The planned Shawn Michaels vs. King Booker match for WrestleMania has been altered after Vince McMahon offered Michaels a spot facing John Cena for the WWE Championship. That match will now take place instead of the triple threat between Cena, Edge and Randy Orton, which was the original substitute for the Raw title match following Triple H’s injury.
This means the Donald Trump/Vince McMahon feud will now most likely be tied into Hulk Hogan’s involvement with WrestleMania, which is still slated to be a match against Shane McMahon with Khali in Shane’s corner to work in the big bodyslam spot.
Smackdown’s main event will still be Batista vs. The Undertaker, title vs. streak, although the winner has not been determined. Originally, Batista was going to go over but his faded performances of late have caused many in the company to lose faith in him – especially after Ken Kennedy was cheered during their Royal Rumble match. The feeling is that the fans at WrestleMania would respond negatively to Batista beating Undertaker, especially since the winning streak is one of the few things in wrestling that fans genuinely care about as it stretches back to 1990, but WWE might deliberately pursue a Batista heel turn anyway and have Undertaker chase for the title into the summer.
With international markets opened up, WrestleMania 23 is expected to have the most overall buys in company history.
Credit: Wrestling Observer newsletter (click here for subscription information)
