WrestleMania 22 week has come and gone here in Chicago, and what a week it was! This was my first WrestleMania, and while I am sad to see everything come to an end, I have many memories that will last a lifetime. Here is a recap of my WrestleMania 22 week.
To see all of the pictures from each of the individual events, check out these individual links:
WrestleMania 22 Press Conference
2006 WWE Hall of Fame
Bacon Bagels Biceps Brunch
WrestleMania 22
4/03 WWE Raw
(Posted 3/30/06) Yesterday I was able to attend the WrestleMania 22 Press Conference and the 4th Annual THQ Superstar Challenge. I arrived with my brother at the Chicago Theater around 7:45 A.M. and there was already a long line down the alley. I was shocked to see people had camped out just for the press conference! Sometime after 11 they handed out wristbands to get into the press conference, since they were only allowing the first 200 people into the theater. My brother and I just made the cutoff by about 30 people, so knowing we were getting in was quite the rush. The inside of the theater was electric, and if it was this loud for the press conference, it is going to be off the charts on Sunday Night. The press conference ended around 1 P.M., and then it was off to the House of Blues for the THQ Superstar Challenge. After another couple hours of waiting in line, they finally opened the doors around 5 P.M.. No cameras were allowed in the facility, so that is why there are no pictures of the event. The event didn't start until 6, so the only thing that kept the fans attention for an hour was the wrestlers looking over the balcony and the fans either cheering or jeering them. The event itself was as exciting as watching wrestlers playing videogames could be, but at points it did drag on since the matches ended up taking a while to be completed. The Coach and Teddy Long hosted the event, and they did a great job of keeping the crowed entertained. For the fourth time, Shelton Benjamin was the THQ Superstar Challenge Champion. Once the tournament was over, Jim Jesus from the Mancow Show gave away T-Shirts, copies of Raw vs Smackdown, and a pair of WrestleMania tickets. I ended up catching a t-shirt, but it ended up being a Mancow shirt, and not a WWE shirt like I was expecting. Once Jim Jesus was done, Shinedown took to the stage. Shinedown rocked the hell out the crowd, and they are an awesome band to see live. With the end of Shinedown's impressive set, the day came to an end. Both events were a great way to kick off WrestleMania weekend, and this is just the beginning.
(Posted 4/1/06)After another four hours of waiting, I was able to get my WrestleMania 22 Shirt signed by Rob Van Dam, Matt Hardy, Lashley, and Ashley. The lines were huge and it was limited to the first 200 people in line. You were only allowed one item per person to be signed, and you could not take pictures with the wrestlers. It was all good though as I got to shake hands with one of my favorite wrestlers of all time, Rob Van Dam.
I just got back from the autograph signings at Best Buy and Woodfield Mall. Animal, Cade and Murdoch did not show up for the autograph signing, and they were replaced by the Gymini twins and Palmer Canon. Signing along with them was Paul Burchill and Val Venis. Getting to meet Hillbilly Jim was an awesome experience, and not only did he take a picture with me but I was able to get his autograph as well.
Finally, it was time for the big events to start. The 2006 WWE Hall of Fame took place as you all know at the Rosemont Theater. We arrived early enough in the hopes of catching some of the WWE Hall of Famers. The first recognizable faces we saw were those of Harvey Wippleman and The Brooklyn Brawler. After about another 10 minutes of waiting in the back where the wrestlers were walking in, we struck gold. A white limo pulled up and when the door opened, it was Bret Hart! Chants of Thank You Bret broke out, and everyone's camera was going off. It was also cool to see Bret meet with his former manager, Jimmy Hart. Jimmy asked us to give it up for the Hitman, and the small crowd that was gathered went nuts. Below is a picture of Bret Hart with Jimmy Hart, Ron Simmons, and whom I believe to be Chris Nowinski.
After Bret and everyone walked into the building, we waited around another 20 minutes. During this time Jerry Lawler, who was hosting the ceremony, walked in with a bombshell of a girlfriend. After Jerry walked into the building we decided it was time to get into line to get into the building. After 30 minutes in line the doors finally opened. After buying some souvenirs, we proceeded to our seats. At the door you were given a nice program, which detailed all the Hall of Famers. We had 4th row seats in the balcony, so we were able to see everything easily.
