The John Report: WWE Over The Limit Preview
By John Canton
Follow me on Twitter at @johnreport
Welcome to the TJR preview for WWE Over The Limit. It’s the second year where they’ve had a PPV with this name and it’s the second year where I’m wondering why they think it’s a good name. Granted, PPV names don’t matter a whole heck of a lot unless they are the names of the big four, but surely they can think of a name better than this. Maybe this title means that Vince McMahon was over the legal drinking limit when he booked the matches? I’m not sure. I wasn’t that excited about Extreme Rules three weeks ago, but they delivered a very good wrestling show. I don’t see this one being as good although the quality of the matches should be above average if they get time. The promotion of the PPV hasn’t been too strong and TV ratings have been down on both Raw and Smackdown. All of that translates to one of the least interesting WWE PPVs of the year. Still, the optimist in me thinks that they could surprise us with a good show. Let’s take a look at the lineup with my picks and polls so that you can vote on who you think is going to win too.
Now, for some rumored matches:
Sin Cara vs. Chavo Guerrero
They’ve done this angle on Smackdown for the last few weeks with Chavo saying that Sin Cara stole all his moves, so it’s expected that they’ll have a match here. What I don’t get is why would you debut a guy so strongly and not advertise his first PPV match? Do they care about PPVs anymore? This guy might be a draw if you give him a shot. Obviously Sin Cara is going over. My Pick: Sin Cara
Divas Title: Brie Bella vs. Kelly Kelly
The story here is that Kharma has attacked every diva she has come in contact with except for Kelly. Is she infatuated with her? Is she simply taunting her before she attacks her? We don’t know. That’s about as much time as they give these matches. Kelly won the non-title match on Raw, so I’m guessing that Brie wins here in a quick match as well thanks to some cheating. Then they can do something where they try to cheat against Kelly on Raw in a rematch only for Kharma to come out, prevent that from happening and Kelly wins the belt. This belt has never meant less than it does now. Hopefully things get better when Kharma starts having matches. I would love to see her against Gail or Beth on the Raw side or my favorite Natalya on the Smackdown side. For now I think Brie wins in another “classic” against Kelly. My Pick: Brie Bella
I’m not putting up polls for the rumored matches. The ones that follow are confirmed matches, so they will have polls.
R-Truth vs. Rey Mysterio
I’ve really enjoyed the heel turn of R-Truth. I think it’s because I disliked his babyface character so much. There’s a freshness to him that didn’t exist before. He blames people like John Morrison, Rey Mysterio and the fans for his actions rather than looking himself in the mirror to realize he’s the cause of his own problems. That’s what heels are supposed to do. That’s why it works. Mysterio won his feud with Cody Rhodes and now I think he’s being put in the position to give R-Truth a great match while hopefully putting him over. John Morrison’s out with a neck injury, but he should be ready by the next PPV in June. I think if they get 10-15 minutes they could have a really good match too. It could be a lot of fun. Post WrestleMania, R-Truth’s one of the freshest characters in the company. He should get the win here. My Pick: R-Truth
Jerry Lawler vs. Michael Cole in a Kiss My Foot Match
I really don’t care anymore. There were times when the feud was really hot and I wanted to see Lawler beat up Cole as much as anybody, but that time was about two months ago. Since then they’ve had two PPV matches and are having the third here. Like I wrote in the Raw Deal the best thing that could happen as a result of this feud is a babyface turn for Jack Swagger, who badly needs a new direction. Cole gets a lot of heat, so if they can siphon it off onto Swagger and give him a serious babyface push I’d be okay with all this camera time for Cole. Oh, and whoever has to do the gimmicked “Athlete’s Foot” on Cole’s foot must love their job to have to do that. Lawler wins. I hope. My Pick: Jerry Lawler
Intercontinental Title: Wade Barrett vs. Ezekiel Jackson
