What made Wrestlemania 23 so great?

[Savion83]

Wrestlemania 23 from Detroit, MI 2007.

The main event card: WWE Championship match John Cena (Champ) Vs. Shawn Michaels.

World Heavyweight Championship match Batista (Champ) Vs. The Undertaker (Which stole the show that night in many peoples eyes).

And the epic "battle of the billionaires" match with the late Umaga representing Mr. McMahon Vs. Bobby Lashley representing real-estate mogul Donald Trump. So did Trump's apperence alone helped the WWE make Wrestlemania bigger & better than what was then what it was suppose to be planned only a few months earlyer written on paper?

If you've notice, look at the footnotes here. On todays WWE wrestlers who were not on the card and why...

1. Triple H-Injured

2. Rey Mysterio-Injured

3. Mark Henry-Injured

4. JBL-In semi-retirement

5. Chris Jericho-Out the WWE for while

6. Big Show-Left the WWE to pursue boxing

7. Kurt Angle-First Wrestlemaina without Kurt Angle since he left for TNA

8. Shelton Benjamin-Couldn't even make it on the card that year

9. Ric Flair-Couldn't make the card either, but wrestled in the free-for-all match in a tag with Carlito

So other then the whole "all grown up" theme for mania that year. What made Wrestlemania 23 stand out from the other Wrestlemanias since Wrestlemania 19 in 2003 when the brand split first went in affect? Because that was a great Wrestlemania that year!

 

[MondayNightWars]

I personally thought it was great mostly because it was memorable, you have great matches such as the 2 main events, battle of the billionaires, benoits last match m(which he won), and the MITB was the greatest of them all.

But you do have the bad matyches ( Kane vs. Khali, Ashley vs. Maria)

But two minor set backs don't have any power in bringing this event down a notch, beside the shortage of matches this was comparable to WM 20, 19 and 6.

 

[The Aussie Invasion]

I've really gotta say that the card was great (except for kane v khali and ashley vs melina)
I think the MiTB was the best ever.
The Battle of the Billionaires match was pretty good, as was the U.S title bout
The Taker-Batista match was epic (IMO it didnt steal the show, but it was a GREAT match)
AND
Cena-HBK which IMO has been the 2nd best WM match since WM 22(Taker-HBK being the best 'Mania match since then) stole the show IMO and was a great ending to a great WrestleMania 23

 

[Dagger Dias]

What made Wrestlemania 23 so great? Let's look at the card.

MITB match
Kennedy defeats Edge, CM Punk, Booker, Jeff Hardy, Matt Hardy, Finlay, and Orton. Although Edge did end up getting the MITB case later on. This was a great opener with a lot of great names in it.... everyone but Finlay.

Khali VS Kane
Zzzz.... Worst match on the card, and they got it out of the way early!

US Championship
Benoit retains against MVP, back when MVP was still awesome.

World Championship VS The Streak
Taker and Batista stole the show with this match, which is probably still Batista's best match. Taker won the World Championship and went 15-0.

ECW Originals VS New Breed
This was a pretty cool match. It was the first of only 2 "ECW" matches at Wrestlemania, the only other being the 8 second match between Kane and Chavo the next year.... Hard to believe now though that everyone from this match is now gone from WWE.

Hair VS Hair match
A very strange, yet good match. Stone Cold was the guest ref, and that's always a plus. So is Vince getting his head shaved.

Divas match
Melina retains against Ashley, who was getting a push after doing Playboy. Decent match as far as divas matches go.

WWE Championship
Awesome match and one of my personal favorites since Cena and Michaels are two of my favorites. Cena had held the WWE Championship since September of 2006 and this was April of 2007, it was during his year long reign and every WWE title match was so exciting because we were curious to see how long the reign would last and how it would finally end. Also, can't forget that awesome entrance of Cena's by crashing a car through the glass window!

Wrestlemania 23 was simply the best Wrestlemania since the Attitude Era in my opinion, and it has also been one of the most successful shows. One million PPV buys and 80,000 fans in attendance.... those numbers truly say a lot.... not to mention the "all grown up" segments, those were pretty cool too. This was an amazing show because it had only one bad match on an otherwise fantastic card.

 

[FozzyRocks2009]

My opinion of WM 23 is unfortunatley fixed but oh well. WM 23 hands down was the best WM ever why? We'll maybe it had something to do with the fact that it was in Detroit (i'm from MI)...no that's not it. Perhaps it was because I SAT 4th row on the entrance ramp! Yea that was it. I mean the whole night was unforgettiable. Being entrance ramp seat made it even sweeter, I got to slap hands with just about everyone. Got to shake Donald Trump's hand. Received a hug from Cena (pretty cool)...oh yeah and watching the UT entrance from that close simply amazing the smoke filling ur face as he slowly walks past you (not to mention a bad ass photo opp)...yup truely an amazing night!

