WrestleMania 22 Main Event

[The Brain]

John Cena vs. Triple H. It sounds like a big WrestleMania main event. As we all know they did main event WrestleMania 22. It was a hot crowd, a good match, and featured two of the biggest names of the 21st century. This had all the ingredients to be one of the most epic mania main events. There was just one thing missing, and it was a very big thing. The story. Given the people involved this should have been one most heavily hyped matches we’ve ever seen at mania. I just wasn’t feeling it.

Does anyone remember a personal storyline or any real animosity between these two heading into mania? Triple H won a tournament to earn the title shot and that was pretty much it. I don’t remember it growing much from there. We had two great promo men headlining the biggest show of the year and it all just seemed very lackluster. Just take a look at this video that went on right before their match.

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That’s it?. Right before the big main event and all we see is a few comments from a press conference that wasn’t even on WWE television. Weak. Maybe I’m forgetting something but someone like me shouldn’t have a hard time remembering the hype for this type of match. That tells me they didn’t do a good job with this one. Again, I thought the match itself was very good. I just wish there was more of a build to it. Am I alone here? What did you guys think of the WM22 main event build? I think a better build/storyline would have put this main event among mania’s best.

 

[The Dragon Saga]

I can recall the line, "I'm going to shove that sledgehammer up your ass," from the promo but that's about it; this is without rewatching it above. I actually own the DVD, from what I can recall it was just two top stars facing off against one another in the main event, no big story or angle, I think it more revolved around Cena being the new top guy and Triple H wanting his proverbial throne back as he'd just began referring to himself as the "King of King's."

I also recollect some hype promos detailing their upbringings with Cena claiming he had a difficult one and that Triple H was pampered or some jazz like that, plus them working out in the gym and going the "extra mile." But that is all I can remember exempting the match itself, which was as you said, very good. It was the night fans really turned on Cena, he got a lot of heat that night.

 

[NotoriousMEAT]

I remember when Triple H returned to RAW in October '05. Cena had been drafted to RAW during The Game's hiatus. Their very first encounter was backstage when everyone was mean mugging Triple H for beating the hell out of Ric Flair the week before. When John steps up they have a stare down, then Triple H mocks Cena's 'If you want some, come get some' line by proclaiming "Don't worry, when I want some.. I'll take it" and pointed at the WWE Title. I always felt their feud was about Triple H trying to maintain his position as the top dog on RAW which Cena was obviously threatening. I don't believe it went any deeper then that.

 

[HBsam31]

I actually just bought the Wrestlemania 22 dvd, and I have to agree here. The match itself like everyone has said was great. I remember most of the fans being on HHH's side, and Cena really getting the boos for the first time. It definitely really didn't seem like a feud that got personal at all. I think it was about Cena being the top guy and wanting to take down one of the old guard while HHH wanting to reclaim his position by taking down the top guy and take the title back. I can't recall anything else really in the build up, and I agree with the Brain in that with the proper build this could have been one of the best Mania main events of all time. The only thing that I can really think of is maybe Vince thought Cena vs HHH was enough to sell the match, and it didn't really need anything else to it. Just superstar vs superstar nothing more nothing less.

 

[AJ1981]

To be honest I didn't enjoy this match, the triple threat at Backlash a month later with Edge was better. As the OP said the build was weak and HHH ridculing Cena in the build up "sorry if I'm not afraid of a guy, whose one big move is pumping up his Reeboks" didn't help. WM22 isn't one of my favourites, although I enjoyed Edge vs. Foley and MITB the rest of the card didn't do much for me. I've always thought that WWE should have saved the Edge/Cena rematch for 'Mania and had Angle/Taker at 'Mania instead of No Way Out. Rey & Orton could just have been a grudge match. Edge was on fire after he won the title. The Raw's following his win were the highest rated in 5 years and his character really connected with the audience, but Cena/HHH was set in stone. Still it is fun seeing CM Punk as one of the extras dressed up as a gangster during Cena's entrance

 

[Richard Blonoff]

The build up was pretty poor. I think the biggest moment in said build was when Trips said "I don't think John Cena is a very good wrestler." or something to that effect. IIRC Mick Foley even mentioned the lackluster build and poor word choices leading up to this match in his 3rd book.

It was a good match, hell Trips tapped. You don't see that often. Like has been said I like some build up could have made a good match an all time great Mania match.

