WrestleMania 25
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WrestleMania XXV | |||
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Promotion | World Wrestling Entertainment | ||
Date | April 5, 2009 | ||
City | Houston, Texas | ||
Venue | Reliant Stadium | ||
Attendance | 72,744[1] | ||
Tagline(s) | Everything Is Bigger in Texas, Especially WrestleMania | ||
Pay-per-view chronology | |||
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WrestleMania chronology | |||
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WrestleMania XXV, also known as The 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania,[4] was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), which took place on April 5, 2009 at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas.[5] The event was the 25th event produced under the WrestleMania name and featured wrestlers from all three WWE brands: Raw, SmackDown, and ECW.[6] It was the second WrestleMania to be held in Houston, with the first being WrestleMania X-Seven at the Reliant Astrodome, which was held in 2001.
Eight matches were held on the event's card, which featured a supercard, a scheduling of more than one main bout. The first of these matches was a singles match for the WWE Championship that featured the champion, Triple H, defeating Randy Orton to retain the title. The second was a Triple Threat match for the World Heayweight Championship, in which John Cena defeated the champion Edge and challenger Big Show to win the championship. Featured matches on the undercard included The Undertaker versus Shawn Michaels, Jeff Hardy versus Matt Hardy in an Extreme Rules match, Chris Jericho versus the team of Roddy Piper, Ricky Steamboat and Jimmy Snuka, and the annual Money in the Bank ladder match.
Tickets for the event commenced sale to the public on November 8, 2008.[7] For the third consecutive year, WrestleMania broke the record for the highest-grossing pay-per-view in WWE history, grossing US$6.9 million in ticket sales, which included fans from all 50 U.S. states, 24 countries, and seven Canadian provinces.[1]
Background
WrestleMania featured professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds, plots, and storylines that were played out on Raw, Friday Night SmackDown, and ECW on Sci Fi—World Wrestling Entertainment's (WWE) primary television programs. Wrestlers were portrayed as either a villain or a hero as they followed a series of events that built tension, and culminated into a wrestling match or series of matches.[8] The event featured 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.[9]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/73/Randy_Orton_08.jpg/170px-Randy_Orton_08.jpg)
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.[10] At the start of 2009, Orton began to feud with the McMahon family. During this rivalry, Orton punted 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 (and Stephanie's real-life husband) Triple H to come to Stephanie's aid.[11] 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.[12] 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.[13]
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.[13] 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.[14] 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.[15]
On the February 16 episode of Raw, Shawn Michaels challenged John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) to a match the following week, with the winner advancing to WrestleMania to challenge The Undertaker and his WrestleMania undefeated streak.[11] 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.[12] 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.[16] Michaels defeated Kozlov the following week.[13]
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.[17] 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.[16] On the March 2 episode of Raw, Kane (Glenn Jacobs) defeated Rey Mysterio and Mike Knox (Michael Hettinga) in a Triple Threat match.[13] On the March 3 episode of ECW on Sci Fi, Mark Henry qualified for the match by defeating Santino Marella (Anthony Carelli).[18] 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 singles matches.[14] On the March 9 edition of Raw, Kofi Kingston qualified by defeating Chris Jericho.[15] Christian (William Reso) qualified the following night on ECW on Sci Fi by winning a tri-brand battle royal.[19] Finlay was the final wrestler to qualify for the match when he defeated The Brian Kendrick on the March 13 episode of SmackDown.[20]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a2/The_Hardy_Boyz.jpg/170px-The_Hardy_Boyz.jpg)
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.[21] 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.[14] 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.[20] A subsequent announcement was made a week later, declaring the match to be held under Extreme Rules.[22]
