The primary match on the ECW brand saw ECW World Champion Bobby Lashley (representing Donald Trump) defeat Raw's Intercontinental Champion Umaga (representing Vince McMahon) in a match where either Trump or McMahon would be shaved bald if their wrestler lost.

[7][8] WrestleMania is considered World Wrestling Entertainment's (WWE) flagship pay-per-view (PPV) event, having first been held in 1985.

[9] It was the first of WWE's original four pay-per-views, which includes Royal Rumble, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series, referred to as the "Big Four".

[12] Robinson and his team first surveyed Ford Field in July 2006 and began planning out the staging and lighting designs.

[14] It took a week for 300 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, 100 staff members, and fourteen semi-trucks required for the production of WWE's weekly television events.

[12][14] WrestleMania 23 featured professional wrestling matches involving wrestlers from existing scripted feuds and storylines played out on WWE's television programs.

[16][17] The main staged rivalry heading into WrestleMania 23 was between WWE Chairman Vince McMahon and future 45th/47th President of the United States Donald Trump.

[18] During McMahon's "Fan Appreciation Night" on the January 29 episode of Raw, Trump interrupted and dropped large sums of money into the arena.

[22] 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.

In the match, several people interfered on McMahon's behalf, including Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch, Chris Masters, Johnny Nitro, and Umaga.

Michaels defeated Randy Orton and Edge in a Triple Threat match to win a chance to face Cena at WrestleMania.

Due to a later disagreement, Edge left Orton and walked off backstage, which allowed Cena and Michaels to win the match.

On the February 5 episode of Raw, The Undertaker chose to challenge Batista for the World Heavyweight Championship when he chokeslammed him at the center of the ring.

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.

The following week, on Raw, Randy Orton defeated Flair and Carlito in an elimination match to become the final man to qualify.

Before the event went live on pay-per-view, Ric Flair and Carlito faced Gregory Helms and Chavo Guerrero in a tag team lumberjack match.

The event officially began with Aretha Franklin singing a rendition of "America the Beautiful", reprising her role from twenty years earlier at WrestleMania III.

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.

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!"

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.

Undertaker then pinned Batista following a Tombstone piledriver to become the World Heavyweight Champion and emerge from WrestleMania with his winning streak intact.

[28] 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.

Cena made a grand entrance by driving a Ford Mustang through the streets of Detroit and smashing through a glass panel upon entering the stadium.

Following the match, Cena embraced while holding his retained championship and offered to shake hands with Michaels, who refused and walked away.

During the second of two battle royals, Michaels eliminated himself and Cena, resulting in The Hardys winning the World Tag Team Championship.

On the May 11, 2007, episode of SmackDown!, after the 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 a beaten-down Undertaker and won the World Heavyweight Championship for the first time in his career.

The match ended in a draw after both men failed to answer the ten count, therefore resulting in Undertaker retaining the title.

[38] Benoit would be drafted to ECW in June, and after missing Vengeance: Night of Champions as he was booked for a championship match, he then killed his wife, son and finally himself that same weekend.

[38] At One Night Stand, Lashley finally defeated Vince in a Street Fight to reclaim the ECW World Championship.