The History of the Over the Limit Pay-Per-View: A Casual Fans' Guide

Although it may sound more like an advertisement to stop the epidemic of drinking and driving, Over the Limit is actually a WWE pay-per-view. 

In fact, it’s the company’s next PPV and will take place in just nine days at the PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina. 

The show will be highlighted by John Cena taking on John Laurinaitis, a Fatal 4-Way for the World Heavyweight Championship and an Internet wrestling fan’s dream matchup of CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan for the WWE Championship. 

Even though Over the Limit is certainly not one of the WWE’s “Big Four” pay-per-views, I’m actually intrigued by the possibility of a very newsworthy pay-per-view. 

Before we can watch the WWE superstars invade North Carolina next Sunday, though, let’s take a look back at the history of the Over the Limit pay-per-view. 

Brief History of Over the Limit 

The first Over the Limit PPV took place on May 23, 2010, replacing Judgment Day—which had run every May from 2000 to 2009—as the WWE’s May pay-per-view. 

Although the WWE has recently started a trend of revolving non-“Big Four” pay-per-views around specific gimmick matches, Over the Limit does not necessarily do that. 

However, it’s worth noting that the main events of the first two Over the Limit shows were “I Quit” matches, with John Cena defending his WWE Championship in the main event on both occasions. 

The first Over the Limit PPV (2010) was held in the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan, while the second one (2011) took place inside the KeyArena in Seattle, Washington. 

Over the Limit Facts and Trends 

*Five WWE titles were defended on each of the first two pay-per-views. On each occasion, the only active WWE title that was not defended was the United States Championship. 

*The following superstars are 2-0 at Over the Limit: John Cena, R-Truth and Big Show. 

*The Miz and CM Punk are the only two superstars who are 0-2 at Over the Limit. 

*The longest match in the PPV’s history took place last year, when Cena defeated The Miz in an “I Quit” Match that lasted 24:56. 

*The shortest match in the PPV’s history also took place last year, when Brie Bella defeated Kelly Kelly in 4:03 to retain the Divas Championship. 

Best Matches in Over the Limit History 

3. “I Quit” Match for the WWE Championship: John Cena defeats Batista (2010) 

In what would be the final match of Batista’s WWE career (at least for now), The Champ beat the Animal in a grueling 20-minute “I Quit” Match that ended when Batista quit right before Cena gave him an Attitude Adjustment off the top of a car through the stage. 

2. S.E.S. Pledge vs. Hair Match: Rey Mysterio defeated CM Punk (2010) 

Punk vs. Mysterio was one of the better rivalries of 2010, and these two superstars met one-on-one three times on pay-per-view. 

Their Over the Limit match would be their last singles encounter on pay-per-view and stands out as arguably the best bout of their PPV series. 

1. World Heavyweight Championship Match: Randy Orton defeats Christian (2011) 

We all know about the great series of PPV matches that Orton and Christian had in 2011, and they delivered a hell of a performance once again at Over the Limit. 

This wasn’t the best match of their series, but I do feel like this one doesn’t get enough credit and is a very underrated bout. Try to watch it if you haven’t seen it already. 

My Thoughts on Over the Limit 

Over the Limit is generally placed in a tough predicament because it follows up what are traditionally two of the WWE’s better pay-per-views of the year, WrestleMania and Extreme Rules, and it usually does so just seven or eight weeks after Mania. 

As a result, Over the Limit has become somewhat of a “throwaway” pay-per-view, with matches that don’t necessarily have a lot of intrigue and that aren’t really destined to be classics. 

There have been some very bad matches during Over the Limit’s two-year lifespan, including that pretty bad “I Quit” main event featuring Cena and The Miz last year that dragged on for 25 minutes or Jerry Lawler vs. Michael Cole in a “Kiss my Foot” match. 

That being said, I’m actually a little bit more optimistic about Over the Limit this year. 

We’ve seen some really good Over the Limit matches in the past (like the ones I mentioned above), and I think that the Fatal 4-Way for the World Heavyweight Championship and Punk vs. Bryan could be two of the better World title matches we’ll see in 2012. 

The 2012 version of Over the Limit isn’t going to generate a ton of PPV buys (as has been the case the past two years), but it could be a surprisingly good show that features two four-star matches. 

Not too shabby, if you ask me.

Drake Oz is the WWE Lead Writer for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter and ask him any wrestling-related questions (to be answered in the B/R Mailbag) on Formspring.