WrestlingNerd Presents: WWE Over the Limit 2012 Review

What up wrestling fans, I'm the WrestlingNerd bringing you another written review. Today, we take a look at WWE Over the Limit 2012. How did this event turn out? Let's find out and start the review. 

Match #1: People Power Battle Royal; Winner gets a mid-card championship match

Yeah, I got to explain this one. In fact, if you didn't watch the pre-show and went straight into the PPV, you would be totally lost in what's going on. I will first start off with the Zack Ryder/Kane match. It went the way I expected. Ryder had a couple of moments where he was about to knock off the giant, but falls victim to the Chokeslam. Honestly, this shouldn't be considered a shock. Ryder wouldn't stand a chance against Kane's predator mask, let alone Kane. Cody Rhodes and Santino are arguing in a backstage scene. This forces Eve to put together a People Power Battle Royal, where the winner would choose which mid-card champion will be defended tonight. Wait, how is putting together a battle royal gonna settle things between Cody and Santino? That literally doesn't make any sense, but we a match regardless…..WRESTLING LOGIC!!! The rest of the pre-show was the arrival of the talents competing in the Battle Royal. I'm not gonna name everyone that competed in the match, but I will name some. You had Miz, Drew McIntyre, William Regal…..Excuse me for one moment.

REGAL!!! REGAL!!! REGAL!!!

And, I'm back. Sorry, but I had to do it. Before the pre-show ended, Christian was the last entrant. That's a good way to get a couple of extra buy-ins for people thinking about ordering this event, but I don't think it had that big of an effect. Anyway, this was a pretty decent start to the PPV. It wasn't an amazing Battle Royal, but it was fun at times. The final five ended up being Miz, Christian, David Otunga, Alex Riley, and Tyson Kidd. Tyson was a bit of a surprise in this match. He was pretty impressive this evening. Not bad for somebody gracing NXT, huh? The finish comes when it's down to Miz and Christian. Both guys are on the outside ring apron. Christian was close to elimination, but he kept fighting off Miz. He finally hits a Spear on Miz and Christian is the winner. It seems that Christian has chosen Santino as his opponent later tonight. So, I was pretty excited to see Christian return. I know some people are going to complain about the fact that Christian is being reduced to the mid-card. While I admit that it's a step backwards, I'm just glad to see the guy compete again. It feels like it has been forever since we seen Christian compete. I'm looking forward to seeing what else Christian can do tonight. 

Winner: Christian

Match #2: Kofi Kingston and R-Truth vs Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger; WWE Tag Titles

Did anyone see the intro video for OtL? Do you recall the "People Power" graph? I like how People Power is through the roof, but the term, "Everything Else" is tanking. What does that mean? Does it mean everything in general? Does that mean it's better than women? People Power is better than a million dollars? Is it better than the f***ing Triforce? I'll admit that graph was pretty hilarious, but it really makes you think. Anyway, the Spanish commentators talk about the theory of life. After that insightful look into modern day society, we are ready to begin this match. The King was talking about Vickie Guerrero's naval? Yeah, I think somebody is "preoccupied". Almost makes you feel bad for Michael Cole……sort of. This was a great match. It was given a fair amount of time and everyone got to showcase their talents. This match showed me that the WWE is very capable of putting together a great tag team division. Its just the matter of actually doing it. Dolph and Biff Tannen have things rolling, so Vickie is shouting….

…..They get denied. The finish comes when Dolph ends up running into the Trouble in Paradise of Kofi Kingston. The Champs retain their titles. Again, this isn't a surprise. Kofi and Truth just barely got the belts and I think they want to roll with this for a while. As for AW's crew, they were Casper this evening. The AW thing is something that is slowly growing and it will be interesting to see what happens there. 

Winner via pinfall and still Tag Champs: Kofi Kingston and R-Truth

Match #3: Layla vs Beth Phoenix; Divas Championship

I think the audience was chanting, "We want Kharma". I'm not completely sure since my hearing can be off sometimes. I think Layla has improved in the last few years, but I'm still convinced the IWC will never accept her. I get it. She was in the Diva Search competition, but she actually has learned to move around that ring rather well. In fact, I even wonder if they are even looking at her in-ring skills before throwing her under the bus. Oh well, it isn't important. IWC is only 10% of the fan-base. Plus, casual fans seem to like her, so she's obviously doing something right. I thought this was a fairly decent match. At least in terms of Diva standards. Beth was targeting Layla's knee in this match. The finish comes when Layla counters the Glam Slam by…..

This eventually leads to Layla hitting the Lay Out for the victory. Yes, Layla got the clean victory. Get over it. 

