WWE Over The Limit - May 20, 2012
1. People Power Battle Royal - This was the first match on the card, not counting the Kane vs. Zack Ryder match on the free pre-show. Due to a decision made, the winner of the battle royal gets a shot at either the United States or Intercontinental Championship. The match itself was ok, nothing overly special. The concept of starting things off like this, to me, however was kinda fun and its nice to see this sort of emphasis put on these titles. The US title hasnt been much since Santino won it and the IC title has been in a stagnant place since WrestleMania. It was mostly a punch + kick affair except for Kidds nice looking springboard dropkick on Miz & Otunga. It eventually came down to Christian, Miz & Otunga with Christian getting double teamed. As expected, there was some nice teased elimination stuff but Christian was able to pull out the win. He points at Santino, indicating a United States Championship shot. However, I have a feeling that Christian has come back and made a spontaneous face turn and will go after Cody Rhodes. **
2. Kofi Kingston & R-Truth vs. Dolph Ziggler & Jack Swagger for the WWE Tag Team Championship - Good, strong tag match that went about like I figured it would. The most entertaining parts of the match were when Kofi & Ziggler were in there together. Kofi & Truth got a strong response from the live crowd and the match had a lot of energy from the start. Kofi & Ziggler, again, showed more of their great chemistry in there together with both of them looking crisp. In the end, after Truth goes over the top rope onto Swagger, Kofi winds up hitting Trouble in Paradise on Ziggler for the clean win at the 12.5 minute mark. All in all, a good showing for the tag champs. **3/4
3. Layla vs. Beth Phoenix for the WWE Divas Championship - Color me surprised, but this was actually a pretty damn good match. Not only was there some good action in the match, but it also told a story and was given a decent amount of time. They told a solid story with Beth going after and working over Laylas knee. About the 5.5 minute mark, Layla countered a press slam from Beth into a nice looking DDT. They traded offense here for a bit, with both getting some falls, before Beth targets the knee again. Layla recovers, however, and manages to hit the Lay-Out, her finisher, on Beth for the clean win a little past the 7 minute mark. Definitely the best Diva match weve seen in a long while and good work from both women. **3/4
Randy Orton & Chris Jericho - Nice, brief backstage promo segment here. Orton is backstage talking with Matt Striker before Jericho interrupts. They sold the tension between each other nicely while putting over their match. Jerichos facial expressions, when he was embarrassed after Orton walked off but soon adopting the cocky smirk again, worked well. Nothing special here, just a solid little segment between two key players in a big match. Thumbs Up
4. Sheamus vs. Randy Orton vs. Chris Jericho vs. Alberto Del Rio for the World Heayweight Championship - Great match here and a great effort from all the wrestlers, especially Orton. WWE knows how to do these types of matches well by managing to get all the wrestlers into the action but without everything coming off chaotic. The match had a different pace at different times to suit the styles of all the guys, such as when it slowed down maybe 9 minutes in with Del Rio working submissions on Sheamus. There was a great flurry of action in the last few minutes of the match, especially with a great near fall on Sheamus via a roll up from Jericho. Eventually, it comes down to Jericho & Sheamus with Sheamus getting the clean win after hitting White Noise at the 16 minute mark. Sheamus retains the title while Orton glares at him afterward. With two more ppvs before SummerSlam, one has to think that theyre going with Sheamus vs. Orton next. ***1/2
5. Brodus Clay vs. The Miz - Cant say I cared much for Mizs promo. Miz came out and did some ridiculous dancing of his own, cutting a promo on how fans didnt know what good dancing was. Brodus Clay comes out and does his thing. As for the match itself, its basically along the same lines of the match they had on Raw a few weeks back. It was ok, a nice change from seeing Clay in 30 second squash matches, and the match did its job as a come down match from the WHC match. Clay winds up hitting the big splash at the 4.5 minute mark for the win. *1/2
