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I know we, the fans, shouldn’t care about WWE’s TV ratings, because that’s not our issue. Our purpose is to lean back and enjoy the product. But I’m afraid that the WWE officials will take action after the latest Monday Night RAW, which drew a very poor 2.7 rating.

As reported by several sources, the bout featuring current WWE Champion CM Punk facing off Daniel Bryan, lost the most viewers. In the meantime, Alberto Del Rio vs. US Champion Santino Marella drew the lowest number of the evening, but that was just a meaningless squash anyway.

I’m not saying the two Best in the World are the sole reason for the weak number. RAW has been on a decline for quite some time now. The whole product comes off a bit bland as of late. The People Power era hasn’t been convincing so far, despite the short return of Brock Lesnar. Additionally, it was memorial day and other, more popular shows and series aired. But that’s not the main issue here.

Back to the WWE Championship feud. Although it’s no secret that Punk and Bryan don’t draw as good as other top stars, this is a bit of shocking news. Everybody could expect a good, long match out of these two workers, as evidenced by their encounter at Over the Limit, and yet the match-up turned many people off.

One possible reason for that would be, that the casual viewers prefer entertainment to wrestling (thus: promos > matches). That’s sad, but true.

According to backstage reports, officials panicked when the rating got out. It’s possible that they’re gonna put part of the blame on the two wrestlers involved, since that’s what they did the last time RAW drew such a rating (then-Champion Del Rio lost the WWE title to Cena on the next PPV). That would be a wrong move, as it was back in September (ADR won the title back after a mere two weeks).

Plus: Punk and Danielson just got pushed. It takes time until they become a massive draw like John Cena is.

Another reason is the booking. Compared to Cena’s storylines, Punk and Bryan don’t get much TV time, despite it being the WWE Championship feud, unless they fight each other. There have hardly been any promos to hype their feud, which is a real shame. Both can talk very well (yes [no pun intended], D-Bry is a good mic-worker), so let them have a talk battle for once.

Thinking about it, the WWE has to put the blame on themselves for this. For decades, it seemed sheer impossible for smaller wrestlers to make it to the main event and win the big gold belt, because only the tall and big workers reached the top.

It’s pretty clear that Vince McMahon always had a fetish for big guys. The constant pushes of larger-than-life superstars, like Hulk Hogan, Goldberg, Triple H or John Cena, ultimately led us, the fans, to believe that a wrestler has to look a certain way to become believable.

If I ask my friends, who used to watch the product, not one of them views a CM Punk in the same league as Batista. Even though both have been equally successful in the ring.

Right now, the WWE is heading to a good direction though. To my surprise, CM Punk is getting quite the long WWE title reign, Sheamus’ run will be most likely too. Daniel Bryan had a 3-month-long run and still is a main eventer. They’re willing to give the next generation a chance to prove themselves. They’ve yet to prove that they can reach decent numbers, but that will come.

Apparently, the viewers are just not ready to accept the Punks, Bryans and Ryders of this industry yet. I’m certain they eventually will.

NOTE: If you’ve yet to watch the show, stop reading right now.

The third edition of WWE’s May PPV Over the Limit is history and let’s see if it was better than the last two mediocre OTLs:

Pre-Show Match: Kane def. Zack Ryder

I love this YouTube Pre-Show concept. It hypes you for the PPV, it possibly attracts some last-minute buyers and the Dark Matches become viewable for the entire world.

Surprisingly, this match was a really competitive contest. Ryder had a lot of offense in this match, against Kane! At least these two workers had some history, unlike the Triple Threat Tag Match before WrestleMania or Santino-Miz before Extreme Rules. And even though Z-RY wasn’t featured on the actual card, hasn’t been on RAW for almost a month and lost this bout, I think (and hope) that the Long Island Iced Z will be pushed yet again. He’s still extremely popular. Average, but meaningless match.

**1/2

SVR 2007 Chokeslam? SVR 2007 Chokeslam.

People Power Battle Royal - Winner gets a shot at either the Intercontinental or United States Championship: Christian def. The Miz, David Otunga, Tyson Kidd, William Regal, Alex Riley, Curt Hawkins, Tyler Reks, Darren Young, Titus O’Neil, Drew McIntyre, Ezekiel Jackson, Heath Slater, Jey Uso, Jimmy Uso, Jinder Mahal, JTG, Michael McGillicutty, The Great Khali & Yoshi Tatsu

Christian is back!

… but did he have to return at the goddamn Pre-Show? I mean, last year he finally became a Main Eventer, had two World Heavyweight Title reigns and now he’s back in Midcardland? Really? I thought his comeback in 2009 at ECW (yes, the C-Show) was bad enough. At least he got huge pops and some sort of a face turn (unlike Tyson Kidd or Michael McGee).

