WWE Over the Limit (May 2011)

Original Airdate: May 22, 2011

From Seattle, Washington; Your Hosts are Josh Matthews, Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler, and Booker T

Opening Match: Rey Mysterio v R-Truth: Truth pounds him down to start, but he telegraphs a backdrop, and ends up going over the top. Rey dives with a headscissors from the apron, but gets caught in a tree of woe on the way back in. Rey comes back with a drop-toehold into the turnbuckle, but a slingshot gets blocked, and Truth shoves him hard into the post. Inside, that gets Truth a two count, so he works a front-facelock next. Truth tries taking him upstairs, but Rey fights it off with a bulldog off the middle rope for two. Rey with a spinkick to the gut, and a springboard bodypress gets him a two count. Roundhouse kick gets another two, but Truth blocks a headscissors. Reversal sequence ends in Rey hitting a flying seated senton, but a criss cross is won by Truth for two. Curbstomp, but Rey dodges, and sets up the 619 - only for Truth to bail. Rey stays on him with a baseball slide, but an attempt at springboarding ends in Rey getting crotched on the ring skirt. Inside, Truth uses a reverse STO to finish at 8:10. This wasn’t ‘bad,’ it just felt more like a collection of stuff than a proper match. ¾*

WWE Intercontinental Title Match: Wade Barrett v Ezekiel Jackson: Wade tries dumping him over the top to start, but Jackson reverses. Back in, Jackson lands a short-clothesline, and an elbowdrop gets him two. Backelbow connects, so Wade begs off, and manages a cheap shot when the referee gets in between them. Wade capitalizes by sending Jackson into the post a few times for two, and a 2nd rope elbowdrop gets him two. Wade works a chinlock next, but Jackson blocks the Wasteland. Wade cuts off a comeback with a pumphandle slam for two, but Jackson fights him off in the corner, and makes a proper comeback. Jackson with five bodyslams in a row, and he goes for the kill, but Justin Gabriel runs in for the DQ at 7:27 to save the title. A TV finish to a competent (if extremely basic) match. ½*

Chavo Guerrero v Sin Cara: Feeling out process to start, dominated by Cara. Cara knocks him to the outside for a corkscrew dive, and a handstand headscissors sends Guerrero into the barricade. Sin with a dropkick to the leg on the way back inside, and a flying moonsault press gets him two. I like it when guys actually connect with those. It’s becoming something of a lost art. Cara with a springboard armdrag, but a corner charge goes badly, and Chavo puts the boots to him. Guerrero with a leglock, but a trip to the top rope gets him knocked to the outside. Cara is on him with a flying bodypress, and he uses a springboard flying headscissors on the way back inside. Cara with a series of strikes, and a handspring backelbow finds the mark. Tilt-a-whirl armdrag and an enzuigiri lead to a springboard flying bodypress for two, but Guerrero fights back with a gory special. Cara escapes, leading to a reversal sequence ending in a sloppy takedown by Cara for the pin at 7:22. Boy, this felt like it was all Sin Cara, with Chavo barely getting a word in edgewise. Guerrero was winding down his run by this point anyway, with this marking his second to last televised match on the main roster. He’d do another job to Cara on the next episode of Smackdown, and then he was done on TV. ¾*

WWE Tag Team Title Match: Kane and Big Show v CM Punk and Mason Ryan: Kane and Ryan start, and Mason dominates him with power. He passes to Punk, but Kane quickly fights him off, and passes to Show. Show unloads on Punk in the corner, but a charge misses, and Ryan tags in to hammer on Show. Back to Punk to make the pin attempt, but it only gets two, so Punk tries a front-facelock, but the much larger show is able to counter to a bearhug. Tag to Kane for a big boot, and a sidewalk slam follows for two. Kane with a flying clothesline and a chokeslam, but Punk manages to block after an assist from Ryan. Ryan tags in, and Kane gets dumped to the outside for Punk to attack. Inside, the heels work Kane over, but a Punk misses a flying elbowdrop, and Show gets the hot tag. Show wrecks Ryan, so Punk comes back in, and Roseanne Barr the door! The champs dump Punk, and Ryan takes a tandem chokeslam at 9:02. ½*

WWE Divas Title Match: Brie Bella v Kelly Kelly: “Another boring Divas match we have to sit through,” notes Cole. That’s ice cold. True. But cold. Kelly sticks and moves, and a flying bodypress gets her a two count. Into the corner for a stinkface, but Bella ends up backdropping her over the top. Nikki Bella is right there with a cheap shot, and Brie stomps her for two. Bella works the arm, until Kelly fights back with a Thesz-press. She makes a comeback, so Nikki switches in, and puts Kelly away at 4:01. Cole was right. DUD

