WrestleMania 25

WrestleMania XXV
Promotion	World Wrestling Entertainment
Date	April 5, 2009
City	Houston, Texas
Venue	Reliant Stadium
Tagline(s)	Everything Is Bigger in Texas, Especially WrestleMania
Pay-per-view chronology
← Previous No Way Out (2009) Next → Backlash (2009)
WrestleMania chronology
← Previous WrestleMania XXIV Next → WrestleMania XXVI

WrestleMania XXV, also promoted as The 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania, is a forthcoming professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), which is scheduled to take place on April 5, 2009 at the Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas. The event will be the 25th event produced under the WrestleMania name and will feature wrestlers from all three WWE brands: Raw, SmackDown, and ECW. It will be the second WrestleMania held in Houston, with the first being WrestleMania X-Seven at the Reliant Astrodome, which was held in 2001. There are currently nine matches scheduled on the event's card.

Background

See also: Professional wrestling

WrestleMania will feature professional wrestling matches that involve different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds, plots, and storylines that will be played out on Raw, Friday Night SmackDown, and ECW on Sci Fi—World Wrestling Entertainment's (WWE) primary television programs. Wrestlers will portray a villain or a hero as they follow a series of events that build tension, and culminate into a wrestling match or series of matches. The event will feature wrestlers from WWE's Raw, SmackDown, and ECW brands—a storyline division in which WWE employees are assigned to a television program of the same name.

Randy Orton, who will be challenging for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania XXV.

At the 2009 Royal Rumble pay-per-view event in January, Randy Orton won the Royal Rumble match, a thirty-man over-the-top-rope elimination style match. Per the stipulation of the match, Orton was given the opportunity to choose to wrestle for the WWE, World Heavyweight, or ECW Championship at WrestleMania. At the start of 2009, Orton began to feud with the McMahon family. During this rivalry, Orton managed to punt the heads of both Vince and Shane McMahon as well as performing an RKO on Stephanie McMahon. Orton's attack on Stephanie prompted the WWE Champion Triple H to come to Stephanie's aid. On the February 20 episode of SmackDown, Triple H spoke on Orton's actions, admitting his real life links to the McMahon family through his marriage with Stephanie. On the March 2 episode of Raw, Orton was convinced by Triple H to use his title opportunity in a singles match for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania.

Following the main event of the March 2 edition of Raw, SmackDown general manager Vickie Guerrero announced that her (kayfabe) husband Edge would defend his World Heavyweight Championship against The Big Show at WrestleMania. An official contract signing was intended to be held on the following episode of SmackDown. However, John Cena, from whom Edge won the World Heavyweight Championship at No Way Out, interfered with the signing before whispering a message in Vickie's ear. On the March 9 episode of Raw, Vickie announced to the surprise of Edge and Big Show that Cena would be in the match making it a Triple Threat match, a standard wrestling match involving three wrestlers. Cena then later revealed that he told Vickie he knew about her affair with the Big Show, revealing secret camera footage of the two.

On the February 16 episode of Raw, Shawn Michaels challenged John "Bradshaw" Layfield to a match the following week, with the winner advancing to WrestleMania to challenge The Undertaker and his WrestleMania undefeated streak. Vladimir Kozlov (Oleg Prudius) also made a challenge for The Undertaker to a match at WrestleMania as announced on the February 20 episode of SmackDown by Vickie Guerrero. On the February 23 episode of Raw, Michaels defeated Layfield in a singles match, but it was later announced that Kozlov would face Michaels the next week on Raw for the right to challenge The Undertaker. Michaels defeated Kozlov that following week.

The fifth annual Money in the Bank ladder match was announced for WrestleMania XXV on the February 23 episode of Raw. In this match, eight participants from all three WWE brands will compete to retrieve a briefcase (using a ladder) that is suspended above the ring with a cable. The briefcase holds a storyline contract in which the holder will be able to exchange it for a WWE, World Heavyweight, or ECW Championship match at any time or location of his choosing up until one year. Qualifying matches began on the February 23 episode of Raw, in which CM Punk qualified by defeating The Miz (Mike Mizanin) and John Morrison (John Hennigan) in a Triple Threat match. On the March 2 episode of Raw, Kane (Glenn Jacobs) defeated Rey Mysterio and Mike Knox (Michael Hettinga) in a Triple Threat match. On the March 3 episode of ECW on Sci-Fi, Mark Henry qualified for the match by defeating Santino Marella (Anthony Carelli). Both Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP) (Alvin Burke, Jr.) and Shelton Benjamin qualified for the match on the March 6 edition of SmackDown, defeating Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy in respective single matches. On the March 9 edition of Raw, Kofi Kingston qualified by defeating Chris Jericho. Christian qualified the following night on ECW on Sci-Fi by winning a tri-brand battle royal. Finlay was the final wrestler to qualify for the match when he defeated The Brian Kendrick on the March 13 episode of SmackDown.

Brothers Jeff Hardy (far left) and Matt Hardy (far right), who engaged in a rivalry on the way to WrestleMania.

