Wrestle Mania 2000 - Background

Background

The main feud heading into WrestleMania was between Triple H, The Rock, Mick Foley, and The Big Show, with the four feuding over the WWF Championship. At the Royal Rumble two months prior, The Rock won the Royal Rumble match to become the number one contender to the WWF Championship at WrestleMania by last eliminating The Big Show, and Triple H defeated Cactus Jack (Mick Foley) in a Street fight to retain the WWF Championship. The proceeding month at No Way Out, The Big Show defeated The Rock to gain entry into the WWF Championship match at WrestleMania. Also at the event, Triple H defeated Foley in a Hell in a Cell match to retain the WWF Championship. Per the pre-match stipulation, Foley had to retire from professional wrestling. On the March 13 edition of Raw is War, The Rock managed to win back his title shot by defeating The Big Show with help from a returning Vince McMahon, thus making the WWF Championship match a Triple Threat match. Then, the following week, after Triple H retained his title against both The Rock and The Big Show, Linda McMahon came out announced that he would be defending his belt in a Fatal Four-Way match against not only The Rock and The Big Show, but also Mick Foley.

The second main feud heading into the event was between Edge and Christian versus The Hardy Boyz (Matt and Jeff Hardy) versus The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and D-Von) for the World Tag Team Championship in a Triangle Ladder match. On the January 17 edition of Raw, Jeff Hardy was scheduled to face Bubba Ray Dudley in a match. The match saw Jeff pinning Bubba Ray after delivering a Swanton Bomb. After the match, the Dudley's attacked the Hardy Boyz, in which they powerbombed Matt on top of a table. On the January 20 edition of SmackDown!, Matt was placed in a match again D-Von Dudley. The win was given to Matt, after a disqualification took place. Jeff and Bubba Ray made their way to the ring, in which both teams began brawling against one another. Bubba Ray prepared to powerbomb Matt into a table, that was set up by the Dudley's. Bubba Ray, however, was hit by Jeff with a chair, causing him to fall onto the tables. The Hardy's then set up a table of their own and put D-Von on it, and Matt proceeded to perform a legdrop on D-Von through the table. At the Royal Rumble, the Hardy's defeated the Dudley's in a tag team tables match. The following night after the Royal Rumble, the Dudley's showed respect towards the Hardy's in which they would help them defeat the New Age Outlaws for the World Tag Team Championship. In return, the Hardy's would have to grant the Dudley's a title shot at the Tag Team Championship. During the tag title match, the Dudley's stopped the three count, after the Hardy's had the match in their favor and allowing the Outlaw's to retain the titles. After the match, the Dudley's then went onto perform the 3-D on them.

In months leading to the event, Hardcore Champion Crash Holly had been involved in several matches which took place at increasingly unusual places, a situation that the champion had brought on himself. On February 24, 2000, Crash defeated Test for the Hardcore Championship on SmackDown! with help from his cousin Hardcore Holly and was so excited to be champion that he declared that as long as a referee was present, he would defend the title anytime at any place — a rule that was referred to as the "24/7" rule. Crash's decision backfired on him in a big way, as his title defenses often took place in odd places like a laundromat, an amusement park, and Newark Liberty International Airport to name a few as wrestlers were quick to strike to take the gold. Crash decided that he was tired of being on guard all the time and offered a shot to any wrestler for WrestleMania, provided that the 24/7 rule would be suspended until afterward. Several wrestlers took Crash up on his offer and the match became a battle royal.