Over the Limit was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by
WWE. It took place at the PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina on May 20, 2012.
It was the third and final event under the Over the Limit chronology.
Ten professional wrestling matches took place at the event, nine of which were
broadcast live on pay-per-view. In the main event, John Laurinaitis defeated
John Cena. Also featured was CM Punk defeating Daniel Bryan to retain the WWE
Championship, and Sheamus defeating Alberto Del Rio, Randy Orton, and Chris
Jericho to retain the World Heavyweight Championship.
The event garnered 167,000 buys, up from 140,000 the previous year's event
received. Background
Over The Limit featured professional wrestling matches that involved
different wrestlers from pre-existing feuds or storylines that were played out
on Raw, SmackDown, NXT and Superstars—World Wrestling
Entertainment's television programs. Wrestlers portrayed a villain or a hero
as they followed a series of events that built tension, and culminated in a
wrestling match or series of matches. All wrestlers were from WWE's Raw and
SmackDown brands—a storyline division in which WWE employees are assigned to a
television program of the same name. One of the prominent feuds from the Raw
brand was between John Cena and the General Manager of Raw and SmackDown,
John Laurinaitis. On the night after losing to The Rock in the main event of
WrestleMania XXVIII in early April, Cena's promo was interrupted by a
returning Brock Lesnar, who immediately attacked him with an F-5. It was
revealed the next week on Raw that Laurinaitis hired Lesnar to replace Cena
as "the face of the WWE" by taking him out at Extreme Rules. A battered Cena
barely managed to defeat Lesnar, and in a post-match promo, emphasized his
injuries and announced he would be "taking a vacation." The next night on
Raw, Lesnar attacked WWE COO Triple H, breaking his arm. With Lesnar's WWE job
now in jeopardy, and after advice from his Executive Administrator Eve Torres,
Laurinaitis decided on Cena's next opponent, for Over the Limit. Later that
night, while Cena was in the ring, Laurinaitis appeared on the entrance
stage to announce that opponent, and introduced Lord Tensai. Laurinaitis and
Tensai then attacked Cena, and Laurinaitis revealed that he would be
Cena's opponent. The WWE Board of Directors stipulated the only way to win
would be by pinfall or submission, anybody interfering in the match would
be immediately fired and, if Laurinaitis lost the match, he would be fired.
The main event feud from Raw heading into Over the Limit was between WWE
Champion CM Punk and challenger Daniel Bryan. Following the Extreme Rules
pay-per-view, Eve Torres announced Punk's next challenger would be decided
by a series of Beat the Clock matches on the April 30 edition of Raw. In the
final match of the evening, Bryan defeated Jerry Lawler in the fastest
time to become the #1 contender. The main storyline from the SmackDown
brand led to World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus defending his title in a Fatal
4-Way match against Alberto Del Rio, Randy Orton, and Chris Jericho. After
defeating Daniel Bryan in 18 seconds at WrestleMania XXVIII to win the title,
Sheamus faced a returning Alberto Del Rio in a non-title match on the April 6
edition of SmackDown. Del Rio defeated Sheamus via disqualification to earn a
future title shot. Sheamus again defeated Bryan at Extreme Rules to
retain his title and end their rivalry, opening the way for Del Rio's title
opportunity at Over the Limit. On the May 7 episode of Raw, Sheamus and Orton
faced Jericho and Del Rio in a tag team match. Jericho pinned Sheamus after a
Codebreaker, after Sheamus accidentally kicked Orton in the face. They argued,
in John Laurinaitis' office, about who should be next in line for the title.
Laurinaitis announced a Fatal 4-Way match for the World Heavyweight
Championship at Over the Limit, instead of the originally advertised singles
match between Sheamus and Del Rio. Event
= Pre-show= The pre-show saw Zack Ryder vs Kane.
Ryder got some hits in and got the Broski Boot then went for the Rough
Ryder, but Kane caught him with his finsher, the Chokeslam for the win.
= Main card= The first match of the night was a 20
man Battle Royal for a United States Championship or Intercontinental
Championship match. This one came down to The Miz, Tyson Kidd, David Otunga and
Christian. Otunga runs Christian into the ring post. Kidd goes after Miz and
hits some kicks. Everyone is trying to get Kidd out, but he comes in from the
apron and hits a double dropkick on Miz and Otunga. Miz tries to throw Kidd out
but he hangs on and tries to head scissor Miz out, but Otunga comes and
makes the save to kick Kidd out. Now Otunga and Miz form an alliance against
Christian. Christian tries to fight them off but the numbers quickly catch up and
they double team him. Miz goes for the corner clothesline but Christian moves.
