Wrestlemania XXIV

WrestleMania XXIV was the twenty-fourth annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It took place on March 30 2008 at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida. It was the first WrestleMania to be held in the state of Florida, and the second WrestleMania to be held entirely outdoors, the first being WrestleMania IX. The official theme songs were "Light It Up" by Rev Theory and "Snow ((Hey Oh))" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The tagline was "The Biggest WrestleMania Under the Sun."

The event was a joint-promotion pay-per-view, featuring performers from the Raw, SmackDown, and ECW brands. The main event and primary match for the SmackDown brand was Edge versus The Undertaker for the World Heavyweight Championship, which Undertaker won by forcing Edge to submit with the Gogoplata. The main match on the Raw brand was Randy Orton defending the WWE Championship in a Triple Threat match between Triple H, and John Cena, which Orton won by pinning Cena after Triple H delivered a Pedigree to Cena. The predominant match on the ECW brand was Chavo Guerrero versus Kane for the ECW Championship, which Kane won by pinfall after performing a chokeslam. The featured matches on the undercard included Floyd Mayweather, Jr. versus The Big Show in a No Disqualification match, an interpromotional Money in the Bank ladder match, and Ric Flair versus Shawn Michaels in a Career Threatening match.

Tickets went on sale to the public on November 3 2007. For the second year in a row, WrestleMania broke the record for the highest-grossing pay-per-view in WWE history as well as for the Citrus Bowl, grossing in $5.85 million in ticket sales. The record-breaking Citrus Bowl attendance record of 74,635 consisting of people from twenty-one countries, all fifty states, and five Canadian provinces, pumped an estimated $30 million into the local economy. The Central Florida Sports Commission estimated that the event created numerous jobs, and brought around 60,000 visitors to the city for the event. WWE and the city of Orlando hosted festivities that spanned a five-day period within the central Florida region, bringing numerous branding opportunities and television coverage, leading up to the event at the Citrus Bowl.

Background
The main feud heading into WrestleMania on the Raw brand was between Randy Orton, John Cena, and Triple H, with the three feuding over the WWE Championship. At the Royal Rumble in January, John Cena won the Royal Rumble match, last eliminating Triple H, to become the number one contender to the WWE Championship at WrestleMania XXIV. Instead of challenging Randy Orton for the title at WrestleMania, he decided to challenge him at No Way Out, the following pay-per-view. At No Way Out, Orton got himself intentionally disqualified by slapping the referee, thus retaining the WWE Championship. Also at No Way Out, Triple H became the new number one contender to the WWE Championship at WrestleMania by defeating five other men in an Elimination Chamber match. The night after on Raw, after Cena argued that he deserved another WWE Championship match, Raw general manager William Regal announced that Cena would face Orton later in the night with the stipulation being if Cena won, he would be added to the WrestleMania match between Triple H and Orton, making it a Triple Threat match. If Orton won, however, the main event would stay as Orton versus Triple H. Cena won the match, pinning Orton after executing an FU. After the match, Triple H, who was the Special Guest referee, executed a Pedigree to both Cena and Orton.

The predominant feud on the SmackDown brand was between Edge and The Undertaker, with the two battling over the World Heavyweight Championship. On the February 1 edition of SmackDown, assistant general manager Theodore Long announced that at No Way Out, an Elimination Chamber match would be held to determine the number one contender to the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania. Undertaker won the match, last eliminating Batista after executing a Tombstone piledriver. The night after, on SmackDown, Edge claimed that The Undertaker's 15-0 undefeated streak at WrestleMania will come to an end once he defeats him. Two weeks later, on the March 7 edition of SmackDown, Edge, Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder defeated The Undertaker in a Handicap match. Edge, Hawkins and Ryder won the match after Edge pinned Undertaker following a spear. The following week, Edge, Hawkins, Ryder, and Chavo Guerrero defeated Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels in a Steel Cage match. During the match, Undertaker interfered and attacked Hawkins, Ryder, and Guerrero. Undertaker executed a double chokeslam on Hawkins and Ryder and a Tombstone piledriver on Guerrero. As Undertaker was attacking Guerrero, Edge escaped the cage to win the match for his team. On the March 21 edition of SmackDown, after The Undertaker defeated Chavo Guerrero, Edge attacked The Undertaker, and executed a spear. Shortly after, Edge, Hawkins and Ryder hit him numerous times with steel chairs, which concluded with Edge executing a con-chair-to. The next week on SmackDown, Edge, along with Vickie Guerrero, Hawkins and Ryder, held a burial, entitled "Burial of The Undertaker’s WrestleMania Undefeated Streak," to celebrate Edge's early victory over The Undertaker. During the "burial," however, Undertaker emerged from a casket, which was inside the ring, and attacked Edge, Hawkins and Ryder, knocking Hawkins and Ryder outside the ring and chokeslamming Edge through the casket.

