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| Ford Field - 4/1/07 |
WWE attempted to recreate some of the magic of WrestleMania III for the 20th anniversary of that event, by returning to the Detroit area and featuring another David vs. Goliath bout on the card. And the one that took place in 2007 was just a little less important than its predecessor. Kane vs. The Great Khali was a throwaway match that went on second, and has been all but forgotten. Why the company thought this nothing match would ever evoke memories of Hogan vs. Andre on anything but a purely superficial level, I'm sure I dunno.
Fortunately the rest of 'Mania 23 was a fine outing, featuring two excellent World Championship matches and a Money in the Bank match that rivaled the original. MITB opened the show this time and featured 8 men instead of 6. The action was all over the map and included a comedy spot (Booker T's mini-ladder), some sick Jeff Hardy bumps, and some broken ladders. In the end Mr. Kennedy took the briefcase, only to be suspended for a Wellness Policy violation very shortly thereafter, losing it to Edge in the process. Thus ended Mr. Kennedy's WWE push, more or less. I'm not sure why Edge and Randy Orton were shoehorned into this match when they could've easily had a singles match.
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| Holy Christballs..... |
Ten years removed from his previous 'Mania championship opportunity, The Undertaker cashed in his Royal Rumble victory and challenged World Champion Batista in a shockingly good match. Both guys put their working boots on and filled their allotted fifteen minutes with brutal big-man spots, the highlight of which was Batista powerslamming Taker through a ringside table. This match strangely went on fourth out of eight, but set the bar very high for the second half of the show. Taker and Batista would feud on and off throughout 2007, providing one of the company's best rivalries that year.