On the January 23 edition of SmackDown, WWE Tag Team Champions The Colóns—Primo (Eddie Colón) and Carlito (Carly Colón)—defeated World Tag Team Champions, John Morrison and The Miz in a non-title match.[23] After their loss, 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. The two teams wrestled again on the February 13 edition of SmackDown, with the winning team earning a date with the Bellas. Miz and Morrison won the rematch and the date. [24] The two teams continued their feud in the coming weeks. While the initial focus of the feud was the competition for the Bella Twins, the feud took on a dual purpose as each team successfully defended their respective titles in subsequent matches. 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."[25]
At the 15th Screen Actors Guild Awards, actor Mickey Rourke, who gained critical acclaim at the time for his role in the film The Wrestler, had announced he would be competing at WrestleMania, specifically targeting Chris Jericho.[26] The announcement led to a confrontation between the two on Larry King Live, which showed signs of second thoughts from Rourke.[27] On January 28, it was announced Rourke's spokesperson that the actor would not compete at the event.[28] WWE subsequently reconfirmed Rourke's appearance three days later, announcing that he had been invited to the event as a guest, and not as a competitor.[29] Jericho's narrative subsequently evolved towards one of the themes from The Wrestler, which was the respect for older wrestlers after their careers start to decline, of which Jericho disapproved. On the February 9 edition of Raw, Ric Flair appeared to protest Jericho's tirades, professing that the wrestlers should be respected, as they had paved the way for the future generations, leading to an heated exchange between the two.[30] Over the coming weeks, Jericho would be confronted by a number of legends, including Roddy Piper,[11] Ricky Steamboat,[16] and Jimmy Snuka on an episode of Piper's Pit hosted by Jericho himself.[13] Each confrontation resulted in Jericho viciously attacking each respective wrestler. The following week, Jericho challenged Flair to a match. Although Flair declined (honoring his retirement from active competition), he offered to be in the corner of Piper, Steamboat, and Snuka for their challenge against Jericho in a handicap match. Jericho accepted the challenge, but subsequently attacked and bloodied Flair.[31]
Production
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7b/WrestleMania_XXV_-_Stage.jpg/220px-WrestleMania_XXV_-_Stage.jpg)
As the second WrestleMania to be held in Houston and the state of Texas, WWE mainly promoted WrestleMania XXV under the tagline "Everything Is Bigger in Texas, Especially WrestleMania" since its announcement at WrestleMania XXIV in April 2008.[32] WWE later began using The 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania name in late-2008 to primarily promote the event.[33] However, as a result of WrestleMania's continuous chronology, WrestleMania XXV was actually the 24th anniversary of the event. 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.[7][34]
The official theme songs for the event were AC/DC's "War Machine" and their live version of "Shoot to Thrill",[2] as well as "So Hott" by Kid Rock.[3] Other songs used at the event include "Crash" by Decyfer Down and "Touched" by VAST.[35][36]
Marketing
According to WWE's executive vice president Michelle Wilson, WrestleMania XXV featured the most extensive promotional campaign in WrestleMania history. Promotion for the event included 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 also saw WWE mail to previous purchasers of WrestleMania, professional boxing and mixed martial arts pay-per-views to order their show. WWE spent US$10 million for cross-channel spots on television networks such as ESPN, MTV and the USA Network.[37] The Army National Guard were the primary sponsor for the event, using the event to help enhance their recruitment.[38] To commemorate the event, THQ and Yuke's produced a video game, WWE Legends of WrestleMania, that was released a few weeks prior to the event and featured past legends and alumni from WWE.[39]
As with previous WrestleMania events, a series of events were held in the week preceding WrestleMania XXV. For the second consecutive year, WrestleManiArt, an art exhibition and auction featuring work by WWE superstars and local artists, was held at the Julia Ideson Building on April 1, with the proceeds going to Houston Public Library Foundation. WrestleMania's annual fan convention, WrestleMania Axxess, was held from April 2 through April 5 at Reliant Center. On April 4, WWE hosted its annual WWE Hall of Fame ceremony at the Toyota Center, where the Class of 2009 were inducted.[40][41]
Event
Pre-show
Before the event went live, the WWE Tag Team Champions The Colóns (Carlito and Primo) competed against the World Tag Team Champions John Morrison and The Miz in a Lumberjack match to unify both sets of tag team championships. The Colóns won the encounter after Primo forced his knees into Morrison's back to execute his finisher, the Backstabber.
