wrestling

411’s Countdown to WrestleMania 28: WrestleMania 22

March 27, 2012 | Posted by Larry Csonka

INTRO
“On April 2, 2006 WWE presented WrestleMania 22. The superstars of World Wrestling Entertainment descended on Chicago (or more appropriately Rosemont) and celebrated in the way only the masters of sports-entertainment could. Many people have had the privilege of being part of WWE’s biggest show, and this year I was one of them. I had attended WrestleMania XX two years prior so I had the intricacies of time management down, but that didn’t mean I was prepared for what was to come. The atmosphere was entirely different from New York and it would show during the event. There was a buzz in the air all weekend, there was something special brewing. In the months leading up to WrestleMania many Internet pundits had questioned how this show would turn out. Those wrestling fans that made the trek to Chicago (or merely represented their hometown) didn’t seem to have many worries. Maybe the excitement was generated by the return of Bret Hart to the WWE as a member of the Hall of Fame. Maybe it was to see Rey Mysterio finally win the big one. Maybe it was just the fact that Chicago is a traditionally great wrestling city. Or maybe it was just WrestleMania. One thing is for sure, there was one man that had Chicago in a fever: WWE Champion John Cena. Whether you loved him or hated him, and the majority of the crowd went with the latter, you had a vested interest in this year’s WrestleMania. After three days in Chicago a match that many people didn’t want to see happen in the first place became the reason to watch, to participate and to enjoy. But don’t think this was a one match show; it’s WrestleMania after all! WrestleMania 22 definitely had its shining moments, and it also had its fair share of ups and downs. There was a bit of everything on that night in Chicago and I am pleased to relive that with my fellow panelists now. Welcome to WrestleMania 22…”

– Former 411 Writer Andy Clark

* World Tag Title Match: Big Show and Kane © defeated Carlito and Masters @ 6:45 via pin
* RVD won the Money in the Bank match @ 12:31
* WWE US Title Match: JBL defeated Chris Benoit © to become the NEW US CHAMPION @ 10:00
* Hardcore Match: Edge defeated Mick Foley @ 14:36 via pin
* The Boogeyman defeated Booker T and Sharmell T @ 3:56 via pin
* WWE Women’s Title Match: Mickie James defeated Trish Stratus © to become the NEW WOMEN’S CHAMPION @ 9:00 via pin
* Casket Match: The Undertaker defeated Mark Henry @ 9:32
* No Holds Barred Match: Shawn Michaels defeated Vinnie Mac @ 18:25 via pin
* WWE Title Match: Rey Mysterio defeated Randy Orton and Kurt Angle © to become the NEW WORLD CHAMPION @ 9:25 via pin
* Pillow Fight: Torrie defeated Candace @ 4:00 via pin
* World Title Match: John Cena © defeated HHH @ 22:11 via Submission

Steve Cook
BEST MATCH: John Cena vs. Triple H [****] I had a three-way tie for the best match of this show, as I rate Edge vs. Mick Foley & Shawn Michaels vs. Vince McMahon at the same level. Why did I go with Cena vs. Triple H as the best? The other two matches had a ton of help with booking, foreign objects, outside interference and general craziness. This match was just John Cena & Triple H, and the Chicago crowd went absolutely crazy for it. This match started the Yay/Boo thing that many other crowds have ripped off since, and the reaction for John Cena in particular was captivating television. The ridiculous entrances with Triple H dressed like Conan the Barbarian, CM Punk & others acting like Chicago gangsters & John Cena walking out wearing a trench coat and having his hands in his pants only added to the spectacle of the match. It was a well-worked match too, as Cena did a lot to disprove the storyline leading into the match that he couldn’t wrestle. Not that the fans recognized this.

WORST MATCH: Boogey Man vs. Booker T & Sharmell [DUD] I just didn’t get the point to this at all, and it didn’t make any sense when it actually happened either. You’ve got a guy who was a five-time WCW champion, was over with the crowd, and would in fact become the World Champion later in the year, and at the biggest show of the year he’s teaming with his non-wrestler wife in a handicap match against a dude that…well…I still don’t know how to describe the Boogey Man’s act. The dude ate freaking worms and danced around like he was having seizures. This thing was just a flat out mess and made Booker T look like a buffoon.

HIGHLIGHT OF THE SHOW: Edge/Foley Flaming Table. Part of the buildup for Edge vs. Mick Foley was the fact that Mick Foley, as great as he was, had never really had a WrestleMania Moment that everybody looked back upon. He had plenty of classic moments during his career, but most of his WM appearances were disappointing. He rose to the occasion on this night with Edge, having a fantastic hardcore match and ending things by getting speared through a flaming table. Foley finally got that WrestleMania Moment that would be replayed for years afterwards, and if anybody deserved one, it was him.

MVP OF THE SHOW: Vince McMahon. Vince McMahon was 60 years old when this show took place. Despite what people like Ric Flair would tell you, this is long past the point when people should be performing in a wrestling ring, especially people who haven’t been wrestling for their whole lives. Vince always wanted to be a wrestler, and any time he stepped into the ring he did whatever he could to entertain the fans. He went far and beyond the call of duty in his WrestleMania 22 match with Shawn Michaels, taking several bumps that WWE Superstars wouldn’t be allowed to take a few years later. It wasn’t a typical Shawn Michaels WrestleMania classic, but it was still a tremendously entertaining match that Vince was the star of, and his middle finger towards HBK after the match while he was being carried away on a stretcher was certainly a WrestleMania Moment.

