How do you sell a Pay Per View with only two weeks of build?
That is the question the WWE hoped fans would ignore when considering last night's Over The Limit Show. With The Rock's birthday celebrating eating up much of the fallout show to Extreme Rules, only two Raws remained to build towards their next show. Many, including myself, find this schedule to be problematic, but as long as the show is there, fans will buy it, even if on the surface it lacks the sizzle needed to sell.
Of course, not seeing the show is always an option, but if you exercised it, you may have missed a couple of moments and matches that you'll regret later. That's what this show was about, giving the fans some moments even when most of the card didn't seem all that great on paper.
With all that said, the booking was important here. It is a transitional time in WWE, so booking matches right will make for better TV moving forward. Did they deliver? Let's find out:
Rey Mysterio vs. R-Truth - I had made a comment that this match needed to open the show. It did and it was most certainly the right move. The booking on the other hand, I'm not so sure about that. On one hand, Rey Mysterio could probably lose every match from here to eternity and still be over, but with very few babyfaces on the Raw roster, I feel like at least he and Cena need to be booked strongly. It's a minor inconvenience though, as putting Truth over holds a lot of positive. For one thing, Truth has been great since his heel turn and this shows some trust in his new character. I'm also not very high on Alberto Del Rio's work right now, so if Truth is pushed above Del Rio, I have absolutely no problem with that. I feel that Del Rio needs more time to perfect his English so as to better get his character over, so having Truth working well at this point is great. With Miz, Truth, and Punk (if he stays around), your main event heel lineup is strong. It's just a matter of finding the right babyfaces for them to square off with. As of now, the pickings are slim, but kudos to WWE for going with a hot character here.
Intercontinental Title: Wade Barrett(c) vs. Ezekiel Jackson - The booking here was just fine. Everyone looked good and we came away with the right result. Big Zeke just broke away from The Corre and putting the title on him now would be overkill. Thus, having him look great in the match and then succombing to the numbers game worked for me. It's not anyone's favorite Pay Per View match ending, but in this case, it needed to be done. I think Zeke will get the title sooner than later (though I still would prefer a Daniel Bryan/Wade Barrett feud), but this was the right result for the show. Also, I like the new finisher for Zeke. It hasn't been used in a long time and it just fits. Well done there.
Sin Cara vs. Chavo Guerrero - Sin Cara reminds me of Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder. He's young, incredibly athletic, full of potential, but still mistake-prone. You see flashes of brilliance from Cara, but the botches are getting to be too much. He was working with an excellent opponent in Chavo Guerrero and he STILL botched the finish of the match! My feeling is to simplify things and build up to the big spots. The guy is talented but it makes him look terrible to have a botch in every match. We won't see him botching on Smackdown with editing, so if he's going to wrestle live on PPV, make sure it goes off without a hitch. I absolutely agree with putting him over since Chavo is on payroll specifically for that purpose, but clean up the act and soon!
WWE Tag Team Championship: Big Show and Kane(c) vs. CM Punk and Mason Ryan - I think this was the right booking. Quite honestly, CM Punk should be doing bigger and better things, and it was the other Nexus members that beat KaneShow, not these guys. They should have gotten the title shot. That said, it made sense for the heels to lose here since they didn't have the numbers advantage and were clearly outmatched size-wise. Booking was just fine here and it filled a spot on the card. That's really all there is to say about that.
WWE Divas Championship: Brie Bella(c) vs. Kelly Kelly - I predicted this one right and retained my predictions championship as a result. That's about the only positive to come out of this match. It wasn't good and I don't know how to rate the booking because I'm not sure I care. Until Kharma gets involved in the title picture, I'm not sure that most people care in all honesty. How about putting the belt on a talented diva like Beth, Eve, Natalya, or even Melina? Do that and I might care. Or just let Kharma destroy them all.
World Heavyweight Championship: Randy Orton(c) vs. Christian - As expected, this was excellent. Christian looked about as good as he could look without actually winning and Orton continues to look awesome when put with great opponents. I do have a problem with the end though. It seems like seeds are being planted for Christian to turn heel and I am not a fan. Actually, I hate it. Christian is a rare commodity in the business as a babyface that fans legitimately like. Sure, he's the #2 face to Orton on Smackdown, but you need that guy. As a heel, he would get a feud with Orton, not win it, and then go on to putting over young babyfaces. He's actually become less credible as a heel and I'm not a fan of that. Unless the WWE plans on giving him the title as a heel (which I doubt and wouldn't really like as I think he was a great face champion), why turn him heel? The only person it benefits is Orton as it's one more heel to beat. At least as the #2 face Christian could put guys over and then win feuds in the end because he's the face that people want to win in the end. He could be Mysterio......with believability. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, and Christian certainly isn't broke. I really don't understand this move but I'll hold off judgment until I see the long term payoff.
Kiss My Foot Match: Jerry Lawler vs. Michael Cole - YES! This was exactly what needed to happen. I'll be the first to admit that I said that this feud went on too long, and it probably did, but this was the perfect payoff. Basically everyone that Cole pissed off over the last few months got some measure of revenge on him and the entire match/segment was about embarassing the man. That's what needed to happen and it did happen. On top of that, Bret Hart made a surprise return for an awesome moment that only live TV can provide. If you were looking for a 5 star match here........you're pretty much an idiot. However, if you were looking for a jerk getting humbled, it was just right. I loved it and I'm sure most people did as well.
"I Quit" Match: John Cena(c) vs. The Miz - This is the controversial one. It's been a day and the reaction to the booking has been very mixed. Some feel the bookign was fitting while others think it's the worst burial since Undertaker was last buried alive. Of course, this is my column so it really doesn't matter what everyone else thinks, so let's just get to my take. I actually felt the booking was perfect in this match. It was literally perfect. Miz looks great by "outsmarting" Cena at every turn, from having essentially a handicap match to being brutal with Cena, to using the tape recorder to get him to quit, everthing went according to plan for him. Then, Alex Riley, not Miz, blew the match for Miz. He dropped the tape recorder which caused the reversed decision (second time in a month), then he hit Miz with the belt which weakened him, and finally got AA'd through the announce table to take away the one man advantage. Once the odds were even and Cena had time to recouperate from the beating, Miz was a sitting duck and like the coward he is, quit in short order. Some say this is ridiculous and he shouldn't have quit so quickly. I say that it fit his character perfectly and showed him for the coward he is. The only issue I have is that I don't know where Miz goes next, but you had to know going in that Miz was going to lose. He's become a big star and I'm sure creative will find something for him. This was a solid payoff to the feud and I quite enjoyed it. The only change I might make is to have a little less talking and a little more brutality, but it was still pretty brutal the way it was. I was fine with the booking here and I'm sticking to that!
Overall, you had a couple of solid matches, quite a bit of filler, and an excellent end of the card. The last 3 matches had elements that were worth seeing and that's basically all you look for with a Pay Per View. If every show was like this, you'd be hard pressed not to buy the show. I'm sure plenty passed on this one due to the card not looking strong on paper, but they missed out on some solid stuff. It's not as good as Extreme Rules, but it certainly had its moments. It also was booked well so I think the WWE is in solid shape moving forward. There are no lingering feuds anymore so the booking should be quite fresh. I look forward to that and hope the next PPV we talk about has a lot of hot feuds filling up its card.
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