Time once again for a low-priority WWE pay-per-view. \u00a0Shoved awkwardly into the schedule just three weeks after the last show, lacking any particular history, and without even a dodgy gimmick to unify the show, “Over The Limit” is indeed Something That Will Be Broadcast Tonight.<\/p>\n
It is, fortunately, on Sky Sports rather than on PPV in the UK. \u00a0So at least somebody will be watching!<\/p>\n
It’s a show of two halves. \u00a0The main events are all rematches, two of them from feuds that ran their course a couple of months ago. \u00a0The undercard does have some new matches – but that’s not to say they’re necessarily going to be any good.<\/p>\n
Chances are there will also be some sort of tribute package to the late Randy Savage, even though he’s been on the outs with the WWE for years. \u00a0Before anyone asks: frankly, he’s before my time.<\/p>\n
1. \u00a0WWE Title, I Quit match: John Cena (c) v The Miz.<\/strong> What, again?<\/em> This is the third straight show to be headlined on the Raw side with some sort of Cena\/Miz match, and since the first one had the Rock involved, there’s been a degree of diminishing returns ever since.<\/p>\n At Wrestlemania, Cena fought Miz and in a roundabout way lost because of Rock’s interference (though you could make a case that Miz would have retained his title on a draw anyway). \u00a0At Extreme Rules, Cena did manage to beat Miz and win the title. \u00a0But they already did Miz’s rematch on Raw, with an inconclusive ending… to set up this second<\/em> rematch. \u00a0It’s hard to avoid the feeling that they’re just dragging this out for a few more weeks rather than launch a new storyline at a throwaway show.<\/p>\n Alternatively, I guess, Miz could<\/em> conceivably win, regain his title, and spend the next few weeks lecturing the fans about how he’s proved himself. \u00a0But it’s hardly likely. \u00a0The obligatory gimmick this time is an “I Quit” match – which is fairly self-explanatory. \u00a0Cena’s a heavily protected character, it’s highly unlikely they’ll have him quit, and it’s very difficult to book screwjob finishes in these matches. \u00a0Personally, I wouldn’t want to put Miz in that position either, given that he still needs the credibility of being a guy who can beat other main eventers… but that’s not the way the WWE tends to think. \u00a0Most likely, this is intended to put a full stop at the end of the Cena\/Miz feud and send both guys on to their next storylines.<\/p>\n The actual match should be decent enough. \u00a0Cena is almost certain to win.<\/p>\n 2. \u00a0World Heavyweight Title: Randy Orton (c) v Christian.<\/strong> This is the Smackdown title, and the booking here has been just plain weird. \u00a0You may recall that a month or so back, Edge retired as champion for (real life) medical reasons. \u00a0So at the last show, Christian fought Alberto Del Rio for the vacant title. \u00a0Christian, a much-loved midcarder who’s been around for years, won the title, and the fans seemed generally rather happy with that.<\/p>\n And then he lost it to Randy Orton on Smackdown that Friday.<\/p>\n This is very odd. \u00a0Orton is a bigger star, who was sent to Smackdown in the draft in order to shore up the brand. \u00a0And he’s a babyface, which would make it difficult to do a lengthy programme where he was playing second-fiddle to a midcard babyface champion. \u00a0And yes, a case can be made that Christian had a run as champion in TNA which tended to suggest he’s more effective in a midcard role.<\/p>\n But still, switching the title that quickly is a baffling decision – particularly when they’re headlining this show with the same match anyway.<\/p>\n It makes even less sense for Christian to just win the title back, so I figure the idea is that he’s going to lose again, and then turn heel to kickstart his character in a new direction. \u00a0That might work, but it still doesn’t explain why somebody thought it was a good idea to beat him twice.<\/p>\n On the bright side, the match itself should be very good; Christian almost always has decent matches, Orton’s a solid headliner, the TV match was strong. \u00a0It’s hard to see how this can go too far wrong, so far as the in-ring elements go.<\/p>\n 3. \u00a0Jerry Lawler v. Michael Cole.