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WrestleMania 23 marked the show’s return to the stadium setting, and more to the point a return to Michigan, which twenty years earlier had hosted WrestleMania 3 with its 93,000 fans and Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the giant mega clash. The card for WrestleMania 23 was less than awe-inspiring, hampered by Triple H getting hurt and having to miss was purportedly planned to be his main event rematch with John Cena.
Nonetheless, the show featured Cena defending the WWE Championship against no lesser replacement than Shawn Michaels, one of the most star-studded Money in the Bank lineups ever, and Batista and The Undertaker going to war over the World Heavyweight Championship. All that’s not to mention a dressed up Umaga vs. Bobby Lashley match that featured Vince McMahon and Donald Trump in the respective big men’s corners.
This article takes a look back at the best and worst moment from WrestleMania 23.
Best Moment: The Undertaker and Batista tear the house down
Rumour has it that when The Undertaker heard he and Batista would not only not be main eventing, but working around the halfway point of WrestleMania 23, he was more than disappointed—he was insulted. With this fire in his belly, The Dead Man worked a hellacious pace opposite Batista, who was more than game to hold up his end of the bargain. While this match had the potential, to begin with, few were expecting a classic. That’s exactly what we got as The Phenom and The Animal stole the show, not only putting on a better match than John Cena and Shawn Michaels in the main event but quite arguably wrestling the best match of the night.
Worst Moment: Melina pins Ashley
That Ashley Massaro got a Women’s Championship at WrestleMania is pretty telling about where women’s wrestling was in 2007. Sure, Massaro was a beautiful woman and was fine in the role WWE cast her in at the time. She was by no means a very good wrestler, though. The fact that Melina — less than polished herself — had to carry the load for this title match at the biggest show of the year is pretty telling.
Massaro got the WrestleMania match coming out of the then-annual Playboy push in which one of the “Divas” posed for the adult magazine around this time of year over and over again. The match was a dud, and its only saving grace was that it only lasted a little over three minutes.
