Rewatching Wrestlemania 22

[Chiral]

Just finished watching this again. Some thoughts:

-Was the end of the opener an homage to the ending of WM1?
-The MiTB is definitely my least favorite MiTB
-Foley/Edge is really good.
-Mark Henry looks a lot thinner to me here
-The Mickie/Trish buildup reminds me of that Roommate movie that just came out
-Michaels/McMahon is pretty fun (But not MOTY, PWI Magazine)
-Despite its short length, Mysterio/Orton/Angle is a good match
-Playboy Pillow Fight....yeah, I got nothing. I forgot Torrie had Michelle McCool's theme
-The gangsters with Cena reminded me of Conor O'Brien for some reason.
-What was up with Big Time as the theme?

What did you guys think of it?

[IMPRESSIVE knightwing1047]

I really enjoyed Wrestlemania 22, also. The main event entrances were a little bit much for me, but I could live with it. I kind of find it funny that John Cena, who is all police/military friendly appeared as a mobster, but whatever. I think the Trips/Cena match was pretty good. I really loved the introductions. In-ring introductions should always be a Wrestlemania tradition for the main event. (I think they have been doing that though for the past few years.)

I remember the Playboy Pillow-Fight was a Beerrun/pee break match, although it was fun for what it was.

The Triple Threat was good. I was very surprised by Rey's victory. It was pretty short, like you mentioned, but I think it was very appropriate for the wrestlers involved.

I remember watching McMahon/Michaels with my dad and we kept saying, since Bret Clark (anyone?) didn't show up to the Hall of Fame introductions, he would make a run-in, but of course he didn't. I thought it was a very good hardcore match and the storytelling was excellent.

Trish/Mickie may have been the greatest women's match I've ever seen. They poured their hearts and souls into that match and it was a great double-switch at the end!

The casket match was what it was. I don't think anyone thought Mark Henry was going to win.

Edge/Foley was the match of the night for me, at least. Foley truly got his Wrestlemania moment and quite frankly, so did Edge... and even Lita! Another great match with outstanding storytelling. Should be the standard for modern-day hardcore matches.

I like the idea of the money in the bank match, but some times it's complete organized chaos. Another problem I have with the MitB matches is that they all run together for me. This one's no different.

I remember the Theme being This Year Wrestlemania goes BIG TIME!!-- so why not? call upon Peter Gabriel.

[Bub (BLM)]

I really disliked the show as a whole, mostly because it just didn't feel like WrestleMania. You can picture any random episode of RAW taking place there. I'm glad they've seemingly settled on stadiums for 'Mania.

That said, I still have to say that Edge/Mick Foley was AWESOME.

[Altabane]

This was my first Wrestlemania, and I loved it. This was the beginning of my turning against Cena though, I thought for sure Triple H was going to win.

Wasn't CM Punk one of Cena's gangsters?

[Bake Or Die]

This is my favorite of the modern day Wrestlemanias

1.The MITB match is my favorite of all the Wrestlemania MITBs

2.I think the Mickie James vs. Trish Stratus match was the best built up match on the whole card

[-Lithium-]

It was better than WM 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, and 26. Great show, probably because it took place in a time when the shows as a whole were pretty good. There's a reason RAW was consistently getting 4's in the ratings around this time.

Triple Threat was entertaining.
Mickie/Trish was great, especially for a WWE womens match.
MITB was enjoyable.
Edge/Foley was great.
HBK/McMahon was very entertaining and fun.
Cena/HHH was a pretty basic match that was made very interesting and fun to watch by the crowd.

So yeah, it was a great show IMO...

[Stu]

Wrestlemania 22 was the defining moment of John Cena as the disliked face of WWE. It also was known for two other brief moments:



and

[Vampiro138]

it was a decent wrestlemania....but i still hate that they didnt have this thing at the united center and instead went to the allstate arena....mania is supposed to be at a big venue...not saying that allstate isnt big...its just that the united center would have given mania that big time feel.

[Jeremy Dupoe]

As a person was there, It was great. Edge/Foley is great match and a personal favorate.

