I wrote this live tonight. Enjoy.
WWE Over The Limit
Seattle, Washington
May 22, 2011
By John Canton
Follow me on Twitter @johnreport
“In Memory of Macho Man Randy Savage 1952-2011” started us off. Thank you WWE. I’d expect a video package on Raw.
They followed that up with a promo about the two major title matches.
They have a red and silver car at the top of the ramp. I guess the car theme is what Over The Limit means. Sure. Announcers are Josh Mathews, Jerry Lawler, Booker T. and Michael Cole in the Cole Mine. They are starting with four people. Cole says he’s got a major surprise for Lawler.
R-Truth comes out first to no music again. He cuts a promo with the crowd chanting WHAT? at him. He complains about not having a parking lot. “Are you sure I don’t have a parking spot?” He had to park with the people. He said he deserves better than to be treated like us. “I had to walk in the rain, y’all.” Then he insults Seattle some more. He says it’s a conspiracy. “Shut up Little Jimmy” says Truth. We are Little Jimmy. I love this man. Truth says he’s going to take Rey’s spot and anybody’s spot that he wants. See that? It’s all about the parking spots!
R-Truth vs. Rey Mysterio
Good choice for an opener because the crowd is always hot for Mysterio matches. There’s a reason why Mysterio has bad knees. Just took a sick bump on the top rope right onto his knees. I really like Truth’s aggressiveness as a heel. It’s so refreshing compared to his babyface act. Truth threw Rey into the steel post in a big spot that sent Rey off the apron. Nice face first suplex by Truth for a two count. There’s a “Broski of the PPV” sign in support of Zack Ryder in the crowd. Nice bulldog by Mysterio off the top while Truth was on the second rope. Springboard crossbody by Rey gets two. Kick in the face for two. Senton by Rey, then they run the ropes and Truth hits a flying forearm for two. I like how Booker took it over as a physical move because Rey didn’t see it coming. Truth goes for his finish, but Rey counters with his legs and Truth avoids the 619 by going to the floor. Truth pulls him off the apron and crotches him between the ring apron. The announcers deem the match over. He hits his Paydirt finisher (needs a name) and covers for three. Match went eight minutes.
Winner: R-Truth
Analysis: ** I would have liked it to go longer than eight minutes, but it worked. The right man went over. The crowd was hot for it. They popped for the two counts. This sets up Truth with some momentum for the feud with John Morrison when he gets back in action in June. I also laughed at Cole saying that Truth deserves his own parking spot now. It’s all about the parking spot. It’s so silly that it’s good. “Shut up little Jimmy!”
Post match, Truth had some water. If you’ll remember that started his heel turn. Then he smashed Rey with it and Rey sold it like he got shot. Yes, the pain of a plastic water bottle.
Backstage, The Grish interviewed The Miz who said Cena’s never faced him in an I Quit match. He said people doubted him his whole career and they are wrong. This was his typical “I proved them all wrong” promo. He said he’s never quit. He has a gameplan. He knows what it takes to win. Oh yeah, Alex Riley was there too.
They showed the famous fish market in Seattle as Cole said he rubbed some of those fish against his feet so that Lawler could smell it later in the Kiss My Foot match.
The next match up is the IC title match with Wade Barrett vs. Ezekiel Jackson. They showed some videos of the breakup when The Corre attacked Zeke in the locker room to set up the split of the group. In my opinion they split the group up way too soon.
Intercontinental Title: Wade Barrett vs. Ezekiel Jackson
Please let this be short. The crowd is dead for this early, but Zeke whips him into the ropes, which sends Barrett over the top to the floor. Zeke hits a clothesline. Hard whip into the corner. Cole said that other three guys were the most boring announce team ever because they didn’t know the truth, which basically was him supporting the heel in Barrett. Wade got control of the match, whipping Jackson into the pole and hitting a running boot to the head. The crowd is silent. Barrett went for Wasteland, but Zeke fought out and Wade countered with a kick to the gut. Barrett hits a slam for two. Zeke whips him in the corner to get control back. He hits some shoulder tackles and a corner clothesline. On Smackdown he did five body slams. He’s just done three to Barrett. That’s four. And five. I set the odds at 3.5. He puts Barrett into the Torture Rack. Before Wade can give up, Gabriel & Slater come out to cause the predictable DQ. Then Jackson slams each of them. That’s seven bodyslams. Wade hits a spinebuster on him as they triple team him. He hits a big boot on Jackson to put him down. Match went about seven minutes.
