Next up on my WrestleMania Rewind series, is WrestleMania 22, in Chicago. We’re now just 2 weeks on the dot away from WrestleMania 36 and if you want to checkout any of the previous reviews of WrestleMania 20 and 21, check them out, below!

WrestleMania 20 Review

WrestleMania 21 Review

Now, let’s get into WrestleMania 22..

Date – April 2nd, 2006

Location – Allstate Arena, Chicago, Illinois

Attendance – 17,155

  • Battle Royal – Viscera defeats Snitsky, Eugene, Goldust, Joey Mercury, Johnny Nitro, Matt Striker, Psicosis, Road Warrior, Rob Conway, Funaki, Simon Dean, Steven Richards, Super Crazy, Trevor Murdoch, Lance Cade, Tyson Tomko and Wiliam Regal

Headline – This was just a decent battle royal to give the fans who got into their seats early some live action to watch before the main show began.

Rating – 2 out of 5

  • Tag-Team Match, World Tag-Team Championships – Kane & Big Show (C) defeats Carlito & Chris Masters

Headline – This was a decent tag match but nothing to write home about and the champions retained their titles after Kane planted Carlito with a choke-slam for the 3-count.

Rating – 2 out of 5

  • Money in The Bank Ladder Match – Rob Van Dam defeats Bobby Lashley, Ric Flair, Matt Hardy, Shelton Benjamin and Finlay

Headline – The 2nd annual Money in The Bank Ladder Match was another one for the history books. A bunch of terrific spots, 58 year old, Ric Flair getting launched off of a ladder, sent back to the locker room due to an injury but coming back out to a huge pop and Shelton Benjamin spring-boarding off of ladders outside of the ring onto every participant in the match. This one had a little bit of everything and it was electric. RVD would win this one after dumping Hardy and Benjamin off of the ladder and climbing up to retrieve the hanging briefcase.

Rating – 4.1 out of 5

  • United States Championship – John Bradshaw Layfield defeats Chris Benoit (C)

Headline – JBL had a nice entrance with the entrance ramp lifting in the air and his famous white limousine drove right through to the arena. JBL would roll-up Benoit out of Benoit’s famous crippler cross-face submission into a pin attempt and pushed off of the ropes for leverage without the referee seeing and would get the 3-count to become the new champion.

Rating – 3 out of 5

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5tavw
  • Hardcore Match – Edge (with Lita) defeated Mick Foley

Headline – Edge and Foley put on one of the best Hardcore matches in WWE history. I’ll try not to spoil the best spots, but let’s just say, good thing the fire extinguishers were close-by.

Rating – 4.2 out of 5

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x29nroi
  • 2-on-1 Handicap Match – Boogeyman defeats Booker T and Sharmell

Headline – Boogeyman terrorized Booker and Sharmell for weeks and in the backstage area before this match. The outcome was never in doubt.

Rating – 1 out of 5

  • Women’s Championship – Mickie James defeats Trish Stratus (C)

Headline – Mickie was a psychotic heel who was obsessively in love with Trish but would win the fans over when she pulled off an enormous upset over one of the trailblazers of the women’s division.

Rating – 2.8 out of 5

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5h2uvs
  • Casket Match – The Undertaker defeats Mark Henry

Headline – This was one of my least favorite Taker matches ever and not just rom WrestleMania…period. Nobody thought Henry had a chance to win this…and he didn’t. The Deadman would improve his WrestleMania undefeated streak to 14-0.

Rating – 1.5 out of 5

  • No-Holds Barred Match – Shawn Michaels defeats Vince McMahon

Headline – This was a terrific match between Mr. WrestleMania and the boss of WWE, Vince McMahon. The Heartbreak Kid won the match after knocking Vince out, putting a trashcan on his head, placing in onto a table, setting up a ladder and drilling him with a diving elbow from the ladder, through the table and would get the 3-count.

Rating – 3.9 out of 5

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6cr3d2
  • Triple-Threat Match, World Heavyweight Championship – Rey Mysterio defeats Kurt Angle (C) and Randy Orton

Headline – Months after his mentor and lifelong friend, Eddie Guerrero’s tragic passing, Rey Mysterio would win his first major title in WWE by defeating Kurt Angle and Randy Orton in a match for the ages. Mysterio would be joined by Eddie’s nephew and fellow WWE superstar, Chavo Guerrero and Eddie’s wife, Vickie Guerrero during his post-match celebration. Eddie was posthumously inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, the night before.

Rating – 4 out of 5

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6ajs78
  • Playboy Pillow Fight – Torrie Wilson defeats Candice Michelle

Headline – This was used purely as a breather in-between both main title main events and to waste about 15 minutes for everyone to do whatever they had to do before the main event.

Rating – 0.5 out of 5

  • WWE Championship – John Cena (C) defeats Triple H

Headline – HHH had a conan-King-like entrance and Cena had his famous 1940’s gangster entrance complete with a Tommy Gun and “gangsters” all along the ramp (including a new developmental signing, a young CM Punk). It was one of Cena’s best in-ring performances at Mania and you couldn’t go wrong with these 2 larger then life figures main eventing this card. Cena would make The Game tap-out with his STF submission hold.

Rating – 3.6 out of 5

WrestleMania 22 Rating – 3.6 out of 5

Summary – There were 5 matches at this WrestleMania that are 100% recommended viewing. The Money in The Bank match, HBK vs Vince, Edge vs Foley, Mysterio vs Angle vs Orton and Cena vs HHH. It was a terrific night of action with great stories being told throughout.

Thanks for reading! Follow me on my new Twitter (@CJ_PSE) for tomorrow’s (March 23rd) installment of WrestleMania Rewind, where I will review WrestleMania 23 when WWE went from a 20,000 person venue to over 80,000 at Detroit’s, Ford Field!

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