WWE PPV Review: Over The Limit

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Another few weeks, another WWE PPV Review! Justin Houston here with an evaluation of Over The Limit, one of the few World Wrestling Entertainment pay-per-views that doesn’t adhere to crazy gimmickry or historical connotations. The three most hyped match-ups of the show include Christian looking to recapture his World Heavyweight Title from Randy Orton, John Cena and The Miz squaring off in an I Quit Match with Cena’s WWE Title on the line and Michael Cole facing Jerry Lawler despite every conceivable reason against doing so. Seriously: nobody wants this, nobody likes this and this feud is carving out its own crater in The ‘E Wall O’ Shame. Read on for full coverage!

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~ Usual suspects on commentary tonight: Bookah, Young Joshua, King Jerry and the Ass-Cole, who says he has a surprise for Lawler tonight in their match. Greeeat. There’s also two casr at the entranceway, which are totally getting messed up at some point.

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~ R-Truth cuts another great promo about not having a parking spot when he pulled up to the arena. He’s disgusted he had to park with the regular folks. He mentions Little Jimmy and conspiracies and Rey Mysterio’s toy mask. He says he’s taking Rey’s spot…and that’s the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

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1. Grudge Match #1: R-Truth vs. Rey Mysterio

Truth takes control early and is getting impressive heat. Rey sends him outside and heads to the apron, where he hits a sick apron huracanrana. Back inside, Truth blocks a springboard moonsault and attacks Mysterio with fists in the corner. Mysterio ends up on the apron where R-Truth grabs his head and sends him crashing into the steel post outside. He drags him back in and covers for two. He hits a sitout inverted suplex for two more. Truth takes the assault outside and once again drags Mysterio back in. He sets Rey on the top and goes for a super bulldog but Mysterio fights it off and hits one of his own! 1…2…Truth kicks out. Mysterio comes back with the springboard crossbody and a buzzsaw kick, both for close two counts. Rey heads north, hits the seated senton but eats the Lie Detector! 1…2…Mysterio kicks out! Rey dodges the axe kick and sets up the 619 but Truth bails and drops Mysterio hard on the outside. He drags him back in, hits the Shut Up and covers. 1…2…3! R-Truth gets the victory and a humongous shower of boos. Pretty good much, but they could’ve gone longer.

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~ After the match, R-Truth decks Rey Mysterio with a bottle of water and gets even more boos.

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~ The Miz is with Alex Riley backstage. He says he’s smarter than Cena’s previous I Quit opponents. He says he has the imagination and creativity to beat Cena. He goes on and on. Whatever.

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~ They show a video package of Ezekiel Jackson being booked from The Corre to set up this next title match against Corre leader Wade Barrett.

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2. Intercontinental Title: Wade Barrett© vs. Ezekiel Jackson

No Gabriel or Ginger out here to support Wade. Big Zeke uses his strength to bully Barrett around. Wade tries an Irish whip, but gets sent outside instead. Big lariat back inside on Barrett. He just manhandles Zeke in the corner and covers for two. Barrett cowers in the corner and uses a ref distraction to gain control, sending Ezekiel into the post several times. Barrett hits a second-rope elbow for two and locks on a headlock. Wade goes for Wasteland, Zeke fights out but Barrett comes back with a pumphandle slam. 1…2…Ezekiel kicks out. He starts muscling Wade around again, hitting a corner clothesline and a series of bodyslams. The crowd actually LOVES this. He applies the Torture Rack and Wade is surely dead so Gabriel and Slater interfere, causing a disqualification. Ezekiel Jackson wins via DQ but he gets a big post-match beating for his efforts. Barrett hits a boot as Slater & Gabriel hits a tandem STO, leaving him lifeless. This was incredibly boring outside of the ridiculous bodyslam stuff.

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~ CM Punk is backstage with Michael McGillicutty and David Otunga, who have been laid out by Kane & The Big Show. He tells them to walk it off, which gets a great response from the crowd.