At No Way Out, The Big Show made a surprise return to the company. In his return promo, Big Show threatened to give Rey Mysterio a Chokeslam. Professional boxer and WBC Welterweight Champion Floyd Mayweather, Jr., who was in attendance and a close friend of Mysterio's, came to his aid and confronted Big Show. Big Show then got on his knees to allow Mayweather to punch him, which Mayweather did, by hitting him with a combination of punches, which caused Big Show to bleed from the nose and mouth. The following night on Raw, the Big Show challenged Mayweather to a match, which Mayweather accepted.

On the February 25 edition of Raw, 2008 WWE Hall of Fame Inductee Ric Flair challenged Shawn Michaels to a match at WrestleMania. Michaels accepted after some reluctance, knowing that due to a previous announcement from WWE chairman Mr. McMahon the next match Flair loses would result in a forced retirement for Flair. Flair also said that "it would be an honor for him to retire at the hands of Shawn Michaels."

On February 18, WWE announced via its website that the fourth annual Money in the Bank ladder match would take place at WrestleMania XXIV, with superstars competing from Raw, SmackDown and ECW. The winner will earn a contract to challenge for any of the three WWE World Championships (the WWE Championship of Raw, the World Heavyweight Championship of SmackDown, or the ECW Championship) at any time and any place over a one-year period. Qualifying matches occurred to determine the participants in the match:


 * Jeff Hardy defeated Snitsky on the February 18 edition of Raw.
 * Mr. Kennedy defeated Val Venis on the February 18 edition of Raw.
 * Shelton Benjamin defeated Jimmy Wang Yang on the February 22 edition of SmackDown.
 * Chris Jericho defeated Jeff Hardy on the February 25 edition of Raw.
 * Carlito defeated Cody Rhodes on the March 3 edition of Raw.
 * Montel Vontavious Porter defeated Jamie Noble at the March 8 SmackDown/ECW house show.
 * CM Punk defeated Big Daddy V on the March 11 edition of ECW.
 * John Morrison defeated The Miz on the March 14 edition of SmackDown.

Hardy was later removed from the match after being legitimately suspended by WWE for violation of the company's wellness policy. WWE decided not to fill his spot with another superstar, making this year's Money in the Bank ladder match the first year to only have 7 participants.

Event
Before the show aired live on pay-per-view, Kane won a 24-man Interpromotional Battle Royal to win an ECW Championship match against Chavo Guerrero later that night. The event officially began with John Legend singing a rendition of "America the Beautiful." The first match that aired live on pay-per-view was a Belfast Brawl between Finlay and John "Bradshaw" Layfield. Finlay was accompanied to the ring by his kayfabe son, Hornswoggle, who was returning from a kayfabe injury suffered by JBL. The match featured several spots, which included JBL hitting Finlay with a trash can lid when the latter was about to perform a suicide dive on him through the ropes on the outside. Later on, Finlay tossed JBL through the table that he had set up earlier on the turnbuckle. Hornswoggle would also get involved during the match, hitting JBL's with a kendo stick while later on he would get attacked by JBL with a trash can thrown at him. Attacking Finlay's knee with a kendo stick, JBL then quickly hit a Clothesline from Hell to score a successful pinfall.

The next match of the evening was the fourth-annual Money in the Bank ladder match, featuring Chris Jericho, Mr. Kennedy and Carlito from the Raw brand; CM Punk, Shelton Benjamin and John Morrison from the ECW brand; and Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP) from the SmackDown brand. The match featured many dangerous spots. Early in the match, Morrison climbed a turnbuckle and performed a moonsault on others outside while holding a ladder against his chest. Later, Mr. Kennedy and Morrison did battle on top of a ladder; Benjamin climbed another ladder placed adjacent to the first one, and performed a flip powerbomb on Kennedy, who in turn superplexed Morrison from the top of the ladder. Later, Carlito and Kennedy flipped Benjamin off a ladder, sending him crashing through another ladder set-up between the barricade and the ring apron. When MVP was close to retrieving the contract briefcase, Matt Hardy returned to action through the crowd, entered the ring and delivered the Twist of Fate to MVP off the ladder. As soon as Morrison started to climb a ladder, see-sawing with another ladder, Jericho flipped the other one and Morrison landed on the ring-ropes groin-first. In the end, Jericho and Punk fought each other on a ladder, but Punk trapped Jericho's one leg in the ladder's steps and himself retrieved the contract briefcase to win the match.

