The Quadrangle

Issue date: 4/13/05 Section: Arts & Entertainment

It is that time of year again for wrestling fans around the world. The intensity rises to a fever pitch, and everyone in the wrestling world seems to get those butterflies that only fly when Wrestlemania is here. This year's Wrestlemania emanated from Los Angeles, where the WWE went Hollywood with the superstars this year. The ads for this year's extravaganza were all over TV with various WWE superstars portraying characters from classic movies in parody promos. They parodied such movies as A Few Good Men, Basic Instinct, and Gladiator. The next match planned on taking Wrestlemania to new heights. It was the Money in the Bank Ladder match for a future World Heavyweight title shot featuring Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, Kane, Edge, Christian and the Intercontinental Champion Shelton.  Once all six men got into the ring it did not take long for the steel ladder to fly. People were flying off ladders, flying into ladders, and having ladders fly into them. Perhaps the intriguing spot of the night involved Shelton Benjamin and Chris Jericho. As Jericho was reaching for the briefcase Shelton ran up an adjacent ladder which was propped against the ladder Jericho was on?and "clothes-lined" Jericho 13 feet to the ring floor. When all the smoke cleared it was Edge after a vicious chair shot to Benoit who grabbed the contract for a future World Heavyweight Title shot.??There was also an aura of old vs. new at this year's Wrestlemania as several of today's up and coming stars had some unfortunate run-ins with a few legends from the past. WWE Superstar and Arab-American sympathizer Muhammad Hassan was in the middle of the ring beating down fan-favorite Eugene after trashing America, until 2005 Hall of Fame member Hulk Hogan stormed to the ring and cleared house in Hulk Hogan fashion. There also a resurrection of Piper's Pit, Rowdy Roddy Piper's talk show where anything could happen. Piper and Austin are two of the most controversial superstars in the history of the WWE and they did not mind jawing with each other until Carlito showed up. Austin and Piper treated Carlito like a punching bag and Piper's Pit ended with Stone Cold dishing out Stone Cold Stunners to Carlito .

The inter-promotional matches are something that can only occur at Wrestlemania where members from Raw and Smackdown duke it out.  A Legend verses Legend Killer showdown occurred featuring Randy Orton one-on-one with the undefeated Undertaker. Orton's goal this year was to put to rest the biggest legend in the WWE and that is the Undertaker's Wrestlemania winning streak. Undertaker had been angered by Randy's lack of respect toward him, which fueled this rivalry even more. Orton tried matching power with the Undertaker and then tried taking him down with skill on the mat. However, despite Orton hitting his finisher the RKO, it was the Undertaker who added Randy Orton's as his 13th Wrestlemania victim Tombstoning the Legend Killer for the pitfall victory.??Shawn Michaels and Kurt Angle are two of the most decorated athletes in WWE history with numerous titles and accolades between them and it has been debated who is the best wrestler of this generation? Shawn and Kurt knew the only way to determine who is the best was to square off in the ring on April 3, at Wrestlemania 21. These two men blended an amateur wrestling style and high-flying daredevil offense, each man countering each other's holds and countering those counters. It was the Olympic Champion who proved that he is the best after keeping the Anklelock on Shawn Michaels for well over ten minutes until Michaels had no other choice but to tap out to Kurt Angle.??The two main events of this were the championship matches for the WWE Championship and the World Heavyweight Title. Both champions, JBL and Triple H, respectively, have been champions and they were both confident that they would walk out of Wrestlemania still holding the gold. Sadly they were both mistaken, while JBL dominated most of his match with John Cena, JBL missed his patented Clothesline from Hell and John Cena scooped the champion up for the F-U and pinned him to become the new WWE Champion. World Heavyweight Champion Triple H knew he was getting into a fight as he went up against his former Evolution partner Batista, the winner of the 2005 Royal Rumble, but assumed that his experience and mind games, along with the help of Ric Flair would secure him the win. Much to The Game's dismay Batista sheer power could not be overcome. Batista knocked out Ric Flair and literally powered out of the Pedigree before delivering a Batista Bomb to Triple H and pinning him thus starting the reign of the Animal.

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