6. Cody Rhodes vs. Christian for the WWE Intercontinental Championship - This was a pretty solid match but there was so little build to it and theres no heat for Cody Rhodes just now. Christian comes back, from nowhere, and is suddenly a baby face. The match could have been better if properly built, but they still did a solid job with what they were given. Rhodes & Christian worked well together, a nice chemistry between the two, and Cody hit a nice looking springboard moonsault for a good near fall around the 6 minute mark. Eventually, Christian winds up hitting the Killswitch at the 7.5 minute mark to become the new IC champ. It didnt have a special feel to it and I think WWE has screwed up since WM with Cody Rhodes, but heres hoping that they get back on track. **1/4
7. CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan for the WWE Championship - This match was an excellent outing between these two that delivered as we all hoped it would. The live crowd also helped with this match as they seemed to be split as both guys are two of the most over wrestlers on the WWE roster right now. Both guys used some great submission holds on one another and Bryans diving headbutt looked killer. It was an overall great back and forth effort as both these men know what theyre doing inside the ring. The spot with them trading slaps while Punk locked Bryan in the Figure Four was brilliant. Bryan kicking out of the Macho Man elbow looked great and it seemed to wake him up a little. Bryan unloaded with a succession of knees on Punk before applying the Yes! Lock. Punk fights through the hold and eventually manages to roll Bryan on his back. The referee counts three just a mere moment before Punk starts to tap. Punk retains the title at the 24 minute mark in a way that gives Bryan a helluva excuse for a rematch. I want a rematch between em Vince, Goddammit!!!!! It was literally a very, very close call and the ending was great. If WWE was looking for a reason to continue this feud, they just got it. Both wrestlers looked like stars and stole the show. If you want to complain about this match, then you might as well just stop watching wrestling altogether. ****1/2
8. Ryback vs. Camacho - The match went about 2 minutes and went about like you figured it would. Ryback dominated the match with his power moves and looked impressive. He hit Camacho with the Torture Rack Slam, or whatever its called, for the win. Knocking down Hunico on his way out was a nice touch. More of the same here and a chance to give fans to catch their breath. N/A
9. John Cena vs. John Laurinaitis - Big Johnny comes out wearing a pair of gym pants and a shirt with his logo on it. The match begins & Cena is basically beating the snot out of him. The airplane spin Cena hit on Johnny was a nice touch, havent seen one of those in a while. Ringing the bell right up against JLs ear was kinda funny. Might even make the disorientation he felt after the airplane spin a little worse. Cena spent virtually the entire time beating the crap out of Big Johnny and , as expected, Big Show suddenly showed up and made it look as though he was going to nail Big Johnny. However, Show hits Cena with the WMD and allows JL to get the win at the 17 minute mark. **
Final Thoughts - Overall, I thought OTV was a very solid show. It wasnt as good as Elimination Chamber, WrestleMania or Extreme Rules, but the ppv was a fun show. The undercard was about how I expected, maybe a little bit better all in all. The battle royal was ok, I wasnt into it all that much but it was nice to see Christian back. The tag title match was the solid, high energy match I figured it would be with the champs retaining. The Diva match was MUCH better than expected and they actually had a very good match. I may have been overly generous to the Diva match, but I was just so shocked to see them get an actual match that was this good. The four way match for the WHC was great, all four wrestlers did their jobs well and Sheamus scores another big win as they move on towards Sheamus vs. Orton for SummerSlam Im guessing. Christian vs. Cody Rhodes was a solid effort, but it didnt have any special feel to it. Christian winning the IC title is a means of, hopefully, getting it back on track and I hope WWE also gets back on track with Cody Rhodes. Clay vs. The Miz wasnt much to talk about, just filler. The WWE Championship match exceeded my expectations. I expected a great match and Bryan & Punk delivered. I thought the ending was great as it gives Bryan a viable excuse to ask for a rematch and its an excuse to keep this feud going. Both guys looked like a million bucks and it was definitely match of the night. Cena vs. Big Johnny went about exactly as I expected and a lot of people predicted it would. It was fun seeing Johnny Ace knocked around for a while but it was entirely too predictable. Punk vs. Bryan shouldve closed the show out. Most of the matches on the show were at least good, soldi outings. The Cena vs. JL match was what it was. It wasn't a horrible match, but it was FAR too predictable.
Grade: B