OVERALL SHOW RATING: 8.5 – This was a pretty great show from top to bottom. Like I said in the Best Match portion, I had Edge vs. Foley & HBK vs. Vince being just as good as HHH vs. Cena. MITB was pretty great, the World Title Triple Threat was great in the limited time it got, Trish Stratus & Mickie James had a great match until the ending…pretty much everything on the show was worthwhile except for that stuff with Booker T & the Boogey Man. The Chicago crowd was at its best, making the show even better. When you think of great WrestleManias, WrestleMania 22 deserves to be in the conversation.

Nick Bazar
BEST MATCH: John Cena vs. Triple H [****1/4] This is the perfect example of how important a lively crowd is to a wrestling match. From start to finish, the audience in that arena was completely invested in this match, and it made the action and drama that much more pronounced. In 2006, John Cena vs. Triple H was a match no one had seen before, and I’m sure was on at least a few fan’s “dream match” lists. When we finally arrived at Wrestlemania 22, you could tell something special was going to happen between the two, and it did. It felt epic, they delivered and the end result was something no one saw coming- Triple H tapping to the STFU.

WORST MATCH: The Boogeyman vs. Booker T/Sharmell [¾*] I always felt the Boogeyman character had potential, but they never invested enough time in his in-ring work. I don’t know that he ever had a televised match go over five minutes (I guess that was for the best though). His Handicap Match against Booker T and Sharmell was more of the same, and unfortunately, that was never very good.

HIGHLIGHT OF THE SHOW: Without question, Mick Foley getting Speared off the apron onto a flaming table by Edge. Even though the match had stiff chairshots, barbed wire bats and thumbtacks, that spot still stands out as the most memorable. They built to it the entire match, and the payoff was worth it, providing a fitting conclusion to a brutal encounter.

MVP OF THE SHOW: Shawn Michaels. He carried Vince McMahon through a nearly 20-minute match without ever having it overstay its welcome- now that’s a feat. This is pretty much as close as we’ll get to watching someone have a full-length match with a broom in the WWE. What’s even more impressive is how damn good the match turned out to be.

OVERALL SHOW RATING: 6.5 – Not a bad Wrestlemania by any stretch, but for me, a lot of matches came up short. For starters, the Money in the Bank match on this show is probably my least favorite of the series; JBL vs. Chris Benoit was nowhere near as good as I thought it would be; Undertaker fought Mark Henry; and the World Heavyweight Championship match was only about nine minutes long. Still, we were treated to a hot main event, another stellar Shawn Michaels Wrestlemania performance and a brutal Hardcore match between Edge and Mick Foley- that’s enough to make this one slightly above average.

Jack Bramma
BEST MATCH: Triple H vs. John Cena [****]/ Edge vs. Mick Foley [****] – Too close to call on this one as both are phenomenal matches. The hardcore match between Foley and Edge is one of the best pure street fights of recent years and a respectable throwback to Foley’s more extreme, Cactus Jack days. The old-fashioned contest between Cena and Triple H is simpler but deceptively effective. Trips knew he didn’t need to reinvent the wheel. Instead, in the build up, he played up his history of seemingly squashing other faces (RVD, Orton, Booker, Kane, Steiner) to maintain his death grip on the world title belt to work the smarts into believing he would do the same to Cena. That lead-in produced an environment where every right hand, every spinebuster, every jawbreaker, every clotheslines from Triple H was greeted with a mountain of cheers because everyone “knew” Cena was going down. Brilliantly, Triple H had them in the palm of his hand and used all of the momentum to put over Cena.

WORST MATCH: The Boogeyman vs. Booker T and Sharmell [DUD] – I’m going to avoid going with the obvious choice of the Playboy pillow fight and instead focus my negative thoughts on Boogeyman. Boogeyman was over for MAYBE 30 seconds before he was exposed as a one trick pony that wasn’t even that good at his trick. Booker T was still coming off an injury that prevented him from wrestling Benoit in much of a best-of-seven series and a RR appearance that lasted sub 30 seconds so that must be taken into account. But Boogeyman got to squash Booker T, JBL, etc. and still never developed into anything. Bad use of time.

HIGHLIGHT OF THE SHOW: Shawn Michaels’s elbow drop on Vince McMahon in a trash can – It was hard for me to single out one moment in this strong top-to-bottom show. Nothing strikes me as a “Wrestlemania moment” but the closest thing is seeing HBK beat the holy hell out of Vince including the Macho elbow from up on high that looked like it could have broken bones. Looking back, CM Punk’s cameo as one of Cena’s goons is a nice touch but probably “highlight” is too strong.

MVP OF THE SHOW: Edge/Triple H (tie)– Both guys pulled out performances I didn’t know they had in them, but in different ways. Edge delivered a star-making performance in his hardcore street fight with Mick Foley including jumping into a flaming table with NO REGARD FOR HUMAN LIFE! He showed he was no longer the pretty boy getting pushed as the singles break out start of the Brood or the comic airhead from E&C. Instead, he was ready to step into the limelight as a main event force to be reckoned with. Triple H, on the other hand, played up his online reputation like never before. Everyone believed (perhaps rightly so) that Triple H was a guy obsessed with his spot, holding down other guys, and chasing Ric Flair’s 16 or so world titles. Triple H used the threat of his online-persona to make people believe he was going over Cena at Wrestlemania only to tap out clean in the middle of the ring.

OVERALL SHOW RATING: 8.0 – Lots of good stuff here including my favorite Vince McMahon ass-kicking of all time, Triple H winking his way through putting Cena over, and Edge and Foley putting on a hardcore clinic.