 

[Y 2 Jake]

I don't think it's a great show by any means, it's entertaining but it's not a classic show. It's got two good title matches and Vince McMahon performed his role beautifully, other than that the show is largely average.

I don't remember anybody saying MVP should be facing Benoit at Mania that year, there was anger from a lot of people, that spot should've gone to Gregory Helms. No, really that was what the majority of people were saying.

Edge & Orton were miss managed on that show. They should've made Rated RKO vs. The Hardyz. Kennedy winning it what has to be the most stacked MITB ever was a nice touch, if only this years show had stars like that and a winner who'll actually be able to take advantage of the spot.

 

[ThePh3nomonal1]

I cant quite put my finger on Wrestlemania 23, I liked the card to an extent the matches were all above average (excluding kane vs khali) But the thing I like the best about Wrestlemania 23 was the fact that for the first time since Wrestlemania 19 both the World Championships were defended in one on one matches and guess what? They stole the show. Its another thing Vinnie Mac needs to notice: More people doesnt make better matches, It just makes a spot fest. But back on topic the main events were all one on one and allowed the competitors to make the matches more intrigueing, except for the Taker Vs Batista because all matches at Mania with Taker are exciting because of the streak. But one thing that always attracts me sexually to WM 23 is the fact that everytime I watch the Main Events it gives me goosebumps and until WM 23 only Rock Vs Hogan at WM 18 had done that. Also I was a huge hater of Cena going into that match and I came out of it loving him, But then I relised Shawn had carried him

 

[Greenlight13]

My response to this thread was that I wasn't aware that people thought it was so great. I watched the whole thing and don't recall being wowed. I thought the main event was better than I expected it to be and I was pleased for Kennedy but beyond that I really didn't care for this Wrestlemania. In fact I didn't like 21 or 22 either.

I know everyone's saying Batista and Taker stole the show, and it probably was the best match on the show, but that to me speaks volumes about the show. It wasn't a good match, it was simply a good match by Batista's very low standards.

You listed all the stars missing as a way of pointing out how great it was even though these guys weren't there, but to me them not being around contributed. Seemed to be lacking a bit of star power to me. I adore Shawn Michaels, I really do, but I didn't think him being in the main event was a great plan. Sure they put on a good match that made Cena look like a technical wrestler, but it just didn't scream money.

The hair vs hair match was awful and we all knew Vince would lose thanks to Austin. Funny moment but dragged on a bit.

Abortion of a divas match from memory, isn't this the one where Ashley was crying because she knew how bad she had been?

Orton and Edge being in MITB was a mistake in my eyes, or at least having them both in it. I know they were teaming up around this time so where one went the other followed, but Orton didn't fit this match in my estimations. Just smacked of "we've got nothing else for you but want you to appear". I would have preferred them working them into another match somehow.

I dunno, this is just one of those Wrestlemanias that don't stick out in any way to me. What made Wrestlemania 20 so great is a thread I could get behind more.

 

[CraigThe13th]

I'm gonna come off really old here but, just to me personally, none of them have really felt special since X8. They all kinda blend into each other in my memory. The formula is two main event matches that have that special Wrestlemania feel and excitement (usually The Taker's streak match and one of the world title matches), a special attraction match and an awesome money in the bank match which is nice as they are almost a throwback to the Attitude Era. But the rest of the card (most of the time) is hastily thrown together matches with 4 week build ups which could take place on any PPV, or any RAW/Smackdown! show.

I guess thats just the way it is now with 12 or 13 ppvs a year, it doesn't feel as special as them lovely purple VHS's I purchased when I was younger packed with matches containing well built fueds. Can't go back to them days the attention spans for rivalries are too short nowadays bring back jobber squash matches I say but I guess thats for another thread.

Despite this, theres no denying Wrestlemania is nearly always the best show of the year.

 

[pun2003hh]

Wrestlemania 23 stands out because it was mostly a solid card and all of the matches that were supposed to deliver actually did deliver. The HBK/Cena main event was thrilling and the Batista/Taker match stole the show and gave us, at least in my opinion, Batista's greatest in ring performance to date. It was also the first time in roughly 4-5 years that the Undertaker held a world title.

Even the sub-main event, Lashley vs Umaga had the potential to be a real stinker (see Batista vs Umaga from the following year) but with the right amount of outside involvement, they were able to pull off a damn good match. Most of the undercard matches were pretty solid, including the usually spectacular MITB match. I still wouldn't put this on par with WM's 17 and 19 (two of the greatest events in history in my opinion) but still an all around good event. Much better then last year's Wrestlemania.

