WWE Capitol Punishment Results: In-Depth Recap and Analysis

What's up, ladies and gentlemen? My name is Eric Kanes and tonight, starting at 8:00 PM Eastern/5:00 PM Pacific I will be covering the Capitol Punishment PPV live as I watch it. Join the discussion for the next three hours in the comment section below. Refresh the page about every 5 minutes for up-to-the-minute results and analysis.

And now, from our nation's capitol of Washington D.C., let's get this show on the road.

We get started off with a fantastic video package highlighting the R-Truth/John Cena rivalry. That was great. Way up there with the Miz video package from WrestleMania.

The commentators for this event are Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler, & Booker T. We also have spanish announcers. That means someone's going through the table.

Dolph Ziggler d. Kofi Kingston to become the NEW United States Champion (***1/4)

Great 12-minute opener with some solid technical wrestling. I was against this match at first because of how many times it's been done but this was a lot better than expected. There were a couple unique spots I really enjoyed such as Kofi catching Ziggler as he was going for the Zig Zag. It ended with Ziggler going for the Zig Zag and Kofi pushing him back. The referee pushed Ziggler off while Kofi was on the ropes and that allowed Vickie to pull Kofi's hair. Ziggler the capitalized and locked in the sleeper hold. He held Kofi in it for about 45 seconds, not allowing him to get to the ropes and Kofi eventually passed out. This was great. Really made Ziggler look strong. I also have to commend the announcers for putting over how important the title is (although that should've been done before).

R-Truth arrives in a limousine. Josh Matthews asks him how he's feeling. R-Truth is feeling great and says that he's in the middle of a party. He invites Josh Matthews to join him and Josh follows. Ha, that was great. Truth bumps into Eve and invites her to the party as well. Eve says that he doesn't know who he is anymore. Truth says she's right; nobody knows who he is anymore. He says he's dedicating his victory all the Little Jimmys and Little Jennys and then tells her to get out of his face and walks off talking to himself.

Todd Grisham is backstage with The Miz. Miz says that all Alex Riley was good for was carrying the silver briefcase while Miz won the only briefcase that mattered. Tonight, Miz is going to show Riley how it's done because he's The Miz and he's awesome.

Alex Riley d. The Miz (**3/4)

Another great video package. Really made Alex Riley look like a star.

Odd that this was the second match. That should've been Jackson/Barrett. You don't want what's billed as one of your top matches following a bout like Ziggler/Kingston.

That aside, this was a very solid bout. Not as good as Kingston/Ziggler but you'd be foolish if you came in expecting a technical classic here. This was more about the storytelling and these men did a great job at that. The first portion of the match was Miz slapping Riley around. I loved his facial expressions after the near falls where he was like, "what the f*ck do I have to do?" It ended perfectly with Miz making one mistake which allowed Riley to capitalize.

They went to the outside and Cole got up to yell so Riley went after Cole. That allowed Miz to take advantage and take Riley down. Miz then got the briefcase but it got taken away by the referee. Off the distraction, Riley hit a DDT on Miz for the win. Awesome job by both men. The crowd was really hot for this match so that helped, too.

We got a backstage segment with Vickie Guerrero, Sgt. Slaughter, and an Obama imposter who actually looked a lot like him. Obama says that if a Mexican hits a giant with a car, both are covered by Obama health care. Vickie sang "Happy Father's Day" to him but got taken away by security guards. This was pretty lame. I'm ready for the cheesy Obama segments to end after tonight.

Alberto Del Rio d. Big Show (*1/2)

The match started with Alberto Del Rio coming out only to have Big Show attack him from behind. Big Show beat him down on the outside for a short while until Mark Henry ran out and took Big Show down. He went after his injured leg and then put him through the Spanish announce table (told ya!) with the world's strongest slam.

The match then officially began with Big Show barely rolling into the ring. It basically was Del Rio kicking him around for the majority. At one point, Big Show hit a chokeslam out of nowhere but Del Rio quickly rolled out of the ring. Once he rolled back in, Del Rio locked in a cross knee breaker on Big Show's leg. Show refused to tap and Del Rio eventually released him. However, Big Show couldn't stand up so the referee ended the match.

This actually...wasn't that bad. It made Del Rio look like a badass although there was one problem here. What was the point of Mark Henry coming out? If Big Show's leg is so injured, why couldn't Del Rio have attacked him himself? It would've made Del Rio look even stronger which is what he needs if he's going to be in a program with John Cena. Other than that, solid job. Considering what I imagined we would get, I've got no other complaints.

R-Truth is backstage with a cameraman. He asks him to take pictures of him with the title now because after the match he's going to be tired and sweaty. The cameraman points out that the nameplate on the title reads "John Cena." R-Truth grabs the cameraman by the shirt and says that the nameplate will read his name after tonight and then makes the crazy eyes. I'm loving these Truth promos.

Now, we cut to Wade Barrett and Matt Striker backstage. Barrett cuts Striker off and says that he'll handle it himself. Barrett walks to the ring and cuts a promo talking about how America's political system, education, and debt suck. The crowd starts chanting 'U-S-A." Barrett then talks about how he's going to beat Ezekiel Jackson.