Winner via pinfall and still Divas Champ: Layla

Match #4: Sheamus vs Randy Orton vs Chris Jericho vs Alberto Del Rio; WHC

Part of me kinda wonders why this match was put on so early. Then again, WWE doesn't want to have two world titles back-to-back. This was a pretty good match. So far, every match at the PPV has been pretty decent to sit through. All four guys had a chance to showcase their skills. I did feel the match was rather short. They easily could've given this another 10-15 minutes. It was very fast-paced, so not a dull moment here. The finish comes when Sheamus hits White Noise on Jericho. So, Jericho has failed yet again to capture a world title. Not only did he fail, but he took the pinfall once again. I still think the best course is to have Sheamus and Jericho put in a rivalry. Sheamus and Randy has gotten some attention, so that would work as well. As for Del Rio……you still have Ricardo Rodriguez……..yeah. 

Winner via pinfall and still WHC: Sheamus

Cody is talking to Eve backstage. Cody is happy the US Championship will get honor since it will get a worthy champion. Cody even says Christian would have no chance against him. Well, it turns out Christian heard this conversation. Christian changes his mind and he will be challenging for the IC title tonight. IRONY!!!

Match #5: Miz vs Brodus Clay

Remember a year ago at this same PPV? Miz was battling for the WWE Championship. Now, he's losing to the guy who looks like Donkey Kong. How the mighty have fallen. Brodus wins with the Funk It. Curt Hawkins and Tyler Reks confiscate anti-Johnny signs. That was probably more worthwhile than the match. 

Winner via pinfall: Brodus Clay

Match #6: Cody Rhodes vs Christian; IC Championship

So, does this count as Christian getting……wait for it…..ONE MORE MATCH? I guess not since it wasn't for the WHC. It wasn't a long match, but it was pretty decent. The finish comes when Christian hits the Killswitch and we have a NEEEEEEEEW IC Champ. So, what do I think of this? As I mentioned earlier, I'm just happy to see Christian back. I don't care if he's taking a step backwards and is going to be the IC Champion. Now, the other thing we need to address is Christian's change of character. It was pretty obvious that they turned Christian face tonight. How do I feel about this? I have stated in the past that Christian plays a better heel. Still, I don't think turning him face is the worst course of action. We got to have a moment of silence. It's a moment for the one…..the only…..ONE MORE MATCH….

….Dammit!!! Cody has done everything possible with the title. In fact, Cody needs a change of scenery. He got wrapped up with the Big Show deal, but now that's over, it was best for him to drop the title and do something else. 

Winner via pinfall and NEW IC Champion: Christian

Match #7: CM Punk vs Daniel Bryan; WWE Championship

Punk cut an interview before this match. The Vince McMahon impression was pretty funny. Let Punk be naturally funny, not forcefully funny. He just shines more when he does that. AJ interrupted the interview. I think Dr. Evil would say it best…….This is uncomfortable. I'll get back to AJ in a moment. As for the Punk/Bryan match……wow. It was awesome. The audience was kinda there tonight, but it really woke up when these two got in the ring. The crowd was split in their reactions, but for good reason. This was simply a wrestling match. Both guys were countering left and right and there was a number of submission holds featured. You don't see WWE do this very often. Then again, there's a reason it doesn't occur very often. Casual fans don't really like submission wrestling. In fact, I have seen audiences boo or chant "boring" when you see this type of wrestling. Personally, I enjoy watching this stuff from time-to-time. You don't want to do it all the time or else it will get old, but it's nice to bring it back every now and then. In fact, I even heard the audience say "This is Awesome"….

Hey!!! This isn't TNA. Put that counter away….

Sorry about that. Yeah, so it was a great match. The King was talking about how Punk's leg was not supposed to bend like that. So, it's not supposed to go at an angle? About 10 of you are going to get that reference. The finish comes when Bryan locks in the YES Lock. Punk ends up rolling through while in the submission hold. Bryan's shoulders are down and the ref makes the three count. A second after the three count, Punk starts to tap out. Since the three count came before the tap out, Punk is still the champion. I like the way this match ended. It ended with a little bit of controversy. If not, it didn't make Bryan look weak. This type of ending means the rivalry will definitely continue. So, I see an awesome AND I might get to see a rematch?

It shouldn't come as a surprise. Now you know why AJ had nothing to do with tonight's match. She will definitely factor in at a later date. Definitely the match of the night…….YES!!!

Winner via pinfall and still WWE Champion: CM Punk

Match #8: Camacho vs Ryback

Teddy Long is so happy backstage. Yeah, that's all I got. When I first saw Hunico and Camacho, I thought a certain masked wrestler was going to return. Well, that didn't turn out to be the case. Ryback was actually taken off his feet, but that didn't last long. Ryback wins with the Muscle Buster. Hunico and Camacho better think about getting a new job. I don't think they will survive the next round of roster cuts. 

Winner via pinfall: Ryback

Match #9: John Cena vs John Laurinaitis

I very confident that I will get this prediction right. In fact, I'm so confident that I'm betting….