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3. Grudge Match #2: Sin Cara vs. Chavo Guerrero

This is Cara’s PPV debut, and we once again get the weird, unexplained lighting on the ring. If Chavo wins, I would totally love it…but there’s no chance. An audible “Let’s Go Chavo” chant starts and dies. Sin hits an armdrag, a seated headscissors and a big corkscrew plancha to the outside. He hits another headscissors variant on the outside and they head back in. Chavo takes advantage and beats him in the corner. Cara comes back with a moonsault block for two but Chavo comes back with corner knees. Sin botches a rana but covers fairly well. Chavo grounds him yet again. Fans are getting restless. Cara sends Chavo outside and hits another big dive. Back in, Cara hits a springboard rana, a few big kicks, a handspring elbow and a satellite armdrag. Sin heads north, hitting a weak crossbody. 1…2…Chavo kicks out. Guerrero sets up for the Gory Special, but Cara battles out and they completely botch a spike rana. Holy lord that was terrible. Sin wins. This was awful. The special lighting and hand-picked opponents are backfiring big time with fans already, giving Cara an heir of undeserved privilege. Plus, if his performance suffers at all, the whole character collapses. They continue to gush about really basic stuff. Truly terrible stuff, and meaningless to boot.

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~ Christian and Randy Orton are backstage with Grisham. Christian says he’s not mad at Orton for taking his title. He says he’s not freaking because he’s sure he’s gonna get his title back tonight. Orton says Christian is a helluva competitor, but he beat him once already. He says this story won’t have a happily ever after.

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~ Ricardo Rodriguez introduces Alberto Del Rio, who is not booked in a match tonight. Del Rio wants to talk about destiny, of course. He talks about “stinking illegal Canadians” crossing the border. He says people in Seattle are miserable and that he’s not sweating not being in the main event. He knows that he could make either man say I Quit with his cross armbreaker. He says destiny cannot be stopped…and then The Big Show and Kane come out. Kane says he’s already angry that The Rapture didn’t come yesterday. He was looking forward to it. That’s amazing! King and Show force him to leave the ring and the tag title match gets underway.

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4. WWE Tag Titles: Kane & The Big Show© vs. CM Punk & Mason Ryan

Mason tosses Kane down to start things off and a HUGE “Batista” chant breaks out. He takes down Kane once again, drops him with a huge bodyslam and hits a corner clothesline. Ryan tags out to Punk, who is immediately beaten down by Kane & Big Show. Show charges and Punk hits a basement dropkick, tagging out to Ryan. They double team Show and Punk reenters, once again getting beaten by the bigger guys. Kane hits a sideslam and the top rope clothesline, calling for the chokeslam. Ryan distracts him, allowing Punk to break the hold and tag out. Mason and Punk go back to beating up Kane with Punk hitting a low dropkick and tagging back out to Ryan. I feel like a broken record right now. Ryan hoists Kane up and hits the Oklahoma Stampede! 1…2…Kane kicks out. Mason locks on a bearhug but Kane breaks it and hits a suplex. Ryan gets to Punk first, allowing him to stop Kane from tagging. Punk heads to the top and badly misses an elbow drop. TAG TO BIG SHOW! He runs over Mason Ryan and calls from the chokeslam but Punk interrupts. Double clothesline to Nexus! Kane clotheslines Punk outside! DOUBLE CHOKESLAM TO RYAN! 1…2…3! Kane & Big Show retain the belts once again. Pretty fun match and Show really got the crowd into the finish with his crazed intensity.

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~ They air a promo for Capitol Punishment, the next WWE PPV. It’s hailing from D.C. and they basically edit a video making it seem President Obama is talking about the event. Bizarrely amusing I guess.

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5. Divas Title: Brie Bella© w/ Nikki Bella vs. Kelly Kelly

No pay-by-play for this, folks. I’m gonna go take a break now, despite being a K-Double fan. YOU’RE WELCOME. Result: Nikki pins Kell-Kell, so Brie retains I guess? No Kharma, so who cares.

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6. World Heavyweight Title: Randy Orton© vs. Christian

