WWE SummerSlam 2011 Results: Live Report from Staples Center, Feat. Punk-Cena II

WWE SummerSlam 2011 was certainly a spectacle, taking place at the charismatic Staples Center of Los Angeles, this pay-per-view certainly didn't disappoint and lived past its cheapened hype of being a one-match show. 

Cena and CM Punk was definitely the focal point of the night, with dueling Punk-Cena chants breaking out before anybody was even admitted into the building, however all matches delivered and managed to help this pay-per-view live up to its historically franchised name. 

Dark Match: Dolph Ziggler def. Alex Riley.  The crowd was very hot for the pay-per-view to start, and the arena venue of Staples Center definitely helped with the crowd noise.  A lot of heat on Dolph Ziggler, and a huge pop for Alex Riley who always seems to be more over than I expect no matter what the venue. 

This was a good match to get things started.  Riley and Ziggler exchanged high impact moves and Ziggler seemed to do a good job leading the at times sloppy Riley with a nice pace.

“Let’s go Ziggler” chants periodically rang out from the heel heavy Los Angeles crowd, and Ziggler went on to pick up a clean victory.

Six-Man Tag Team Match:  John Morrison, Rey Mysterio , and Kofi Kingston def. R-Truth, The Miz, and Del Rio.  The crowd was hot for R-Truth, who they were all over, and even hotter for Del Rio who received loud Del Rio chants throughout the arena.

There were a lot of ooh’s and aah’s for the high risk maneuvers including Morrison’s spinning cross body and Kingston’s top rope dive to the outside on Miz during the finish of the match.  

Mark Henry def. Sheamus.  Crowd interest in this match built as it went along, but I felt that it ended right as it was starting to get good.  The crowd wasn’t into the rather sloppy brawling early, but Mark Henry did a great job of using heel facials to keep them engaged as did Sheamus on the babyface end. 

The fans became really hot when Henry bulldozed Sheamus through the guardrail in a spot accompanied by “holy S---“ chants.  There was a real fervor for Sheamus to answer the 10 count, but unfortunately he didn’t as Henry picked up the victory to continue his momentum without Sheamus being hurt that badly.

WWE Diva’s Championship Match:  Kelly Kelly def. Beth Phoenix.  The crowd was least into this match, but got going towards the end.  Mild “you can’t wrestle” chants were hurled towards Kelly Kelly, and there seemed to be a strong male backing for Beth Phoenix who has been romantically linked to CM Punk. 

Kelly Kelly picked up a clean win after a short but effective with an impressive roll up counter to the Glam Slam.

Cee-Lo Green’s Performance:  Though I am a fan of his, I found it difficult to make out what Cee-Lo was saying live.  I didn’t hear people respond to his participative gestures of raising the microphone in the air during his catchy hooks.   The heel diva quartet of Alicia Fox, Rosa Mendez, and the Bella Twins hyping up the crowd sure was odd.  Just goes to show that WWE Creative seems to be as indifferent towards the Diva’s division as most others. 

Cee-Lo received a warm reception both before and after his performance, with most fans in my section filming his live performance with their cell phone cameras.  The performance was short, sweet, and somewhat necessary given the short lineup. 

Wade Barrett def. Daniel Bryan.  The crowd seemed to be showing signs of fatigue for this match, and damn near turned on it with chants of “boring”.  Bryan’s submission wrestling early on was well received, but there’s no doubt that Staples was getting quite restless.  To make matters worse, midway through the match Ron Artest, who was involved in an R-Truth skit earlier, took his seat and the Los Angeles fans seemed more interested in SummerSlam’s celebrity spectator than the match itself. 

As “CM Punk” chants began to develop, Barrett turned up the intensity almost on cue, and both Bryan and Barrett were able to salvage a very good match.

World Championship Match: Randy Orton def. Christian.  Christian received a mixed reaction, but the crowed popped huge for Edge when he made an otherwise anti-climactic return.  Orton received the loudest pop of the night to that point, but the crowd remained heavily split with dueling Orton and Christian chants throughout. 

As I told my followers on Twitter, fans were standing for about 90 percent of the match and Staples really came alive one they brawled in the crowd (right in front of my section!)

The bloodthirsty Staples Center was heavily into anything that involved the use of weapons, with “we want tables” chants before, during and after table spots. 

The finish was performed flawlessly, and evoked unanimous cheers from all fans regardless of their allegiance.    

This match came dangerously close to stealing the show, which was considered by many as a one match show focused on Cena-Punk II.  In hindsight, Christian-Orton may very well have been match of the night, but one thing is for sure—Orton and Christian’s string of quality pay-per-view matches is quietly turning their feud into a feud of the year candidate.

It seems as if there’s a lot of belly aching whenever Orton and Christian are booked for yet another pay-per-view match, but they tear it up every time and the crowd remains very into all their matches.  Word on the street is that Orton-Christian V is on the books for the WWE Night of Champions pay-per-view. I certainly wouldn’t mind seeing that match again. 

WWE Championship Match: CM Punk def. John Cena.  The crowd showed no signs of fatigue for this match.  Looking around Staples Center, there seemed to be a 52:48 ratio of CM Punk to Cena t-shirts, with Punk t-shirts getting the edge because of Punk’s wildly popular, formerly commemorative “Best in the World” tees. 

The vocal male fans seemed to devour the more soft-spoken pro-Cena contingent comprised of women and small children.

There was a young child wearing an oversized Cena t-shirt in my section.  Poor kid was surrounded by CM Punk guys.

The Staples Center reaction to Punk and Cena seemed about even with Chicago, with Chicago getting the slight edge because of its more partisan allegiance towards Punk.  Punk and Cena performed multiple rest holds early, causing the crowd to get a bit restless, however I think the two had an even better match than their at times clunky contest last month.

Punk’s faux victory took away from the celebratory aspect as the celebration from the pro-Punk sections was a bit muted because Cena obviously had his foot on the rope. 

The next two pops were the loudest of the night with the return of Diesel, followed by Alberto Del Rio cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase in front of the heavily Latino Los Angeles crowd. 

At first I thought Diesel was Robert Roode as he stormed right by our section headed towards the guardrail.  It wasn’t until he got in the ring and towered over CM Punk did I, and apparently the rest of the crowd, realized that it was indeed Triple H’s former Kliq band mate. 

Following the jackknife, I kept an eye on Triple H the entire time.  I’m not sure if it was shown on camera, but Triple H appeared animatedly confused at the attack from Diesel.  In fact, he was so animated that it almost seemed like he was being facetious given the strong ties he has with Diesel (Kevin Nash).  Then again, WWE officials have reportedly been looking for a new bodyguard for Del Rio, and Nash has been clamoring to get back on TV, so maybe that's where their going with that. 

After Del Rio defeated CM Punk, and the pay-per-view went off the air, Ricardo Rodriguez sprinted out of the entrance way and announced Del Rio as the winner of the match multiple times.  The spirited announcement was similar to how he announced Del Rio as the winner of the 2010 Royal Rumble. 

After Del Rio left to the back, CM Punk, on the verge of tears, slowly arose, soaked in some cheers, and left with the Money in the Bank briefcase in tow before Justin Roberts thanked the fans for attending the pay-per-view.  Overall, this was a very strong pay-per-view right in line with the Money in the Bank classic from last month. 

Despite Money in the Bank still deserving of “pay-per-view of the year” honors in my book, SummerSlam should outdraw it based on name value and a quality build up to the main event alone. 

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