No Way Out 2012
Promotion	WWE
Date	June 17, 2012
Venue	Izod Center
City	East Rutherford, New Jersey
Attendance	10,000
Last Event	Over the Limit
Next Event	Money in the Bank

No Way Out 2012 (also known as No Escape in Germany) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the WWE promotion, which took place on June 17, 2012 at the IZOD Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The show was the twelfth No Way Out event and the first one since 2009. Nine matches were on the card.

The event received 194,000 buys, up from last year's Capitol Punishment pay-per-view of 170,000.

Background

No Way Out featured professional wrestling matches that involve different wrestlers from pre-existing feuds, plots, and storylines which are played out on WWE's primary television programs. Wrestlers portray villains or heroes as they follow a series of events that build tension and culminate in a wrestling match or series of matches.

The main event of the pay-per-view involves John Cena and Big Show. On the May 14 edition of Raw, the General Manager of Raw and SmackDown John Laurinaitis fired Big Show for making fun of his voice. At Over the Limit, just before John Cena would defeat Laurinaitis, Big Show used his W.M.D. and knocked out Cena, allowing Laurinaitis to pin Cena. The next night on Raw, Laurinaitis revealed that he gave Big Show back his job, complete with an ironclad contract with a bonus on the condition that he would take out Cena as Show was outside the influence of the no interference stipulation for the match. Show stated that he only helped Laurinaitis when he didn't receive any sympathy from the other Superstars and, because of his ironclad contract, started attacking those Superstars. Laurinaitis would soon book a match between Cena and Big Show inside a steel cage for the pay-per-view.

The main event of SmackDown involves the World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus defending his title against Alberto Del Rio. Following a successful title defense by Sheamus against Del Rio, Randy Orton, and Chris Jericho at Over the Limit, all three challengers faced off in a Triple Threat match on the May 25 edition of SmackDown to earn a match against Sheamus for his title. Del Rio successfully pinned Jericho to score a match against Sheamus at No Way Out.

The main event of Raw involves the WWE Champion CM Punk defending his title in a Triple Threat match against Daniel Bryan and Kane. On the May 18 editon of SmackDown, Punk was put in a match against Kane, where Bryan was in commentary observing the match. Bryan would run interference by attacking Kane with a steel chair and making it look like Punk did it, causing Kane to attack Punk. On the May 21 edition of Raw, Bryan, who demanded a rematch due to Punk tapping out moments after scoring the pin during their WWE Championship match at Over the Limit, was facing off against Kane, set up by Punk in which the situation nearly reversed itself. Afterwards, Kane would start attacking both indiscriminately after being a pawn in each of their plans. On the June 1 episode of SmackDown, which involved Punk defending the WWE Championship against Kane, Bryan would interfere in the match, attacking both once more, only for Kane to chokeslam both Bryan and Punk. Afterwards, John Laurinaitis came out to announce a Triple Threat match involving Punk, Bryan, and Kane.

Results

Numbers in parentheses indicate the length of the match.

(c) refers to the champion(s) heading into the match.

• Pre-Show: Brodus Clay (w/ Cameron and Naomi) defeated David Otunga by countout (5:43)
• Sheamus (c) defeated Dolph Ziggler to retain the World Heavyweight Championship (15:10)
• Santino Marella defeated Ricardo Rodriguez in a Tuxedo Match (4:25)
• Christian (c) defeated Cody Rhodes to retain the Intercontinental Championship (11:30)
• The Prime Time Players (Darren Young & Titus O'Neil) defeated Epico & Primo (w/ A. W. & Rosa Mendes) and Airstrike (Justin Gabriel and Tyson Kidd) and The Usos (Jey Uso & Jimmy Uso) in a WWE Tag Team Title #1 Contendership Fatal Four Way Match (9:30)
• Layla (c) defeated Beth Phoenix to retain the WWE Diva's Championship (6:57)
• Sin Cara defeated Hunico (w/ Camacho) (5:48)
• CM Punk (c) defeated Daniel Bryan vs. Kane in a Triple Threat Match to retain the WWE Championship (18:17)
• Ryback defeated Dan Delaney & Rob Grymes in a 2 on 1 Handicap Match (1:38)
• John Cena defeated The Big Show in a Steel Cage Match (19:24)

• If Big Show lost, John Laurinaitis would have been fired. If John Cena lost, he would be fired.

Other on-screen talent

Also See

• List of WWE pay-per-view events
• WWE Event History
• No Way Out

DVD Release

• No Way Out 2012 on DVD

External links

• No Way Out 2012 Official Website
• No Way Out 2012 at CAGEMATCH.net
• No Way Out 2012 at Online World of Wrestling