As the event went live on pay-per-view, Nicole Scherzinger of the Pussycat Dolls sang "America the Beautiful".[42]
Preliminary matches
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0e/CM_Punk_MITB.jpg/170px-CM_Punk_MITB.jpg)
The Money in the Bank ladder match was the opening match of the event. The participants were CM Punk, Kane, Mark Henry, Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP), Shelton Benjamin, Kofi Kingston, Christian, and Finlay, who all fought for a briefcase that was suspended above the ring that represented a guaranteed opportunity at a world title of their choice over the course of the coming year at whatever time they choose. Punk went on to win the match after he grabbed the hanging briefcase. Punk's victory marks the second time he has won the match and his second consecutive victory, having won the first at the previous year's event.[17]
Following the match, Kid Rock performed a live medley of his songs. The medley consisted of "Bawitdaba," "Rock N Roll Jesus," "Cowboy," "All Summer Long," and "So Hott."[42] During the last song, the female wrestlers featured in the 25-Diva battle royal came to the ring, to crown the first-ever "Miss WrestleMania." The match featured Divas that were employed by WWE at the time and Divas that had worked for WWE in the past. Santino Marella, who portrayed a diva called "Santina," his twin sister, won the match and was crowned "Miss WrestleMania." For a list of participants see below.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/05/Diva_Battle_Royal_at_WrestleMania_25_2.jpg/220px-Diva_Battle_Royal_at_WrestleMania_25_2.jpg)
The following match featured Chris Jericho facing Ricky Steamboat, Jimmy Snuka, and Roddy Piper (who were accompanied to the ring by Ric Flair) in a three on one Handicap elimination match; in order for Jericho to win, he had to eliminate his three opponents individually while his opponents had to defeat him once to win the match. Before long, Jericho had caused Snuka to submit to a signature hold, the Walls of Jericho, first. He then pinned Piper after kicking him in the head, known as the enzuigiri; however, Steamboat would outlast his partners as he was able to execute a number of his signature arm drags, chest chops, and a dive over the top rope called a plancha. Jericho, however, was able to regain control of the match, as he drove Steamboat's face onto his knees with a Codebreaker. After the match, Jericho challenged Mickey Rourke, sitting at ringside, to come into the ring. Rourke finally entered the ring and knocked Jericho onto the canvas with a punch before being commended by Ric Flair.
The fourth bout was the Extreme Rules match between brothers Jeff and Matt Hardy. This featured a multitude of spots, including assaults with numerous objects under the ring and Jeff launching himself from a ladder through a pair of tables, with Matt sandwiched between the two. Jeff, seeking to end the match, attempted would set up a ladder for him to ascend while he would perform a maneuver similar to a leap frog over the hurdle, and diving down in a seated position known as a senton, ultimately missing his target, due to Matt's last-minute dodge, which resulted in Matt gaining the advantage over his brother; he then forced Jeff's head in between the seat and back of a steel chair, then executed his finishing move, the Twist of Fate with Jeff's head in the chair to win the match via pinfall.
A singles match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship was next, in which Rey Mysterio faced defending champion John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL). Before the match started, JBL kicked Mysterio and punched him down to the ground for a few seconds. But once the referee started the match, Mysterio surprised JBL by quickly hitting the 619 and descending off the top rope for a Frog Splash for a win via pinfall in twenty-one seconds. Following the match, a frustrated JBL grabbed a microphone and proclaimed, "I quit!"
Main event matches
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fb/Undertaker_at_Wrestlemania_25_cropped.jpg/170px-Undertaker_at_Wrestlemania_25_cropped.jpg)
The next match pitted The Undertaker against Shawn Michaels. Michaels made his entrance descending on a platform to symbolize the light; in sharp contrast, The Undertaker entered second ascending from the floor with fire shooting up from the stage. The match started out with a fast pace by both men going for strikes to have them countered before Michaels feigned a knee injury to gain the advantage, and the pace slowed. This led to an exchange of signature moves and submission holds, which saw Michaels able to escape The Undertaker's signature chokehold, Hell's Gate and dodge multiple attempts at the chokeslam while his adversary blocked attempts at Michaels' superkick dubbed the Sweet Chin Music. The action went to outside of the