Winner: Ezekiel Jackson by DQ
Anaysis: * I guess the feud must continue. Zeke earned some pops with those bodyslams, so while I am mocking the simplicity of the move the crowd did react to it favorably. It feels like 1987 when I see bodyslams as a big move, though. The finish was predictable in terms of the DQ, but it was better than I thought it was going to be. I had low expectations.
A plug for the WM27 DVD. “It was the greatest WrestleMania in history” is a blatant lie by WWE, by the way.
Backstage, CM Punk & Mason Ryan are walking in their locker room. We see that Michael McGillicutty and David Otunga are laid out on the floor. Punk says that means they are in the heads of Show & Kane like he wants. He tells Ryan that they have to go out to win the belts. He told MM & Otunga to “walk that off.” That was funny.
Sin Cara vs. Chavo Guerrero
This story has been built up the last few weeks with Chavo claiming to be his mentor. The lights are blue and orange for Sin Cara’s matches. I don’t think that’s necessary, but it’s nice that WWE is actually trying to get him over in this way. Nice handspring by Cara to send Chavo to the floor. He charges and hits a corkscrew plancha over the top and then lands on his feet. That’s impressive. Cara hits headscissors on the floor after balancing against the ropes. His quickness is amazing. Moonsault onto a standing Chavo for two. Good job by the crowd chanting “TWO” during that. A charge in the corner misses. Chavo hits a double knee in the corner. Can we get Cole and Lawler off commentary? It’s hurting the matches.
The match slows down a bit with Chavo working over Cara’s knee. Sin Cara fights him off, sending Chavo to the ground. He charges in, vaults to the top rope and hits a flying crossbody onto Chavo on the floor. It looks like Chavo hurt his knee a bit. He’s fighting through it. Sin Cara hits a springboard headscissors. The crowd is hot for everything he’s doing. Cara hits a cartwheel into an elbow followed by an armdrag. Kick to the head. Sin Cara’s very impressive. Crossbody gets two. Chavo goes for a submission, but Sin Cara fights him off again. He hits a spinning headscissors that looks like it messed up a bit. Chavo took the bump on his face, so the end result was fine. Match went nine minutes.
Winner: Sin Cara
Analysis: **1/2 It was basically a showcase for Sin Cara while Chavo didn’t get much offense in. Their timing was really good. The rating would have been higher if it went longer, but it was fine for what it was. I thought his match with Daniel Bryan on Smackdown a few weeks ago was ***1/2, but I’m not complaining about this. It was basically a squash. It worked, though.
They anti-bullying campaign aired.
Backstage, The Grish interviewed Christian and Randy Orton at the same time. Christian tells him that he’s not mad at Randy, Teddy Long or anybody because he’s sure he’s going to win back his World Title. He says Randy knows it too. Orton tells him that he’s a hell of a competitor, but he’s beat him before. Christian cuts him off to say he’s not going to lose again. Orton tells him when he fights a feel good story there’s no happy ending. That was a really good promo y those two. It should be the match of the night.
We get Ricardo Rodriguez to introduce Alberto Del Rio. For what? Not sure yet. He’s wearing dress clothes, so no match tonight. It’s his destiny to not wrestle at this PPV I guess.
Del Rio wants to talk about destiny. He complains about the immigration problem in this part of the country where Canadians cross into America. The announcers are laughing. It’s not really a problem. Seattle’s very close to the Canadian border. Then he rips on Seattle people sitting in a coffeehouse (home of Starbucks) complaining about the weather. He says he’s not upset about being out of the WWE Title match. He knows he’d make either Cena or The Miz quit if he was in that match. “No Mas, Alberto.” It’s only a matter of time for him to take his place as WWE Champion. He’s interrupted by…Big Show and Kane.