Otunga tries to slam Christian but he slips out and tosses Otunga. Down to
two. Miz and Christian trade reversals. Miz throws Christian over but he hangs
on the apron. Miz putting all his weight on Christian but Christian kicks him
off. He grabs Miz by the head and runs him to the other side and throws him to
the apron and knocks him off to win. The next match was Kofi Kingston and R
Truth defending the WWE Tag Team Championship against Dolph Ziggler and
Jack Swagger. Truth gets rolling on Swagger but, Vickie Guerrero jumps on
the apron and that, along with a Ziggler distraction, allowed Swagger to come
back and hit a Corner slingshot splash for two. This allows Swagger and Ziggler
to take over, keeping Truth isolated and working frequent tags to wear Truth
down. Truth starts to fire up out of the corner, but Ziggler and Swagger double
team him with an X Factor for two. Ziggler does a headlock, but Truth works
to a vertical base and small packages Ziggler out of nowhere for a two count.
Ziggler, though, jumps right back on Truth. Swagger tags in now, but Truth
hits him with a tornado DDT out of the corner and finally gets the tag to
Kingston. Kingston comes flying in here against Ziggler. Kingston goes on fire
and hits the Boom Drop. He calls for Trouble in Paradise but Ziggler ducks.
Kingston goes for the SOS, but Ziggler pushes him off, but Kingston
springboards out of the corner with a crossbody. Swagger breaks up the fall
but Kingston takes him out. Ziggler hits Kingston with a Fameasser, but Truth
breaks up the pin attempt and then takes Swagger out of the ring. Kingston gets
thrown into the corner by Ziggler and Ziggler comes charging in, but Kingston
explodes out and catches a jumping Ziggler with Trouble in Paradise for the
win. Then, Layla defended her Divas
Championship against Beth Phoenix. Phoenix goes to work on Layla's
surgically repaired knee, working it over from pillar to post. Layla is able
to knock Phoenix off the apron and to the floor, but Phoenix comes back in and
presses Layla above her head, only to have Layla catch her on the way down
with a DDT. Layla is slow to make the cover, though, and Phoenix kicks out at
two. Layla goes for a swinging small package for two. Phoenix, though, drives
her into the corner. Layla tries to work her way out but ends up in position for
the Glam Slam. Layla rolls through and they trade cradle reversals for two.
Moments later, Layla hits a neckbreaker out of nowhere for the win.
The fourth match of the night was Sheamus defending the World Heavyweight
Championship against Chris Jericho, Randy Orton, and Alberto Del Rio in a
Fatal 4 way match. They hit each other with their Finshers but kept kicking
out. The match came to an end when Sheamus nailed Jericho with The White
Noise and successfully pinned him to retain his title.
The fifth match had The Miz vs Brodus Clay. Clay goes on a roll until Miz
takes over. He hits the corner clothesline and then a chin lock, but
Clay powers out. He hits a head butt. Miz goes for a kick and goes to the top,
but Clay crotches him and goes up and hits a top-rope T-bone suplex. He
follows with the splash and that does it.
Then, Christian became the Intercontinental Champion after
defeating Cody Rhodes who won the Battle Royal earlier that night. Christian
controlled the match all the way and pinned Rhodes after a Killswitch.
Then CM Punk defended the WWE Championship against Daniel Bryan. Both
Punk and Bryan took over each other, in the end when Bryan had Punk in the Yes
Lock, Punk pinned Bryan to retain the title despite tapping out immediately
thereafter. The next one was Ryback taking on
Camacho. Ryback won the match in just 54 seconds, after he delivered a Shell
Shocked to Camacho. = Main event=
The main event was John Cena taking on Raw and SmackDown General Manager John
Laurinaitis with Laurinaitis' job on the line. Laurinaitis won as Big Show, who
he had previously been fired for mocking his voice, interfered and turned heel by
knocking Cena out with a WMD, allowing Laurinaitis to pin him and keep his job.
Results = Battle Royal=
References