WrestleMania 23 WrestleMania 23 was the twenty - third annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay - per - view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment ( WWE ) . It was presented by 360 OTC and 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 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 was an eight - man tag team match between The ECW Originals and The New Breed ; The ECW Originals claimed victory in the match . The featured matches on the undercard included Bobby Lashley versus Umaga and an interpromotional Money in the Bank ladder match . 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 . WrestleMania 23 grossed US $ 5 . 38 million in ticket sales , breaking the previous record of $ 3 . 9 million held at WrestleMania X8 . WWE estimated that $ 25 million was pumped into the Detroit economy . With about 1 . 2 million buys , the event was the highest WWE pay - per - view buyrate in history . WrestleMania XXVIII in 2012 passed 1 . 2 million buys with 1 . 21 million buys . It also had the 3rd highest attendance in WrestleMania history until it was beaten by WrestleMania 29 with 80 , 676 fans in 2013 . 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 WWE Chairman Vince McMahon 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 " . McMahon picked Umaga as his representative , while Trump picked Bobby Lashley . After successfully defending his ECW World Championship against Hardcore Holly in a Steel Cage match , a match in which the ring is surrounded by a steel cage on an edition of " ECW on Sci Fi " , Lashley charged at the cage , slammed through it , and landed atop of Umaga , who was at ringside . On the March 5 edition of " Raw " , Steve Austin was appointed as special guest referee for the " Battle of the Billionaires " match at WrestleMania 23 . On the March 26 edition of " Raw " , McMahon faced off against Lashley in a No Disqualification match . In the match , several people interfered on McMahon ' s behalf , including Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch , Chris Masters , Johnny Nitro , and Umaga . This interference allowed McMahon to win the bout . The main rivalry on the Raw brand was between John Cena and Shawn Michaels over the WWE 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 WWE Championship was announced . Michaels defeated Randy Orton and Edge in a match involving three wrestlers to win a chance to face Cena at WrestleMania . On an edition of " Raw " , Orton and Edge , who were tag team partners as Rated - RKO , attempted to attack Cena , but Michaels ran - in and attacked them with steel chairs . Before a scheduled tag team match between Rated - RKO and Cena and Michaels , Orton played a video that highlighted the past friendships that Michaels was involved in , before turning on the friend . In the match , Michaels nearly superkick ed Cena after Orton moved . Due to a later disagreement , Edge left Orton and walked off backstage , which allowed Cena and Michaels to win the match . The following week , Michaels responded to the video set - up by Orton , and made comments regarding Cena . After Michaels defeated Orton , Cena ran - down to the ring and saved Michaels from an attack by Edge and Orton . On the final " Raw " before WrestleMania , Cena and Michaels would team up to face Batista and Undertaker in a rematch from their match at No Way Out . Cena and Michaels looked set to win after performing a synchronized Five Knuckle Shuffle , but Michaels turned on Cena 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 WWE ' s three world championships ( WWE , World Heavyweight , or ECW ) . 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 23 , 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 to The Undertaker , allowing Raw ' s WWE Champion , John Cena and Shawn Michaels to deliver their signature moves on The Undertaker for the victory during their interpromotional WrestleMania 23 tag team main event . The main feud on the ECW brand was between two teams of four ; The ECW Originals and The New Breed . The feud mainly revolved around which team was the " dominant force " in the revived ECW 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 , ECW Originals leader , Rob Van Dam , defeated New Breed leader Elijah Burke in a singles match . ECW Original Tommy Dreamer issued the challenge to the New Breed for an eight - man tag team match at WrestleMania 23 , which was accepted by Burke on behalf of The New Breed . The last major feud involved eight men . Several weeks before WrestleMania 23 , 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 23 , qualifying matches took place on all three shows . On an edition of " Raw " , Edge , the winner of the match held in 2005 , defeated Rob Van Dam , the winner of the match held in 2006 , to earn the first spot in the match . The next night on " ECW " , another cross - brand match took place , with CM Punk 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 " , Jeff Hardy pinned Shelton Benjamin 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 Hardy and Finlay winning their respective match to qualify when Matt Hardy defeated Joey Mercury and Finlay defeated WWE US Champion , Chris Benoit & 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 " , Randy Orton defeated Flair and Carlito in an elimination match to become the final man to qualify . After Edge and Orton had split as a team , 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 " ECW " to retain his . At No Way Out , WWE United States Champion Chris Benoit and the The Hardys ( Matt and Jeff ) defeated MNM ( Joey Mercury and Johnny Nitro ) and Montel Vontavious Porter ( MVP ) . After Benoit 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 Benoit for the title at WrestleMania 23 . Event . Production . The set design for WrestleMania 23 began development in October 20 06 after WWE set designer , Jason Robinson , first received the final logo for the event . Robinson and his team first surveyed Ford