I hope Kane had a great May 19th a few days ago. The tag champs come out to a big pop. Kane is angry since the Rapture didn’t come yesterday. He was looking forward to it. That gets a pop. People are stupid. Yep. They tell him he better leave or his destiny will be to get taken out like Otunga and McGillicutty. Del Rio leaves. Tag match is next.
Tag Team Titles: Big Show & Kane vs. CM Punk & Mason Ryan
This was added within the last week after their issues on Raw. I don’t expect a title change. Punk needs to be higher up on the card. Let’s hope he sorts out his contract issues so that he can get that push going forward. CM Punk did a salute to Randy Savage with his finger in the air. That was great.
The crowd is chanting “Batista” at Mason Ryan. Cole said he had some great battles with Kane in recent weeks. I remember them being some awful matches. Show gets the tag. He chops Punk hard on the chest. They manage to slow down Big Show with Ryan booting him down repeatedly. Show is the babyface in peril again. Kane puts Punk down with a big boot and he hits the side slam for two. Top rope clothesline for Kane. Ryan gets in the ring. Punk boots him in the head. Now they work on Kane on the floor. Punk hits the running knee in the corner. They continue to work on Kane with Ryan hitting a running powerslam for two. Kane comes back with a suplex on Ryan as they are both out for a long count by the ref. Vintage tag match spot. Punk prevents the tag. Kane puts Punk down and gets the hot tag to Show as Ryan gets tagged in too. Show knocks him down with a shoulder tackle. Punk prevents the chokeslam, then Show clotheslines both. Kane clotheslines Punk out of the ring. Show & Kane double chokeslam to Ryan. They pin him. Match ends at nine minutes.
Winners: Big Show and Kane
Analysis: *1/4 It was a predictable outcome. I’m not sure what Punk’s future is, but I wish it was something that led to a push. Ryan’s got a long way to go as a worker. The crowd doesn’t react to anything he does. Show and Kane earn the pops for their signature moves. The match worked in terms of getting the crowd to pop for it.
The video aired for Capitol Punishment in June with fake reporters asking questions to President Barack Obama. All of his answers are from an actual press conference. The announcers laugh at it, thinking like it’s hilarious. It’s on June 19th in Washington, DC. The crowd didn’t react to the video at all. It wasn’t very funny.
Divas Title: Brie Bella vs. Kelly Kelly
Their match on Monday was a disaster. Make this one short, please. It should be noted that I’ve sang the Bellas theme song on a radio show before. And I could again. You never know! Thirty seconds in, Kelly gave a PG style stinkface to Brie. That was pretty good. Referee is Little Guido. I like seeing former workers as refs. Brie is trash talking to her. You can hear it because the crowd is dead. Cole is ripping on the match. I agree. Kelly managed to hit a Thesz Press without dropping it. She is turning into Yelly Yelly with all of her yelling. Crowd wakes up to chant “TWO” on a nearfall. The Bellas do their “twin magic” switch. Ref never sees it. Nikki hits the X-Factor facebuster for the pin after four minutes.
Winner: Brie/Nikki Bella
Analysis: DUD This wasn’t good. No more of these two in the ring. Wake me up when Beth or Natalya gets in the title picture.
No sign of Kharma? Odd. Cole leaves us to stretch for his match later in the night.
They air the video package highlighting the World Title switch from when Orton beat Christian on Smackdown three weeks again. This video package is great. I rated the match ****1/4 and consider it to be one of the best matches of Orton’s career especially in terms of matches without a gimmick involved. Their chemistry was great. I hope they can replicate that. The focus of the video ended with Christian’s loss, which will likely lead to his heel turn.