The next match which was billed as a "Battle for Brand Supremacy", was between SmackDown's Batista and Raw's Umaga. Early in the match, both Batista and Umaga exchanged blows and Batista threw Umaga outside with a shoulder block. Umaga later delivered a high-impact kick to Batista, which caused him to fall back-first outside the ring from the ring-apron. Hence, Umaga started targeting Batista's injured back. But in the end, when Umaga tried to go for a Samoan Spike, Batista countered the attempt and delivered a spinebuster to Umaga. Batista won the match by pinning Umaga after hitting him with his Batista Bomb. The fourth match for the event featured Chavo Guerrero defending his ECW Championship against Kane. Kane surprised Chavo by emerging from underneath the ring instead of from the entrance stage. Kane instantly pinned Chavo after a Chokeslam and won the ECW Championship in eight seconds.

Ric Flair put his career on the line next against Shawn Michaels. At the start of the match, both superstars engaged in a series of counters, and then Flair shoved Michaels in a corner, making "Old Yeller" comments to him. In retaliation, Michaels slapped Flair in the face, which caused him to start bleeding from the mouth. Later, Flair performed a crossbody onto Michaels from the top rope for a two count. Then, in a very dangerous spot, when Flair was on the outside, Michaels performed an Asai moonsault onto Flair, but missed and landed hard on the Raw announcers' table rib-first. With Flair later on outside the ring again, Michaels successfully attempted another moonsault from the top-rope onto Flair. Back in the ring, Michaels tried to go for his Sweet Chin Music, but stopped in the process and Flair capitalized by trapping him in his figure four leglock. Afterwards, Michaels finally delivered a Sweet Chin Music to Flair, but the latter kicked out to the pinfall attempt. Michaels then, trapped Flair in his modified figure four leglock, but Flair delivered a thumb to the eye to Michaels to break the submission. As Flair was delivering chops to Michaels, the latter hit a second Sweet Chin Music. After getting up on his feet with a worried face, Michaels said to Flair "I'm sorry, I love you", before nailing a final Sweet Chin Music and thus pinning Flair to end his 35-year long wrestling career. After the match, Michaels left quickly and Flair got a standing ovation from the crowd. An emotional Flair embraced his family at ringside and then, as he proceeded to go backstage, thanked the crowd for their support.

The sixth match was the Playboy BunnyMania Lumberjack match, in which Maria and Ashley faced Beth Phoenix and Melina, who were accompanied to the ring by Santino Marella. Rapper Snoop Dogg served as the official "Master of Ceremonies" for this match. Due to some technical difficulties, the lights at Citrus Bowl temporarily went out during the match. Near the end, a pin attempt by Maria was prevented when Santino pulled Maria's leg. In response, Raw commentator Jerry Lawler approached and knocked Marella down with a punch. With a Fisherman suplex, Phoenix pinned Maria to win the match. After the match, Snoop Dogg clotheslined Marella in the ring and kissed Maria, before leaving with her and Ashley.

Randy Orton defended his WWE Championship against Triple H and John Cena in a Triple Threat match next. For his entrance, Cena had the Jones High School Marching Tigers marching band perform an instrumental version of his theme song "The Time Is Now" live. During the match, when Triple H had held Orton in a sleeper hold, Cena picked up both Orton and Triple H for an FU, but Triple H dropped down and low blowed him. Orton dominated the match for some time. One hightlight of the match featured Orton performing a crossbody from the top rope on Cena, while the latter was held on Triple H's shoulders in an electric chair position. Also, Orton delivered a double elevated DDT from the second rope to both Cena and Triple H simultaneously. Orton then tried to RKO Cena, but he countered and threw Orton onto Triple H. Then, Triple H started targeting Orton's legs and using some submissions on him. The match came to an end when Cena had Triple H on his shoulders for the FU but was countered into a Pedigree. As Triple H was in the pin, Orton come across and punted Triple H in the head and pinned Cena to win the match and retain the WWE Championship.

