April 2nd, 2006
Location: Rosemont, Illinois
Venue: Allstate Arena
Attendance: 17,155
Theme songs: "Big Time" by Peter Gabriel; "I Dare you" by Shinedown; "Save Me Sorrow" by Bullets and Octane
It’s 2006, and was WWE ready for another WrestleMania? Big time. The Allstate Arena (formerly Rosemont Horizon) near Chicago was set to host its third WrestleMania, last hosting it in 1996.
While WrestleMania is a time to come together and celebrate, one man would enter with a wounded heart and hoped to make his friend proud.
The year leading up to WrestleMania was hit with tragedy when Eddie Guerrero suddenly passed away at the young age of 38. WWE had a tribute show for him on the Raw and SmackDown after his death. They released a video package to honor his life and career, and it was done beautifully.
At the time of his death, he was expected to win the World Heavyweight Championship. His death changed the entire course, and whether it was a good thing or not for talent, the show had to go on, and adjustments needed to be made.
To WrestleMania, we go, and for the final time in history, the flagship show would be held inside an arena. Thankfully this and the last two shows were fun, but WrestleMania still needed that big stadium and brought more WWE fans into the mix.
As soon as WWE went live, Destiny Child’s Michelle Williams sung “America the Beautiful." The video packaged that followed brought out some memorable WrestleMania moments and set the stage for the evening.
The pyro would go off, and WrestleMania 22 was underway. I loved the WWE roster's images, past and present, hanging on the rafters in addition to the stage set up. Eleven matches were scheduled for the card and felt like an improvement from the year before.
The night opened with Big Show and Kane defending their World Tag Team Championship against Carlito and Chris Masters. The former quickly took care of business and hung on to their titles.
The Money in the Bank ladder match took place again, and this time, three members from Raw and SmackDown participated for the prized briefcase. Rob Van Dam reached the top and grabbed the opportunity for a World Championship match anytime in the next 12 months.
The second championship match saw Chris Benoit defend his United States title against John “Bradshaw” Layfield. JBL became champion once he rolled up Benoit and held onto the ropes to avoid getting kicked out.
In a potential show-stealer, Trish Stratus defended her Women’s Championship against newcomer Mickie James. After a very edgy storyline, Mickie James shocked everybody and won her first championship in WWE.
In another chapter added to the legacy of “The Streak,” for the first time at WrestleMania, a Casket Match took place in which Mark Henry was hoping to hand The Undertaker his first loss. Unfortunately for Henry, he met his fate when ‘Taker put him inside the casket and the improved his WrestleMania record to 14-0.
Finally, in a match that didn’t stand out to me, John Cena was defending his WWE Championship against Triple H. That’s right, I didn’t find the company’s biggest prize as a big deal.
As I mentioned with WrestleMania 21, Cena began his rise to stardom as the company's face. By the time WrestleMania came around, he would feel like the next Hogan and never lose. Not to mention, he’s facing a guy who also loves the spotlight in Triple H.
The night closed with John Cena making Triple H tap out and hanging on to his WWE Championship. At least they both had terrific entrances.
Let’s get to the three moments that stood out to me from WrestleMania 22.
A fiery finish
Edge made history in Los Angeles when he won the inaugural Monday in the Bank ladder match. When he won the match, the question arose as to when Edge would cash in his contract. Not to mention, how would he cash in?
At the New Year’s Revolution pay-per-view, John Cena barely survived a grueling Elimination Chamber match, retaining his WWE Championship with a bloody face. However, Vince McMahon suddenly appeared and announced that Edge was cashing in his contract to have his championship match. An evil faced Edge came out and handed McMahon his briefcase and ran to the ring to take care of a beat-up Cena.
A few minutes later, Edge won his first WWE Championship in his career and was on top of the world. He set a precedent for future briefcase holders to wait until the champion is weak to take advantage and easily win the title. It’s a horrible thing to do, but it works.
The championship reign was short-lived when at the Royal Rumble, Cena would win the WWE Championship right back. When Edge got his rematch, Mick Foley was tasked to be the special guest referee. Cena hung on to his title, and Edge blamed his loss on Foley for counting to three. In other words, Edge was mad at Foley for doing his job.
They began to feud, and their rivalry would culminate at WrestleMania. To the pleasure of Foley, the match was turned into a hardcore match.
The fight was on, and brutality doesn’t even begin to describe how intense this match was. From Foley being wrapped in barbed wire to open the match to Edge being slammed onto thumbtacks. They went through excruciating pain to deliver.
The reason why I bring up this match as a moment that stood out was how Edge picked up the victory and created an extreme WrestleMania moment. I’ll let the video tell the story.
Don't play with fire, kids.
Suck it
We’ve reached another WrestleMania in which Vince McMahon found yet another person to screw over.
Yes, it’s a very repetitive storyline. I lost track of how many times I brought up that first sentence in my daily series. However, it works. This storyline will always work. For the most part, the match that Vince is involved in ends up being entertaining to watch.
This time around, his target would be Shawn Michaels.
The story began at the end of 2005. Michaels said some stuff to Vince that didn’t sit well with him. The Chairman of the WWE threw a warning to the Heart Break Kid to not mess with him, and if he did, he would screw Shawn like how he screwed Bret Hart in 1997.
As the months went by, McMahon found opportunities to prevent Shawn from reaching the top. At the Royal Rumble, Vince’s son Shane came in and eliminated Michaels from the Rumble match.
From there, the McMahons would continue to terrorize Michaels in any opportunity they had. Whether it was forcing Michaels to participate in a 5-on-1 steel cage match to Shane putting Shawn in the Sharpshooter to recreate the Montreal Screwjob, it was personal. The two would meet at WrestleMania in a No Holds Barred match.