World Title: Randy Orton vs. Christian
Christian comes out first to a big pop. Nice “Peep Section” sign in the crowd. Randy Orton hears voices in his head. Did you see his RKO celebration on Smackdown? Odd. I think the booking voices of Vince McMahon told him to show more enthusiasm when he hits his finisher. Or maybe he did it on his own. I’m not sure. It was different, though. If they get 15+ minutes again they’ll have the match of the night. I should add that I like both of their hometowns since Christian is close to home in Toronto and Orton’s from St. Louis, home of my favorite sports team the St. Louis Rams of the NFL.
Thumbs up to the Seattle crowd. They’re very hot for the match. Dueling chants for both guys before it gets started. I like how they have built this up like two athletes ready to square off. It works in terms of the build. I should point out that Jerry Lawler left the announce table, so it’s Josh and Booker. That’s good because Lawler clearly never watches Smackdown, nor is he up to speed on the stories. Nice leapfrog by Orton. Christian sends Orton to the floor and hits a dropkick through the ropes. We’re about five minutes in. They’re working a slow pace, so they should get that 15 minutes I was hoping for. Top rope superplex by Orton gets a long two count.
The story of the match is all the countering they are doing. Christian hits a spinebuster for two. How often do you see him do that move? Pretty rare. I like it. They get up to do a slug fest with the crowd reacting to every punch. Christian hits a reverse DDT for two. Orton gets a two on a pinfall attempt, Christian counters with a rollup for two. Angle Slam countered into an armdrag. Orton counters his punch, Christian counters his rope DDT and bends him back over the neck. Christian to the top…he hits a flying headbutt. I haven’t seen that move in a while since that…on guy…who WWE will never mention. That gets two as we pass the ten minute mark.
The countering continues with Orton getting his backbreaker move. Then he does the stomp on the body parts. Christian goes for the Killswitch, Randy blocks it, he goes for the RKO and Christian fights out. Orton flips him over in a submission move that is like a reverse Boston Crab. Instead of Christian being on his back, he’s on his stomach. He makes it to the ropes. That was a cool move. Nice ode to the first match. Christian goes for the move off the middle rope, Orton wants the RKO again, but Christian hung on. Then he rolled him up for two. That was beautiful. More countering with Orton catching him when he goes for his double boot to the face in the ropes and Randy hits the DDT off the ropes for a great nearfall. It’s at the 15 minute mark.
They get back to their feet, Orton goes for the RKO and Christian counters it. Orton struggles to his feet. Christian sets up in the corner. The crowd is chanting “SPEAR!” He charges in, Orton catches him and hits a quick powerslam for two. Love this match. So good. Orton sets up for the punt. He stops. He hears voices in his head that tell him to stop I guess. Then he goes for it again, but Christian hits a spear. That gets two. Very good nearfall. The crowd is hot for all of this. Killswitch is countered, Orton picks him up, Christian lands on his feet and Orton hits the RKO to win at the 18 minute mark. This match was great like their last one. It might have been better.
Winner: Randy Orton
Analysis: ****1/2 That’s one of the best matches of the year. They both did an incredible job. The moves were great, the counters were perfect and their chemistry was as good as anything you’re going to see in a match like this. The crowd was hot for everything. They gave us a classic right there. I think this is Orton’s best singles match without a gimmick while it might be the best for Christian too. Major props to both guys for this one.
Post match, Orton picks Christian up. He shoves him in the chest. Then he goes back in the ring to stare at him. They shake hands and do a manly hug. The heel turn is coming…slowly. More of these two please.
We get a video package of the Lawler-Cole feud. You know how I asked for more of Christian vs. Orton? I want less of these two.
Jerry Lawler comes out first. Cole comes out second in his suit. He’s limping. Cole says he’s unable to have the match due to some kind of injury. He reads a note saying that his Athlete’s Foot has become infected. Lawler may get Foot & Mouth disease if Cole sticks his foot in his mouth. He shows the note to the ref.
Kiss My Foot Match: Jerry Lawler vs. Michael Cole
Lawler attacks him to get the “match” started. Please be short. I went to the washroom and got a drink. I came back three minutes later. Lawler had won the match.