(a side note, someone on here compared this event to Wrestlemania 20. Am I the only one here that thought WM20 was one of the worst WM events to date? Huge let down in my opinion, only highlights being Jericho vs Christian and the Triple Threat)

 

[classicviolence]

I thought WM 23 was terrible and was only a 2 match PPV. Cena v HBK and Batista v Taker. I will actually include the MITB that year as well. But WM 23 made WMIX look spectacular by comparison.

 

[Little Jerry Lawler]

I thought WM 23 was one of the worst ones in the past decade right behind last year's WM. Batista/Taker was their best match and HBK/Cena was ok but gets blown away by what they did a couple of weeks later. The rest of the card was AWFUL. Kane/Khali was terrible as was the Lashley/Umaga. It was rumored that it would have been HBK vs. Booker T instead but HHH tore his quad and they had to change plans. The MITB was honestly the worst one they ever had. Eight people was too many and half the people shouldn't have been in the match to start with. They could have had a Edge vs. Orton match and just kept it at six but instead we got that clusterfuck which wasn't good at all.

 

[SHAYAN_CENA_Y2J]

It was surely the most amazing Wrestlemania after WM 19.

MITB - Best MITB match ever.a lot of youngsters were taking part and also we had the best in ring action in mitb series.this match involved 3 fromer world champion and 2 future world champion which is enough for know this match as the greatest.

Khali vs. Kane - The only match that was not something special.Khali was undefeated at the time and it was the only interesting aspect of the match.

Benoit vs. MVP-Another great US championship match after a nice showdown in WM 22 by Benoit and JBL.MVP was really hot at the time and Benoit was always fun to watch.The only negative point was that it did not end by Crossface.I think the reason was the fact that later that night Cena made HBK tap.

Batista vs. Taker-Arguably the best match in Batista's Career.Fans were really excited about this match because it was Undertaker's first title win in 5 years.Batista finally put on a good match and everyone was satisfied.

Ecw 5 on 5 - Good match in case of we finally saw some ECW originals at mania.Disappointing point as Dagger said is that No one from that match is wrestling in WWE right now.Burke is in TNA,Originals are in Indys, Striker is announcer and I don't know about the others.

Battle of bilionares - The match which was really special at its own time.One of the two big famous guys will become hairless.Stone cold back to action was also a great point.I think it was the match which hleped this WM to have the best buyrate.Imagine how many people who may not know about wrestling much had have bought this PPV for seeing Donald Trump getting head-shaved which did not happen.

Divas match-Nothing to say.Maybe it wasn't that much a bad match but comparing to last year's Divas match it was awful.

WWE championship - One of My favorite matches of all time.Cena and HBK put on a really nice bout and it proved that Cena needs a good partner to shine.Maybe some fans were disappointed by Result but totally,it was classic.

So as i said , I think Hair vs. Hair match was the reason this PPV had a great buy-rate.

 

[Little Jerry Lawler]

It was surely the most amazing Wrestlemania after WM 19.

MITB - Best MITB match ever.a lot of youngsters were taking part and also we had the best in ring action in mitb series.this match involved 3 fromer world champion and 2 future world champion which is enough for know this match as the greatest.

Khali vs. Kane - The only match that was not something special.Khali was undefeated at the time and it was the only interesting aspect of the match.

Benoit vs. MVP-Another great US championship match after a nice showdown in WM 22 by Benoit and JBL.MVP was really hot at the time and Benoit was always fun to watch.The only negative point was that it did not end by Crossface.I think the reason was the fact that later that night Cena made HBK tap.

Batista vs. Taker-Arguably the best match in Batista's Career.Fans were really excited about this match because it was Undertaker's first title win in 5 years.Batista finally put on a good match and everyone was satisfied.

Ecw 5 on 5 - Good match in case of we finally saw some ECW originals at mania.Disappointing point as Dagger said is that No one from that match is wrestling in WWE right now.Burke is in TNA,Originals are in Indys, Striker is announcer and I don't know about the others.

Battle of bilionares - The match which was really special at its own time.One of the two big famous guys will become hairless.Stone cold back to action was also a great point.I think it was the match which hleped this WM to have the best buyrate.Imagine how many people who may not know about wrestling much had have bought this PPV for seeing Donald Trump getting head-shaved which did not happen.

Divas match-Nothing to say.Maybe it wasn't that much a bad match but comparing to last year's Divas match it was awful.

