WM 23 Clarified

Justin Shapiro writes…

Scottholomew,
Was checking out the ol' blog (thanks for the kind words a few weeks back) and I can help answer the WM23 question.
HHH/Cena was the planned main event all year and was to be promoted as "Cena/Triple H 2" like a boxing or UFC fight, positioned as the historic rematch between the two greatest men.

 

Michaels was going to be Trump's wrestler against King Booker wrestling for Vince. Cena vs. Orton vs. Edge was their first replacement choice when HHH got hurt in order to keep Michaels in the Trump match before they decided Shawn was the better option for Cena.
Hogan vs. Big Show and later Hogan vs. Great Khali were also planned for the 20th anniversary of WM3 to recreate Hogan/Andre, and Hogan was trying to angle the Trump stuff into his match. (There was also a push that Khali/Hogan shouldn't try to have a match so Hogan would wrestle Shane McMahon bodyguarded by Khali and Khali would just come in for the big bodyslam spot.) But Vince kicked Hogan off the show when he was on Bubba the Love Sponge and took a call on the air from Vince's secretary about the internal list of Hall of Fame candidates for that year. So then it became Lashley vs. Khali, and because they figured Umaga could have a million times better match, that's how it ended up being Umaga vs. "Bobby Lindsey, a black gentleman who is the strongest guy I've ever seen" according to Trump.

They totally should have started introducing Lashley that way. 

I definitely remember the Hogan-Big Show stuff.  Thanks for the clarification!