Other than their regular championship matches, Wrestlemania XXIV had two hooks.
At No Way Out, The Big Show reintroduced himself after being away for over a year. He pulled off his coat to show off his new, svelte (for Show) figure.
After threatening to beat up Rey Mysterio, boxer Floyd Mayweather, who was ringside, jumped in the ring and threw some legit punches that broke Big Show’s nose. This would lead to a match between the two at the big show.
Not many people knew that what WWE wanted was Floyd Mayweather and Oscar De La Hoya in an opposing tag match at Mania XXIV, but De La Hoya wasn’t interested.
The second hook was a storyline involving Ric Flair’s retirement. Vince McMahon came out and said that the next time Ric Flair lost a singles match, he’d have to retire.
Flair faced Mr. Kennedy, MVP, and others leading up to Mania, and at Mania, his opponent would be Shawn Michaels. The storyline was originally pitched by Stone Cold Steve Austin, and in his version (as I’ve heard), Flair was to keep winning matches and challenge for a title at Wrestlemania.
It didn’t get that far, but Shawn Michaels vs. Ric Flair at Wrestlemania was definitely a strong match and by the end of the run, they had built enough interest after it being sort of lukewarm early on.
At the Royal Rumble, John Cena returned to WWE and what a surprise it was. All of the information had said that he wasn’t going to return until after Wrestlemania from his neck injury. But he must be a quick healer.
Cena showed up at the Rumble and won the match, winning a Mania title shot in the process. Cena came back on Monday to say why he came back so quickly. He couldn’t pass up the opportunity to wrestle for the championship at Wrestlemania.
And then for some reason, he challenged champion Randy Orton for the championship at No Way Out, pretty much making his reason for coming back so early nonsense.
Triple H won the Elimination Chamber match at No Way Out to become the number one contender. Cena got added to the match after the fact and it was now a triple threat match for Mania in one of the main events involving Randy Orton, Triple H, and Cena.
Undertaker would win the second Elimination Chamber match at No Way Out and would become the No. 1 contender to Edge’s title and they would do battle at Wrestlemania. It would even be the match that closed the show.
There was also a really good Money In The Bank match on the show, and the early predictions had Jeff Hardy winning the match and then challenging for the championship at SummerSlam.
But Mr. Hardy failed a medicine test and was taken out of the match and suspended. The 8-man match was changed to a 7-man match, and was actually a really terrific stunt fest.
John Morrison in particular stood out because of his great athleticism and Shelton Benjamin also took some crazy bumps. Matt Hardy interfered and took out MVP and CM Punk went on to win the match, earning him a future title shot at whichever champion he wanted.
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