ring with Michaels attempting a backflip from the top rope called the moonsault, only to have The Undertaker swat away the attempt; this was followed by The Undertaker climbing into the ring, obtaining a running-start, and jump straight over the top rope, only to have Michaels dodge the attack and pull the nearby cameraman into harms way with The Undertaker hitting the cameraman with The Undertaker nearly landing on his head. He remained on the floor of the arena with the referee checking to see if he was alright before he headed into the ring and proceeded to count; if The Undertaker were to have not gotten in the ring by the referee's count of ten, he would have lost the match (referred to as a count-out), but he managed to return to the ring by a count of nine. The match continued with both men performing all of their respective finishing moves to with both men unable to win through these moves. The Undertaker finally won the match after Michaels ascended the top rope, attempting to perform another moonsault only to be caught in the midst of the move by his opponent to be dropped by his finishing maneuver, the Tombstone Piledriver, and pinning him. As a result of this victory, The Undertaker remained undefeated at WrestleMania, extending his record to 17-0.[43]
The World Heavyweight Championship was contested for in a Triple Threat match between the champion, Edge, The Big Show, and John Cena, who entered through an aisle of look-alikes to get the match underway; Vickie Guerrero was brought out to ringside in a wheelchair by Chavo Guerrero due to her emotional investment in both Edge and Big Show. The action started with some brawling and some early teamwork from Big Show and Edge before their alliance crumbled. The match spilled to the outside seeing Edge tackling Big Show through the guardrail with his finishing move, the Spear. Cena returned Edge to the ring before applying his signature hold, the STF before Big Show came to his senses, and broke up the action, leading to Cena and Edge teaming up to remove Big Show from the equation before turning on each other. Cena won the match by lifting The Big Show and flipping him over his right shoulder and onto his back, a move named the Attitude Adjustment, then dropping Edge onto Big Show with the same move before pinning The Big Show to win his second World Heavyweight Championship.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c1/WrestleMania_XXV_-_Triple_H_vs_Orton_2.jpg/250px-WrestleMania_XXV_-_Triple_H_vs_Orton_2.jpg)
The last match of the event was for the WWE Championship; the match was contested between the champion, Triple H, and Randy Orton. As per a pre-match stipulation by Vickie Guerrero, if Triple H had been disqualified or had been counted out during the match, he would have lost the title to Orton. The champion had his signature weapon, the sledgehammer, in hand only to relinquish it prior to entering the ring by throwing it through a glass wall. Once the match officially started, it quickly dissented into a wild brawl with both men hitting their respective finishers to try and end the match quickly with both leading to only two-counts; the action continued immediately between the two with Triple H doing everything in his power to hurt Orton without being disqualified in the process. Some highlights of the match would include the challenger delivering a suplex to the champion on the English announce table onto the Spanish announce table that did not break at all from Triple H landing on it. Another noteworthy spot in the match included Triple H running to a prone opponent, and delivering a punt across his face similar to how the latter performs the move, possibly as revenge for Orton's similar attacks on both Triple H's brother-in-law and father-in-law. The champion would defeat Orton after forcing Orton's face into the mat to complete a move named the Pedigree to retain the WWE Championship.
Aftermath
Role: | Name: |
---|---|
Commentator | Michael Cole |
Jerry Lawler | |
Jim Ross | |
Carlos Cabrera (Spanish) | |
Hugo Savinovich (Spanish) | |
Ring announcer | Lilian Garcia |
Justin Roberts | |
Referees | Scott Armstrong |
Mike Chioda | |
Jack Doan | |
Marty Elias | |
Chad Patton | |
Charles Robinson |
The rivalry between Triple H and Randy Orton continued after WrestleMania when a Six-Man Tag Team match at Backlash was booked on the following episode of Raw. The match would pit Triple H, Shane McMahon and Vince McMahon against Orton, Ted DiBiase and Cody Rhodes. Vince's part in the match was later replaced by a returning Batista. On the same episode of Raw, it was announced that Vickie Guerrero would vacate her role as SmackDown general manager to become the new permanent Raw general manager. As her first act, Guerrero announced that John Cena would defend his World Heavyweight Championship at Backlash against Edge in a Last Man Standing match.