<\/strong> Yes, again. \u00a0This is the seemingly never-ending feud between the two commentators on Raw, which should have ended at Wrestlemania, but is inexplicably lumbering on here. \u00a0As previously noted (twice), the WWE have written themselves into a corner here, since the logical end of the story is that Cole is defeated and removed from Raw, but that’s not something they actually want to do. \u00a0That presumably explains the eye-rollingly dated “loser kisses the winner’s foot” stipulation, which I can only figure is meant to provide some sort of closure to this feud without actually having anything happen at the end.<\/p>\n Cole has alienated his bodyguard Jack Swagger, so we’re obviously meant to think he’s going to get annihilated. \u00a0The previous match between these two at Wrestlemania was generally considered to be tediously over-long, so hopefully they’ll at least keep it short and we can move on with our lives.<\/p>\n 4. \u00a0WWE Tag Team Titles: Kane & The Big Show (c) v CM Punk & Mason Ryan. <\/strong>Our current champions are two babyface giants, Kane and the Big Show, which always makes for tricky booking. \u00a0Conventional wisdom says you don’t want the heels to be the underdogs in a competitive match, but it’s hard to avoid with these two. \u00a0One solution is to have the challenge come from a team representing an entire heel faction who can interfere freely in the match, and that’s basically what we’re getting here.<\/p>\n The challengers are CM Punk and Mason Ryan of the New Nexus faction, which has suddenly sprung back to life after seemingly being kicked to the kerb in the run up to Wrestlemania. \u00a0Rumour had it that there were doubts as to whether Punk was renewing his contract; perhaps he’s decided to stay, or perhaps this match is going to be used to write him out.<\/p>\n Ryan, a big Welsh guy who you might, but probably don’t, remember as Goliath on Sky’s version of Gladiators, is weirdly miscast in this role. \u00a0As a wrestler, he might charitably be described as inexperienced. \u00a0What he has going for him, up to a point, is size; therefore he ought to be killing smaller guys in very short matches. \u00a0Booking him in competitive matches against men bigger than him is, on the face of it, weirdly counterproductive.<\/p>\n Perhaps the idea here is to write out the New Nexus – but they more or less did that in the run up to Wrestlemania. \u00a0Having brought them back, it would seem weird to beat them here – and since Kane and Big Show were sent to different shows in the 2011 draft, the company presumably has plans to separate them once they lose the tag titles. \u00a0It’s certainly hard to think of any promising direction for them as tag champions, whereas something can probably be done with the Nexus.<\/p>\n I’ll hazard a guess that the Nexus win, though it’s something of a coin toss. \u00a0What can be said with more certainty is that the match is likely to be pretty abysmal.<\/p>\n 5. \u00a0Intercontinental Title: Wade Barrett (c) v Ezekiel Jackson.<\/strong> The Intercontinental Title is Smackdown’s B-championship, currently held by Wade Barrett. \u00a0He’s the de facto leader of the Corre, a faction largely composed of Nexus outcasts who moved to the Friday night show and repeated the gimmick with limited success there. \u00a0After headlining a few months ago, Barrett seems to be sliding down the company’s priority list – he now finds himself defending a secondary title in a storyline nobody much cares about.<\/p>\n Ezekiel Jackson was the token huge guy in the Corre, and the one member who wasn’t previously associated with the Nexus. \u00a0He is now turning babyface to feud with the rest of the group. \u00a0He’s been around for a while without being desperately impressive; Barrett seems to have better natural instincts for wrestling but still needs a more experienced opponent to get the best out of him. \u00a0I suspect a train wreck.<\/p>\n Since Jackson has just turned babyface, logically he ought to win the title to avoid killing his momentum. \u00a0Trouble is, Smackdown is desperately short of main eventers and really needs to keep Barrett available for that role – so having him lose clean to a wrestler nobody cares about seems inadvisable. \u00a0This match seems made for a screwjob finish, with Barrett retaining thanks to interference from the Corre to set up a rematch. \u00a0Not that I desperately want to see<\/em> that rematch, but…<\/p>\n 6. \u00a0Divas Title: Brie Bella (c) v. Kelly Kelly.