The next match was the No Disqualification match between The Big Show and Floyd Mayweather, Jr.. Early in the match, Mayweather repeatedly escaped Big Show's grasp and delivered body shots to him. Soon, Mayweather applied a sleeper hold on Big Show, but the latter escaped out of it before passing out and stomped on Mayweather's hand. Mayweather and his accomplices tried to "walk out" of the match, but Big Show walked up the ramp and brought Mayweather back in the ring. As Big Show was about to chokeslam Mayweather, one of Mayweather's accomplices struck a steel chair on Big Show's back, and the latter chokeslammed him in retaliation. Capitalizing from this distraction, Mayweather grabbed that chair and hit Big Show multiple times on the head with it. Finally, Mayweather removed his right glove and put on a pair of brass knuckles to hit Big Show in the face. Thus, Big Show was knocked out as he could not answer the referee's ten count and Mayweather was declared the winner.

The main event of the night had Edge putting his World Heavyweight Championship on the line against The Undertaker. The early going in this match was slow-paced with some counters by both men. One high point had Undertaker run and leap over the top rope from the ring onto Edge on the outside. Near the end, Edge was able to counter numerous signature moves of The Undertaker's including the Chokeslam and the Last Ride. Although, The Undertaker was able to land both these moves, both Edge was able to kick out of both. Referee Jim Korderas was hit by The Undertaker inadvertently which gave Edge the opportunity to nail Undertaker with a video camera. An attempt by Edge to perform a Tombstone Piledriver was reversed into Undertaker's own Tombstone Piledriver. Referee Charles Robinson sprinted down to the ring to replace the hurt Korderas and began the three count, but Edge kicked out. Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder came to the ring for Edge's aid. Because of their distraction, Edge was able to hit a Spear on The Undertaker, followed by an unsuccessful pin attempt. Soon after Edge hit the Spear for a second time, Undertaker locked in the Gogoplata submission hold and forced Edge to tap out to become the new World Heavyweight Champion and improve his WrestleMania record to 16-0.

Aftermath
On the following episode of Raw, Ric Flair made his farewell speech, which led to Triple H introducing various people from Flair's past, such as the Four Horsemen, Ricky Steamboat, and others, each coming out to give an emotional farewell. Afterwards, the entire WWE roster came out to say thank you to Flair. Shawn Michaels, who was clearly upset about retiring Flair, was forgiven by Flair. Despite this, Flair's former protégé Batista later started a feud with Michaels, citing Michaels' "selfishness" at WrestleMania for not laying down for Flair. The two had a match booked at Backlash and after a confrontation between Michaels and Chris Jericho, Jericho was later into the match as a Special Guest Referee.

The feud between Randy Orton, John Cena and Triple H continued after WrestleMania with the added involvement of John "Bradshaw" Layfield leading to a Fatal Four-Way Elimination match between all four at Backlash. With Matt Hardy's return at WrestleMania, his feud with Montel Vontavious Porter over the WWE United States Championship that started since last July was revived with a match booked at Backlash. The feud between The Undertaker and Edge and the feud between Kane and Chavo Guerrero both continued with rematches at Backlash.

Production
As the second WrestleMania to be held entirely outdoors, WWE chairman Vince McMahon early on announced that the show will go on, regardless of the weather risks. In the March 2008 issue of WWE Magazine, WWE set designer Jason Robinson revealed that a steel rig with a tarpaulin roof would be built above the ring itself to prevent rain. In that same issue, an initial design of the ring setup was revealed showing a larger rig surrounding the tarpaulin rig, with lighting and two giant screens attached. The larger rig was dropped from the final design with the lighting and video screens now featuring on the tarpaulin rig as well as the sound system. During an interview, WWE production manager Brian Petree mentioned that video reinforcement should prevent anyone from being obstructed by the steel structure. Up to seven generators were used to power up the show.

The set design for the entrance stage was at the north end of the stadium and consisted of another steel structure with various video screens hanging from it. The steel beams for the structure were custom built in Belgium and shipped over to Orlando. According to WWE Magazine, the amount of pyrotechnics used would be ten times that of the amount used on Raw. Without the restriction of a roof, the pyrotechnics for the show shot as high as 2,000 ft as compared to WrestleMania 23's height of 150 ft. The fireworks were set off from boats on one of the lakes nearby the stadium. WWE has been said to have spent an estimated $300,000 on the fireworks alone. After the show, WWE was criticized for a malfunction in the pyrotechnics during The Undertaker's victory celebration. During the celebration, a hot cable for pyrotechnics was sent flying into audience members in the upper seating bowl of the stadium, leaving 45 injured with some hospitalized. The accident was apparently due to a cable which fireworks were travelling across snapping, thus resulting in the fireworks exploding into the top rows of the upper bowl of the stadium. WWE's corporate website released a statement afterwards stating that they will investigate the incident.

