WrestleMania 22 proves to be average
April 6, 2006
In the past, World Wrestling Entertainment’s WrestleMania has provided wrestling fans with some of the most memorable and unforgettable moments in wrestling history.
The event, typically hyped to be the “grandest” event of the year, has been known to escalate younger wrestlers and lay the groundwork for the rest of WWE’s year.
Unfortunately, this year’s WrestleMania, dubbed the “big time,” was nothing more than one mistake after another. Several wrestlers, no doubt fearful of making those mistakes, appeared to be overly nervous and intimidated by the “grand stage,” helping pave the way to fame for many names, such as Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart and Stone Cold Steve Austin.
The Raw main event, a heavily hyped one-on-one match between WWE champion John Cena and Triple H, was met with mixed reactions by fans in attendance after Cena defeated Triple H when he submitted to Cena’s STFU submission move. Clearly, many of the fans were completely behind the villainous Triple H, which caused a lot of confusion, considering Cena has been the typical fan favorite as of late.
In the Smackdown main event, Rey Mysterio successfully pulled off the biggest upset of the night by defeating Kurt Angle and Randy Orton to win his first World Heavyweight title. This match, no doubt the most exciting of the evening, was unfortunately tainted by a botched attempt by Mysterio to hit his trademark move, the 619, in the final moments of the match, making his victory less than stellar.
During the woman’s title match, the ending was also botched when Mickie James failed to hit Trish Stratus with a bulldog face buster, which left a rank amateur mistake as the lasting impression on a match that was less than interesting to begin with.
In other matches, the Undertaker defeated Mark Henry in a casket match to continue his undefeated streak at WrestleMania. Edge defeated Mick Foley in a hardcore match after spearing Foley through a fire engulfed table. And Shawn Michaels brutally defeated WWE chairman Vince McMahon in a street fight, which left McMahon in a pool of his own blood.
Overall, WrestleMania 22 was an average Pay-Per-View. Even though it wasn’t up to the standards of previous WrestleMania events, it’s hard call this year’s event a disappointment, basically because the matches on the card weren’t that great to begin with.