WWF WrestleMania 2000

lines The event included nine matches that each resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by writers of the World Wrestling Federation, while storylines were produced on WWF's weekly television shows, Raw is War , and SmackDown! , along with its supplementary programs, Sunday Night Heat , and Jakked/Metal . WWF Championship The main feud heading into WrestleMania was over the WWF Championship , and involved two feuds that had become intertwined over the previous two months, and eventually drew in the McMahon family .

On the January 3rd, 2000 edition of Raw , Triple H regained the WWF Championship, which he had previously lost to The Big Show at Survivor Series in November 1999 due to interference from Vince McMahon . He also used his position as husband to Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley to exert control over the company, and his rivals. This would lead to the firing of Mick Foley , his most vocal rival. Foley, however, was later reinstated, and reverted from his Mankind persona to his more violent Cactus Jack persona, challenging Triple H to a street fight at the Royal Rumble later that January, which the champion won.

Meanwhile, after Big Show's loss, he began showing signs of disdain toward The Rock in interviews. Shortly thereafter, he abandoned The Rock in several tag matches featuring the two, and eventually attacked him, turning heel, and declaring his intent to win the Royal Rumble match and regain the WWF Championship. Big Show, and The Rock both entered the Royal Rumble match, and were the last two men left in the ring, and The Rock apparently won the match after pulling himself back into the ring before Big Show tumbled to the floor. However, Big Show protested The Rock's victory, and insisted that he did not lose the match.

Big Show then proceeded to produce video footage that showed The Rock had touched the floor with both feet before Big Show did. Heading into No Way Out on February 27, a double main event was signed. Triple H would defend the WWF Championship against Cactus Jack in a Hell in a Cell match, with Cactus being forced to retire from wrestling should he lose. The winner of that match would face the winner of a match earlier in the night between The Rock, and Big Show, for the right to go to WrestleMania and face the champion.

During the #1 contender's match, The Rock had hit the Rock Bottom on Big Show and was about to deliver the People's Elbow when Shane McMahon , who had not been seen on WWF television since December 1999, came to the ring and laid The Rock out with a steel chair shot, enabling Big Show to get the pinfall victory and earn the title shot. Later in the night, the bout between Triple H and Cactus Jack would spill outside of the cell and end up on the roof, where Cactus lit a 2x4 wrapped in barbed wire ablaze and attempted to deliver a piledriver to Triple H onto it. Triple H reversed it by backdropping Cactus, causing him to fall through a panel in the cell's ceiling and hit the ring with enough force to break the ring mat. Once back inside, the champion hit the Pedigree on the challenger to win the match, retain his title, and send Cactus Jack into retirement.

The night after No Way Out, Triple H informed The Rock that he had to start at the bottom of the pecking order since he was no longer the number one contender, and forced him into a match with The Brooklyn Brawler . The Rock easily won the match and proceeded to call Triple H out afterward. Stephanie would then decide to give The Rock a chance to be added into the WrestleMania main event, provided he could pin either Triple H or Big Show, who had formed a formidable, but uneasy, alliance in the previous weeks despite Big Show's challenger status to Triple H, in a handicap match in that night's main event. The Rock won the match, but did so after Shane interfered and broke up a pin attempt.

Since this resulted in a disqualification victory for The Rock rather than a pinfall victory, he was not added to the WrestleMania match. Two weeks later, The Rock challenged Big Show yet again and this time agreed to put his career on the line to get to WrestleMania. Shane would go on to appoint himself as the special guest referee, but during the match, Vince McMahon returned from his exile following Stephanie's betrayal of him at Armageddon the previous December. He knocked Shane out with a chair and counted the pin for The Rock, who won his way into the WrestleMania main event, officially making it a Triple Threat match.

The following week on Raw , Vince announced that the Triple Threat match between the three men would take place that night instead of waiting until WrestleMania. Triple H reluctantly agreed on the terms that the match not take place at WrestleMania under any circumstances. With Stephanie in his corner, Shane in Big Show's corner, and Vince in The Rock's corner, Triple H would emerge victorious and retain the championship after pinning Big Show with the Pedigree. After the match, however, Linda McMahon appeared and informed Triple H that he would indeed be defending the WWF Championship at WrestleMania against not only The Rock and Big Show, but a newly reinstated Mick Foley as well in a Fatal-4-Way Elimination Match.

Foley then immediately came out and attacked Triple H. Linda would then announce on the March 24 edition of SmackDown! later that week that she would be in Foley's corner for the match and also announced that should Mick Foley end up winning the Fatal-4-Way, the WWF Championship would be vacated later that night at Wrestlemania, and a tournament would begin to crown a new WWF Champion that would run until the next pay-per-view, Backlash .