Over The Limit Reactions

Last night at Over the Limit, John Cena retained the WWE Title after taking an unbelievable beating from The Miz and his sidekick Alex Riley. Prior to the ring bell, the Miz unofficially made the bout a handicap match when he reminded Cena that due to the rules, A-Ry was allowed to interfere as often as he’d like. Cena hit an Attitude Adjustment on the Miz early on but Riley attacked him with a briefcase breaking up any momentum he might have garnered. With the cards stacked against the Champ, it didn’t take long for The Miz to gain the upper hand. The destruction of Cena was methodical and ruthless.

During the course of the match, Cena was thrown into the unpadded barrier, hit with 2 TVs, sandwiched by the steel steps, DDT’d on the steps, beaten repeated with a kendo stick, slammed on the steel walkway, punted off the stage, whipped with a leather strap, battered with a steer chair and slammed with a microphone. Cena was asked to quit 19 times throughout the match, he refused emphatically each time. Defeat seemed eminent as Cena was pinned between the steel posts of the crowd barrier sustaining multiple chair shots. For the 20th time, Cena was asked ‘Do you quit?’ This time, he seeming had enough and said ‘I quit.’

The Miz began to celebrate his third second title reign in ring but it was cut short by detective referee Mike Chioda. Chioda found Riley’s cell phone laying outside the ring, pieced together the evidence of the Miz’s deception for the second time in a month and restarted the match after hearing the Cena/’I Quit’ soundbite via the cell phone. Cena took this opportunity and capitalized. He put Riley through the announcers table, knocking him out of the match. He then applied the STFU to the Miz on the entrance way and Miz promptly screamed ‘I quit!’ The rest of the results after the jump…

• R-Truth and Rey Mysterio opened the show with a solid match. Since turning heel, R-Truth has brought a new degree of aggressiveness to his promos and matches. After avoiding a 619, Truth picked up a clean win over Rey. This is a victory Truth can build on in the coming weeks as he continues to make a bigger name for himself in the WWE.

• Former stable-mates Ezekial Jackson and Wade Barrett did battle for the IC title. This match was a coming-out party for Jackson as a singles wrestler. His repeated body slams on Barrett were a testament of his strength and could become a signature of his in the months to come. In the end, Jackson’s quest for the IC title was halted when Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater hit the ring to save the leader of the Corre from almost certain defeat. Look for Jackson to get some revenge this week on Smackdown.

• Sin Cara and Chavo Guerrero put on a nice high-flying, mexican-flavored clinic. We’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg in terms of Sin Cara’s in-ring ability, but his effort at Over the Limit was enough to put away Chavo. This was Sin Cara’s best match in WWE thus far and it’s surely a product of wrestling his fellow countryman, Chavo. The more Sin Cara works with wrestlers with luchador backgrounds, the more entertaining he’ll be. Let’s hope the WWE finds him another formidable opponent.

• Alberto Del Rio’s cut a promo on destiny and immigration but it was cut short by the Big Show and Kane who were hitting the ring to defend their tag titles against CM Punk and Mason Ryan. Clearly overmatched Del Rio retreated without much resistance.

• Prior to the match, Punk and Ryan found the other members of Nexus laid out in the back. Without much concern, Punk told them to just ‘walk it off’. We’re definitely seeing the beginning of the end of Nexus.

• While Kane and Big Show are the tag team veterans, it was Punk and Ryan who displayed impressive tag teams tactics with frequent tags, convenient double teams and isolating their opponents in their corner. Punk’s work with the big men was decent, but this matched served to showcase Mason Ryan’s strength. He dominated when he was in the ring. In the end, Kane was able to tag in a well rested Big Show and that was the end for Punk and Ryan. With Punk tossed out of the ring, Show and Kane offered some physical domination and teamwork of their own by hitting Ryan with the double choke slam for the win.

• Brie Bella picked up a victory over Kelly Kelly after some twin magic in a solid divas match. Shockingly, we didn’t see Kharma.

• The match of the night was hands down Christian vs Orton. Actually, it could be an early candidate for match of the year. The action went back and forth throughout. Orton debuted a new submission that appears to be an inverted Boston crab. Christian learned from his mistakes and avoided the rKo repeatedly. There were multiple double counters that kept us guessing throughout. The most intriguing aspect of the match was Christian and Orton’s demeanor. Christian’s desire for the title became increasingly evident during the match. With spit coming from his mouth and wide-eyed with vengeance, Christian had Orton lined up perfectly for the spear but Orton was able to counter into a power slam. Later in the match, Randy Orton displayed a conscious when the voices in his head bickered over whether to punt Christian. In the end, Orton was able to hit the rKo and pick up the win. After the match, Orton celebrated then helped Christian off the mat. Christian showed no appreciation for the gesture, shoved off Orton and began to walk out initially. After a moment, he returned and shook hands with Orton as a sign of respect. A distraught Christian then exited leaving Orton in the ring a little confused. It doesn’t appear as though we’ve seen the last of this feud and we should all be happy about that.

• Cole and Lawler were up next, but Cole came to the ring in street clothes with a doctor’s note. The note explained that Cole’s athlete’s foot has become infected and he’d be unable to wrestle. He offered the note to the ref who promptly tore it apart and rang the bell. Lawler dominated out of the gate before Cole got a bit of offense going. It was all moot when Lawler finally hit a flying fist for the win. Before the foot-kissing could commence, Lawler invited Eve Torres to moonsault Cole. Eve was followed by good ol’ Jim Ross who gave Cole a BBQ bath. Cole weaseled his way out of the ring without kissing the King’s foot. His escape was cut short by the surprise appearance of Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart. The Hitman dragged Cole to the ring, applied the Sharpshooter and King stuck his foot in Cole’s mouth. We all lived happily ever after. The End.