WWE Capitol Punishment PPV Review

WWE: Capitol Punishment 2011 WWE Capitol Punishment – Pay-Per-View Review


By Phil Allely

The latest addition to the WWE PPV event list Capitol Punishment had a pretty decent looking card of matches lined up and each was reasonably well built upon in the build up to the event. However the delivery of some did hamper proceedings somewhat and even with a few title changes the overall effect wasn’t as hoped unfortunatley.

The opening battle for the United States Title was a nicely paced affair. Both men trading the advantage and near fall situations. Vickie Guerrero yet again proving to be the deciding factor, her interference allowed Ziggler the chance to end the match with a rope assisted sleeper hold. Ziggler becoming new US Champion in the process.

Next up The Miz and his former charge Alex Riley faced off. The duo were faring well and showcasing their repertoires nicely when Michael Cole stuck his nose in where it wasn’t needed. Luckily Cole’s involvement and a botched briefcase shot by Miz couldn’t alter the outcome too much, Riley taking advantage of a referee step-in to nail a DDT for the win.

Alberto Del Rio versus Big Show was an odd pairing, the action prior to the match made it even more so. Mark Henry attacked Show before the bell rung and beat him up, these injuries allowed del Rio to inflict further punishment on the big man. Show did try to fight back, but his injured knee forced him to give up and lose to a celebrating Del Rio.

The Intercontinental match between Champion Wade Barrett and challenger Ezekiel Jackson was pretty much what we expected from the lacklustre former Corre members. Zeke gave Barrett a proper pasting at every available opportunity, the action was pretty dull at times though. Jackson eventually made Barrett tap out to the ‘torture rack’ finisher to win the IC strap.

Picking things up pace wise Rey Mysterio then tackled CM Punk. Punk and Mysterio worked hard in this one, each move hitting the mark and livening the night up. Punk surprisingly saw his hand raised in victory after blocking a 619 attempt and nailing a good looking GTS.

Christian’s attempts to re-capture the World Heavyweight Title were dashed again next. After some great back and forth action, the pair swapped near falls and signature moves. The finish coming after Christian walked into an RKO, the retaining Orton even going as far as to slug his protesting challenger with the belt post match for good measure.

There followed a bonus match not previously advertised. Evan Bourne versus Jack Swagger was a worthy addition to the card and helped retain interest in proceedings. Bourne snagged the win after a sneaky roll-up.

The main event saw R-Truth challenge John Cena for the WWE Title. Truth is certainly making the most of his moment in the sun, his attitude, performance and general demeanour are perfect headline attraction heel like ones. The action throughout was the usual run of the mill Cena style stuff, big moves, superhuman comebacks and non-selling of stiff looking shots. Truth did however make it look as if he may just be able to win the gold. The end though surpassed many things we’ve seen before on a wrestling show (and we’ve seen it all from twin referees, run-ins, double crosses, rings breaking and much more over the years). As Truth slid to the outside and (in bad guy mode) drank a fans soft drink, he was struck in the face by said fans drink. This distraction proving to be the opportunity Cena needed to capitalise and hit an ‘Attitude Adjustment’ to keep his belt. This made the main events result a bit flat for many I’m sure.

Capitol Punishment was an ok wrestling event. There were some decent undercard matches, the (fake) Barrack Obama skits were poor and of very little interest to most people viewing. The Title changes have helped rejig storylines and Mark Henry finally came across like the monster he is being billed as. The problem is the event was an average affair at best and felt thrown together. WWE is beginning to show signs of a lack of imagination and needs new blood. Pushing guys like Miz, Riley, Del Rio and even Zeke/Barrett is fine, but there also needs to be some creative work done to keep current roster members treading water (like R-Truth was) on fans radar and prepare them for their turn in the spotlight.