Wrestlemania 23 is in the books, and the results have given us some indication of where World Wrestling Entertainment is headed in the next year. Let’s take a look at the match results and what they mean.
John Cena beat Shawn Michaels to retain the WWE (Raw) championship.
It’s time for everyone to get used to Cena as the main man in the WWE. He won his first WWE title from John “Bradshaw” Layfield at Wrestlemania 21 before beating Triple H last year and Shawn Michaels this year. That’s three wins over big stars at Wrestlemania.
WWE officials love Cena for two reasons. First, he works very hard, and he cares that he is the WWE champion. He makes the promotion look good when he stars in a successful movie like “The Marine” and appears with Jared in a Subway commercial.
Second, almost every fan has a strong reaction to Cena. They either go crazy cheering for him or they boo him out of the building. That means fans will pay money to see him win or lose. As long as the fans continue to care about Cena – one way or the another – he will be the top man on the Raw brand.
The question now facing Cena is who will feud with him now? Cena has convincingly defeated Michaels, Edge and Umaga; and Triple H is still out with an injury. Someone else needs to step up to mount a strong challenge to Cena. The Great Khali is one possibility, and maybe Chris Benoit or King Booker can switch over from Smackdown.
Undertaker defeated Batista to win the World (Smackdown) championship.
It was “the title vs. the streak,” and the streak won. Undertaker is now 15-0 at Wrestlemania, and now he has the big gold belt. He has been unstoppable so far in 2007, but he is older and more prone to injury than nearly everyone on the Smackdown roster. King Booker, Mr. Kennedy and Finlay are all potential challengers for the Taker’s belt.
Bobby Lashley beat Umaga, so Vince McMahon got his head shaved.
The WWE has pushed Lashley very hard as the ECW champion, and it will be interesting to see if the ECW show is renewed this June when the TV contract with the Sci-Fi network runs out. On one hand, nobody really cares about ECW. It ranks a distant third behind Raw and Smackdown in terms of ratings and fan interest. On the other hand, ECW is the highest-rated show on Sci-Fi. If ECW goes away this summer, Lashley can jump to Smackdown and go right after The Undertaker.
Mr. Kennedy won the Money in the Bank ladder match over Edge, Randy Orton, Jeff Hardy, Matt Hardy, Finlay, King Booker and C.M. Punk.
This is huge win for Mr. Kennedy, whom WWE officials project to be a major star. He will get a lot of attention just by walking around with the Money in the Bank briefcase, bragging about his win. He can cash in the briefcase for a World title anytime from now to Wrestlemania 24. So far, both winners of the briefcase (Edge and Rob Van Dam) went on to win the World title. Don’t be surprised to see Kennedy eventually dethrone The Undertaker.
The Great Khali pinned Kane.
Khali is not a great wrestler, but at 7-foot-2 and 420 pounds, he is nearly impossible to beat. Khali’s dominant win over Kane puts him in a position to go after Cena’s title.
Melina pinned Ashley Massaro to win the Women’s title.
This match was a major downgrade in quality from the women’s title bout at last year’s Wrestlemania between Trish Stratus and Mickie James. Ashley will probably fade from the title scene, while Mickie James and Beth Phoenix could go after the title later in the year.
The ECW Originals (Rob Van Dam, Tommy Dreamer, Sandman & Sabu) beat The New Breed (Elijah Burke, Marcus Cor Von, Matt Striker & Kevin Thorn).
This was an upset, since the whole purpose of ECW seems to be the establishment of Lashley and The New Breed as the stars of the future. Despite the win, the ECW Originals may be on the way out of the company – even RVD, who has been disgruntled by his position in the company for a long time.
US champion Chris Benoit defeated MVP.
Despite his losing effort, MVP looked very good and could be a star of the future. Benoit has accomplished everything he can as U.S. champion. He should go after a World title again.
The next pay-per-view will be Basklash on April 29. The WWE has given up on the concept of single-brand pay-per-views, so all three brands will be represented at every WWE pay-per-view from this point forward.
