i drive a 2.4L 98 cavfire gt 5 spd, i was at a redlight today in neutral stopped, i go and shift it into 1st and it wont let me its really hard to move and wont go into first or any gear it wouldnt move outa neutral, so me and my friends pushed it to the side of the road, popped my hood and checked the situation out, we looked at the tranny and the mechanism that moves when u shift, it was clear nothing blocking it from moving, i wipe my finger around the edge or the cylinder thing that goes in and out , its covered in grease, i get back in and it started working again and i could get into everygear and worked fine , i drive it hope and it is still fine as of now, it even feels a lil smoother shifting, but i would like to know WHAT HAPPENED and will it happen again?!?? thank you

Sounds to me like some grit was gumming up the shifter mechanism till you wiped it off.