Over the Limit (2012)

Over the Limit (2012)
The promotional poster featuring Randy Orton
Theme song(s)	"War of Change" by Thousand Foot Krutch[1]
Information
Promotion	WWE
Date	May 20, 2012
Attendance	8,000[2]
Venue	PNC Arena
City	Raleigh, North Carolina
Pay-per-view chronology
Extreme Rules (2012) Over the Limit (2012) No Way Out (2012)
Over the Limit chronology
Over the Limit (2011) Over the Limit (2012) Final

Over the Limit was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) 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 in an upset victory after outside interference from The Big Show. 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.^[3]

Background

The professional wrestling matches at Over the Limit featured professional wrestlers performing as characters in scripted events pre-determined by the hosting promotion, WWE. Storylines between the characters played out on WWE's primary television programs, Raw and SmackDown.^[4][5]

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 (while he was arguing with Laurinaitis about the validity of Lesnar's contract), 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 (Laurinaitis) 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 (where Punk successfully defended his title against Chris Jericho in a Chicago Street Fight and Bryan failed to regain the World Heavyweight Championship from Sheamus in a 2 out of 3 falls match), 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. At the end of the match, Ryder attempted the Rough Ryder, but Kane performed a Chokeslam for the win.

Preliminary matches

The event opened with a 20 man Battle Royal for a United States Championship or Intercontinental Championship match. The match came down to The Miz, Tyson Kidd, David Otunga and Christian. After Miz and Otunga worked together to eliminate Kidd, Christian eliminated Otunga. Christian eliminated Miz to win the match.

Next, Kofi Kingston and R Truth defended the Tag Team Championship against Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger. The match ended when Kingston executed Trouble in Paradise on Ziggler to win the match.

After that, Layla defended the Divas Championship against Beth Phoenix. Layla executed a Neckbreaker on Phoenix to win the match.

In the fourth match, Sheamus defended the World Heavyweight Championship against Chris Jericho, Randy Orton, and Alberto Del Rio in a Fatal 4-way match. Each man performed his signature moves but was unsuccessful in earning the victory. The match came to an end when Sheamus executed White Noise on Jericho to retain the title.

Later, The Miz faced Brodus Clay. Clay executed a Running Splash on Miz to win the match.

In the sixth match, Cody Rhodes defended the Intercontinental Championship against Christian. Christian executed a Killswitch on Rhodes to win the title.

Then, CM Punk defended the WWE Championship against Daniel Bryan. In the end, Bryan applied the Yes Lock on Punk but Punk managed to pin Bryan to retain the title despite submitting as the pinfall was counted.

Next, Ryback faced Camacho. Ryback dominated Camacho throughout the match, before delivering a Shell Shocked to secure a pinfall victory.

Main event

In the main event, John Cena faced Raw and SmackDown General Manager John Laurinaitis in a No-Disqualification match 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