WWE Wrestlemania 23 Results

WWE Wrestlemania 23 is in the books and what a show it was. A history making night in more ways than one, the biggest show of the wrestling year was as much a spectacle as you could have expected and then some.

The night began with a match that did not air on the pay-per-view. It was taped for the future DVD release of the show in late-May. With much of the non-booked wrestlers on the outside, it was a tag team lumberjack match. Ric Flair and Carlito fought Chavo Guerrero and Gregory Helms. Carlito got the pin fall and celebrated with Flair afterwards. During the pay-per-view broadcast, they showed a clip of this.

On to the show, it began with a taped audio byte from Wrestlemania 3 when Vince McMahon introduced the show and Aretha Franklin. She was there live this year and performed "America The Beautiful."

The opening contest was the Money in the Bank Ladder match. Mr. Kennedy won after a ton of interesting, hard to watch spots. It was pretty much as you'd expect with some amazing moves. Just to go over a few of them. Finlay had his head busted open and was bleeding. CM Punk was busted open after Edge tossed a mini ladder at his head. Jeff Hardy did an insane move where he did a suicide dive off a 20+ foot ladder in the ring to the outside. He landed on Edge who was on a ladder bridged between the ring and the ringside barrier. Jeff Hardy was out for the rest of the match and Edge was taken away on a stretcher. They never updated his condition but I guess we'll find out Monday night on RAW. CM Punk came second closest to winning. Kennedy landed a big move on Hornswaggle off the top of a ladder as well, before winning the match.

Next was the big monster battle between the Great Khali and Kane. The match wasn't anything pretty but it was also short which was good. The big move during the match was Kane body slamming the 7'2" Khali, something we've never seen before on television. Khali won with a tree slam.

Chris Benoit defending the U.S. title against MVP was next. The bout was one of the best of the night. MVP hung with Benoit on a technical level. Benoit won after landing multiple German suplexes and a big head butt off the top rope.

Undertaker defeated Batista to extend his undefeated Wrestlemania record to 15-0 and win the World Heavyweight Title. He won after a tombstone pile driver. Probably the best match of the night. Batista power slammed Taker through a table on the outside. Taker landed a suicide dive out of the ring on Batista, a pretty amazing sight.

The ECW Originals surprisingly defeated the New Breed of ECW. Rob Van Dam pinned Matt Striker after a frog splash.

In the Battle of the Billionaires match, Bobby Lashley defeated Umaga. Umaga attacked Steve Austin twice during the match. Shane McMahon came out and helped attack Lashley until Austin came to. Donald Trump even attacked Vince McMahon during the match. Lashley won after a spear and a stunner from Austin on Umaga. Vince McMahon tried to run away but he was shaved bald.

In the diva's wrestling contest, Melina defeated Ashley via pinfall to retain the WWE Women's Championship. All of the other divas in the WWE were at ringside for the lumberjills aspect.

In the main event, John Cena defeated Shawn Michaels to retain the WWE Championship. He won via submission (for the second consecutive year) after a long hard fought battle. Each man kicked out of each other's finisher before Cena locked in the S.T.F.U. finisher.

During the show they announced they set a brand new Ford Field attendance record of 80,103. And if it's legit, it would be the biggest WWE crowd (legit, as the 90,000+ at Wrestlemania 3 is disputed) in history.

Expect a bigger run down on the big show and a look at where WWE may go from here soon from me.