 

[xavyer]

I remember Wrestlemania 17, the build up between the match between Triple H vs The Undertaker was one of the best i have ever seen, and to me, the Triple H vs John Cena for the WWE title build up should have been better than that considering what was on the line, not to mention the Main Event, and like someone said, at the moment they were the two top men in the WWE at that time, so the promos heading to Wrestlemania should have been like they say un the U.S.: off the hook.......

 

[HBKistheHOF]

Well first off I'm going to disagree with you right off the bat, I don't think this was a very good match at all. In fact, I would rank it up there with the worst Mania main events ever, behind the likes of Lawrence Taylor in the main event at Mania 11. Not to mention I would rank it possibly the worst Mania of the modern era.

I definately agree that it had a VERY poor build for the match though. Even the triple threat, casket, HBK/VKM & the MitB I can remember some build or story too.

The only thing I remember about this match besides the fact that Cena unfortunately won, is how quickly the entire crowd turned on Cena & started to cheer HHH.

 

[Menski]

I've said it before and I stick by it. Matches are thrown together these days without thinking of the long term plans for both wrestlers. They don't put effort into the build that they used to. They see Cena vs HHH and think great that will sell we don't need a build and they are right it will sell. The problem is as you state that come game time (no pun intended) the audience are not really feeling it. We watch, we enjoy but we are not enthralled. This is Sports entertainment and we watch this because of the story behind the matches drawing us in far more than a normal match up ever could.

Stars are made by a story that builds emotion around them, good or bad. I'm enjoying the Del Rio face turn for example as we all love Ricardo and Aleberto coming to his defence means we will eventually start to CARE about Del Rio, it gives us a reason to care. The internet fans often talked about Punk and how he should've been higher on the card than he was. Anyone remember Heyman's tweet during The New Nexus story: "How is this guy not the main man in the company?". Sure Heyman and Punk were close then but the truth behind all this meant that when Punk cut that promo we all were buzzing. He said what we all were thinking. WWE capitalised on this and led to an EPIC match at Money In The Bank. There are other examples but not enough. I want the effort they are putting into the eventual Kane vs Bryan match to be applied to all pushes. I feel it is getting better but my faith has been dented in recent years as there has been far more thrown together PPV match ups than proper builds with longevity and emotion.

Great matches and good promos (ala Cena vs HHH) keep us watching; an epic build and PPV crescendo (ala MITB 2011) creates a buzz and draws more fans in.

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

The build up really had no story it's just basically Triple H, the challenger, belittling Cena and underestimating him and Cena is out there to prove him wrong. That's the build up but it was kind of cool it looked like a build up to a Boxing or UFC main event where it's not about some soap opera story but two guys trying to prove who is the better man.

Also I believe JR did an amazing job in commentary in this match. Like many said there really wasn't any traditional build up but JR used the expected crowd reaction and background of the two wrestlers to create a narrative. Basically it was about the privilege vs. the working class, old school vs. new school, and the traditional Chicago crowd was behind the old school guy which we know was kind of BS but JR made it credible

 

[Ruthless-RKO]

I agree with what you're saying Brain, it was 2 of the biggest stars at the time going head to head at the biggest show of the year.. The build up wasn't in fact good, but wouldn't you agree that the match itself; John Cena vs. Triple H for the WWE Championship would sell itself?

Recently we have seen a lot of matches that don't get build, some people don't care about the build, e.g. When The Rock vs. John Cena was announced a year in advance, I bet many people from that moment where thinking about buying the event just for that 1 match.. As for WM22, it did have other decent matches on the card, but the big selling point was the Cena/HHH match.. Which IMHO sold itself without any good build.

 

[Big Nick Dudley]

The build was about as uninteresting as they come. Zero story, barely any personal animosity, etc. I think this is a common problem with WWE over the past 5-7 years.

Everything they do is totally competition based. How do you get a title shot today? Win a battle royal (or in HHH's case, win a tournament). In the last year or so, it has gotten much better, especially with Rocky's return and CM Punk's heel turn. Things seem more personal now, which is a good thing. Why? It's a fake sport. Title matches being decided purely through competition isn't interesting when you know the winner has been picked prior to the match.

I think it's getting better, but WrestleMania 22 was the first Mania I can remember with a main event feud that carried very little personal animosity. It's lazy, complacent writing. That's really all there is to it.