Cole and Lawler have left to prepare for their matches. Dueling chants for both men and Orton is smart enough to take a cue from Christian, soaking in the noise. Christian gets an early roll-up for two. Orton gets an early two as well. Christian hits a big missile dropkick. 1…2…Orton kicks out. Randy hits a back elbow but Christian manages to dump him outside, following up with a baseball slide. Back in, the chants are getting louder and louder. Christian locks on a tight sleeper and hits a standing dropkick, going right back to working Orton’s neck. Orton fights back with a standing dropkick of his own but Christian fights back and heads to the top. They trade punches and Orton hits a nice superplex! 1…2…Christian kicks out. Uppercuts to Christian but he counters into a backslide for two. Viper Series attempt but Christian hits a spinebuster! 1…2…Orton kicks out. Christian hits his reverse DDT for two more. Orton counters a missile dropkick and they both get cradles for two. Angle Slam is countered with a right hand and a neck snap. Christian with a diving headbutt! 1…2…Orton kicks out. “Christian” chants are silenced by the Orton backbreaker! 1…2…Christian kicks out. Garvin Stomp punctuated by a leaping knee gets two again. Christian goes for the Killswitch but Orton counters into a reverse Boston Crab! Nice! Christian is in trouble, and he’s dragged back to the center after nearly making it to the ropes. He finally gets back to the ropes! Christian goes for the crossbody and Orton prepares to hit the same RKO that he won the title with! Christian fakes him out! Sunset Flip! 1…2…Orton kicks out! Christian is in disbelief. Orton reverses a kick and hits the Hangman’s DDT! 1…2…NO! Christian kicks out! Orton calls for the RKO! RK…NO! Christian blocks and calls for the Spear! He runs right into a snap powerslam! 1…2…CHRISTIAN KICKS OUT! Orton has had enough of this. He calls for The Punt, but hesitates and rethinks it. He goes for it anyway! SPEAR FROM CHRISTIAN! 1…2…ORTON KICKS OUT! Christian goes for the Killswitch, but it’s countered! RKO is countered! Killswitch countered again! ORTON HITS THE RKO! 1…2…3! Orton retains in an absolutely awesome match. Afterwards, Christian pushes Orton away after Randy helps him to his feet, clearly frustrated by the loss. Seriously, this is the reason to watch this show, folks.

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~ A long video package airs on the Cole vs. Lawler feud. It’s just a short reminder of how terrible it’s been and may continue to be.

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7. Please God Let This End: Jerry Lawler vs. Michael Cole

It’s actually a Kiss My Foot Match, and if Lawler loses he has to give up his Hall of Fame ring and, when the time comes, induct Cole into the Hall of Fame. I don’t know why you’d care though. Oh, you do care? Really? REALLY? In that case, please find a bonfire to dry hump at your earliest convenience. Cole comes out limping and still wearing his suit. Oh dear God no. Cole, in a prepared statement, says that he’s hurt and cannot compete. His doctor says his Athlete’s Foot is infected and he can’t compete. He shows his doctor’s note to the referee…AND THE REF TEARS IT UP! THAT WAS AWESOME! Lawler tears Cole’s pants off and lays boots to him as the bell rings. He dropkicks him to the outside! Cole suckers Lawler in and slams him into the steel steps. He does it again, shoves him into the barricade and takes off his shoe. His foot looks like it’s ready to be tossed on the grill after a night of marinating. Lawler tosses Cole through the Cole Mine, leveling the whole thing. Back inside, Lawler hits the diving fist drop and covers for three. Lawler squashes Cole and now Michael has to kiss King’s foot. He calls to the back and Eve strolls out to no response at all. She goes to the top and hits a nice moonsault. He calls someone else out: Jim Ross! He douses Cole with barbeque sauce. Cole is begging for it to stop for some reason. Cole leaves a absolute mess and refuses to kiss Lawler’s foot.  Cole gets a microphone and calls everyone a loser. STOP DRAGGING THIS OUT! GGGRRRAAAHHH!!! Bret Hart’s music hits and the crowd goes ‘naners. Hart gets him back into the ring and locks on the Sharpshooter. While he’s in the submission, Lawler sticks his foot in Cole’s mouth to, Joe Pesci willing, end this feud forever. It was a fun feud ender, but it in no way makes up for these months of absolute awfulness.

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Writer’s Note: I had to help a three-year-old little girl fight the monsters in her room and missed the stuff leading to the main event. I bet it was something terribly interesting. Oh well.