Ezekiel Jackson d. Wade Barrett to become the NEW Intercontinental Champion (*)

Another brutal match from these two. I won't even go in-depth on it because it was basically just 10 minutes of these two rolling around. The crowd tried to get into it but it was almost impossible. They chanted "U-S-A" and even "We Want Ryder." I agree. That chant was probably the highlight of the match.

Anyway, the match ended with Ezekiel locking in the Torture Rack and Barrett tapping out. Post-match, Jerry Lawler interviewed Jackson and Jackson said that it's all about the USA and the Personification of Domination. They really shouldn't let that man talk.

We got a backstage segment with Santino Marella, Beth Phoenix, and "Barack Obama." Santino tries to teach Obama the cobra but Obama's bodyguards tackle Santino as he screams that it's only a wrestling maneuver. Santino actually made this pretty funny. If they're going to do another Obama segment, let's see one with R-Truth next.

CM Punk is backstage with Josh Matthews. He says that he's honest and tonight he's going to do the most honest thing by defeating Rey Mysterio.

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CM Punk d. Rey Mysterio (**3/4)

This was fine. It was solid for the most part but nothing spectacular. Definitely not as good as their matches last year. Most of the match was worked at a slow pace with a lot of looooong submission maneuvers. The crowd died down a bit too after being incredibly hot in the first half of the show. I guess the Jackson/Barrett match really put them to sleep.

The last minute of the match was really the only interesting part where business picked up. Punk went for the GTS only to have it reversed into a roll-up. After a very close near fall, Punk tried again but this time Rey reversed into a huricarana into the ropes. Rey went for the GTS but this time Punk caught him in mid-air and finally hit the GTS for the win. The finish was good but the majority of the match was just fine. Nothing special.

Randy Orton d. Christian to retain the World Heavyweight Championship (****)

This was a very strong 14-minute match. It wasn't quite as good as their first two bouts but you have to keep in mind that Orton was barely cleared to wrestle. Plus, the fact that these two were able to come up with a bunch of new, unique spots after going all out in their previous match is amazing in itself. My favorite was the one where Orton got Christian in position for a powerbomb and then dropped him with a neckbreaker. That was sick.

This match ended with Christian and Orton in the corner. Christian hit the boots to the face after which Orton hit the RKO out of nowhere. He got the win and the 3-count despite the fact that Christian's foot was clearly under the rope. The referee refused to acknowledge it and Orton hit Christian in the face with the title and then continued to celebrate. I guess since Christian technically lose this leads to another match at the next PPV. Fine by me.

The Bella Twins come out with Keith Stone for some reason as R-Truth's video package is shown once again.

Evan Bourne d. Jack Swagger (*3/4)

This is billed as a "Special Attraction Match." I guess they needed to fill up the three hours and let the crowd breath between the main events. Glad to see these two getting PPV time.

This was way too slow and the crowd was pretty much dead. It ended with Swagger going for the ankle lock and Bourne rolling him up for the win.

At this point, I guess everyone's just ready for the main event to start.

"Barack Obama" comes out and stands at a podium. He wishes both John Cena and R-Truth good luck in the main event. The crowd is anti-Cena. Obama is about to leave but Booker T calls him back to the ring. Booker T congratulates him on being the first black president but wonders if he can do the spin-a-roonie. Booker T demonstrates and then Obama does it. Oh, the comedy!

John Cena d. R-Truth (**1/2)

Well...this was a bit of a disappointment. It's not that these two had bad chemistry or anything. It's just that the crowd wasn't really reacting to anything and the booking was awkward as well. R-Truth pretty much just dominated Cena, which made the ending obvious. It ended with R-Truth going to the outside and taking a sip from a little kid's drink. The kid then laughed and spilled the drink in his face. R-Truth then started to melt (because water seems to be every wrestler's weakness) as Cena rolled him into the ring and hit the AA for the win.

Post-match, Cena celebrated with Little Jimmy as the show came to an end. We knew that Cena was winning from the start. There were much better ways to book this though. Cena didn't even hulk up tonight. He just beat Truth after one move. Not a very good finish.

Final Thoughts

Overall, we'll call it a 5.5/10. This was better than the last PPV but not by much.

It started off great with a very strong bout between two guys nobody was expecting a great match from. It was followed up by two more solid segments. From that point on, things started to go downhill. Jackson/Barrett was horrible while Punk/Mysterio was below average from their standards. Orton/Christian almost saved the show but then we got the Bourne/Swagger match and lame Obama segment. Since that pretty much killed the crowd, the Cena/Truth match got no reaction.

The main problem with this show was that the crowd never got a chance to get hot. WWE kept killing the crowd because after every strong segment, we seemed to get a slow, boring one and that really affected matches like Cena/Truth which had a lot of potential. The booking and streaming of this show was off and it showed.

Anyway, my name is Eric Kanes and I am hope you enjoyed my live PPV recap. Until next time, I am out!

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