Winner: Jerry Lawler
Post match, Jerry Lawler was about to take his boot off. Then he had Eve come out. She hit a moonsault on Cole. Then he brought Jim Ross out. He dumped JR’s BBQ sauce all over Cole’s face and body. I’m genuinely enjoying this. Cole leaves saying he’s not going to do it. He gets a microphone. He calls us all losers. He says no matter what Jerry did in that ring he never will kiss his foot. There’s the music of Bret Hart. That’s awesome. We get some storyline continuity because he was in the Kiss My Foot match with Lawler all those years ago.
There’s the Sharpshooter on Michael Cole. Great moment. I am legitimately marking out and enjoying this one! Lawler sticks his foot into Cole’s mouth. The crowd loved it. I loved it. That might be one of the best moments of the year.
Analysis: NR End of the feud hopefully. The heel, Michael Cole, got served. This feud is finally over I assume. Maybe Swagger can still turn babyface on Raw after Cole yells at him about not helping him. That’s my hope at least. It was a great surprise to see Bret Hart there. The crowd loved him. So do I of course.
Jim Ross joins the announce team, so we’ll have Ross, Mathews & Booker for Cena-Miz match that is coming up next.
They did a video hyping up the Cena-Miz match. Justin Roberts told us the only way you can win is by saying your opponent say I Quit.
I Quit Match for the WWE Title: John Cena vs. The Miz
Miz comes out first. Riley’s with him along with the briefcase. Why does he still need the briefcase? Maybe he’s an accountant on the side. Cena comes out to what is mostly a babyface pop from the crowd. I’ll enjoy this match more than normal because there’s no Michael Cole out there. Start time for the match is 10:22pmET, so they should get about 20 minutes before the PPV signs off.
The Miz cuts a promo saying Cena’s stupid for picking such a match because Riley can be in it too. Riley takes off his shirt and he’s in his ring gear, so we’ve basically got a Handicap I Quit match. The dueling “Let’s Go Cena” and “Cena Sucks” are heard throughout the crowd. I love how the announcers think Miz is a genius because he realizes he can work with Riley in the match. Why not use weapons too? Because that would be even smarter. Cena hits the Attitude Adjustment three minutes into the match for some reason. Riley attacks him with the briefcase. I guess it has some use.
They double team Cena on the floor, crashing him into barricade. Periodically, referee Mike Chioda asks Cena if he wants to quit. He says no every time. They attack Cena with around the announce table, but they don’t break it yet. JR busts out the “physical dissection” line that is always fun. Miz DDTs him on the steel steps, but John won’t quit. Riley has the steps. Miz suggests Cena quits, John says “go to hell” and Riley slams them into his ribs. If you drank every time Cena said no to quitting you’d have about eight shots by now.
With Riley holding Cena up by his arms, they ask Cena to quit. He tells Miz he hits like a girl. Miz attacks him with kendo stick shots to the ribs several times. Cena won’t quit, so Miz uses the kendo sticks on the ribs about ten more times. The ref keeps asking John, who says no. They work their way up the ramp with Miz hitting a suplex at the top of the ramp so Cena’s back crashes into the metal hard. Miz boots him in the face. Cena falls about three feet to the floor. He still won’t quit. Riley pulls over the crane camera, he holds Cena by the arms and Miz tells him he’s going to whip him with a leather strap. Cena says “you’ve got a leather strap, but you’ve got no nuts.” Miz whips him in the middle of the back with the leather strap. He doesn’t quit. They go back down the ramp. Cena throws some punches, but he can’t keep fighting.
