2006 World Wrestling Entertainment pay-per-view event
WrestleMania 22 was the 22nd annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown! brand divisions. The event took place on April 2, 2006, at the Allstate Arena in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, Illinois.
There were two main events, which were the main matches for each brand. The final match, which was the main match from the Raw brand, was John Cena versus Triple H for the WWE Championship, which Cena won after forcing Triple H to submit to the STFU. The predominant match on the SmackDown! brand was a triple threat match for the World Heavyweight Championship between champion Kurt Angle, Rey Mysterio, and Randy Orton. Mysterio won the match and the World Heavyweight Championship after pinning Orton following a 619 and a West Coast Pop—during Mysterio's reign, the championship was simply called the World Championship due to Mysterio not being a heavyweight wrestler.
Featured matches on the undercard included a No Holds Barred match between Shawn Michaels and Vince McMahon, a Casket match between The Undertaker and Mark Henry, a WWE Women's Championship match between Mickie James and Trish Stratus, and an interpromotional Money in the Bank ladder match featuring Bobby Lashley, Finlay, Matt Hardy, Ric Flair, Shelton Benjamin and Rob Van Dam.
WrestleMania 22 was the third WrestleMania to take place in the Chicago metropolitan area following WrestleMania 2 (which partially took place in the Chicago metropolitan area as well as Uniondale, NY and Los Angeles, CA) and WrestleMania 13. The Chicago metropolitan area portion of WrestleMania 2 as well as WrestleManias 13 and 22 all emanated from the Rosemont Horizon/Allstate Arena. Coincidentally, all 3 of the aforementioned WrestleManias did not have Roman numerals in their names. Tickets sold out in under two minutes, grossing US$2.5 million for the event, making it the highest grossing one-day event at the Allstate Arena. More than 17,155 people from 16 countries and 43 states attended, with millions more watching in more than 90 countries. WrestleMania 22 also marked the last WrestleMania to be held in a traditional arena, as every subsequent edition, excluding WrestleMania 36, has been held in a stadium.
Production.
Background.
WrestleMania is considered World Wrestling Entertainment's (WWE) flagship pay-per-view (PPV) event, having first been held in 1985. It has become the longest-running professional wrestling event in history and is held annually between mid-March to mid-April. It was the first of WWE's original four pay-per-views, which includes Royal Rumble, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series, referred to as the "Big Four". WrestleMania 22 was scheduled to be held on April 2, 2006, at the Allstate Arena in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, Illinois. The event featured wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown! brand divisions.
Storylines.
The main feud heading into WrestleMania on the Raw brand was between John Cena and Triple H over the WWE Championship. After failing to win the Royal Rumble match, Triple H participated in the 2006 Road to WrestleMania Tournament, where the winner would become the number-one contender to the WWE Championship at WrestleMania. In the final match of the tournament, held on the February 20 episode of "Raw", Triple H faced Rob Van Dam and Big Show in a triple threat match. Triple H won the match after pinning Van Dam following a Pedigree.
The Road to WrestleMania tournament to determine the number one contender for the WWE Championship match at WrestleMania 22 was held between February 6 and February 20, 2006. The tournament brackets were:
Notes:
 ;templatestyles src="Citation/styles.css"/ ;^ Due to their double count out in the second round, a triple threat match with Big Show, Rob Van Dam, and Triple H was booked for the final.
The predominant feud on the SmackDown! brand was between Kurt Angle, Rey Mysterio, and Randy Orton over the World Heavyweight Championship. Mysterio won the 2006 Royal Rumble match, last eliminating Orton, to earn a world championship match at WrestleMania. At No Way Out, Orton cheated to defeat Mysterio and win his WrestleMania 22 world championship match. Five days later, on the February 24 edition of "SmackDown!", SmackDown! General Manager Theodore Long announced that the World Heavyweight Championship match at WrestleMania 22 would be a Triple Threat match involving Mysterio, Orton, and champion Angle.
Another primary feud from Raw was between Shawn Michaels and Vince McMahon. On the December 26, 2005, edition of "Raw", McMahon and Michaels had words ending with McMahon threatening that he could screw Michaels just like he did Bret Hart anytime he wanted. During the following couple of weeks on "Raw", McMahon had inflicted some humiliation on Michaels. On the January 23 edition of "Raw" when it was between Michaels and Shelton Benjamin with McMahon declaring that if Michaels were to lose, he would also lose his spot in the Royal Rumble match. Michaels won the match and kept his spot in the Royal Rumble match but a few moments later, McMahon met Michaels backstage then stated that lady luck was on his side. He also said that he wanted to turn back the clock to the days of sex, drugs, and rock n' roll then he asked Michaels to join him but got turned down, however, and McMahon last stated that Michaels' luck would run out at the Royal Rumble. At the Royal Rumble, during the Royal Rumble match, McMahon distracted Michaels as his music started to play. During that time, Shane McMahon, who was not an official entrant in the match, eliminated Michaels after attacking him from behind. One month later, on the February 27 edition of "Raw", Shane hit Michaels with a steel chair and forced him to "kiss" Vince's ass, thus joining Vince's "Kiss My Ass Club". ;ref name="2/27 Raw" ; ;/ref ; Vince then announced that he and Michaels would face off against each other at WrestleMania. On "Raw" two weeks later, Vince forced Michaels to take a public drug test all due to Michaels being deceived and drugged by Vince's daughter, Stephanie McMahon on the March 6 edition of "Raw". During the test, however, Michaels threw his urine on both Vince and Shane. ;ref name="3/06 Raw" ; ;/ref ; Later that night, Michaels faced off against the Spirit Squad in a Steel Cage match. The Spirit Squad won the match by pinning Michaels after Shane interfered and slammed the cage door on Michaels. After the match, Shane continued attacking Michaels, causing him to bleed in the process, and executed a Coast 2 Coast. At "Saturday Night's Main Event XXXII", Michaels faced off against Shane in a Street Fight. Near the end of the match, Shane locked Michaels in the sharpshooter, and Vince ordered the match to end. Vince screwed Michaels, claiming he submitted to the move, and declared Shane the winner via submission. On the March 20 edition of "Raw", Vince announced that his match against Michaels at WrestleMania would now be a No Holds Barred match.
