taunts of his own , as he attacked other superstars . On the final SmackDown ! before WrestleMania , Orton ' s father , " Cowboy " Bob Orton , begged the Undertaker to have mercy on Orton . It ultimately proved to be a set - up , however , as Orton attacked the Undertaker and performed an RKO on him just to show an example of what could happen at WrestleMania when he faces the Undertaker . Another match on the card was the Money in the Bank ladder match between Chris Jericho , Christian , Chris Benoit , Edge , Kane , and Shelton Benjamin . The idea for the Money in the Bank match was introduced by Jericho who proposed a six - man ladder match , for the event in which the winner would receive a contract for a World title match at the place and time of his choosing . Raw General Manager , Eric Bischoff , booked the match at WrestleMania 21 soon after . According to Jericho , the first idea as a submission match between Edge , Jericho and Benoit and a ladder match between other wrestlers . Event . Before the event went live on pay - per - view , a dark match was held . A 30 - man interpromotional Battle Royal , which featured : Booker T , Paul London , Heidenreich , Spike Dudley , Nunzio , Funaki , Doug Basham , Danny Basham , Orlando Jordan , Mark Jindrak , Luther Reigns , Scotty 2 Hotty , Hardcore Holly , Charlie Haas , Billy Kidman , and Akio from SmackDown and Simon Dean , William Regal , Tajiri , Rob Conway , Sylvain Grenier , Snitsky , The Hurricane , Rosey , Chris Masters , Viscera , Rhyno , Val Venis , Tyson Tomko , and Maven from Raw . Booker T eliminated Chris Masters to win the Battle Royal . Lilian Garcia performed " " America the Beautiful " " at the beginning of the event . The first televised match of the night was between Rey Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero . In the beginning of the match , Mysterio jumped over the top rope , knocking Guerrero down . Mysterio also attempted another aerial attack but was countered by Guerrero into a Powerbomb . Guerrero placed Mysterio into the Three Amigos and attempted a Frog splash but was unsuccessful . Following a Hurricanrana by Mysterio on Guerrero , Mysterio pinned Guerrero to win . After the match , both men shook hands in the ring . John " Bradshaw " Layfield and Orlando Jordan were then shown backstage discussing Layfield ' s match against John Cena . Triple H and Ric Flair walked by as Triple H mocked Layfield . Layfield retaliated by advising Triple H to worry about losing the World Heavyweight Championship to Batista and assured him that John Cena would be unsuccessful at defeating Layfield for the WWE Championship . Triple H responded that only the end of the night would reveal who would still be champion . The match that followed was the first Money in the Bank ladder match which featured Chris Jericho , Chris Benoit , Shelton Benjamin , Edge , Kane , and Christian with Tyson Tomko at ringside . The match contained many notable moments , including points where Jericho , Christian , Benjamin and Kane all jumped over the top rope to the outside of the ring to knock down multiple opponents . Another moment included Benjamin executing a T - Bone Suplex on Edge off the top of a ladder and later using an inclined ladder as a ramp to run up a standing and hit Jericho with a Clothesline maneuver . Benoit also executed a Diving headbutt from the top of a ladder onto Kane . In the conclusion of the match , Benoit climbed a ladder to attempt to retrieve the Money in the Bank briefcase hanging above the ring but was stopped by Kane who had also climbed the ladder . Benoit used repeated headbutts to knock Kane to the floor and attempted to retrieve the briefcase once more but was knocked down by Edge who hit him with a steel chair . Edge then climbed the ladder and successfully obtained possession of the briefcase to win the match . In an interlude , Eugene entered the ring and shared his excitement about being at his first WrestleMania with the crowd in attendance . While attempting to recall his favorite WrestleMania moments , Muhammad Hassan and Daivari interrupted him with Hassan expressing his outrage for not being included in a match for the event . Hassan concluded that since he wasn ' t scheduled to compete at the event and was therefore denied the opportunity to experience his own WrestleMania " moment " , he would have to create a " moment " of his own . Following this remark , Hassan and Daivari began to assault Eugene . With Eugene placed into a Camel clutch hold while Daivari verbally attacked him , Hulk Hogan came down to the ring to save Eugene from the assault , knocking Hassan and Daivari out of the ring . Hogan celebrated posing in the ring for the crowd . The third match featured The Undertaker and Randy Orton . Bob Orton , Randy ' s father and ringside manager , interfered and attacked Undertaker with his arm cast resulting in Orton gaining control of the match . Undertaker attempted to chokeslam Orton , but Orton countered the maneuver with an RKO that led to a two - count . Orton then attempted to use Undertaker ' s own finishing maneuver against him with the Tombstone piledriver , however , it was reversed by Undertaker into a Tombstone piledriver of his own which led to the definitive pin fall . The Undertaker won the match and continued his undefeated streak at WrestleMania with a 13 – 0 record . The next match was for the WWE Women ' s Championship , an encounter between Trish Stratus and Christy Hemme with Lita at ringside . Stratus controlled most of the match though Hemme attempted many pinning maneuvers that were unsuccessful . Hemme then executed a Twist of Fate on Stratus and attempted another pin , which was also unsuccessful . After a roll - up attempt by both Stratus and Hemme , Stratus hit Hemme with a Chick kick and followed it with the decisive pin , thus winning the match and retaining the WWE Women ' s Championship . The fifth match was the encounter of Shawn Michaels and Kurt Angle . It was a back and forth match between the two wrestlers in the