Anyways. This was a very good Battle Royal; the William Regal-chants were awesome, Tyson Kidd is amazing, The Usos were on fire, NXT’s villains Tyler Reks & Curt Hawkins finally got some recognition (seems they’ll get pushed by Big Johnny as his security; I’m fine with that). I was rooting for Kidd or Regal, who’d deserve a(nother) title-run. The Canadian High-Flyer is massively underrated and overlooked, but maybe the fact that he was one of the last guys to be eliminated is a sign at a possible push.

After eliminating The Miz (who also rose to the top in 2011 and now is back wrestling for Midcard Titles), Christian picked the US Championship and Santino Marella as his opponent. But that didn’t really come to fruition.

**1/2

WWE Tag Team Championship: Kofi Kingston & R-Truth def. American Perfection (Dolph Ziggler & Jack Swagger with Vickie Guerrero)

Great Tag Team Wrestling. I expected good wrestling from the two Teams and they delivered. ZigSwag are actually a pretty damn good Tag Team; I wouldn’t mind a title-run. Ziggler does deserve better (while Swagger needs to improve on the mic and character-wise), but he and Swag could make the Tag Division really interesting again as Champs.

We saw a lot of high-flying action, thanks to AIR-Boom. Kofi is always intriguing to watch and Truth is also a very decent jumper. That X-Factor Combination by the contenders was very well done and the finish was just epic; a Trouble in Paradise to a jumping Ziggler. Picture-perfect. More of that.

***

Oh come on, look at these countenances!

WWE Divas Championship: Layla © def. Beth Phoenix

“But tonight [on RAW], Kharma needs to return and destroy everybody. EVERYBODY!”

I wrote that in the Extreme Rules review three weeks ago. And still, no sight of Kharma. I lost a lot of interest in this match, even though both divas are good workers. I love Layla, but she shouldn’t have returned instead of Awesome Kong last month. Apparently it’s because we, the fans / IWC expect Kharma to show up on every PPV or RAW after, and the WWE wants to be totally unpredictable. Maybe we should stop posting our hopes and predictions on the internet, so Kharma can finally come back.

Oh, and did you also notice that Beth Phoenix has an ample bosom?

*1/2

WWE World Heavyweight Championship - Fatal 4 Way: Sheamus © def. Chris Jericho, Randy Orton & Alberto Del Rio (with Ricardo Rodriguez)

As was to be expected, Sheamus retained his gold after an entertaining and very good bout. Del Rio had his Cross Armbreaker applied on several times (Si! Si! Si!), Orton RKO’ed everything in his path and Jericho locked the Walls of Jericho in on quite a few occasions, almost for the victory. SmackDown!’s Champ won the match after a Celtic Cross White Noise on Y2J after a quarter-hour. Expect this feud to be continued (minus Del Rio).

****

Singles Match: Brodus Clay (with the Funkettes) def. The Miz

Poor Miz. He defeated Randy Orton and John Cena for the WWE Title at two PPVs and now he has to lose to the Funkasaurus.

I copy-and-pasted this sentence from my Extreme Rules review and just edited the necessary parts. I mean, come on. The Funkasaurus is a cool cat dino, but this has to stop sooner rather than later. Ziggler suffered last month, now it’s Miz’s turn? Who’s next, Cody Rhodes?

At least Brodus Clay was allowed to do a Fallaway Slam from the top rope. Oh, and The Miz’s facial expressions during his Thriller-dance were hilarious.

*1/2

MJ would be proud.

WWE Intercontinental Championship: Christian def. Cody Rhodes © - NEW INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPION

Christian changed his mind when Cody Rhodes talked bad about the returning (and now suddenly face, might I add) Cpt. Charisma and decided to go after the Intercontinental Title (man, does the belt look good!). As much as I love Santino, I’m glad a US Title Match wasn’t offered.

We witnessed a decent contest, with Rhodes dominating most of the time (he hit a perfect Top-Rope Moonsault and Disaster Kick from the steel steps), until the Instant Classic sealed the deal with an Unprettier (*playonCody’spreviousDashingGimmick*). Christian is now a four-time IC Champion, while Cody will move to bigger things.

And THANKFULLY, Christian is a face again! His “One More Match” demand became old after a few weeks, and so did his heel-run (which shouldn’t have never happened in the first place). Also, SmackDown! needs more legitimate top faces (as I urged in one of my previous blog entries).

I preferred it if our new Intercontinental Champion (who dedicated his match to the late great “Macho Man” Randy Savage, may he rest in peace) went after the World Title instead, but now that that didn’t happen, let’s hope for a good and long IC Title reign and some good matches (Kidd-Christian, anyone?).

Interesting statistic: The Intercontinental Title changed its holder three times in two months. Talking about a flip-flopping.

