WrestleMania Rewind : WrestleMania XXII - John Cena vs Shawn Michaels

The granddaddy of them all, WrestleMania is just about a month away. The anticipation for the extravaganza is sky high among the WWE Universe. And since the pay-per-view is richer than Richie rich when it comes to history, we have decided to take a look back at some of the best WrestleMania matches with this latest series.Now it is time to go back to Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan. It is WrestleMania 23 which took place on April 1, 2007 and the match we are talking about, is between ‘The Show Stopper’ Shawn Michaels and ‘The Champ’ John Cena. This match is one of the career defining matches for Cena and one of the all time great matches in the WrestleMania vault. Let’s have a look at this story.

#1 The Build-Up:

The stage for this match is set after the Royal Rumble PPV that year. The winner of the Rumble match, The Undertaker decided to compete for the WHC. Cena was the WWE champ then. To decide who would face Cena at WM 23 for the title, a match was set up on RAW. It involved Randy Orton, Edge and Shawn Michaels. The winner of this triple threat match would face Cena at WM 23, it was told. Michaels won the match convincingly and earned a title opportunity and was on the hunt for his 5th title reign.

The following week o RAW, Orton and Edge attacked Cena but Michaels came to Cena’s aid. A match was set up between Orton/Edge and Cena/Michaels for the tag titles in which the latter managed to win. Both Michaels and Cena headed into the WM match as tag champs.

“I will have your back until WrestleMania. I’ve turned against all my partners and more importantly, I’ve stabbed all my friends in the back. But with you, John, it’s different.”

—Shawn Michaels commenting on his future WWE Championship match against John Cena.

On the last RAW before WM 23, Michaels and Cena faced Batista and The Undertaker but the former lost the match. This is because Michaels turned on Cena and super kicked him in the match. This way, the rivalry was built up and the stage is set for an exciting WrestleMania main event.

#2 The Match:

This is a perfectly poised WrestleMania main event in which both the superstars tore each other apart in a gruelling 35 minute encounter. Michaels was dominant throughout the first half of the match but Cena came back strongly in the closing moments of the match.

The match started with Michaels slapping Cena and a flurry of right hand exchanges to each other. Cena was taken down with a kick on the head and Michaels followed it up with a Springboard Moonsault on the floor. Cena hurt his left knee after this attack. Michaels attacked Cena’s left knee repeatedly. Cena was badly and hurt and can barely stand his ground without the aid of the ropes. The referee confirmed with Cena whether he can compete further or not. But as Cena would always say, he responded with a big NO and continued the match.

The superstars exchanged a lot of blows and Cena could create separation finally, after he drove Michaels into the steel post, head first. Shawn started bleeding and Cena capitalized with a vicious clothesline and a Five Knuckle Shuffle. He made a failed attempt for an AA while Michaels blocked the move and tried to super kick Cena. Cena stepped aside and the referee was hit by Michaels with a sweet-chin music and he was down.

Cena attempted another AA but Michaels once again counter it with a DDT. Cena was pile driven on the steel steps by Michaels. Shawn capitalized this and quickly covered Cena but the champ kicked out at 2. The match rolled on with a sequence of moves, counters and near misses. Cena finally caught Michaels in the STFU and made him tap out to retain the title.

#3 The Fallout:

The rivalry between them continued for a few months. Cena and Michaels lost the tag titles to ‘The Hardy Boys’. On RAW before Backlash PPV, Cena and Michaels fought an hour long match, in which Shawn emerged victorious.

Shawn Michaels was later involved in rivalries with Ric Flair, Orton, Batista and The Undertaker. He fought a couple of epic battles at WM 24, 25 and was later forced to quit wrestling after he lost to the Phenom. Michaels was a hall of famer and makes appearances in WWE as a guest referee and on special occasions.

Cena had a dream run after this match. He went on to win numerous titles and was involved in major feuds with Randy, Batista, HHH and CM Punk. He was a 15 time champion now- one more to go to level the record of Ric Flair. Cena recently lost his title to Lesnar. Cena lost to Rusev at FastLane. Now, Cena looks to seek revenge on Rusev by competing against him at WM 31.