beginning of the match . Mid - way in the match , Michaels hit Angle with a low blow , after he countered a suplex attack from Angle . Following the low blow , which was not seen by the referee , Michaels leapfrogged from the ring and laid out Angle onto the announce table . Angle would then gain control of the match , as he would apply the Ankle Lock on Michaels , forcing him to submit , thus Angle won the match . " Rowdy " Roddy Piper confronted " Stone Cold " Steve Austin in Piper ' s Pit until Carlito interrupted and began to insult them . This resulted in Carlito receiving a Stone Cold Stunner from Austin and Piper throwing him out of the ring . Both ended the segment celebrating with beer until Austin gave Piper a Stone Cold Stunner as well . The next match was between Akebono and The Big Show in a Sumo Match . The match was a little over a minute and Akebono won the match after he threw The Big Show out of the ring , thus winning the Sumo Match . The next match was John Cena versus John " Bradshaw " Layfield for the WWE Championship . JBL controlled most of the bout . In the end , Cena would win the match after ducking a Clothesline from Hell attempt from JBL , using an FU and pinning JBL to become the WWE Champion . The eighth and final match of the night was Triple H defending his World Heavyweight Championship against Batista . Triple H entered to " The Game " performed live by Motörhead . The action was back and forth , with neither man in control for very long periods . In both the match ' s and the event ' s climax , Batista would pin Triple H after a Batista Bomb to win the World Heavyweight Championship . Aftermath . Batista and Triple H ' s feud would continue to Backlash where Batista and Triple H had a rematch for the World Heavyweight Title . Batista won the match after a Batista Bomb . Following that , the two concluded their storyline at Vengeance where Batista scored the third and final win over his former mentor inside Hell in a Cell . Shortly thereafter , Batista was drafted to the SmackDown brand and their feud ended . John Cena and JBL ' s feud would continue until Judgment Day where Cena and JBL would have a rematch for the WWE Championship in an " I Quit " match , which Cena won . After Judgment Day , Cena and JBL ' s feud ended . A few weeks later , John Cena was drafted to WWE Raw . Reception . WrestleMania 21 was met with generally mixed to positive critical response . However , most critics have pointed out that the main events of the show were disappointing and let down WrestleMania 21 overall . John Powell of Canadian Online Explorer ' s professional wrestling section noted that " The changing of the guard that many people expected came with a whimper instead of a bang . In a total reversal from last year ' s show – where a largely mundane card was saved by the emotional title victories of Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero – this year ' s elevation of rising stars John Cena and Dave Batista had no such drama . Unable to live up to the high standards set by the Undertaker - Randy Orton and Shawn Michaels - Kurt Angle bouts , the " main events " offered the worst kind of anticlimax and would have been right at home buried in the middle of the card . " He rated the entire event 7 out of 10 stars , which has a higher rating than the previous year ' s event . The main event between Batista and Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship was rated 6 out of 10 stars , the match between John " Bradshaw " Layfield and John Cena was rated 5 out of 10 stars , the match between Kurt Angle and Shawn Michaels received the highest rating of 9 out of 10 stars , the match between The Undertaker and Randy Orton and The Money in the Bank ladder match were rated 8 out of 10 stars . Robert Leighty Jr of 411mania gave the event an overall score of 7 . 0 out of 10 . 0 noted that " If the two Title matches would have delivered this would have gone down as one of the greatest WrestleMania ' s ever , but they didn ' t and that left a flat ending to the show . Everything up to Shawn / Angle is fantastic and things kind of close with a whimper . Still , this is a historic show as it cemented the rise of Batista / Cena / Orton as Main Event players . It also has to { sic } great matches with Shawn / Angle and Money in the Bank . Definitely a good WrestleMania , but it could have been much more . " J . D . Dunn of 411mania response towards WrestleMania 21 was also positive . He stated that , " this was on its way to being every bit as good as last year ' s Mania " but like most of the other critics who thought the main events were disappointing also said that , " then it hit a wall in the last 90 minutes . " He later stated that , " If this were a regular PPV with the Michaels vs . Angle match being the main event , this would be one of the greatest PPV ' s ever . Unfortunately , it drags on after that and limps to a finish . " Although he praised the booking of the event saying that , " they made all the right moves booking - wise , so while the matches weren ' t great , they still have a certain historic value . " For Staples Center ' s 10th anniversary in 2009 , WrestleMania 21 was ranked number 7 on the list of greatest moments in the venue ' s history as voted by fans . Production . In line with the event ' s location and tagline , WrestleMania 21 was promoted on television with a series of parody movie trailers with WWE talent playing the starring roles from famous modern movies . Celebrity guests in attendance for WrestleMania 21 included David Arquette , Motörhead , Adam Sandler , Rob Schneider , Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top , The Black Eyed Peas , Billy Corgan from The Smashing Pumpkins , Anthony Kiedis from Red Hot Chili Peppers , Ice Cube , Carmen Electra , Sylvester Stallone , Marg Helgenberger , Matt Groening , Rick Rubin , Will Sasso and Macaulay Culkin . Notes . Battle Royal . Red ██ and " Raw " indicates a Raw superstar and blue ██ and " SD " indicates a SmackDown superstar .