10 Worst WWE Roads To WWE WrestleMania
5. WrestleMania 22
The title picture leading into WrestleMania 22 was muddied by heat of the counterproductive and cheap variety.
Rey Mysterio won the 2006 Royal Rumble match because Eddie Guerrero died the previous November and WWE, a company as ghoulish as it is successful, wished to honour his memory by having Rey Mysterio inhabit his ghost. This was an almost literal phenomenon; Rey adopted Eddie's mannerisms in an oddly herky-jerky, Weekend At Bernies manner. In isolation, it might have been a touching, if on-the-nose tribute - but Randy Orton was scripted to inform the bereaving Mysterio that his good friend was "in hell". He also said that there was a better chance of Eddie coming back to life than there was of Rey beating him for his World Heavyweight Title. It didn't inspire sympathy for Rey - just unadulterated discomfort.
Meanwhile, over on RAW, Triple H won a tournament to cement his contendership for John Cena's WWE Championship - a prospect he savoured, given that John Cena "happened to not be a very good wrestler". There's lampshading, and there's burying. Triple H, in the early 2000s, was hardly helping the audience to swallow their suspension of disbelief. He did do the job - cleanly, and with conviction - but by that point, the damage had been done. He massaged the smark ego of the Chicago crowd so expertly in the build-up that they jeered Cena en masse.
Triple H was not solely responsible for that polarised crowd dynamic, which became the norm - but he fanned the flames for no discernible reason other than to reassure his own fragile ego.