Welcome back to my somewhat scheduled look back at the 10 best Wrestlemanias of all time, as chosen by Wrestlecrap.com. Today, their number 8 choice:
Wrestlemania 22
Carlito and Chris Masters vs. Big Show and Kane (c) for World Tag Team Championships: We start off with me being sad because there was a time when Big Show and Kane were enjoyable to watch in the ring. Carlito is always enjoyable to watch because he has the IT factor people look for. Kane jumped from the second buckle to the outside and it looked really great. Masters and Carlito exposed the top turnbuckle to get the upper hand. They did a great job of being heels during this match. Kane got a hot tag but was locked into the Masterlock, which Big Show broke up. Kane did a chokeslam to win. The match itself was fine but the crowd was not into it.
Money in the Bank Ladder Match: The contestnats in it are Matt Hardy, Shelton Benjamin, Finlay, RVD, Bobby Lashley and Ric Flair. Lashley started off hot but Shelton cooled him down. Shelton used a ladder to show off how amazing he is at being crazy athletic. Flair went for the case but took a superplex off the ladder. The crowd is CRAZY INTO this match, which makes it that much better. I was getting into this match and the superplex off the ladder completely sold me on it. Lashley starts cleaning house but the crowd is all the way behind RVD. Flair is taken to the back after the superplex but he comes back out. Shelton is taken out by Lashley with The Dominator and then RVD did a modified facebuster with a chair on Lashley. Matt begins doing his famous moves (leg drop and Side Effect) off the ladder. RVD did a splash off the ladder then Shelton jumped off the top rope into the ring onto a ladder with the camera work being excellent. RVD finally won after a terrific match. I'm glad this didn't come on first since the Tag Team match wouldn't have been well received. The story of the match was great and the big spots were so well done.
JBL vs Chris Benoit(c) for US Championship: With Benoit in this match, its always weird seeing him. JBL started off in control then Chris took over after that. He went for the Diving Headbutt quickly but JBL turned that into a superplex. Benoit was still loved by the people. JBL began mocking Eddie since he is truly great. Jillian, JBLs secretary, is there with no growth on her cheek so that just means that the Boogeyman has already eaten it off her face. Benoit hit the 3 Amigos(which looked really bad) then JBL kicked out of the headbutt. Benoit locked in the Crossface but JBL rolled over and used the ropes to win.
Foley going through the buring table. Edge vs Mick Foley in a Hardcore Match: This is just a brawl with no real wrestling skill being used. Edge and Mick both get busted open in the match. Lita interferes in various parts of the match but also takes some bumps. This was another good match that was super violent and used blood to help tell the story and not just to have it. The ending where Mick goes through the flaming table is so well done and Edge winning was really nice to see. Mick got a standing ovation as he left as this was his true retirement match.
Booker T vs Boogeyman: This was a weird goof match that Boogeyman won after he kissed Sharmell with worms in his mouth. Booker did a great job showing his fear of the Boogeyman during the match.
Mickie James vs Trish Stratus (c) for Women's Championship: People were booing Trish, which was weird. The match became a back and forth that Mickie finally won. This was during the storyline where Mickie was a stalker who had a weird craziness about Trish and there were definitely parts where Mickie did her lesbian stalker things on Trish. I had one eye on this match but it was a well worked match.
He lost to Undertaker. The World's Strongest Man. Mark Henry vs Undertaker in a Casket Match: Mark had so much water in his hair for this match. Taker still had his long hair here and I wish he had never cut it, even though he was balding. Mark tried to use the top rope but Taker did a Last Ride off of it then did a suicide dive out of the ring onto Mark. He finally Tombstoned Mark and then rolled him into the coffin for the win.
Vince McMahon vs Shawn Michaels in a No Holds Barred Match: At the start of the match, JR called Shawn a young man, which made me laugh. Vince tried to cheat with both the Spirit Squad and Shane coming to his aid but it didn't work. Shawn eventually took control and then just beat the hell out of Vince. He busted him open with an unprotected chair shot and then gave him an unprotected trash can shot as well. Shawn hit two elbows during the match: one from the top turnbuckle and also from the top of a 20 ft ladder. Shawn eventually hit Sweet Chin Music and won. This match was a great way to end this feud. Shawn killed Vince and Vince laid down and took it. You could see Shawn was doing something he thought he would never do again and JR did a great job of getting this across to the viewer.
Rey Mysterio vs Randy Orton vs Kurt Angle (c) for World Heavyweight Championship: The first thing is that Rey had his theme song played by POD on his way to the ring. When Randy came out, he was still using this old theme, which I prefer to his new one. Kurt is one of my favorites and I love his entrances. He always has great pyro and this was no exception. He had so much of it that the match itself was shrouded in smoke. They didn't give this match much time but the time they got they used really well. People were solidly behind Kurt and barely behind Rey. This was a fast paced match with a lot of big spots throughout. Some of my favorites were Kurt giving Rey and Randy a German suplex at the same time, with Rey sent flying by Randy during the move. Angle was billed as a monster during the match and he did a great job of playing that role. Randy got to hit an RKO OUTTA NOWHERE on Kurt. Rey won after hitting the 619 and a Hurricanrana Frankensteiner on Randy.
Torrie Wilson and Candice Michelle: I didn't watch this match because it was the pandery women's match on the card. Jerry Lawler almost soiled himself from excitement. Torrie won.
11. HHH vs John Cena (c) for WWE Championship: Cena was firmly hated at this point. Trips was the heel in the feud but was cheered the entire time by the crowd. This was a very methodical match the entire way through. Cena never got to do his full 5 Moves of Doom set since Trips was able to stop the flow of them. They went back and forth at the end with Cena hitting an FU but Trips kicking out of it. Cena finally won by reversing the Pedigree into the STFU for the win.
This was a well done Wrestlemania that I enjoyed more than Wrestlemania 8. There were better matches that I was interested in watching on this card and I enjoyed watching it. This show earns itself a:
4/5 Run GFBs
Come back Friday and see what I think of Wrestlecrap.com's #7 Wrestlemania of all time, Wrestlemania 23. Thanks for reading and see you back here soon.
HT101
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