10 Best WWE Moments That Have Ever Happened In Chicago
5. Wrestlemania 22
Wrestlemania 22 holds a unique place among the other Wrestlemanias of the past decade. It was the last Mania to be held in a normal arena as opposed to a stadium that holds upwards of 60,000 to 80,000 people. It lacked the pageantry of Wrestlemania 20, held in the hallowed grounds of Madison Square Garden. And it didnt represent a changing of the guard with the title wins of Batista and John Cena, as what happened at Mania 21 in Los Angeles the year prior. The greatness of Shawn Michaels and Undertakers Wrestlemania matches were wasted on Vince McMahon and Mark Henry respectively (rumors were that Shawn was going to face Eddie Guerrero but Eddies untimely death ended those plans). You could almost look at Wrestlemania 22 as the black sheep of the past 10 granddaddies of them all. However, taken on its own and out of the context of the other Wrestlemania, what you have with the 22nd edition is a solid card full of small Wrestlemania moments that make up a memorable show. Four moments stand out the most. The first is Rob Van Dams victory in Money in the Bank. Fans had long clamored for RVDs rise to the top of the card when it was first teased in late 2001. It took more than four years for RVD to break the glass ceiling with the Money in the Bank title win. The WWE Championship reign was one to forget, but at least at that moment, there was hope for RVD at the top of the company. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqyLwFw7MnI The second big moment was Mick Foley finally achieving his Wrestlemania moment. Unfortunately, it had to come as the result of getting speared through a flaming table. But the visual was outstanding, and it was the capper to a very brutal match with Edge, who you could tell had something to prove after dropping the WWE Championship relatively quickly after winning it. The third big moment was obviously Rey Mysterios World Championship victory. Rather than having it piggybacked off of Eddie Guerreros untimely death, Mysterio earned the title win through his years of hard work not only in WWE, but WCW and ECW as well. The match was only nine minutes long, but it was action-packed from beginning to end. The Chicago crowd was thoroughly behind champion Kurt Angle due to his no-nonsense, ass-kicking style, which unfortunately didnt bode well for Rey, but once Rey got the victory, the crowd gave him his justly due appreciation. Finally, the main event of John Cena vs. Triple H was when the crowds vitriol for Cena that originally began at the previous years Summerslam reached its boiling point. There was no 50/50 split or mixed reaction. The crowd was solidly in favor of the heel Triple H and solidly against the babyface Cena. Cena may have won the match, but he earned eight more years of mixed reactions, while Triple H earned a babyface turn for the first time in four years. All of those moments together meant that Chicago had one of the more interesting Wrestlemanias of the past 10 years.