Just before 7 PM the current WWE Superstars and Agents walked to their seats. Everyone from Stephanie and Linda McMahon to Dusty Rhodes were spotted. The show opened up with Bobby Heenan who was going to induct The BlackJacks. Bobby Heenan was funny as usual and played an April Fools joke on everyone telling us that under one seat is a backstage pass to WrestleMania 22.
After The Blackjacks were inducted, Greg Gagne then inducted his father, Verne Gagne. The Blackjacks and the Gagne's may have been from before my time, but it was still very interesting to hear the stories they told.
After Greg Gagne was inducted, it was time for John Cena to induct William "The Refrigerator" Perry. To put it mildly, Cena was pretty much booed out of the building. I have not seen the induction footage on WWE.com, but I heard all of the booing was edited out of the webcast. Things got so bad for John Cena that a "fuck you Cena" chant was started, and he didn't look to happy with that. I have to admit his induction of The Fridge was pretty funny, but the crowd hated Cena so bad that boring chats and the boo's continued. As a Bears fan getting to see The Fridge was cool, but I really don't think he has any place in the WWE Hall of Fame. He was involved with the WWE for one night, and he didn't even win the battle royal he was in. The whole thing smelled like a publicity stunt, just like what was done with Pete Rose being inducted.
Next up came "The Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase" to induct Sensational Sherri. Seeing Ted Dibiase in person along with his old theme song was a total markout moment for me. Seeing Dibiase throwing out money left and right and then giving his famous laugh put my mark out meter at max.
Sherri's induction speech was great, and many people thought she maybe had a couple too many drinks backstage, but I thought it was all part of her character. Some idiot kept yelling nonsense, and it got to the point where a "kick him out" chant was started. Sherri was quick to attack back, and it made for some great interactions with the crowd.
S.D. Jones was up next to induct Tony Atlas. A humorous "King Kong Bundy" chant was started referring to his record setting squash at the first WrestleMania. S.D. kept telling stories of Tony putting up 640 pounds in one place, then 650 in the next, and we were all wondering what he was talking about. Tony Atlas gave a pretty cool speech that was very inspiring. The lady who took in Tony when he was homeless was at the induction, and this made for an emotional moment for Tony and the crowd.
After Tony Atlas was done speaking, the "main event" of the induction ceremony was ready to take place. Hulk Hogan's music hit and the place went crazy.
Hulk was greeted with "one more match" chants, along with the whole theater screaming "Hogan,Austin". While these chants were going on Hulk put up the money sign with his hand, and the place actually booed Hulk for that. It was great getting to see Hogan live, and I was hoping to see him in the ring at WrestleMania or Raw, which of course never happened, but what can you do.
It was great not only seeing but hearing Mean Gene speak. He has that voice that just takes you right back to your childhood. As with everyone during the night, he had great stories to tell. His ending quote of, (and I am paraphrasing here) "If and when I am called to heaven, bury me face down, so all the critics can kiss my ass," was perhaps the greatest quote of all time.
Next up was Eddie Guerrero's induction. Chants of "Eddie" and "Thank You Eddie" rang throughout the theater. Chavo Guerrero, Chris Benoit, and Rey Mysterio were all of the ones to induct Eddie. Chavo had a great story about Eddie helping out a guy at a convenience store. It was all a very emotional moment, especially when Eddie's wife and kids came out to accept on Eddie's behalf.
After Eddie's emotional induction, the time had come to induct Bret Hart. Stone Cold came out to a huge pop, and he had to cross paths with The Hulkster.
As soon as Stone Cold made it to the podium "Austin Hogan" chants began, and Stone Cold replied he has a can of whoop ass with Hogans name on it. I thought for sure that meant something was going to happen Sunday at WrestleMania or Monday at Raw, but I guess it is being saved for possibly WrestleMania 23.
Anyway, Stone Cold talked about Bret a little bit, and then came the time for The Hitman to walk out to give his speech.
The place went nuts, and you knew you were watching history seeing Bret Hart inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. I thought Bret gave the best speech of the night, and from what I have heard a lot of it was cut out on the USA Network. Bret told stories about Jim Neidhart, Owen, and many other stories that I would not be able to do justice for, so for those who weren't in attendance must check out the DVD when it comes out. After Bret gave his speech, the night was over.