Field in July 2006 and began planning out the staging and lighting designs . After returning to the stadium in January 2007 for more site surveying , Robinson and his team finalized the set ' s design in February . The final design resulted in WrestleMania 23 having the largest set ever built for a WrestleMania event . It incorporated 414 LED video screens and automated lights , 10 spotlights , 56 searchlights , 50 , 000 ft of cable for pyrotechnics and other use , and 35 stage flamethrowers used to produce 30 ft high and 6 ft wide flames , all which gave the set a unique look for each performer ' s entrance and an expanded stage lighting element of 300 ft in width and 100 ft in height using the specialized stage lighting instruments . The ramp used to reach the ring from the entrance set was 187 ft in length . Though it took three weeks to fully prepare Ford Field , set assembly began the week before WrestleMania 23 and was completed shortly before the day of the event . It took a week for three hundred staff members , unloading and working from forty semi - trucks , to build the set and assemble the event ' s lighting within Ford Field , far more than the usual forty hours , one hundred staff members , and fourteen semi - trucks required for the production of WWE ' s weekly television events . After the event concluded , it took around thirty hours to disassemble the set and lighting , also far more than the usual three hours required for WWE ' s weekly television events . Pre - show . 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 Helms and Chavo Guerrero . Flair and Carlito controlled the early part of the match until Helms threw Flair over the top rope . SmackDown ! lumberjacks attacked Flair before throwing him back into the ring . Helms and Guerrero 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 Helms , which led to Guerrero coming in to help Helms , but Flair came in and fought Guerrero . Flair and Guerrero took each other out of the ring , and before the lumberjacks could throw them back in the ring , Carlito hit the Backstabber on Guerrero 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 , Jeff Hardy and Randy Orton from Raw , King Booker ( with Queen Sharmell ) , Mr . Kennedy , Matt Hardy and Dave Finlay from SmackDown ! , and CM Punk from ECW . The match featured many notable spots , including points where Edge performed the Spear on all the other opponents , followed by Randy Orton 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 Jeff Hardy . Several dangerous ladder spots were also featured , including Orton performing an RKO on CM Punk whilst standing on the ladder , and King Booker hitting his Book End to Orton from the top of the ladder as well . Midway through the match , Jeff Hardy climbed a fifteen - foot - high ladder inside the ring and on his brother , Matt Hardy ' 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 Jeff , were severely injured . They were carried off on stretchers by the paramedics . Later , when Booker was about to retrieve the contract briefcase , Matt Hardy held Booker ' s wife , Queen Sharmell 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 CM Punk 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 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 . Following the segment was the WWE United States Championship match , with Chris Benoit defending the title against Montel Vontavious Porter . 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 suplex es and holds until Benoit was able to ascend the top rope and execute a Diving headbutt on MVP , which led to Benoit getting the pinfall victory to retain the WWE United States Championship . Main event matches . Long time ring announcer Howard Finkel then introduced the WWE 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 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 a 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 WWE Championship at WrestleMania . The ECW Originals ( Rob Van Dam , Sabu , Tommy Dreamer , and The Sandman ) took on The New Breed ( Elijah Burke , Kevin Thorn , Marcus Cor Von , and Matt Striker ) next . The match started off with Cor Von working over Sabu . That changed when Cor Von tagged Striker , who missed an elbow after whipping Sabu into the ropes , allowing The Sandman to get tagged . The Sandman dominated Striker , and eventually tagged Van Dam . Van Dam used also dominated Striker , but was poked in the eye , allowing Striker to tag in Burke . Burke had early success , but Van Dam regained the advantage and tagged The Sandman again . The Sandman worked on Burke until tagging Dreamer . Dreamer also beat down Burke until Cor Von received a blind tag and hit Dreamer from behind . Cor Von attacked Dreamer relentlessly and went over and punched Sabu , which distracted the referee and allowed Dreamer to be triple - teamed by Thorn , Burke , and Striker . Cor Von tagged in Burke who almost pinned Dreamer . Thorn entered next and almost performed his finishing move called the Original Sin . Dreamer managed to escape but was unable to tag his partners . Thorn tagged in Cor Von again who also almost pinned Dreamer . Cor Von tagged Thorn again , and Thorn resumed the beat down on Dreamer . Thorn tagged Striker next , and Striker attempted a suplex that Dreamer blocked and Dreamer suplexed Striker instead . Striker did not try to tag his partners and tried to stop Dreamer , but Dreamer tagged in Sabu . Sabu began to manhandle Striker and executed a leg drop from the top rope . Van Dam was then tagged in . Burke broke up Van Dam ' s pin attempt , which led to all competitors entering the ring . While the referee was distracted , Ariel gave Striker a chair . But Van Dam gave Striker an Van Daminator when he kicked the chair into Striker ' s face . Van Dam pinned Striker after a Five - Star Frog Splash to win the match for The Originals . The match that WWE billed as the " Battle of the Billionaires " was next , as Umaga ( representing Vince McMahon ) fought Bobby Lashley ( representing Donald Trump ) , with Steve Austin serving as the special guest referee . Umaga was accompanied to the ring by Vince McMahon and by his " handler " Armando Alejandro Estrada . Lashley was being managed by Donald Trump , who was attended to by Tara Connor . Midway through the match , Austin was attacked by Umaga , causing him to become incapacitated and was taken out of the match for several minutes . Shane McMahon , who attempted to replace him as referee , called the match while being biased towards Umaga . After Umaga got a near - fall on Lashley , Austin pulled Shane out of the ring , gave him a Stunner , and continued refereeing the match . Lashley won the match after a Stunner from Austin and a Spear . After the match , Trump and Lashley shaved McMahon ' s head bald , followed by Austin executing a Stunner on Trump . The match that followed was for the WWE Women ' s Championship . Ashley took on champion Melina . The match was short , as Melina pinned Ashley with a Bridge pin to retain the WWE Women ' s Championship . After the match , the lumberjills began brawling in the ring . Next was the main event , which saw John Cena defend his WWE Championship against Shawn Michaels . The match contained several notable spots , including Michaels hitting a Piledriver on Cena onto steel steps outside the ring . Cena was unable to execute an FU during the match , and Michaels also failed to execute Sweet Chin Music several times . Later in the match , Cena managed to place Michaels in the STFU submission hold , with Michaels reaching the ropes to break the hold . Cena then managed to place Michaels in the STFU again , and as a result , Michaels tapped out and Cena retained the WWE Championship . Aftermath . John Cena and Shawn Michaels continued their feud , with Michaels betraying Cena the night after WrestleMania on " Raw " . During the second of two battle royals , Michaels eliminated himself and Cena , resulting in The Hardys winning the World Tag Team Championship . On the " Raw " before Backlash , Cena and Michaels wrestled an almost hour long non - title match , which Michaels won . Batista also continued his feud with The Undertaker , facing off against him in a Last Man Standing match the following month at Backlash . The match ended in a draw after both men failed to answer the ten count , therefore resulting in Undertaker retaining the title . The two faced each other in a Steel cage match on the May 11 , 2007 edition of " SmackDown ! " , which ended in a draw after both men escaped the cage at the same time . The feud ended when The Undertaker dropped the World Heavyweight Championship due to a legitimate injury . Edge , who won Kennedy ' s Money in the Bank contract in a match on Raw the previous Monday , cashed it in and defeated The Undertaker after the Steel cage match to win the title . Bobby Lashley ' s feud with Vince McMahon continued for a further three months after the event . Vince , livid after being embarrassed at WrestleMania , vowed to destroy Bobby Lashley and take his ECW Title . At Backlash , Vince , his son Shane and Umaga teamed up a Three on one handicap match against the champion , and after two Samoan Splashes by Umaga from the top rope , Vince pinned Lashley to win the title . The feud continued for a further two pay - per - views , with Lashley pinning Shane in a repeat match from Backlash at Judgment Day , but Vince ruled that as he didn ' t get pinned , Lashley didn ' t win the title . At One Night Stand , Lashley finally defeated Vince in a Street Fight to reclaim the championship . The match between Chris Benoit and Montel Vontavious Porter expanded into a lengthy feud for the WWE United States Championship , resulting in Benoit retaining via pinfall at Backlash and Porter winning the title in a Two out of three falls match at Judgment Day , winning 2 – 0 . The feud between the ECW Originals and the New Breed continued , with the New Breed defeating the Originals in an Extreme Rules match on the next edition of ECW . Sabu was released from the company shortly after WrestleMania , and The Sandman was drafted to Raw a few months later in the 2007 WWE Draft . Kevin Thorn left the New Breed shortly after WrestleMania and Marcus Cor Von was also released shortly thereafter . By this point , Elijah Burke and Matt Striker had ceased associating with one another , with Striker eventually being relegated to a manager role for Big Daddy V . In addition , Rob Van Dam left the company when his contract expired shortly after One Night Stand . As a result of all of this , the feud eventually puttered out and was rarely mentioned again . Mr . Kennedy would lose his Money in the Bank contract to Edge on the May 7 , 2007 edition of " Raw " , after Edge defeated Kennedy in a match with the briefcase on the line . On the May 11 , 2007 edition of " SmackDown " , after Undertaker retained the World Heavyweight Championship in a steel cage match against Batista via a draw and was attacked by Mark Henry , Edge successfully cashed the contract in on Undertaker and won the World Heavyweight Championship for the first time in his career . Reception . Canadian Online Explorer writers Dale Plummer and Nick Tylwalk rated the entire event 8 out of 10 stars , which was the same rating as the previous year ' s event . The lowest rated match on the card was Kane versus The Great Khali with a 0 . 5 out of a 10 star rating , the WWE Women ' s Championship match between Melina and Ashley was the second lowest rated match ; it was rated 2 stars . The " Battle of the Billionaires " match was rated an 8 out of 10 stars . The Batista versus The Undertaker for the World Heavyweight Championship match , one of the matches from the double main event , was rated 8 . 5 out of 10 stars . The main event match for the WWE Championship was rated a 9 out of 10 stars , and the Money in the Bank ladder match received the same rating . The attendance was reported to be 80 , 103 by numerous sources , a Ford Field record .