Jon Material - WWE Over The Limit: 25 interesting, fun, and even useless facts regarding WWE May pay-per-view events, WWE title belts, and various WWE wrestlers

May 22, 2011 - 11:20 AM

By Jon Lopuch



Editor's Note: Jon Lopuch is a former writer for Fanball.com and numerous fantasy football websites, as well as a lifelong follower of pro wrestling. He's a foutain of useless information and has a Rainman-like ability to remember the name of the city and arena that even the most random WWE televised event took place in. Jon is putting his warped brain to good use by coming up with various factoids regarding WWE pay-per-view events.



1. This is the second Over the Limit pay-per-view. The first was last year and emanated from Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Mich.



2. The mid/late May PPV slot was held by Judgement Day from 2000 - 2009.



3. In 1998 and 1999, the slot was held by Over the Edge, but that name stopped being used after the tragic death of Owen Hart.



4. May PPVs also occurred in 1995 (the inaugural In Your House), 1996 (In Your House: Beware of Dog), and 1997 (In Your House: A Cold Day In Hell).



5. IYH: Beware of Dog was notable for multiple reasons. A large portion of the original event did not air because of a power outage in Florence, South Carolina. The PPV was rescheduled for two days later. Also, as per the match stipulation, a loss by "The Ringmaster" Steve Austin to Savio Vega in a Carabian Strap Match at the rescheduled iteration of the event caused the WWF departure of Austin’s manager, "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase.



6. The Intercontinental Championship has never changed hands in Seattle, although in 1996 the title was vacated due to events in the city. Ahmed Johnson had to forfeit the title following an injury at the hands of a debuting Faarooq Asad (Ron Simmons).



7. Wade Barrett is the third English-born Intercontinental champion, joining William Regal and Davey Boy Smith. Like Barrett, Smith was billed from Manchester during the latter portion of his career.



8. Current Corre members Wade Barret, Justin Gabriel, and Heath Slater were three of the final four contestants in the first season of NXT. Each of these allies hail from a different part of the British Empire.



9. Since the start of 2010, only one person born in North America (Dolph Zigler) has held the Intercontinental Championship.



10. It has been almost six months since Michael Cole cost Jerry Lawler the WWE Championship in ladder match against the Miz on the November 29 edition of Raw. The match was The Miz’s first of his title reign and billed as Lawler’s first chance at the WWE Championship.



11. Lawler and Cole have been prohibited from physical contact on Raw since the anonymous general manger’s "cease and desist" edict on December 6.



12. Footage of Lawler’s loss to Bret Hart in a Kiss My Foot Match from King of the Ring 1995 aired on Raw. That event eminated from Philadelphia, and the tournament was won by Mabel. The feud would continue at SummerSlam, when Lawler debuted his wrestling dentist, Dr. Issac Yankem, DDS.



13. Lawler’s Hall of Fame ring is on the line Sunday. His Hall of Fame class in 2007 also included Jim Ross, The Sheik, Mr. Fuji, Nick Bockwinkel, Dusty Rhodes, and "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig.



14. R-Truth’s last PPV victory came as part of Team WWE at SummerSlam against the Nexus. His last singles victory came a year ago at Over The Limit against Ted DiBiase.



15. If you watch WWE Superstars, you see Chavo Guerrero frequently. However, if you only watch WWE PPVs, this is your first time seeing him in the ring since the Royal Rumble. His last non-Royal Rumble appearance came when he teamed with Vickie Guerrero and lost to Santina Marella in a Hog Pen Match at Extreme Rules 2009. Twice during that span he has participated in WrestleMania battle royals that were not broadcast to the PPV audience.



16. Christian's acquisition of World Heavyweight Championship made him the 11th wrestler to capture a version of the Grand Slam of titles in WWE. The victory came just over 11 years after he first captured the Tag Team Championship at WrestleMania 2000 and 10 years after he beat Edge for the Intercontinental belt at Unforgiven 2001.



17. This is Randy Orton's second reign as World Heavyweight Champion. He became the youngest person to ever hold the title in WWE on August 15, 2004 when an RKO led to a pinfall victory over Chris Benoit. The following day Orton’s Evolution stablemates gave him the thumbs down and turned on young Randall.



18. Orton's win over Benoit took place in Toronto. It was the last time the World Heavyweight Championship changed hands on Canadian soil.



19. Does any WWE broadcaster remember that The Miz’s knee lift/neckbreaker combo is called The Reality Check? Despite it being his finisher for about two years (during multiple tag team championship reigns!), every member of the WWE broadcast team either ignores the move when it occurs or generically refers to it as "a high-impact move" or simply says "look at that."



20. John Cena has never lost the WWE Championship in a scheduled, traditional one-on-one match. The only times he lost that particular title in a non-gimmick match were to Edge (who cashed in the Money in the Bank briefcase at New Year’s Revolution 2006) and Batista (in an match initiated by Vince McMahon at the 2010 Elimination Chamber PPV).



21. McMahon was on-stage to introduce both of Cena’s opponents in those impromptu championship losses.



22. Cena's other WWE Championship losses have occurred in an Extreme Rules Match (RVD at ECW One Night Stand in 2006), Hell in a Cell (in 2009 to Randy Orton at the eponymous PPV), Tables Match (Sheamus in TLC 2009), Fatal 4-Way (Sheamus again in June of 2010). Cena also vacated the title when he suffered his pectoral injury in October 2007.



23. Cena's two World Heavyweight Championship reigns also didn’t end in traditional matches. His first reign ended in the Elimination Chamber and his second concluded as a result of losing a Last Man Standing match. Both times he was defeated by Edge.



24. The WWE Divas Championship was last defended on PPV during the 2011 Royal Rumble when Eve Torres captured the strap in a Fatal 4-Way with Natalya, Michelle McCool and Layla.



25. The late, great Randy Savage's two WWE Championship reigns lasted a combinsd 520 days, longer than The Rock, Shawn Michaels or Brock Lesner held the strap during their careers.



If you enjoyed the column, found an error, or need a date, contact Jon Lopuch at jonlopuch@gmail.com. Yes, we're kidding about the date thing. Well, unless you are female and extremely attractive. Upon further review, even mildly attractive and/or wealthy females will be considered. Fine, looks and wealth aren't even important, but Pooch is a bit of a stickler when it comes to that whole female thing.

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