Overall it was a great night and I was so excited that I was able to be in attendance for this event. I just wish that some people would be a little more respectful during the speeches that the wrestlers are giving, instead of trying to be comedians. Other than that, if you have the chance to go to next year's Hall of Fame ceremony I would definitely do so. Below is one of the greatest pictures I've ever taken. This photo was shot at the end of the ceremony and is a picture of Goldust, who was in full makeup, with his arm around his dad, The American Dream Dusty Rhodes.
WrestleMania 22 Sunday had arrived and our morning started bright and early with the Bacon, Bagel, and Biceps brunch at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center. The line to get in was as long of a line I have ever seen, and it took about 10 minutes just to get into the room that the brunch was being held at. As soon as you got into the area that the brunch was being held at, there were many tables set up with all of the food you could eat. Before getting the food we just went straight to our seats, and man was this place huge. It was estimated that there were about 2,000 people present at the Brunch, and there were about 10 people to a table. At your table were two nice gifts, a Big Time WrestleMania 22 alarm clock, and a coffee mug with the brunch logo and WrestleMania 22 logo on it. After settling at our table, we went to go get our food. The food was actually pretty good, although it was a little cold for my tastes. They had two projection screens set up that showed the WrestleMania Big Time Moments special on a continuous loop. After seeing the same special almost twice through, it was time for the event to start. The hosts for the brunch were Josh Matthews and Joey Styles. Josh was able to get in several pot shots at Joey for not hosting WrestleMania 22 anymore. Speaking of Joey Styles, he made the brunch worth the price of admission, and I'll get into why throughout this entry. WWE Hall of Famer Jimmy Hart came out to induct several children from various organizations into the Circle of Champions.
There was about a 10 minute break between the Circle of Champion inductions and the introductions of the WWE Superstars. They showed highlights of the iron man matchup at WrestleMania XII between Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart. This led to Joey Styles markout moment one. Josh gave another shot at Joey, and a "We Want Joey" chant started. Joey was then asked why he wasn't calling WrestleMania, and he then gave the same story that he did on WWE.com. He then told us to chant "we want Joey" at WrestleMania, and maybe they will let him call some matches. He then said "what else can the WWE do to me, they already took me off of Mania" This was the first of a couple shots at the WWE during the morning.
After that was over with, the WWE Superstars were introduced. The wrestlers on hand were Rob Conway, Trevor Murdoch, Maria, Tyson Tomko, Jamie Noble, Tatanka, Mr. Kennedy, Orlando Jordan, Animal, and brand new WWE Hall of Famer Sensational Sherri. Mr Kennedy had one of the biggest pops, followed by Animal and Sensational Sherri. Some people weren't happy with the superstars that were on hand considering the breakfast cost 125 dollars, but it didn't bother me. Each superstar gave their favorite WrestleMania moment, and thanked the fans for coming out. Each superstar pretty much broke character and spoke from the heart, except Murdoch. Rob Conway told us how much it meant to be in a WrestleMania being from Indiana, and how he has never been able to tell the fans how much he appreciates them since he has always been a heel. Murdoch was up next and said he was not going to be nice to this crowd, and we were the ugliest people he has ever seen. It was funny to hear him stay in character since everyone else was pretty much being themselves.
After the wrestlers spoke, it was time for a Q & A session from the crowd. This is where Joey Styles markout number two came. A fan asked Joey Styles, "Why hasn't Rob Van Dam been given a shot at the World Title?" Joey replied, " To give a politically correct answer, RVD is a professional wrestler, and this is a sports entertainment company." People in the crowd were definitely shocked at how honest Joey Styles was being with everyone. The funniest question of the day came from a fan asking Orlando Jordan about his supposed bisexual angle that he will be starting. The fan also asked which wrestler he would like to be involved with. At this point all of the superstars walked off the stage, except Murdoch. Murdoch then shook Orlando Jordan's hand, all to the amusement of the crowd. OJ then told us to not believe everything you hear on the internet, but anything could happen. Joey Styles markout number three occurred when Tomko (which would end up being his last appearance for the company) and Orlando Jordan were going at it. Both men stood up like they were about to fight each other, and then Joey went up to a microphone and asked, "Is it ok if I call this match?" Joey was on fire this morning and it was good to know he was at least able to call one match at WrestleMania 22.
