[5] WrestleMania is considered the World Wrestling Federation's (WWF, now WWE) first flagship pay-per-view (PPV) event, having first been held in 1985.

Results were predetermined by writers of the World Wrestling Federation,[9][10] while storylines were produced on WWF's weekly television shows, Raw is War and SmackDown!

[11] The main feud leading into WrestleMania X-Seven involved Stone Cold Steve Austin challenging The Rock for the WWF Championship.

On the March 12 episode of Raw is War, The Rock was placed in an overlong Ankle Lock hold during his rematch with Kurt Angle.

On the March 29 episode of SmackDown!, Debra was relieved from her managerial role by Mr. McMahon after failing to prevent a brawl between The Rock and Austin.

Shortly after Armageddon, secretly to Vince's delight, it was revealed Linda was rushed to hospital suffering with a nervous breakdown.

With Linda hospitalized, the Board of Directors appointed Vince as the new CEO of the WWF, allowing him to fire Foley as commissioner.

In the following shows, Vince continued to demean Trish by having her do such actions as bark like a dog around the ring and stripping down to her lingerie.

On March 23, the WWF purchased the assets of their longtime rival promotion, World Championship Wrestling (WCW) from AOL Time Warner.

However, Shane, who was at the venue for Nitro, interrupted the speech and said: Because, dad, the deal is finalized... with WCW, and the name on the contract does say "McMahon".

The secondary feud leading into the event pitted The Brothers of Destruction (The Undertaker and Kane) against Triple H and The Big Show.

On the following episode of SmackDown!, The Undertaker tried to break into the limousine of Triple H and his wife, Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley, on arrival but ended up being arrested by the police.

Near the end of the match, fellow X-Factor member Albert interfered by pulling Sexay out of the ring, allowing X-Pac and Credible to hit their X Marks the Spot finisher on Blackman for the win.

During the match, Regal exposed one of the top turnbuckles to throw Jericho's shoulder into it before giving him a double underhook superplex.

After Jericho managed to grab a ring rope to break the hold, he retaliated with numerous chops before throwing Regal into the exposed turnbuckle and finishing him off with a Lionsault to retain the Intercontinental Championship.

The fight headed back into the stadium with Big Show attempting to press slam Raven off the entrance stage but both were kicked off it by Kane.

With the help of his fellow Radicalz members Dean Malenko and Perry Saturn, Guerrero hit Test in the face with the European Championship belt while the referee was distracted and pinned him to become the new champion.

The match started with mat wrestling between the two but Angle soon punched Benoit out of frustration and threw him out of the ring, so he could throw him into the broadcast table and the steel steps.

Shane dominated his father during the earlier part of the match by attacking him with various weapons such as a kendo stick and monitors from the Spanish broadcast table.

Trish Stratus came towards the ring, pushing Linda McMahon out in a wheelchair, and then slapped Vince, causing her and Stephanie to get into a fight that led them out of the stadium.

With Spike (who had just taken a chair shot to the head from Lita) and Rhyno (who had already been dispatched by Jeff Hardy) both laying on two tables outside the ring, Jeff Hardy set up a huge ladder beside them and performed a Swanton Bomb onto them through the tables with most of his body landing on Spike, taking him out of the match.

[23] The final contest of the night was the WWF Championship match between The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin, which had a surprise no disqualification stipulation added just before the superstars were introduced.

After The Rock reached the ropes to force a break, Austin applied the Million Dollar Dream, a submission hold best known from his former gimmick, The Ringmaster.

Meanwhile, the Brothers of Destruction defeated Edge and Christian to become the new WWF Tag Team Champions on the edition of April 19, 2001, of SmackDown!

[37] The feud culminated in a Triple Threat Match at King of the Ring, where Austin pinned Benoit to retain the WWF Championship.

A year later, they faced each other a third time at WrestleMania XXVIII in a Hell in a Cell match with Shawn Michaels as the special guest referee.

Due to the acquisition of WCW, Vince's feud with Shane would later spiral into The Invasion storyline that dominated the WWF in the latter half of the year.

Despite giving her own demands for a divorce shortly after WrestleMania, Linda would eventually reconcile with Vince in the wake of the Alliance's threat to the WWF.

Angle was celebrating the return of his Gold Medal from Chris Benoit which he won back the previous night at Judgment Day.

However, he has served in a variety of roles for the WWE for the better part of the time since, including creative team member and manager of his longtime friend and client Brock Lesnar.