One of the featured matches on the undercard was a Casket match between The Undertaker and Mark Henry. On the March 3 episode of "SmackDown!", Undertaker challenged Kurt Angle for the World Heavyweight Championship. During the match, after Undertaker executed a Tombstone piledriver, Henry came out and attacked Undertaker, causing the match to end via disqualification. ;ref name="3/03 SD!" ; ;/ref ; Undertaker won the match, but since a championship cannot change hands via countout or disqualification, he did not win the title. The following week, on "SmackDown!", Undertaker challenged Henry to a casket match at WrestleMania. On the March 18 edition of "Saturday Night's Main Event XXXII", Henry, along with his manager Daivari, called out The Undertaker. Undertaker came out, accompanied by Druids carrying a casket, and the two started attacking each other. Shortly after, Undertaker performed a chokeslam, followed by a Tombstone piledriver, on Daivari on the casket.
One of the main matches on the undercard was a singles match between Mickie James and Trish Stratus for the WWE Women's Championship. James debuted in WWE on the October 10, 2005, episode of "Raw" coming to the aid of then Women's Champion Stratus from an attack from Victoria. She wrestled under the gimmick of Stratus' biggest fan. The two competed in tag team action together frequently where James was becoming extremely obsessed with Stratus. James became the number one contender for the Women's Championship on the December 12 episode of "Raw" by defeating Victoria in a match to determine who would face Stratus at New Year's Revolution. She was unable to win the title at New Year's Revolution. The storyline between James and Stratus developed into a lesbian angle after James initiated an intimate kiss with Stratus under the mistletoe and complimented on the size of her breasts. At the Royal Rumble James confessed to Stratus that she loved her. It finally became too much for Stratus as she then told James that they needed time apart. The two teamed together at "Saturday Night's Main Event XXXII" to defeat the team of Victoria and Candice Michelle. After the match, James honored Stratus' wish to have time apart, but later attempted to kiss her, and attacked Stratus after she refused.
The secondary Divas feud entering the event was between Torrie Wilson and Candice Michelle. Torrie and Candice became villains when they were traded to the Raw roster on August 22, 2005, and later aligned with Victoria to form the stable known as Vince's Devils. On the February 27, 2006, edition of "Raw", Candice failed to defeat Trish Stratus in a match for Stratus' WWE Women's Championship, and slapped Torrie in a backstage segment after the match; showing signs of tension between the two. On the following week's edition of "Raw", the evil Candice unveiled her Playboy cover and then attempted to force Torrie to admit that her cover was hotter than both of Torrie's Playboy covers. When Torrie refused, Candice and Victoria both attacked her in the ring, resulting in a face turn from Torrie. It was later announced that Torrie and Candice would face each other in a Playboy Pillow Fight at WrestleMania 22.
Event.
Before the event went live on pay-per-view, an 18-man interpromotional battle royal was held. Viscera won by last eliminating Snitsky. Destiny's Child member Michelle Williams sang "America the Beautiful" before the show.
The opening match was for the World Tag Team Championship between champions Big Show and Kane and Carlito and Chris Masters. Kane executed a big boot on Masters that started with Masters trying to interrupt a choke slam, then chokeslammed Carlito to get the victory and retain the titles.
The second match was the Money in the Bank ladder match between Rob Van Dam, Shelton Benjamin, Ric Flair, Finlay, Bobby Lashley, and Matt Hardy. In the end, Van Dam climbed the ladder but was stopped when Benjamin springboarded onto the ladder and the two fought. Hardy came out with a second ladder and joined the two. Van Dam pushed Hardy and Benjamin's ladder, sending them both smashing on the floor. Van Dam grabbed the briefcase and won the match.
Howard Finkel introduced the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2006: "Mean" Gene Okerlund, "Sensational" Sherri Martel, Tony Atlas, Verne Gagne, William "The Refrigerator" Perry, and The Blackjacks (Blackjack Mulligan and Blackjack Lanza) attended the event while Eddie Guerrero was represented by his wife Vickie Guerrero and Eddie's nephew Chavo Guerrero Jr. Bret Hart did not attend the event as he was not comfortable.
The third match was between John "Bradshaw" Layfield and Chris Benoit for the WWE United States Championship. During JBL's entrance, the entrance ramp was raised and JBL's limousine drove out from underneath. JBL attempted a Clothesline From Hell on Benoit, who avoided the move and applied in the Crippler Crossface. JBL countered and used the ropes for leverage to win the match.
The fourth match was a hardcore match between Edge and Mick Foley. In the end, Foley pulled out a table but Lita hit Foley in between the legs with a barbed wire bat and lit the table, allowing Edge to perform a Spear on Foley through the flaming table on the outside for the victory. Both wrestlers had abrasions and were covered in blood from the barbed wire bat and Foley's barbed wire sock; Edge went into shock after the match.
Next, Booker T and Sharmell faced The Boogeyman in a handicap match. During the match, Boogeyman kissed