WWE Over the Limit 2012 Results: John Cena's Beat Down Takes Fun out of Event

The WWE wanted to have its cake and eat it, too.

The powers that be pitted John Cena, a robotic hero that legions of wrestling fans love to hate, against General Manager John Laurinaitis, who pretty much everyone despises, in the main event at Over the Limit 2012.

Or so it would seem, at least.

In any case, by attempting to pander to everyone, the WWE wound up with a lousy finale to the generally boring proceedings in Raleigh on Sunday.

For Cenation and the anti-Laurinaitis crowd, Vince McMahon and company made sure to put Johnny Ace through the ringer.

He was beaten down and embarrassed by Cena in a match that was too often uncomfortable to watch rather than entertaining or emotionally cathartic. Cena simply goofed around with Laurinaitis for much of the time, ringing bells next to John's head, covering him in fire extinguisher spray and subjecting him to the occasional airplane spin.

If that weren't enough, The Big Show made a (rather predictable) surprise appearance just as Laurinaitis was limping his way out of the arena in shame.

The whole scene was made to appear as though Big Show wanted a piece of John after the GM had fired him earlier in the week. Show dragged him back into the ring and left him in the middle of the mat, where he and Cena lined up to pounce on him for some more pain.

But, rather than rehash the same scene that wrestling fans had just suffered through, the writers decided, instead, to have Show knock Cena unconscious, thereby breathing new life into another old and tired feud.

That gave Laurinaitis the win and the right to keep his job that came with it, much to the chagrin of WWE fans everywhere.

So, in reality, there were no winners in the Over the Limit finale.

Even Laurinaitis, whose victory secured his future employment, came out on the wrong end of the equation with the degradation of a product that he's supposed to oversee.

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