...on John. Yep, I bet that John is gonna win this match. You can't go wrong with John. What is with Johnny and tight clothing? I feel like he should be getting ready to compete in a marathon, not a wrestling match. Now, I want to get this out of the way. People were very upset with this match for many reasons. One of the reasons being the quality of the match. What did you expect? Did you really think Johnny was going to go out there and give you five-star quality? Come on. Be more realistic. This match was simply there for the sake of storytelling and comedy. I knew it was going to be terrible, but I was hoping that it would make me laugh at some point. Well, this match did have a couple of funny moments, but it did drag out a lot longer than it should've. Still, let's focus on the good parts. I liked what Johnny did after the helicopter spin…..

He didn't quite do that, but he did stumble like a drunk person. I thought the part where Cena and Johnny did commentary was pretty hilarious, but it was because of Johnny. The Booker T impression was probably the funniest thing out of the whole evening. Still, there was plenty of stupid moments. The water bottle bit was just childish. Then again, it's coming from Cena, so it actually makes sense. Plus, they actually had a moment where Cena started to sell the arm injury. Really? Why? He already did a terrible job of selling it on Raw and tonight's show, so why go back to it? Even after Johnny got to attack Cena's arm, Cena eventually got back and felt perfectly fine. I swear that Cena can't sell anything…..Unless his name is on it. I know this is nothing new after all these years, but it really gets stupid when you see it THIS often. Big Show arrives and is about to Chokeslam Johnny, but he tosses him to Cena. As Cena is getting ready to deliver the AA, Show hits Cena with the KO punch. I'm actually surprised Cena sold that punch as long as he did. Anyway, Johnny picks the bones and he keeps his job. The show ends with Show raising the hand of Johnny. I wish I could say I didn't see this coming, but I totally saw this coming. I said it during the Raw and SD reviews last week, and I'm kicking myself for saying it. It really was that predictable. I was really hoping for a surprise or somebody else. Anybody besides Big Show. Why, you may ask? Because Show just got "fired". The surprise element is pretty much gone. If Show had been fired for 2-3 months ago, then it would be a surprise, but that wasn't the case. Yeah, so there isn't a whole lot more to say. Johnny got some help because of the giant, and Show will most likely do evil things. One thing I hope DOESN'T happen after tonight is a Show/Cena rivalry. It's been done before. In fact, it has been done to death. I think it happened two years ago. I don't think WWE would go that direction, but I wouldn't put it past them. People Power and robot destruction lives. That green ranger failed yet again. 

Winner via pinfall: John Roboinaitis 

Overall Impression:

I want to get this out of the way. Was this a predictable PPV? Yes. It was very predictable. My predictions, which I don't give a s*** about, were all correct. I got everything right about this PPV. I'm actually one of those people who would rather get his picks wrong than right. Mainly because it would show them thinking outside the box and doing something different. Well, that wasn't the plan tonight. Because of the predictability of the event, it kinda hurts the show. Now, did it completely ruin it? No. This was a good PPV because of the wrestling matches. It was the action that made it stood out. While the predictable nature of something can ruin it, I don't think it kills it. Heck, look at the Mario franchise? Every video game is practically the same. Bowser kidnaps Princess Peach, so Mario must save her. The Mario games are pretty predictable in their own way, but they are still fun to play. I felt that OtL was a good show to watch. Punk and Bryan put together a great wrestling match, while some of the other matches were no slouches. Outside of the Ryback/Brodus/Cena matches, everything else was good. Yes, even the Divas match was considered good. But you knew what you were getting with those matches. Brodus and Ryback were going to give you a squash match, while the Johns were going to give you comedy, so you shouldn't have expected anything special out of those matches. I think the main problem with tonight's show was there wasn't much done in terms of surprise. I had an idea somebody was going to show up in the Cena match, but I was hoping it would be anybody besides Show. It would make a bigger impression if somebody else showed up. Then again, it was obvious they didn't have anyone available OR they were going with this from the very beginning. Then again, you generally want to do the big surprise for a bigger PPV. If I have to give Over the Limit 2012 a score on a scale of 1-10 and 5 is considered average(No decimal points here), I would give this PPV a 7 out of 10. If the PPV had given me a couple of bigger surprises, I would've given it a higher score, but it was missing something. Christian's return was pretty big, but I'm mainly referring to a surprise or one of those moments we will be talking about in years to come. Not sure how memorable this show will turn out, but I do want to add this. My expectations were pretty low going into this event. WWE did manage to put together something fun, despite the lackluster build-up. It may be predictable and feature a pretty bad main event, but the rest of the card and wrestling quality makes up for it. This is a show you might want to consider watching for the matches, but keep in mind on the predictable nature of the event. If you're a fan of quality wrestling, ignore the final hour of the PPV and I think you will be very satisfied with the show. That's going to do it for the review and I hope you enjoyed it. As always, tell me what you thought of my review or tonight's show. I will see you guys and girls on the next WrestlingNerd show. See you next time. 

WrestlingNerd's Official Score of WWE Over the Limit 2012: 7 out of 10