WrestleMania 22 WrestleMania 22 was the twenty - second annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay - per - view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment ( WWE ) . It was presented by Snickers and took place on April 2 , 2006 at the Allstate Arena in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont , Illinois . The event was a joint - promotion pay - per - view ( PPV ) featuring performers from the Raw and SmackDown ! brands . There were two main events which were the main matches for each brand . The main match on the Raw brand was John Cena versus Triple H for the WWE Championship , which Cena won after forcing Triple H to submit to the STF . 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 . 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 six participants . WrestleMania 22 was the third WrestleMania to take place in the Chicago metropolitan area ( following WrestleMania 2 , and WrestleMania 13 ) . 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 . Background . 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 edition of " Raw " , Triple H faced Rob Van Dam ( RVD ) and The Big Show in a Triple Threat match . Triple H won the match after pinning RVD 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 : 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 defeated Mysterio to 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 26th edition of Raw , McMahon and Michaels had words ending with McMahon threatening that he could screw HBK just like he did Bret Hart anytime he wanted . During the following couple of weeks on Raw , Vince has inflicted some humiliation on Shawn Michaels esp . on the January 23rd edition of WWE Raw when it was between Shawn Michaels and Shelton Benjamin with Mr . McMahon declaring that if Shawn Michaels were to lose , he would also lose his spot in the Royal Rumble match . Shawn Michaels won the match and kept his spot in the Rumble but a few moments later , Vince met Shawn 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 , & rock n ' roll then he asked Shawn to join him but got turned down , however , and Vince last stated that HBK ' s luck would run out at the Royal Rumble . At the Royal Rumble , during the Royal Rumble match , Vince 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 . " 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 6th edition of Raw . During the test , however , Michaels threw his urine on both Vince and Shane . 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 " , 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 edition 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 the end via disqualification . 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 " , 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 Trish Stratus from an attack from Victoria . She wrestled under the gimmick of Trish Stratus ' biggest fan . The two competed in tag team action together frequently where James was becoming extremely obsessed with Trish . James became the # 1 Contender for the Women ' s Chammpionship on December 12 by defeating Victoria in a match to determine who would face Stratus at New Year ' s Revolution . James was unable to win the title at the PPV . The storyline between James and Stratus developed into a lesbian angle after James initiated an intimate kiss with Stratus under the mistletoe and complemented on the size of her breasts . At the Royal Rumble PPV , 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 each other at Saturday Night ' s Main Event to defeat the team of Victoria and Candice Michelle . After the match , James honored Stratus ' wishes to have time apart , but she again attempted to kiss her . After Stratus refused , James turned heel by attacking Stratus and vowed to destroy her . The secondary Divas feud 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 was defeated by Trish Stratus in a match for the latter ' s WWE Women ' s Championship , and slapped Torrie in a backstage segment after the match ; showing signs of tension between the two . The following week on " Raw " , Candice unveiled her Playboy cover and then attempted to force Torrie to admit that her cover was hotter than both of Torrie ' s . When Torrie refused , Candice and Victoria both attacked her in the ring . In the process , Torrie became a babyface and began a feud with Candice , which led to the announcement 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 , a dark match was held which was an 18 - man interpromotional battle royal . Viscera won the battle royal last eliminating Snitsky . After winning the battle royal , he kissed Lilian Garcia . Michelle Williams sang the annual rendition of " 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 hit Masters with a big boot , then chokeslammed Carlito to get the victory and to retain the World Tag Team Championship . The second match was the Money in the Bank ladder match between Rob Van Dam ( RVD ) , Shelton Benjamin , Ric Flair , Finlay , Bobby Lashley and Matt Hardy . RVD climbed the ladder , but was stopped when Benjamin springboarded onto RVD and delivered each other blows back and forth . Hardy came out with a second ladder and joined the two . RVD pushed Hardy and Benjamin ' s ladder over with his feet and pushed them sending them both smashing on the floor . RVD grabbed the briefcase and won the match . Howard Finkel introduced the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2006 . First of all , he announced that Bret Hart would not be coming to attend the event because he did not feel comfortable . " Mean " Gene Okerlund , " Sensational " Sherri Martel , Tony Atlas , Verne Gagne , William " The Refrigerator " Perry and The Blackjacks ( Blackjack Mulligan and Blackjack Lanza ) attended the class while Eddie Guerrero was represented by his wife Vickie Guerrero who was supported by Eddie ' s nephew Chavo Guerrero . 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 performed a Clothesline From Hell on Benoit , who avoided the move and applied in the Crippler Crossface . JBL flipped Benoit over on his back and used ropes for leverage to get the pinfall and the victory . The fourth match was a hardcore match between Edge and Mick Foley . Near the end of the match , Foley had Edge in control and pulled out a table . Lita then hit Foley in between the legs with a barbed wire bat and lit the table which then allowed Edge to perform a spear on Foley through the ring ropes through the flaming table on the outside . He then pinned Foley for the victory . The fifth match was a handicap match where Booker T and Sharmell faced The Boogeyman . Boogeyman executed a Falling Chokebomb on Booker and pinned him to get the victory . The sixth match was a Divas match between Trish Stratus and Mickie James for the WWE Women ' s Championship . At the end of the match , Mickie hit a Mick Kick on Trish ' s head which knocked out Trish , allowing Mickie to win the match and the WWE Women ' s Championship . The seventh match was a Casket match between The Undertaker and Mark Henry . Undertaker took the advantage and hit Henry with a Last Ride . While Henry was out of the ring , Undertaker hit him with a suicide dive over the top rope . Undertaker then performed a Tombstone Piledriver on Henry and pushed him into the casket to win the match and improve his WrestleMania record to 14 – 0 . The eighth match was a No Holds Barred match between Shawn Michaels and Vince McMahon . Shawn was about to perform Sweet Chin Music on McMahon , but instead he got a trash can and a table . He put McMahon on a table and put a trashcan over McMahon ' s head . Michaels then climbed on the top of the ladder and executed a diving elbow drop . Michaels then hit McMahon with Sweet Chin Music and pinned McMahon to win the match . The match that followed was the Triple Threat match between Kurt Angle , Rey Mysterio and Randy Orton for the World Heavyweight Championship . During Mysterio ' s entrance , P . O . D . performed Mysterio ' s music entrance live . At the end , Mysterio performed a 619 on Orton followed by a West Coast Pop for a successful pinfall victory . As a result , Mysterio became the new World Heavyweight Champion . After the match , Mysterio celebrated with Chavo and Vickie Guerrero . The tenth match was a " Playboy " pillow fight between Torrie Wilson and Candice Michelle . Wilson pulled Candice ' s dress and pinned her with a roll - up to get the victory . The main event was for the WWE Championship between champion John Cena and Triple H . Triple H came out to the ring on a throne dressed as a Conan the Barbarian - type king , while Cena came out with a tommy gun and was accompanied by a group of " gangsters " ( one of whom was future WWE Superstar , and future WWE Champion CM Punk in a 1940s Chicago - era vehicle . The match was evenly matched with both men getting the advantage over each other . Triple H tried to perform a Pedigree , but it was countered by Cena into an FU . After Triple H kicked out of a two - count , Cena locked him into the STF . Triple H got to the ropes and went for another Pedigree , but was countered into the STF again by Cena . Triple H tapped out , and as a result , Cena retained the WWE Championship .