WWE championship - One of My favorite matches of all time.Cena and HBK put on a really nice bout and it proved that Cena needs a good partner to shine.Maybe some fans were disappointed by Result but totally,it was classic.

So as i said , I think Hair vs. Hair match was the reason this PPV had a great buy-rate.

1. The first MITB was the greatest and the rest haven't come close especially WM 23. You say that it is the greatest because they had five past or future world champions. That equates to 62.5%. The first MITB had future or past world champions in Kane, Jericho, Benoit, and Edge. That equates to 66.7%. By your logic, WM 21 is the greatest. It also says something about WM 23 that with all those champions, Kennedy won the briefcase and then got injured and had to drop it.

2. Benoit/MVP was okay but the ending felt rushed and their 2/3 falls match was ten times better especially considering that MVP won 2-0.

3. Kane and Khali have never put on a good match together and I'm suprised they used an angle from a movie that came out like a year prior. Khali wasn't undefeated at the time either as he lost to Undertaker in the summer of 2006.

4. The 5 on 5 ECW match was a nice little moment but what they did Tuesday still boggles my mind. Why would they do a extreme rules match on a ECW show when they could have just done it at Wrestlemania. If you weren't a die-hard ECW fan, you really didn't care about this match at all.

5. From the get-go, you knew that McMahon was going to be the one who lost his hair and if you didn't, the match was still horrible. Lashley and Umaga didn't work well together and Austin was there to keep up apperances as he seems to be doing a lot of lately. Booker T vs. HBK would have been great but damn HHH and his quad.

6. The Cena/HBK was good but won't be remembered as a classic because their match in London is what everyone remembers (tsk tsk Orton). It didn't prove that Cena needed a good partner to shine because he has done that before WM 23 and after.

Now that I think of it, I'll put this Wrestlemania is my 3rd worst this decade behind WM 25 and WM 21.

 

[yanks9548]

Typically I dont post but I will on this thread being as this was the first wrestlemania I saw. Comparing it to Wrestlemania X-7 is impossible however in the current era it was the best I think. While I wont say there was an epic match on this card this was the only wrestlemania I've seen that didnt feel like it was four hours long...even wrestlemania XIX felt long to me and that was a great card. The entire thing flowed nicely and I feel like the impportant matches were spread out nicely also the card was smaller then some wrestlemania cards which gave the wrestlers time to work and for the most part allowed everyone to look very credible.

 

[bighomie]

(a side note, someone on here compared this event to Wrestlemania 20. Am I the only one here that thought WM20 was one of the worst WM events to date? Huge let down in my opinion, only highlights being Jericho vs Christian and the Triple Threat)[/QUOTE]

Nah ur not the only 1 lol....WM20 was WACKnificent smh..but I also wonder what makes WM23 so great. Frankly, the was an ok show overall....the title matches were good but be honest wev seen better. The undercard had no juice to it at all. Imo WM22 was better. The HBK/VKM match was great. The 10 minute triple threat WHC match was great, HHH/Cena was great, Foley/Edge hardcore match stole the show, and the money in the bank ladder that RVD won was also great. Not to mention the Chicago crowd of nearly 20k was waaaayyyyyy hotter that the 80k in Detroit. The was the hottest WM crowd since WM X7

 

[classicviolence]

I thought WM XX was great: Eddie v Kurt, the WHC triple threat, Cruiserweight Open, and the Brockberg match were great moments. As far as the current gen Wrestlemania's WM 22 BIG TIME will be my favorite for a while until another WM tops that.

 

[mister_b1LL]

I feel that WM23 when you look back at it had a great flow to it. The card was pretty much in the order it should have been. If you take a look at other Wrestlemania like 25, you had the greatest match on the card somewhere in the middle and the main events just could not follow up. 23 started off with a great Money In The Bank and just slowly kept the momentum going the rest of the night as each match just got better and better.

It had a bunch of great memorable moments, like the RKO fest in MITB, the ECW Originals having their time to shine at a WrestleMania, Vince getting his hair shaved (you would think he'd have grown his hair back to his classic pompadour), my personal favorite variant of Undertaker jumping over the top rope, and of course, the most memorable match I've ever seen Cena in.

This is where I place WM23 on the best of the decade list:

WMXIX
WMX-Seven
WMX8
WM23
WMXXIV
WM22
WMXX
WM21
WM25
WM2000

 

[Sean Valjean]

I'd like to know what makes Wrestlemania 23 so great as well, as I thought it was average at best.

Despite being stacked, MITB was average with the best parts being Hardy's dive on Edge, Kennedy's Green Bay Plunge to Hornswoggle and then his eventual victory. Kane/Khali was was coma-inducing, but Benoit/MVP was actually very good and one of the two matches I really enjoyed; I was sold on MVP after that match still feel he should've won.