**1/2

WWE Championship: CM Punk © def. Daniel Bryan

The match that nobody thought would ever happened was fought last night at Over the Limit. Between two former Indy-schmucks, who never should’ve even made it to the WWE. CM Punk vs. Bryan Danielson for the WWE Heavyweight Title on PPV.

The match was the technical festival we all expected, no matter if you watched their Ring of Honor matches or never even heard of the term “independent scene”. Punk paid tribute to several legends, such as Ric Flair (Figure-4 Leg Lock), Randy Savage (Macho Elbow) and even blatantly stole Bryan’s iconic indy-catchphrase “I have ‘till five!”. Just like the “Best Wrestler in the World”-title.

And when was the last time Punk wasn’t as cheered (as the top face) as his opponent? Because that’s exactly what happened when Daniel Bryan and CM Punk faced each other for the coveted WWE Championship. The crowd went nuts when Bryan Danielson arrived on the scene and cheered wildly for SmackDown!’s supposed top heel. Punk also received a warm welcome, but more from the female viewers and kids (does that sound familiar?) than the dudes. Everytime he, the face, struck, he got a “NO!”, while everytime Bryan hit, we could hear a strong “YES!”.

The strikes were hard to witness; sick knee stomps by Danielson, hard low and Roundhouse Kicks, a Surfboard Facecrusher, even some sort of a Slingshot Springboard Clothesline that looked just brutal.

We saw plenty of submission holds that were excruciating to watch. A Surfboard / Romero Special, a modified Dragon Sleeper, an Abdominal Stretch (to which ten years ago, Punk submit) and, of course, the LeBell “Yes!” Lock. In which, Punk almost tapped out. But the Second City Saint being the old dog that he is, turned Bryan on his back, while the ref counted 1, 2, 3.

The fans were chanting “This is awesome!”, and oh yes, we all could agree with that. Did it get enough time? Well, the match lasted more than 20 minutes, but I think we all wouldn’t a couple of more minutes, would we? Judging from the aftermath, the feud will definitely continue and there’s only one thing left to say …

YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!

*****

Squash Match: Ryback def. Camacho (with Hunico)

Hunico is a froot guy, but he should keep his mouth shut. Enter Ryback, with his invisible Pyros, destroying his buddy Camacho in not even two minutes with his … typical arsenal (okay okay, he did some sort of a Spinebuster). Well, that was better than his last PPV-showdown against two nobodies. Feed him more? Why couldn’t Lord Tensai appear at the end to make this interesting? Streak vs. Streak, Monster vs. Monster, book it.

*

No DQ - If Laurinaitis loses, he gets terminated: John Laurinaitis def. John Cena

This “match” was pretty entertaining and hilarious, but seriously: Did it have to CLOSE the show? This match bout contest fight segment (much better) got soo much build-up, that could’ve been given to the goddamn WWE Title Match.

Recently re-popular John Cena made fun of his boss most of the time, by mimicking Cole and Booker on commentary (“5 Time. 5 Time. 5 Time.” Oh, Johnny), pouring water on the Dual-GM and using a fire extinguisher.

Suddenly, Johnny Ace took advantage of the Fruity Pebble’s injured arm (thanks, Brock!). Until Cena found his inner superman (again) and shellacked Laryngitis. After he low-blowed WWE’s top face, he tried to flee. But, surprise-surprise, the recently (kayfabe)-fired Big Show prevented him from doing so, heroically dragging the authority figure back to the ring. Cena was ready to say FU (or “Puck You!”) to Big Johnny, but, suddenly, Show smacked the WWE’s resident boyscout in the face and helped Ace keeping his job.

THANK GOD Big Show is heel again! He was so freaking annoying and cringe-worthy to watch as the cry-baby big teddy bear, it was time for him to refresh his character. His face-runs are successful for so long.

I smell a conthpirathy coming (read that in R-Truth’s voice). And unfortunately, another Cena-Show feud. Ugh.

**

Conclusion: Over the Limit receives mixed critics from me. Both World Title matches were excellent, the Tag Team contest was thrilling, Christian is back, turned face and is a champion, Show finally turned heel, Laurinaitis kept his job and Cena got one in the kisser. On the other side Cena-Laurinaitis was the main event, two Squash matches, the return of Christian was wasted on the Pre-Show plus, he’s back in the Midcard, no Kharma and no Batista (wishful thinking, but I couldn’t be the only one who thought of a possible comeback scenario). On a sidenote, the stage looked froot. And this PPV finally lifted the curse of crappy Over the Limits. Thanks Punk and Bryan!

Rating: **3/4

WWE Pay-Per-View Ranking 2012

1. WrestleMania XXVIII ***1/2 (five-star match bonus)

2. Extreme Rules ***1/2

3. Royal Rumble ***

4. Over the Limit **3/4 (five-star match bonus)

5. Elimination Chamber **3/4

Thanks for taking your time and reading my Review.

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