The buildup to WrestleMania XXV also included a rivalry between brothers Matt and Jeff Hardy. During Jeff's match against Edge at the Royal Rumble for the WWE Championship, Matt came down to the ring, appearing to help his brother. Instead, Matt hit Jeff with a steel chair, costing Jeff the match and his WWE title. After losing his Money in the Bank qualifying match to MVP on the March 6 edition of SmackDown, Matt interfered in Jeff's qualifying match later that night by punching Jeff's opponent, Shelton Benjamin and hence disqualifying Jeff from the match. A week later, Matt provoked Jeff even further by bringing up Jeff's recent accidents, including Jeff's incident at the night of Survivor Series where he was found unconscious in a hotel stairwell, Jeff's car incident where he was run off the road, and his pyrotechnics accident. Matt then talked about the real life fire on Jeff's house, causing the death of his dog, Jack. Matt proceeded to take out what was left of Jack's dog collar, which he found in a pile of ashes, causing Jeff to snap and attack Matt. Later that night, it was announced that Matt and Jeff would wrestle each other at WrestleMania. A further announcement was made a week later, declaring the match to be held under Extreme Rules.

Following an exhibition encounter between the WWE Tag Team Champions, Primo (Eddie Colón) and Carlito (Carly Colón), and World Tag Team Champions, John Morrison and The Miz, on the January 23 edition of SmackDown that saw Primo and Carlito victorious, Miz and Morrison would proceed to harass their defeaters on their weekly Internet show, the Dirt Sheet, as well as profess the brothers' ineffectiveness to their valets, The Bella Twins, goading them into another match with the winning team to go on a date with the Bellas, which was won by Miz and Morrison on the February 13 edition of SmackDown. The two teams would continue their feud in the coming weeks with the focus initially on vying for the Bella Twins, but developed was a dual center when Carlito and Primo defended their WWE Tag Team titles in a winning effort against Morrison and Miz, as well as come up on the losing end against their adversaries two weeks later when Morrison and Miz put up their World Tag Team titles. With both teams retaining their respective belts, it was announced on the March 17 edition of ECW that the WWE and World Tag Team titles would be unified at WrestleMania into the "Unified WWE Tag Team Championship."

Event

Production

As the second WrestleMania to be held in Houston and the state of Texas, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) mainly promoted WrestleMania XXV under the tagline "Everything Is Bigger in Texas, Especially WrestleMania" since its announcement at WrestleMania XXIV in April 2008. However, WWE later began using The 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania name in late-2008 to primarily promote the event, although, it is only the 24th anniversary. WrestleMania 2 was the first anniversary, and as a result of the continuous chronology, WrestleMania XXV is the 24th anniversary, not the 25th as WWE promotes. Tickets for WrestleMania XXV were originally scheduled to go on sale September 20, 2008, but was postponed out of concern for the residents near the Gulf of Mexico due to Hurricane Ike and the disaster area declaration by Texas Governor Rick Perry. Following another postponement due to the effect of Ike on the state of Texas, WWE announced that ticket sales would be postponed until November 8, 2008. As of November 9, 2008, ticket sales exceeded US$4.8 million, which include people from all 50 U.S. states, 24 countries, and seven Canadian provinces.

According to WWE's executive vice president Michelle Wilson, WrestleMania XXV will feature most extensive promotional campaign in WrestleMania history. Promotion for the event include a merchandise deal with Kmart enabling discounts on the pay-per-view's retail price, as well as deals with DirecTV and Dish Network to promote through interactive television. The campaign will also see WWE mail to previous purchasers of WrestleMania, professional boxing and mixed martial arts pay-per-views to order their show. WWE will spend US$10 million for cross-channel spots on television networks such as ESPN, MTV and the USA Network. The Army National Guard will be the primary sponsor for the event, using the event to help enhance their recruitment.

Since the first instance of the event, appearances by celebrities have contributed to the promotion of WrestleMania. At the 15th Screen Actors Guild Awards, actor Mickey Rourke, who has recently gained critical acclaim for his role in the film The Wrestler, had earlier announced he would be competing at WrestleMania. However, on January 28, 2009, his spokesperson reported that the actor would not be competing at the event. WWE subsequently reconfirmed Rourke's appearance on January 31, 2009, announcing that he had been invited as a guest, and not as a competitor, for WrestleMania. On March 23, 2009 it was announced that Nicole Scherzinger of the Pussycat Dolls would perform "America the Beautiful" to open up the show. It was also announced that Kid Rock would perform a medley of his songs, including "Cowboy", "Bawitdaba", "Rock N Roll Jesus", and "So Hott".

It was announced on January 30, 2009 that "War Machine" and the live version of "Shoot to Thrill", both by AC/DC, would serve as the theme songs for WrestleMania. Announced on the March 13 edition of SmackDown, "So Hott" by Kid Rock will also serve as one of the official theme songs.

Matches

#	Matches	Stipulations
1	The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels	Singles match
2	CM Punk vs. Kane vs. Mark Henry vs. Montel Vontavious Porter vs. Shelton Benjamin vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Christian vs. Finlay	Money in the Bank ladder match
3	Triple H (c) vs. Randy Orton	Singles match for the WWE Championship
4	Edge (c) vs. The Big Show vs. John Cena	Triple Threat match for the World Heavyweight Championship
5	25-Diva battle royal for the title of "Miss Wrestlemania"	Winner is crowned "Miss WrestleMania"
6	Matt Hardy vs. Jeff Hardy	Extreme Rules match
7	The Colóns (Carlito and Primo) vs. John Morrison and The Miz	Lumberjack match to unify the WWE Tag Team Championship and World Tag Team Championship
8	John "Bradshaw" Layfield (c) vs. Rey Mysterio	Singles match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship
9	Chris Jericho vs. Roddy Piper, Ricky Steamboat and Jimmy Snuka (with Ric Flair)	Handicap Match
(c) - refers to the champion heading into the match

External links

• Official website of WrestleMania
• Official WrestleMania XXV micro-site