What’s the point of creating a stable, having them lose more matches than they win (like at WrestleMania) and then break them up within a few months? The group known as The Corre lasted about four months before they had Ezekiel Jackson turn babyface against his stablemates. Is it that hard to let a group actually develop chemistry? I don’t understand the need to rush Jackson as a babyface. I guess the clock is ticking until his next muscle tear injury, but this entire angle feels very rushed. We didn’t have a long enough time to hate Jackson as a heel to like him as a face. Does that make sense? I think so. The belt doesn’t mean a whole lot, which is a damn shame, but that’s 2011 WWE for ya. I’m going with the title switch just because it would make sense to give Jackson some momentum if they are wanting to push him later in the year. I’d expect a short match, though, which could have some run-ins as well. My Pick: Ezekiel Jackson
Whoever is in charge of making graphics at wwe.com didn’t make a graphic for this match as of this writing on Thursday afternoon. The build for this started with Mason Ryan countering the power offense of Kane and Big Show for a week only to look like a chump after that. Then McGillicutty & Otunga beat Kane & Show in a non-title match on Raw thanks to some Nexus cheating. That puts my “lose or get beat up on TV, win on PPV” theory to good use here because I think this match will end in Kane & Show keeping their tag belts. Punk needs a singles feud. And soon. My Pick: Kane and Big Show
World Heavyweight Title: Randy Orton vs. Christian
This is likely to be the match of the night if they are able to get 17 minutes the way they did on Smackdown a few weeks ago when Orton beat Christian for the title. I’m not sure if they will get that much time, but I’m in favor of another ****1/4 match like that one was. The key to that match was the way they kicked out of nearfalls late in the match. Each guy reacted in shock as the other kicked out. It helped the drama of the match. The crowd loved it. I’m hoping for a repeat here. This time the champ is likely to retain with Orton keeping the belt while Christian is likely headed to a heel turn in the very near future. The formula for the turn was something I laid out in detail a couple of weeks ago where Christian would snap after losing this match, the rematch. I think that’s where we’re headed. Of course I’d love to see Christian with the belt, but that’s not going to happen yet…if it happens at all. Orton wins another hard fought match. Post match, the heel turn commences. Slow build, please. No need to rush it. My Pick: Randy Orton
WWE Title: John Cena vs. The Miz – I Quit Match
This is the third straight PPV with Miz and Cena in the WWE Title match although last month it also included John Morrison as the third man. Miz won at WrestleMania because of The Rock’s attack at Cena and then last month Cena pinned Miz to win the title at Extreme Rules. This is most likely the end to the feud. I thought they did a good job on Monday’s Raw of upping the intensity in the rivalry. Both guys delivered good promos. Miz promised Cena that he’d do something we’ve never seen before in an “I Quit” match, so it’ll be interesting to see what that is. Some people think Miz might use the tape recording to play Cena’s voice saying “I Quit” similar to Rock-Mankind at the 1999 Rumble. Even Mankind himself, Mick Foley, thought that on Twitter after Monday’s Raw. I don’t see that happening, though.
I think Cena will retain the title by doing something unique to make Miz quit. They always do something special for these kinds of matches whether it’s Cena using duct tape on Batista a year ago or dropping dozens of chairs on Wade Barrett to keep him getting up. It’s hard to predict what they might do, but you can expect it to be different from something we’ve seen often. The match will likely be 15-20 minutes long with Miz coming close to making Cena quit, but never actually doing it. I think Cena’s win three weeks ago was the start of a very long title reign that could last eleven months heading into WrestleMania 28 versus The Rock. A three week reign for Super Cena? Not likely. He keeps the belt here in what should be a match that hits the three star level. My Pick: John Cena
That’s all for the PPV. Like I said in the open it should be okay in terms of match quality, but as far as news goes I don’t see it as a major show in any way. I’m not sure if I’ll be watching it live because the Heat/Bulls NBA game interests me too. Check back to thejohnreport.net on Sunday night and I’ll let you know if I’m covering it live. If I’m not I’ll catch the replay and get a post up early Monday morning like I did for Extreme Rules three weeks ago. Enjoy the show…if you’re watching.
Check out thejohnreport.net partner wweshop.com for all your WWE needs. Click on the logo below, shop from wweshop.com and you’d be helping out TJR! Shop now!
15% off all WWEShop.com orders of $60 or more. Use Code WWE15OFF. Exp. 5/31/11
John Canton – [email protected]
thejohnreport.net
Twitter @johnreport
Facebook Facebook.com/thejohnreportnet