Reception
WrestleMania XXV received mixed reviews from various sources. Gordon Holmes of Comcast.net criticized the mini-concert by Kid Rock, stating that "Kid Rock played a medley of tunes that seemed to have the crowd bored. Kid Rock gets ten minutes and The Miz and Morrison don’t? Blashemy! [sic]" He also criticized the 25-Divas Battle Royal which "was a bit of a mess, we didn’t even get proper introductions for returning Divas like Sunny, Molly Holly, and Torrie Wilson."[44] Dale Plummer of Canadian Online Explorer's SLAM! Sports - Wrestling stated that "the top of this year’s card looked an awful lot like last year's. Just swap out Floyd Mayweather for Shawn Michaels and everyone else was the same." However, he praised the Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels match by rating it a ten out of ten, his highest rated match. The main event received a 7 out of ten. Overall, he rated the event 7 out of ten.[45] Wade Keller of the Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter also criticized Kid Rock's performance, but praised the Undertaker vs. Michaels match. He rated it five out of five, and stated that "the match that deserved to end this show was Taker-Michaels."[43] IGN offered their own review of WrestleMania XXV, with IGN TV writer Dan Iverson praising Kofi Kingston, Shawn Michaels, and Ricky Steamboat for their performances, but also criticizing WWE for not showing the Tag Team unification match during the event itself. He finished off the review by stating: "It was just too bad that the potential of the card wasn't lived up to," also giving it an overall rating of 7 out of 10. [46] Arash Markazi of Sports Illustrated wrote that Mickey Rourke's appearance "may have been one of the worst executed in WrestleMania history."[47]
The Randy Orton vs. Triple H main event was generally regarded by critics as a disappointing ending to the show. Holmes of Comcast.net believes that the match "never seemed to click"[44] and Kevin Eck of the Baltimore Sun stated that he was "disappointed that it didn’t feel more special after some great angles on TV."[48] Nick Tywalk of Slam! Wrestling wrote that it was "solid and had its share of drama, but the lack of outside interference or plot twists of any kind failed to spark the same feeling of energy Reliant Stadium had in it a few hours before. It was almost a "That’s it?" reaction that first came to mind."[49] Wade Keller enjoyed the match and gave it 3.75 stars, calling it "good, both well-plotted and well-executed, appropriate to the storyline and feud," but added that "it just wasn't able to follow the classic two matches earlier."[43]
Results
- a Lumberjacks include Evan Bourne, Paul Burchill, Tommy Dreamer, Goldust, The Great Khali, Charlie Haas, Curt Hawkins, Hurricane Helms, Ezekiel Jackson, JTG, The Brian Kendrick, Mike Knox, Vladimir Kozlov, Jamie Noble, R-Truth, William Regal, Zack Ryder, Shad, Jack Swagger, Jimmy Wang Yang and Dolph Ziggler.[59]
- b Also in the match were Alicia Fox, Brie Bella, Eve, Gail Kim, Jackie Gayda, Jillian, Joy Giovanni, Katie Lea Burchill, Kelly Kelly, Layla, Maria, Maryse, Michelle McCool, Mickie James, Molly Holly, Natalya, Nikki Bella, Rosa Mendes, Sunny, Tiffany, Torrie Wilson, and Victoria.[60][61]
- Diva battle royal eliminations
Red ██ and "Raw" indicates a Raw diva, blue ██ and "SD" indicates a SmackDown diva, purple ██ and "ECW" indicates an ECW diva, and white indicates a former WWE Diva.
Diva | Brand | Order of Elimination [citation needed] |
Eliminated by [citation needed] |
---|---|---|---|
Alicia Fox | ECW | 4 | Bella Twins |
Beth Phoenix | Raw | 24 | Marella |
Brie Bella | SD | 19 | Phoenix |
Eve Torres | SD | 11 | Phoenix |
Gail Kim | SD | 9 | Herself |
Jillian Hall | Raw | 10 | Kim |
Joy Giovanni | Past | 2 | Torres and Bella Twins |
Katie Lea Burchill | ECW | 16 | Phoenix |
Kelly Kelly | Raw | 13 | Phoenix |
Layla | Raw | 1 | Bella Twins |
Maria | SD | 8 | Victoria |
Maryse | SD | 15 | Phoenix |
Melina | Raw | 23 | Phoenix |
Michelle McCool | SD | 21 | James |
Mickie James | Raw | 22 | McCool |
Miss Jackie | Past | 7 | Bella Twins |
Molly Holly | Past | 14 | Phoenix |
Natalya | SD | 17 | Phoenix |
Nikki Bella | SD | 20 | Phoenix |
Rosa Mendes | Raw | 3 | Bella Twins |
Santina Marella | Raw | — | WINNER |
Sunny | Past | 5 | Phoenix |
Tiffany | ECW | 12 | Phoenix |
Torrie Wilson | Past | 6 | Phoenix |
Victoria | Past | 18 | Bella Twins |
References
- ^ a b "WrestleMania Record Sellout". World Wrestling Entertainment Corporate. Retrieved 2009-04-06.
- ^ a b "Rockin' to the 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania with AC/DC". World Wrestling Entertainment. 2009-01-30. Retrieved 2009-01-30.
- ^ a b "WWE Friday Night SmackDown". Episode 500. 2009-03-13. MyNetworkTV.
{{cite episode}}
: Missing or empty|series=
(help) - ^ "WWE Presents The 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-01-31.
- ^ Plummer, Dale (2008-03-31). "Mayweather, Orton survive Mania; Edge, Flair don't". Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2008-03-31.