[Fantozzi]

to all who says "it should've been in a stadium", there were only 3 or 4 WM in a stadium in the previous 15 years so it was normal like that

[Dr. Bunsen Honeydew]

Feb 27, 2011 2:17:22 GMT -5 Altabane said:

This was my first Wrestlemania, and I loved it. This was the beginning of my turning against Cena though, I thought for sure Triple H was going to win.

Wasn't CM Punk one of Cena's gangsters?

Yes.

[Metalheadbanger Man]

Really good 'Mania, yeah.

It was the first PPV I watched after my hiatus from watching wrestling (I stopped towards the end of 2002), and really enjoyed it.

[Steveweiser]

One of my favourites, purely for Chicago ditching honourable Trish who had done nothing wrong in favour of the cooler, hotter Diva in Mickie. The switch in support was phenomenal.

Also this was in the Top 5 in Cena hate.

[theryno665]

Feb 27, 2011 2:59:11 GMT -5 Stu said:

Wrestlemania 22 was the defining moment of John Cena as the disliked face of WWE. It also was known for two other brief moments:



and

I remember watching this at the bar and laughing my ass off at this guy for a good while. But not as long as I was laughing at HHH's entrance gear. Seriously, I couldn't stop laughing for about 5 minutes.

[Deleted]

It wouldn't have been any different if it was at the UC, as it holds about 23,000 - about 5,000 more than at AllState.

I enjoyed this show as well. Jim Ross & Jerry Lawler trying to explain Mickie getting all the cheers was pretty funny. (The build led to Mickie somewhat getting sympathetic cheers, as she was "the spurned lover".)
I was going to mention the three-way match as one of the underrated matches.
I was one that didn't think Mark Henry would win, but he had a good chance since it was a casket match.
Peter Gabriel had a "Best of" album coming out around that point, so WM 22 became "Big Time".

(I didn't get to go to this one - if I went I'd also have to take the wife and I couldn't get 2 tickets, but I convinced a co-worker to. I told him "you just had to go experience a WM" and he got one ticket. He told me he sat underneath Ashley's picture, which was a kick for him.)

[pink]

This is one of my top 5 PPVs I've seen. I liked pretty much all the matches (MiTB being the only one I didn't like).

But no matter how awesome Mickie/Trish, Cena/HHH, Michaels/McMahon, and Edge/Foley were, it's still behind Backlash 2007 and Wrestlemania 24 as my favorites.

[Renslayer]

The triple threat was a good match, but I wish that had gotten a few more minutes. The crowd was great for all the matches that night.

[Fade]

This was the first WrestleMania since I'd been watching (..WM14) that I had no interest in watching.

Still my least liked one yet. To me, it was the PPV saying "..This is what this Era's going to be like!.." So I said no thanks.

The Diva match was good though. It's kinda sad when it's the Divas match that's been built up so well, and is actually a hell of an entertaining match to watch on a WrestleMania card of all things.

[Bishblast]

MITB was about the worst one so far. Still a fun match. ***1/4 out of 5.
Booker T and Boogeyman... ugh.
Mark Henry and Undertaker... aside from a great dive from Undertaker, ugh.
Mickie vs. Trish... pretty good, but a bit overrated, IMO. **3/4 out of 5, IMO.
HBK vs. Vince... one of my least favorite matches HBK has taken part of... actually, you can say that about a number of the matches he had in this feud and the continuation to have God. No more than *** in my opinion. So, not a bad match, just soooo underwhelming.
Mick Foley vs. Edge... match of the night. This match really felt special. **** out of 5.
John Cena vs. HHH... good match with an amazing crowd heat. I swore that Cena would be turned heel with this match. ***3/4 out of 5.

Not a bad show, but one of the weaker Wrestlemanias of the last 10 years.

[Cronant]

Cena/HHH is the definition of a proper Mania main event.

Even though it wasn't a 5-star classic, the big match feel with two guys who've never wrestled before with an insane crowd is something special.

And the Cena hate was through the roof too. "Lets go Cena/Cena sucks" is cool and all, but its tame compared to the "Lets go Cena/ F*** U CENA" chants at that Wrestlemania.