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8. WWE Title I Quit Match: John Cena© vs. The Miz w/ Alex Riley

Hey, JR’s on commentary! Sweet! The Miz explains his evil plan on the mic: in this match, Alex Riley can make Cena quit, too. A-Ri takes his shirt off and joins Mastah, effectively making this a handicapped match. Cena takes out both men but is ultimately overwhelmed. Cena regains the edge and hits Miz with the Superman Series. Miz fights out of the Attitude Adjustment and calls for the Skull Crushing Finale…but Cena reverses it into the AA! Briefcase shot to Cena from Riley! He wails on Cena with it and the boys hit him with a terrible tandem powerbomb. They ask him and he says he doesn’t wanna quit, so they drag him outside and beat him up more. WHERE’S ZACK RYDER WHEN YOU NEED HIM?!?! They remove the padding on the barricade outside and send him crashing into it. They start undressing the announcer’s table and take turns decking him with the video monitors. The ref asks again and he again refuses to quit. Miz drags Cena up to the steel steps and hits his baby DDT onto it! Miz tells him to say it, and he still won’t. He tells Miz to go hell and Riley drops the other steel steps onto his head! They dangle him over the ropes and Miz grabs a kendo stick. He threatens to whip him with it and Cena tells him he hits like a girl. JR says he’s going Ichiro on Cena, wailing on his midsection with the kendo. He still refuses to quit. Miz loses his mind with SICK kendo shots! Good grief. Cena STILL refuses to quit so Miz brains him with the stick. They fight up the ramp and send him crashing out onto the arena floor but he still won’t quit. This is basically “The Passion of Cena” at this point. Miz demands a stage hand’s belt as Riley dangles Cena over a camera rig. Miz tells Cena he’s gonna whip over and over if he doesn’t quit. He says something terribly witty and starts taking insane belt shots. Over and over with the belt shots. RYDER’S HERE! Nah, just kidding. They get tired of whipping him and Cena starts fighting back, sending Riley into the post…but Miz obliterates his back with a chair shot. They’re back inside, so the finish must be coming soon. Cena dodges another chair shot and fights back, but accidentally hits the referee. Miz hits a reverse DDT and sets up a chair in the ropes in a way I’ve never seen. SKULL CRUSHING FINALE INTO THE CHAIR! That looked disgusting. Miz says that maybe he should ask someone else. He asks a little kid if Cena should quit. He beats on Cena and blames the kid for it. He demands that the kid make Cena quit or he’ll make things even worse…and the kid still won’t ask John to stop. He asks Cena himself one last time to quit and John tells him that the kid is smarter than Miz is. They land a chair shot and ask again.  We hear “I Quit” and it’s clearly a recording device. The ref calls for the bell and the match is over…briefly. The ref wakes up and the morons left the recorder on the floor. He finds it and restarts the match. Riley accidentally decks Miz with the title and Cena hits Alex with an Attitude Adjuster through the announcer’s table. He sees Miz, takes his belt off and beats him up the ramp with hit. He applies the STF on the ramp and Miz quits almost immediately. Cena retains. Weirdly, the match had some brilliance to it. Everything Miz said he’d do to Cena on RAW, he did…and it failed to work. Creativity could not overcome sheer will, as it was. That being said, it was a terrible wrestling match and served as little more than extra fodder for allegories between Cena and Jesus. More satisfying than the WrestleMania match, but not by very much.

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Overall Thoughts

The show was MUCH better than I anticipated, but still not exactly dazzling. Cena/Miz had tons of cringe-worthy moments, Barrett/Zeke stunk the place up and Cara/Chavo was actually really bad. However, KaneShow/Nexus and Truth/Mysterio were pretty good, Cole/Lawler was pretty satisfying if a bit too long, and Christian/Orton was a genuine match of the year candidate. Randall and “Captain Charisma” saved this show. I hate it when main events don’t deliver, and the WWE, for all the decent to good pay-per-views they’ve put on over the last year, still have this problem. They need to fix this, as it hinders the whole experience when the last thing you feel about a show is massive disappointment. As much as I bury Orton for doing some strange things in the ring and not having chemistry with anyone, he has really turned it on this year. The WWE desperately needed a guy to step up after Edge left and start having great matches, and it appears that Orton has started putting the pieces together. Perhaps…perhaps it’s The Beard™. As for this show, I would honestly just try and find Orton/Christian elsewhere and not worry about picking up the PPV as, in the grand scheme of things, it’ll only be remembered for one amazing contest. They only other thing worth seeing is Cole’s utter humiliation, but they’ll replay that to death on Raw anyway.

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As always, I apologize for any typos or Freudian slips that made anything in this write-up either hard to read or uncomfortable to reflect on. I am a poor typer with an overactive mind. Sometimes, things just don’t come out right. Forgive me…or inevitably perish with unnecessary judgment congesting your very soul. The choice is yours.

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