World Heavyweight Title Match: Randy Orton v Christian: Cole and Lawler leave their positions to go and prepare for their match later, leaving Matthews and Booker to commentate alone. Booker as a color commentator is not great. He does some good analysis, but it’s more like long spurts of stream of consciousness that occasionally results in a good point or two. Kind of like a child. They feel each other out a bit, and Christian gets control. Orton ends up on the outside to eat a baseball slide, and Christian uses a bodyslam on the way back in to set up a chinlock. Christian goes to the top rope, but Orton follows to the top with a vertical superplex for two. Randy unloads uppercuts, but Christian counters one into a backslide for two. Backdrop, but Christian telegraphs it, and Orton blocks. That allows him a pair of clotheslines, but a charge is countered with a spinebuster by Christian for two. Slugfest goes Christian’s way, and an inverted DDT gets the challenger two. 2nd rope dropkick, but Orton catches him, leading to a pinfall reversal sequence. Randy goes for the rope-hung DDT, but Christian blocks, and snaps his neck across the top rope. Christian goes upstairs again, this time able to deliver a flying headbutt drop for two, but Orton fights him off with another uppercut. Garvin stomp gets Randy a two count, and a reversal sequence ends in Orton applying an inverted Boston crab. That’s a weird looking move, and not in a good way. Points for trying something different, though. Christian makes the ropes, and he makes it to the middle rope for a sunset flip for two. Christian tries something in the corner, but Orton counters to the rope-hung DDT for two. RKO, but Christian blocks. That allows the challenger to go for the spear, but Orton counters with a powerslam for two. Well, maybe if he didn’t telegraph it by repeatedly shouting ‘spear’ at the top of his lungs, that wouldn’t have happened to him. Orton sets up the punt, but Christian is able to counter with the spear, but it only gets two. Nice nearfall there. Christian tries for the killswitch, but Orton counters to the RKO to retain at 16:50. This built into a very solid match, with strong storytelling. *** 

Kiss My Foot Match: Jerry Lawler v Michael Cole: If Lawler wins, Cole kisses his feet. If Cole wins, Lalwer has to not only kiss his feet, but induct Cole into the Hall of Fame, as well as surrender his own spot in the Hall. Lawler attacks at the bell, and unloads. Cole tries bailing, but Jerry tears his clothes off while pulling him back in, and pops him with a dropkick to send him to the outside on the King’s own terms. Jerry follows to continue the beating, but Michael manages to send him into the steps to block, then shoves him into the barricade for good measure. Cole takes off his shoes to reveal his nasty feet, but Jerry throws him through Michael’s private announce pod before anything can happen. Inside, Jerry delivers a 2nd rope fistdrop for the pin at 3:01. This wasn’t good, but it was entertaining for what it was, and the crowd was definitely into the angle. Afterwards, Jerry pulls his boot off, but before he gives it to Cole, he has Eve come out to get some revenge on Cole for trash he talked during the build up. Okay, foot time, but then Lawler has another change of heart, and brings Jim Ross out to get his revenge. After all that, Cole runs away before kissing any feet, so Bret Hart shows up, and puts him in the Sharpshooter so Jerry can give him a taste of defeet. That was not only a nice callback, but also a happy ending to the old Lawler/Hart rivalry. The match was nothing, but the segment was tremendous. ¼*

Main Event: WWE Title I Quit Match: John Cena v Miz: Jim Ross joins the commentary team for this one. Miz offers Cena the opportunity to quit right at the bell, but John refuses, so Miz calls Alex Riley in for a double team. Cena fights them both off, and gets Miz in an STF, but Riley saves. Riley hits John with a vertical suplex, and Miz delivers an inverted DDT neckbreaker. Cena fights back with an Attitude Adjustment, but here’s Riley again with a briefcase to knock him silly. The heels continue to double team Cena at will, but John refuses to quit, no matter what they hit him with. They keep getting increasingly brutal, but John keeps telling them to go to hell. At one point, after beating him with every weapon under the sun, Miz even tries to get kids in the front row to quit on his behalf, but they won’t. Finally, after wedging him between pieces of the barricade, Miz bashes his head with a chair, until John quits at 23:04. Well, that was an incredibly disappointing ending to that downer of a match. Oh, but wait, the referee discovers a recording device out on the floor, and realizes that they were pulling a Royal Rumble ‘99, and he restarts the bout. The heels get back to business, and try braining him with the title belt, but it backfires, and Riley knocks Miz silly. That allows Cena to put Alex through a table to take him out, and now it’s one-on-one. He unloads on Miz with a belt, and the STF finishes at 24:44 (26:34 total). This was interesting for what it was, but what it was was really more an angle than a proper match. And twenty seven minutes is a really, really long time for an angle. I did like that a heel finally just did the logical thing and had his buddy openly help him, right from the opening bell. Like, why wouldn’t they do that every time?! * ¼ 

BUExperience: Positive: the matches generally didn’t overstay their welcome. Negative: the matches weren’t any good. 

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