Undertaker/Batista was another great match, probably Batista's best match to date. ECW/New Breed could've been great if it was longer and was under extreme rules (like the rematch that topped it a week or two later.) but ended up being short and crap. Sad since that was the most exposure ECW had ever gotten at Wrestlemania.

Battle of the Billionaires wasn't completely terrible, but it was no where near good. The only part I enjoyed was laughing with my friends at Trumps terrible "assault" on Vince.
Melina/Ashley, well...if nothing else, it was better than Kane/Khali.

Cena/HBK was good, but not great. A big reason I probably didn't enjoy this match as much as others was because Cena won, and I was on a big Cena hater back then. Even though I knew Michaels would lose, I still didn't like seeing it. Their rematch in England was much better anyway.

Overall, I remember walking away from this show pretty disappointed. The only thing that made me happy was Taker winning the title and Kenndy's MITB win. If I had to grade it, I'd give WM23 at C

 

[SickJames]

Seeing the ECW Originals as a unit at WrestleMania face the New Breed was exciting for me and many other ECW fans


Melina vs Ashley was good to me

Hair vs Hair too


but the main title matches were the best thing, Shawn always steals the show

but I liked Batista/Taker a bit more and they went on to have an epic feud from there


Also let's not forget it had one of the best titantrons in history as the damn thing changed its appearance like every entrance, it shifted

the pentragram on fire when Kane came out was the best to me

 

[Big Nick Dudley]

I thought it was great because I was there. It was an EVENT. It was huge. The set was massive. Cena was boo'ed out of the building. The city of Detroit was really alive for this event. So, while I watched it live, I loved it. And then I bought the DVD...

Watching it on tv was much different. The card wasn't that impressive. Batista and Taker was a good match, but I think some people saw it in a better light than I did. Cena and Michaels was cool, even though Cena was in it. Shawn carried him, and sold like crazy. I was really hoping HBK would win, but knew that wasn't going to happen.

The Battle of the Billionaires was better live. But on tape, it wasn't so bad. It was entertainment. Umaga vs. Lashley alone wouldn't have been much to watch. But with the addition of Stone Cold, Vinny Mac, Shane, and a surprisingly entertaining Donald Trump, this match came off pretty well.

MITB was really cool to see live, but was also good to see on tape. Saw more on tape because of different angles and such. Hardy and Edge leaving on a stretcher was great, as was Kennedy slamming Hornswaggle off of the ladder.

The undercard was underwhelming. Benoit/MVP was good, anything with Benoit was good back then. But then you had Khali/Kane which was just a big waste of time. The big ECW match was trash, minus RVD. And no one cares about the womens title.

The PPV had it's high and lows, but I think what made it so special was how BIG it was. It was a huge event. Over 80,000 people were there, it was electric. So, if you weren't there, it's probably a lot easier to way whether you thought it was great or garbage.

 

[Wolfdemon]

I was actually thinking about making this post myself. This has to be my favorite Wrestlemania. What made it so special for me is that it was the first ever wrestling PPV that i actually spent my money to buy. The big build up with Vince and Trump all over the media gave this PPV the extra attention that it needed. With the exception of the Kane vs Khali all of the matches were great. This was the last great wrestling card that WWE has put out.

 

[jr7936]

I know I am so in the minority but I feel the only good wrestlemanias are 1 thru maybe 10. Other then that I am not feeling them as much, like they don't have the same feel as the 1st ones. It just doesn't feel as special as they used to

 

[rvdiswhatsforme]

I was there live and I thought this was the best one Ive ever been to. I went to WM 18 and WM 20, and by far this superceded both. I mean the main event was the best capable match that wwe at the time was capable of putting on. Adding a classic between Taker and Batista was the icing on the cake. At 20 the main event was fantastic but the Guerro vs Angle match was lacking and Kane vs Taker caught my attention durring the entrance and the exit. At 18 the Rock and Hogan was just a show, and the main event was nothing special... it just put over Triple H further. The match that actually stole the show was suprise Taker and Flair. So I have to say all in all the best Wrestlemania is clearly 23, wheather it was the gigantic set, the fact that Mcmahon and Trump was such a media circus, and two great title matches.

 

[cwheathman]

'Mania 23 was lousy. In fact, WM 20 was the last card the WWE got right from top to bottom. It boasted a great undercard which led to the rise of John Cena, a well timed heel turn by Trish Stratus, and finally two main events that showcased wrestling not entertainment. Plus, it was the first time that we saw someone tap in the main event at WM. All this at the greatest wrestling arena in the world.