- ^ "WWE Pay-Per-Views To Follow WrestleMania Formula". World Wrestling Entertainment Corporate. Retrieved 2009-01-11.
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- ^ "WWE Launches ECW As Third Brand". World Wrestling Entertainment Corporate. Retrieved 2009-01-11.
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- ^ a b Burdick, Michael (2009-02-20). "Results: Twisted hate". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-02-21.
- ^ a b c d e Sitterson, Aubrey (2009-03-02). "Breaking the news". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-03-03.
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- ^ a b Sitterson, Aubrey (2009-03-09). "In your house". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-03-10.
- ^ a b c Sitterson, Aubrey (2009-02-23). ""Legacy" gets hammered". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-02-24.
- ^ a b c Rote, Andrew. "Results:Twice as nice for CM Punk". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-04-05.
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- ^ Passero, Mitch (2009-03-10). "Christian bound for WrestleMania". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-03-11.
- ^ a b Burdick, Michael (2009-03-13). "Takin' it back". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-03-14.
- ^ DiFino, Lennie (2009-01-25). "Hardy's twisted fate brings gold to Edge". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-03-20.
- ^ Burdick, Michael (2009-03-20). "Layin' the SmackDown 500 times over". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-03-21.
- ^ Burdick, Michael (2009-01-23). "The Rumbling of Foul Play". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-03-21.
- ^ Burdick, Michael (2009-02-13). "Results: Prelude to Satan's Structure". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-03-21.
- ^ Medalis, Kara (2009-03-17). "Extremely lucky night". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-03-21.
- ^ "'Wrestler' star Rourke to get in WWE ring". Access Hollywood. MSNBC. 2009-01-25. Retrieved 2009-01-26.
- ^ Medalis, Kara A. (2009-04-05). "Mickey Rourke speaks out before WrestleMania". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-04-06.
{{cite web}}
: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=
(help) - ^ "Rourke won't rumble with WWE superstar". Associated Press. 2009-01-28. Retrieved 2009-01-29.
- ^ ""Wrestler" indeed 'Mania-bound". World Wrestling Entertainment. 2009-01-30. Retrieved 2009-01-30.
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{{cite episode}}
: Unknown parameter|episodelink=
ignored (|episode-link=
suggested) (help); Unknown parameter|serieslink=
ignored (|series-link=
suggested) (help) - ^ "WrestleMania XXV official website". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-02-03.
- ^ "WrestleMania tickets go on sale". World Wrestling Entertainment. 2008-11-08. Retrieved 2008-11-08.
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{{cite episode}}
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ignored (|series-link=
suggested) (help) - ^ Umstead, R. Thomas (2009-03-21). "WWE Flexes Its Muscles". Multichannel News. Retrieved 2009-03-21.
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- ^ a b Holmes, Gordon (2009-04-06). "WrestleMania 25 Results". Comcast. Retrieved 2009-04-06.
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{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Markazi, Arash (2009-04-06). "Piper thrilled to be back at another WrestleMania; Rourke disappoints". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 2009-04-06.
- ^ Eck, Kevin (2009-04-06). "WrestleMania XXV post-show thoughts". Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 2009-04-06.
- ^ Tywalk, Nick (2009-03-06). "WrestleMania 25 delivers some bang but ends with a whimper". Slam! Wrestling. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2009-03-06.
- ^ Burdick, Michael (2009-04-05). "Brothers united". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-04-05.
- ^ Plummer, Dale (2009-04-06). "Wrestlemania 25: HBK-Undertaker steals the show". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2009-04-06.
- ^ Raymond, Katie A. "Results:Say hello to my twin sister". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-04-05.
- ^ Vermillion, James. "Results:Rourke, Flair laugh in the face of defeat". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-04-05.
- ^ Tello, Craig. "Results:Matt: The better Hardy?". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-04-05.
- ^ McAvennie, Mike. "Results:Rey fast, JBL furious". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-04-05.
- ^ Adkins, Greg. "Results:Vaunted: Deadman Alive". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-04-05.
- ^ Passero, Mitch. "Results:Cena reclaims his gold". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-04-05.
- ^ Sitterson, Aubrey. "Results:The Legacy Killer". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-04-05.
- ^ "Tag Team Unification Lumberjack Match gallery". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-04-06.
- ^ "WrestleMania: Backstage beauties, gallery 1". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-04-06.
- ^ "WrestleMania: Backstage beauties, gallery 2". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-04-06.
External links
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