After the Q & A session ended, so did the brunch. I was a little disappointed we weren't able to get autographs from the Superstars. I realize that there were 2000 people in attendance and getting an autograph from everyone would have been impossible, but one or two autographs would have been nice. I did enjoy myself though since I love hearing stories from the wrestlers, and Joey Styles made the experience a lot more entertaining.
It was now time to head over to the Allstate Arena for the remainder of the day. We arrived around noon to the Allstate, and we headed to the back where all of the wrestlers enter the building. We found out that we had missed Mick Foley by about five minutes and that he was signing stuff for everyone. We were bummed out that we missed Mick, but about 10 minutes later a huge coach bus pulled up with what seemed to be half of the roster. Below are pictures I was able to snap of the wrestlers getting off the bus.
We were also able to catch Howard Finkel getting out of a limo and Michael Cole and Tazz drive off to somewhere. After standing around for a little more we decided to head off to the Fan Axxess Tour tent. It was jam packed inside, so all we took part in was the Call A Match exhibit. After about 30 minutes of waiting in line to call the match, it was time for lunch.
Once lunch was over it was time to head into line to wait for the arena to open. We decided to get our souvenirs beforehand so we could just go straight to our seats once we got inside. There was still about two hours before doors opened, but we were so used to waiting in lines this week it didn't bother us. I ended up being right in front of some of the people I waited in line with when camping out for tickets, so talking to everyone about what was about to go down later that night.
The doors finally opened after a long wait, and it was finally time for WrestleMania! The stage setup with the Sears Tower was an awesome site to see, along with the banners hanging from the rafters of the different WWE Superstars. We thought that since Bret Hart, Hogan, and Austin had banners up, they would be part of the show, but of course we were wrong. Hell, Hardcore Holly had a banner up so that should have clued us in as well.
It was announced before WrestleMania started that there would be a battle royal between Raw and Smackdown superstars. This was your common battle royal, nothing out of the ordinary happened. Viscera ended up winning the battle royal.
After the battle royal was finished, it was then time for WrestleMania! Michelle Williams did a great job of singing America The Beautiful, and after a great opening video the opening pyro went off, and man was it crazy. After a lifetime of waiting I was finally at WrestleMania.
Some of the highlights ot the night were-
Seeing Carlito and hearing Chris Masters theme music (I mark for both)
Money In The Bank 2 - Between Matt Hardy suplexing Ric Flair, Shelton Benjamin's flip onto the floor and when he jumped off the rope onto the ladder, RVD's jump off the lader and his win, what a great match it was
The entire Hardcore Match- what a performance the two put on, and the spear through the flaming table was one of the greatest moments of the night
Trish vs. Mickie James - this is one of the first womens matches Ive actually enjoyed watching. The crowd was behind Mickie, and the only thing that ruined this match was the botched Stratusfaction at the end
This picture:
HBK beating the crap out of Vince McMahon- HBK going crazy and just laying it into Vince was a sight to see, Shane kissing his Dad's ass was not. HBK doing the DX crotch slap and then jumping off the ladder was the moment of the night
The Triple Threat Main Event Match- Too Short for my tastes, but seeing Angle tear it up alongside Orton and Mysterio was a treat.
John Cena vs Triple H- Crowd wise the best match of the night. The most electric crowd reaction I have ever heard. The entrances were over the top but fun to watch. The whole match had a heavyweight feel to it. Triple H has most of the crowd in the palm of his hands. I never thought in a million years Triple H would have tapped to Cena. Seeing this match on TV does not do it justice, you had to be in the crowd for the full experience.
After an amazing main event, the show was over. What an amazing WrestleMania it was! I was into every match except the Booker T/Sharmell vs BoogeyMan match, and the Playboy pillow fight. In all the years I have been going to WWE Events at the Allstate Arena I have never heard the crowd like it was for Cena/HHH. It was a magical moment that as a wrestling fan I will never forget.
On Monday Night it was time for Raw. It was a great show to see live, but I was a little disapointed there was no buildup for Hogan/Austin like what was talked about online. To check out all of the pictures from the event, check out the links on the top of this entry.
