WWE Capitol Punishment: 8 Reasons R-Truth Can Take the WWE Title from John Cena

In two days, two men will meet in a WWE Championship Match at the first-ever Capitol Punishment pay-per-view.

The Champ, John Cena, will take on No. 1 contender R-Truth, who is getting his first chance at the WWE's top prize.

Though the widespread assumption is that Truth will be soundly defeated and move on to a feud with John Morrison, there are the few fans—the very few, admittedly—who think Truth will walk away with championship gold on Sunday.

To that group, I say, "Don't hold your breath."

But I also say, "I guess there's always a chance, right?"

In fact, after doing a little bit of thinking, I've come up with eight reasons why R-Truth can—notice I didn't say will—defeat Cena at Capitol Punishment and win his first WWE Championship. 

8. There Are Too Many Face Champions

Of the four major WWE titles, three of them are currently held by baby face's characters, with Intercontinental Champion Wade Barrett as the only heel titleholder.

And I fully expect Ezekiel Jackson to take the strap from him at Capitol Punishment, effectively giving the faces a clean sweep of the WWE, World Heavyweight, IC and United States titles at least for a brief time on Sunday.

Boring.

Having all the good guys win all the time is both bad for business and bad for booking. We don't want to see good constantly suppress evil all the time—at least not "we" who are over the age of 10.

Of course, Vince McMahon and the WWE don't always care about what some of us in the IWC want.

But even he has to realize that having four baby face champions isn't the greatest idea.

7. The WWE Knows It Needs an African American WWE Champion

In case you can't tell from my profile picture on B/R, I'm white. So, don't assume I'm playing the race card here.

Anyway, I know some of you think this subject has been tired out. But it's about damn time that we have a black WWE Champion.

I don't care what anyone says, Vince McMahon and plenty of important people in the WWE realize that not having an African American champ for such a long time looks bad for the company.

Now, I'm not saying the WWE is a racist organization or one that purposely strives to limit the advancement of its black employees.

But The Rock is the only WWE Champion in history with African American roots, and that's hard for me to even fathom.

If the WWE wants to make the right call in this situation (one that doesn't present itself very often), they'll book R-Truth to defeat John Cena and become the new WWE Champion at Capitol Punishment.

6. John Cena Is Hurting

Last week, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported that John Cena has been working through a number of injuries recently.

According to sources who spoke with the WO, Cena has been battling nagging problems with his neck, hip and elbow for quite some time now.

Though he hasn't complained much, and it doesn't appear as if he'll need surgery in the immediate future, you have to wonder whether WWE officials will want to keep the strap on Cena when he's clearly not 100 percent.

There's no need to risk a serious, long-term injury just because they want to keep the WWE Championship on him heading into SummerSlam—he can always win it back before then, anyway.

So, perhaps they get the strap off Cena by having R-Truth beat him at Capitol Punishment?

5. Recent History Says John Cena Will Have a Short Title Reign

Let's take a look at John Cena's last five WWE Championship reigns:

Sept. 13, 2009 - Oct. 4, 2009

Oct. 25, 2009 - Dec. 13, 2009

Feb. 21, 2010 - Feb. 21, 2010

March 28, 2010 - June 20, 2010

May 1, 2011 - Present

As you can see, the trend over the last 21 months or so is that Cena does not have long reigns with the WWE Championship, with one reign that lasted only about 10 minutes and the longest lasting less than three months.

While some may think that's a reason to keep the strap on him longer this time around, possibly all the way to Wrestlemania 28 for his match against The Rock, I'm not one of them.

The truth is (see what I did there), wrestling is more entertaining when faces, like Cena, are chasing heels, like R-Truth.

Therefore, taking the strap off Cena—something recent history says is likely—doesn't seem too far fetched now, does it? 

4. R-Truth's Not Getting Any Younger

I know what you're thinking. If R-Truth is up there in age—he's 39 by the way—then why did the WWE wait so long to build him into a WWE Championship contender?

Well, rumor has it that Vince McMahon wanted to turn Truth heel for a while, but the creative team always talked him out of it. That's another story for another day, though.

The point I'm trying to make is that Truth isn't going to be around the company for another 10 years. He's likely got another five or six at the absolute max, with three or four being more likely.

Therefore, the WWE has to capitalize on his momentum right now.

This isn't one of those times where you give someone a title shot and brand him as a "future star." Truth isn't a guy the company will be building its future around.

He is, however, someone who's on fire and should be at the top of the card at this very moment, and by making him the WWE Champion, he's guaranteed to be there, even if it is only for a brief period.

3. R-Truth Has the Support of Vince McMahon

As indicated in the last slide, it was reportedly Vince McMahon's idea to pull the trigger on the R-Truth heel turn.

And, if you think he's not laughing in the face of the creative team right now and boasting about how he was right, then you're as crazy as Truth is.

McMahon knows he made the right move by switching Truth over to the dark side, and when Vince gets behind someone, he's usually destined for big things.

Obviously, he's completely behind Truth right now, and that means that as long as Truth's character stays hot, there's no telling how far he'll go. 

2. The Ridiculous Amount of WWE Title Changes

It's no secret that the WWE Championship isn't as highly valued today as it was 10 or 15 years ago.

The title has changed hands so much over the past few years that short reigns are the norm and almost no one expects to see the champ hold the belt for more than a few months.

In fact, since Nov. 23, 2008, the WWE title has moved from one wrestler to another a whopping 19 times.

That, of course, has completely diminished the shock value that used to be associated with a title change, and it's made many fans expect to see a title change pretty much whenever the title's on the line.

So, here's my question. If we can see 19 different championship reigns in approximately 31 months, then why won't we see a 20th? 

1. WWE TLC 2009

At WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs in 2009, WWE newcomer Sheamus faced John Cena for his WWE Championship in a Tables Match.

No one, including me, gave the Celtic Warrior even a puncher's chance in this bout. Yet, when the show ended, Sheamus was standing tall as the new WWE Champion.

It was one of those, "I can't believe that just happened" moments. A guy who had been in the WWE for less than a year beating Cena for the title?

Yep, believe it.

And if it can happen to someone like Sheamus, it can happen to R-Truth, too.