With the Citrus Bowl's locker rooms on the south side and the entrance set on the north side, a tented 40,000 ft² mini-city outside the north end served as the show's backstage area and included air conditioning, trailers, VIP areas, showers and restrooms. As a consequence, the road next to the north end zone, W. Church Street, was closed down until a day after the event. Numerous other roads were also closed to allow trucks and fork lifts to move in mega equipment for the event. The ring itself was built on the 50-yard line of the Citrus Bowl to give the best view for fans. Heavy-duty plastic flooring had been put over the field, to protect the turf, provide seating and serve as the steel structures' foundation.

Development on the set design began in the middle of 2007. The building of the actual set began in the middle of March. 100 people worked 16 hours a day to construct the set for the event. The construction finished on March 29.

WrestleMania XXIV was the first WrestleMania event to be filmed in high-definition. It will also be the first WWE show and sports related title to be released on the Blu-ray Disc format by WWE Home Video.

WrestleMania also led to an increase in sales for musical artists related to the event, including the Red Hot Chilli Peppers' album Stadium Arcadium, John Legend's album Live from Philadelphia, Rev Theory's single "Light It Up", and Fuel's single "Leave the Memories Alone" (which was used in tribute to Ric Flair).

Results
Numbers in parentheses indicate the match length.
 * WWE.com Exclusive Match: Kane won an 24-man Interpromotional Battle Royal (6:50)
 * Kane won by last eliminating Mark Henry to gain a ECW Championship match against Chavo Guerrero later on that night.
 * The other participants were: Elijah Burke, Lance Cade, Deuce, Domino, Tommy Dreamer, Jim Duggan, Festus, The Great Khali, Hardcore Holly, Jesse, Brian Kendrick, Kofi Kingston, The Miz, Shannon Moore, Trevor Murdoch, Jamie Noble, Chuck Palumbo, Cody Rhodes, Snitsky, Stevie Richards, Val Venis and Jimmy Wang Yang.
 * This match was held before WrestleMania, streamed live as a "FreeView" on WWE.com.
 * John "Bradshaw" Layfield defeated Finlay (w/Hornswoggle) in a Belfast Brawl (8:35)
 * JBL pinned Finlay after a Clothesline from Hell.
 * CM Punk defeated Shelton Benjamin, Chris Jericho, Carlito, Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP), Mr. Kennedy and John Morrison in a Money in the Bank ladder match (13:55)
 * Punk won by retrieving the briefcase suspended above the ring.
 * During the match, Matt Hardy returned to action and knocked MVP off a ladder with a Twist of Fate.
 * Batista defeated Umaga (7:06)
 * Batista pinned Umaga after a Batista Bomb.
 * Kane defeated Chavo Guerrero to win the ECW Championship (0:08)
 * Kane pinned Guerrero after a Chokeslam.
 * Shawn Michaels defeated Ric Flair in a Career Threatening Match (20:23)
 * Michaels pinned Flair after executing Sweet Chin Music twice.
 * Per the pre-match stipulation, Flair was forced to retire.
 * Beth Phoenix and Melina (w/Santino Marella) defeated Maria and Ashley in a Playboy BunnyMania Lumberjack match (5:56)
 * Phoenix pinned Maria after a Fisherman suplex.
 * Snoop Dogg served as the Master of Ceremonies for the match.
 * Candice Michelle was originally scheduled to be Maria's partner, but suffered a legit clavicle injury and was replaced by Ashley.
 * Lumberjacks: Cherry, Eve Torres, Michelle McCool, Victoria, Mickie James, Jillian Hall, Katie Lea Burchill, Kelly Kelly, Layla and Maryse.
 * Randy Orton defeated Triple H and John Cena in a Triple Threat match to retain the WWE Championship (14:09)
 * Orton pinned Cena after a Pedigree from Triple H.
 * Floyd Mayweather, Jr. defeated The Big Show in a No Disqualification match (11:36)
 * Mayweather won via knockout when Big Show failed to answer a ten-count after being hit with brass knuckles.
 * The Undertaker defeated Edge to win the World Heavyweight Championship (23:50)
 * Undertaker forced Edge to submit with the Gogoplata.