<\/strong> The token women’s match. \u00a0The actual main storyline in the women’s division at the moment involves the newcomer Kharma – who used to wrestle for indies and TNA as Awesome Kong, which kind of gives you an idea of her schtick. \u00a0The idea is that Kharma, as the intimidating powerhouse, keeps showing up after the end of women’s matches and obliterating the models who make up the bulk of the women’s division these days. \u00a0Presumably she’ll be showing up here to do the same routine.<\/p>\n Obviously this is heading towards Kharma challenging for the title at some point. \u00a0But the current champion is a heel, so presumably they need to get the belt onto a babyface at some point. \u00a0Kelly’s the closest thing they have to a popular babyface in the women’s division right now, so I suspect she’s winning here. \u00a0It’ll be short, it won’t be very good, and Kharma will destroy Brie afterwards.<\/p>\n 7. \u00a0Sin Cara v. Chavo Guerrero.<\/strong> This is the PPV debut for Sin Cara, a Mexican wrestler previously known as Mistico, who changed his name after signing to the WWE.\u00a0\u00a0He’s a high priority for the company; they know Rey Mysterio is nearing the end of his working life and they’re lining Sin Cara up to take the slot.<\/p>\n The story here is that Chavo Guerrero, who’s been around for donkey’s years, has been interfering in Sin Cara’s matches to help<\/em> him, and claiming that Sin Cara is following in his trailblazing footsteps. \u00a0Sin Cara wants none of it. \u00a0Cue match.<\/p>\n Sin Cara is obviously going to win; anything else would be demented. \u00a0Chavo has been an undercard wrestler, and largely a comedy figure, for years. \u00a0Booking Sin Cara to lose to him would be insane. \u00a0Frankly, even booking them in a competitive feud is highly questionable. \u00a0Sin Cara should win quickly and decisively. \u00a0The match quality should be good; Chavo can go when he’s given the chance, and while Sin Cara is still adapting to the WWE’s house style, he’s one of the best at what he does.<\/p>\n 8. \u00a0Rey Mysterio v. R-Truth.<\/strong> Rapping babyface R-Truth has recently turned heel, doing the time-honoured “where has all this playing to the crowd got me” routine. \u00a0This seems like a wise move. \u00a0He’s a better wrestler than his place on the card might suggest, but he’s been stuck in the role for so long – without ever really having a major storyline to work with – that something drastic was needed to move him up the card. \u00a0Granted, they’re in danger of repackaging him as, uh, stereotypically angry, but that can still be tweaked. \u00a0The principle of it is smart.<\/p>\n R-Truth’s new role, it seems, is to complain that he keeps getting passed over for the main event. \u00a0On ridiculously tenuous grounds (well, he is a heel), he blames Rey Mysterio for keeping him out of the number #1 contender match where, he maintains, he would definitely have got a shot at the WWE title. \u00a0So they’re going to have a match. \u00a0This is R-Truth’s first major outing as a heel, and as such, he ought to win in order to keep the momentum. \u00a0As a match, it should be quite good – Truth in particular really needs a good showing here.<\/p>\n Worth getting?<\/strong> Fortunately, not an issue for those of us in Britain. \u00a0There are some promising matches on this show – Orton\/Christian, Sin Cara\/Guerrero and Mysterio\/Truth should all be solid.\u00a0\u00a0But on the other hand, Miz\/Cena has been done to death, Lawler\/Cole was rubbish last time, and the tag, IC and women’s matches are likely to be dreadful. \u00a0Not an essential show.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Time once again for a low-priority WWE pay-per-view. \u00a0Shoved awkwardly into the schedule just three weeks after the last show, lacking any particular history, and without even a dodgy gimmick to unify the show, “Over The Limit” is indeed Something That Will Be Broadcast Tonight. 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