The biggest moment of their encounter was when Shawn Michaels laid out a table and put Vince in a garbage can. He then put McMahon onto the table and climbed the ladder that was set up beside it. Before he jumped off, Michaels gave a sign that we haven’t seen in years.
He crossed his arms in an X and told McMahon to “suck it,” reminding everybody of his D-Generation X days.
Michaels landed an elbow drop from the top of the ladder, hit McMahon with his Sweet Chin Music superkick, and picked up the victory.
Revenge is sweet, but the bigger story was HBK doing the DX sign. Because not only did he do it, his partner-in-crime Triple H also did the taunt later in the night during his match with Cena. A DX reunion was teased and would come to fruition a few months later.
Viva la Raza
As I mentioned, Eddie’s death completely shook the company. As a big fan of his (one of my all-time favorites), this seriously got to me, and I remember tearing up during the tribute.
One person who was deeply affected by the loss was Rey Mysterio. For most of 2005, Mysterio was involved in programs with Guerrero. Their match at WrestleMania 21 led to a rivalry that took them to SummerSlam.
Mysterio treated Eddie like a brother behind the scenes, and the two would be close until his death. Rey would wear “EG” armbands for the next year and continue to honor his friend.
At the Royal Rumble, Mysterio announced that he would be dedicating his performance to Guerrero. When it was time for Rey to select his number to see when he would enter the Rumble match, he looked up to the heavens and laughed, saying Eddie "got him."
Mysterio would enter at number two, meaning he needed to last the entire match to pull off the win. He entered in one of Guerrero’s low riders and wore his t-shirt in honor.
After a record-breaking 62 minutes, just as Randy Orton was about to eliminate Mysterio, he found a way to throw Orton out and punch his ticket to WrestleMania.
Mysterio would choose to fight for the World Heavyweight Championship and take on the current holder, Kurt Angle. Meanwhile, Orton was bitter about the loss, and at the No Way Out pay-per-view, he challenged the Royal Rumble winner for his championship opportunity at WrestleMania.
Rey would lose the match, and Orton became the new number one contender for Angle's title.
SmackDown General Manager Teddy Long didn’t like that Mysterio gambled his title opportunity and lost it. Long would state that while he couldn’t take Orton out of the title match, he could add more people to it.
Long announced that at WrestleMania, Kurt Angle, Randy Orton, and now Rey Mysterio would compete for the World Heavyweight Championship in a triple threat match. All was right in the world, and Rey would continue to fight for Eddie.
In Chicago, the fight was underway, and the three would put on a great match, working well with the triple threat scenario.
In the final moments, Mysterio hit Orton with the 619 and his West Coast Pop to roll up Orton and become the World Heavyweight Champion.
Rey Mysterio accomplished what he set out to do, make his best friend proud. He held the title with tears running down his face and began to celebrate with the title.
When he headed to the stage entrance, Chavo Guerrero (Eddie’s nephew) and Vickie Guerrero (Eddie’s wife) greeted him and pointed to the sky for Eddie, and the three would embrace.
The lingering question that lurks around is what would have happened had Eddie been alive? I don’t want to think of that only because I don’t want to take away Rey Mysterio’s emotional moment. Unfortunately, it’s life throwing a big curveball and forcing us to adapt.
A new World Heavyweight Champion was crowned, but more importantly, a legend was honored and will be remembered forever.
Final thoughts
WrestleMania 22 is another I can throw onto my list of favorites. I thought most of the matches had me at the edge of my seat, wondering what’ll happen, especially with Foley and Edge.
I remember watching as a kid how intense that flaming table spot was. I can't even imagine the pain that Edge went through knowing he did that without a shirt.
Thankfully, the moment hasn't been recreated since. It's an incredible sight yet extremely dangerous knowing Edge left with second-degree burns. It's a relief that WWE has taken more measures for people's safety.
It had a great balance of great wrestling matches and emotional moments. Mysterio stole the hearts of everybody that night at the Allstate Arena. His dedication to somebody we all loved, mixed with making his dream come true, had us pulling for the underdog and happy he had his WrestleMania moment.
In saying that, I thought that it should have ended up closing the show. John Cena and Triple H did put up a good match, but I thought Rey would have been a better finish. It somewhat reminded me of WrestleMania 8, in which just because one guy is the face of the company doesn't mean they should always close the show.
I understand I'll hear the arguments of "The WWE Championship should always close WrestleMania" or "He's the face of the company, of course, Cena should close Mania." But, like WrestleMania 20, this show relies on those emotional moments so much, Mysterio would have fitted right in.
WrestleMania 22 exceeded expectations, and the fans in Chicago had one heck of a show. Not a bad way to say goodbye to arenas.
The following year returned to a bigger platform, and the poster boy would let the world know he would stay on it.
Results:
- Kane and Big Show (c) def. Carlito and Chris Masters - World Tag Team Championship
- Rob Van Dam def. Matt Hardy, Ric Flair, Shelton Benjamin, Bobby Lashley, and Finley - Money in the Bank Ladder match
- John "Bradshaw" Layfield def. Chris Benoit (c) - WWE United States Champion
- Edge def. Mick Foley - Hardcore match
- The Boogeyman def. Booker T and Sharmell
- Mickie James def. Trish Stratus (c) - WWE Women's Championship
- The Undertaker def. Mark Henry - Casket match
- Shawn Michaels def. Mr. McMahon - No Holds Barred match
- Rey Mysterio def. Randy Orton and Kurt Angle (c) - Triple threat match for the World Heavyweight Championship
- Torrie Wilson def. Candice Michelle - Playboy pillow fight
- John Cena (c) def. Triple H
Rating: A-
Thanks for reading. Look out tomorrow when I take a look at WrestleMania 23.
13 days away until WrestleMania 35.
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