Back in the ring, Miz has a chair in hand. Cena pops up like he hasn’t been beaten for 15 minutes. He throws Riley into the ropes and the ref goes down. A ref bump in an “I Quit” match? Miz sets up a steel chair in between the top and middle rope. He gives Cena the Skull Crushing Finale into the chair. That was an innovative move. Cena says “no” to the I Quit question. I still don’t understand the point of the ref bumping. Miz goes to a kid fan in the crowd asking him if he wants Cena to suffer pain. The kid says no to the pain. Then Miz told the kid to tell John to quit. The kid didn’t want that. Obviously a plant because there are four well behaved kids right there on camera. Miz is arguing with a kid during a PPV main event. This is very boring. Miz hits him with a microphone shot to the head. Miz keeps talking, cutting a promo about the match telling Cena he can’t win. It’s 10:45pmET, so I expect the SuperCena comeback any moment now. Cena says “those kids are smarter than you are.”
They do a spot where Cena’s sitting in the barricade. Miz hits him with a steel chair “in the head” but he really hit the top of the barricade. Riley told him to say I Quit. They did the spot from the 1999 Rumble match where they played the audio clip of Cena saying it from Raw, but he didn’t actually do it. The Miz’ music plays. Booker immediately realizes the sound was muffled. The ref picks up a tape recorder. He plays it and puts it in his ear. He calls off the win. The match continues.
This is the second time he’s tried to cheat and Chioda stopped it. Chioda plays the tape into the microphone and we hear the audio of Cena saying it. It’s Riley’s cell phone apparently. Now it’s time for dumb heels.
Miz holds Cena up, Riley charges in, Cena ducks and Riley hits Miz with the title. Cena gives Riley the Attitude Adjustment through the table. He looks at Miz. Cena takes off his own belt. He whips Miz across the back with the belt and Miz runs away all the way up the ramp. Cena puts him in the STF at the top of the stage. Miz says “I quit! I quit!” after about five seconds in the move.
Winner: John Cena
Analysis: * Two guys beating on one for 20 minutes. It wasn’t exciting at any point until the finish. I think Riley’s addition made the match worse because it hurt the flow of it. It was the same thing over and over. It was one of the most boring PPV main events I’ve seen. Yes, Cena is tough and he can take a beating. We know. We see it every single week when he doesn’t show pain. The story told was fine, but it’s not like anything new. Same story for the last six years of Cena as the top guy.
That’s the end of the PPV.
Three Stars of the Show
1. Christian – Seconds straight PPV with the match of the night. Best worker in the company? He might be.
2. Randy Orton – I think he’s found the right opponent in Christian.
3. R-Truth – I love the heel turn and where his character is headed. It’s so refreshing to see. Blame the parking spot!
Also star shoutouts to everybody that participated in the humiliation of Michael Cole. I really enjoyed that.
4.5 out of 10
It was a below average PPV, which is what I expected going in. There really was only one match on the card that I thought would be great and it was. More on that in a bit. Everything else felt like it wouldn’t be given enough time to be great or the one that did get enough time (Cena-Miz) felt like the longest 20 minute match in the history of wrestling. I wanted it to end. We’ve seen the same story from Cena for six years as the top guy. I realize they were trying to make Miz look strong, but in the end all they really did was making Cena look like Superman once again. Same story. Different PPV. That’s all.
When I think of Over The Limit the first thing I’ll think about is that great match between Randy Orton and Christian. They delivered the goods. This is the side of Randy Orton that we don’t always see. In Christian, though, he’s found the perfect opponent. Orton would often have matches that were good at the three star level, but he never seemed to crank it up to get that next level. In Christian he’s found the perfect opponent. The chemistry is there. It seems obvious that Christian’s turning heel, so I look forward to what the future holds with these two. It could be very special.
The rest of the show was very average. None of the matches got more time than what they would get on Raw or Smackdown. Sin Cara wins his PPV debut, the push of Ezekiel “body slam” Jackson will continue and CM Punk continues to look like a jobber while he apparently has not signed a contract extension. Thankfully the Cole-Lawler story has likely come to an end. It sure was fun seeing Bret Hart put him in that Sharpshooter. That’s an image I won’t ever forget.
I’ll be back on Tuesday morning for the Raw Deal. Thanks for reading.
John Canton – [email protected]
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