Join us here at Cageside Seats for our WWE Capitol Punishment Liveblog, where we'll have full results and play by play of the event as it takes place. Headlining the card, R-Truth finally gets his shot against WWE Champion John Cena after weeks of abusing the fans and accusing the WWE of there being a conspiracy against him. Also, WWE World Heavyweight Champion Randy Orton defends his title against Christian once again, and Alex Riley faces off against The Miz. We've endured weeks of recycled "dream sequence" promos where President Obama was "interviewed" by WWE superstars, let's hope it proves to be worthwhile! Here's the full card for tonight's PPV:
John Cena (c) vs. R-Truth for the WWE Championship
Randy Orton (c) vs. Christian for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship
The Miz vs. Alex Riley
Big Show vs. Alberto Del Rio
Wade Barret (c) vs. Ezekial Jackson for the WWE Intercontinental Championship
Kofi Kingston (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler for the U.S. Championship
Rey Mysterio vs. CM Punk
Our live coverage of WWE Capitol Punishment 2011 begins after the jump!
We're live! I've been quite excited about doing my next WWE liveblog, and here we are. Let's hope tonight delivers despite an iffy card!
The pre-recorded show promo is all R-Truth dishing on the "conspiracy" against him. Watch out little Jimmies R-Truth is coming for the WWE Championship!...Does anyone actually believe there's even a SLIM chance that R-Truth wins tonight?
Kofi Kingston (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler for the United States Championship:
Missed the first half of the match. My bad people! Ziggler was the aggressor for the greater portion of the match (from where I started watching at least). Plenty of counters, and a near finish for Kingston after an interesting cross body off the top rope to the back of Ziggler. Another series of counters led to an S.O.S. (Kingston's awesome new finisher, if you didn't know), but Ziggler manages to kick out. The back and forth continued on, and this is looking like a quality first match of the evening. Vickie Guerrero distracts Kingston, Ziggler comes from behind, takes the champion down, and puts him in a sleeper hold. Kofi struggles to get to the ropes, Ziggler kicks off the ropes and they roll into the middle of the ring, and Ziggler puts Kofi to sleep. The ref calls it a submission for Ziggler, and we have a new United States champion. Dolph Ziggler def. Kofi Kingston, becoming new United States Champion.
R-Truth is backstage, parading around with Cena's WWE Championship. "Nobody knows who I am..." or so he says to Eve. Then he says he wants to dedicate tonight's victory to all the little Jimmies.
The Miz cuts a promo on Alex Riley, feeling insulted that he's being asked if he can beat Riley. Says all he was good for was holding his money in the bank briefcase, and that after he beats him, he can go back to being someone's bag carrier. We cut to a segment of the fallout between The Miz and Alex Riley. I think we'll get a good clue tonight as to how far Riley's push is going to go, but in Riley, the WWE has quite a prospect.
The Miz vs. Alex Riley:
Miz starts the match with the briefcase, telling Riley he's just a bagboy, Riley attacks him and they begin to brawl. Miz runs around the ring, making Riley chase, then goes to work on Riley once they get back into the ring. Miz really taking it to Riley, who can't mount any form of offense. This goes on for minutes, Riley just getting owned. Finally, Riley counters the Miz, spears him, and starts pounding away. Cole talks to Riley at ringside, saying "How could you do this to the man who nurtured you?" Riley tosses Cole over the announce table, Miz grabs the briefcase, he runs into the ring to hit Riley, the ref grabs the case, and throws it out of the ring. As Miz turns to face Riley after losing the case, he lands a jumping DDT, and scores the 3 count. Alex Riley def. The Miz
We head backstage and are treated to Sgt. Slaughter talking to an Obama look-a-like. Vickie Guerrero sings happy father's day (to the tune of happy birthday) to the "President", and is dragged off by secret service.
Nice segment on Del Rio/Big Show, it'll be nice to see how this plays out, with Big Show's "revenge by any means" attitude and Del Rio looking to contend for the WWE Championship in the near future.
Alberto Del Rio vs. The Big Show:
Alberto Del Rio makes his entrance, but is jumped by Big Show before making his way down the ramp. Del Rio tries to escape into the crowd as they get ringside, but Big Show is having none of it. He throws Del Rio into the ring, but Mark Henry shows up and starts tearing right into Show. Henry puts Show through an announce table with a world's strongest slam. Brutal. Del Rio calling for a count out in the ring. Henry begins to walk off, but goes back and works on Show's injured leg from the car "accident". Show in pain, definitely not going to be able to compete now. Del Rio continues to plea with the ref to begin the count out, not yet though. The ref finally begins to count as Show gets to the apron, he makes it in at the count of 7...but the match officially begins after that. Huh?
Del Rio attacks the knee of the Big Show early and often, and after surviving two near choke slams, puts Show in a "cross knee breaker", but Show gets to the ropes. He stands, but as he moves towards Del Rio, he collapses. The ref calls the match, since Show can't defend himself. Alberto Del Rio def. The Big Show
Back stage, R-Truth threatens a photographer to take his picture with the title after the photographer points out that the WWE title he's carrying around has John Cena's name on it. R-Truth assures him in a "polite" manner that he WILL beat Cena tonight.
Wade Barret promo, bashing the capitol, says the city needs a king or queen. Touches on the "Weiner" scandal, and the national debt. Crowd sounds incredibly dead. USA chant starts up, and dies quickly.
Wade Barret (c) vs. Ezekial Jackson for the WWE Intercontinental Championship:
If you've seen any of the past matches between these two, you've got a very good idea of what this match looked like. The crowd belted out the occasional "USA" chant, and even a "We Want Ryder" chant in the midst of the match. The series of slams from Jackson leads to the torture rack, and Barret taps. After the match, Lawler gives Jackson the mic, asking him how it feels to be the new Intercontinental champ, he says he's going to show the world that what matters to him is Liberty, and the personification of domination. Ezekial Jackson def. Wade Barret, becoming the new WWE Intercontinental champion.
Santino talks to the "President", tries to show him his cobra. Hah.
CM Punk cuts a promo, says the difference between him and all the politicians in Washington is that he's honest. Says after he beats Ray Mysterio, he's going to do the most honest thing the WWE's ever seen...?
CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio:
The crowd is very pro-Punk, Punk and Mysterio look at the crowd with a smirk on their faces, and get to work. Great match as we're about five minutes in, plenty of back and forth, but the edge certainly belongs to Punk. Punk's working plenty of submissions, Mysterio displaying his toughness battling out of the submission holds. Mysterio finally counters, throwing Punk out of the ring, then landing a backflip off the ropes into Punk who was ringside. They make it back into the ring, and Mysterio continues his assault with a flying headbutt off the top rope, but can't put Punk away. Punk counters another top rope attempt by Mysterio with a backdrop off the top rope, Punk can't get the 3 count though. After landing the flying knee to Mysterio in the corner, Punk tosses Mysterio into another corner, and looks for a driving shoulder, but Mysterio gets out of the way, and Punk eats the corner post. Mysterio lands an awesome 619 into the corner, Punk falls out of the ring, Mysterio gets him back into the ring, but Punk manages to kick out. Shortly after, a great back and forth of near finishes, and this is easily the best match of the night thus far. The match comes to an end after Punk looks for the Go to Sleep, Mysterio counters, goes for the 619, Punk ducks it, catches Rey, and scores with the Go to Sleep, and gets the 3 count. Excellent. CM Punk def. Rey Mysterio
Curious to see what this "most honest thing in the WWE Universe" bit Punk was talking about is. Looks like Randy Orton and Christian are up next. Sleek segment for the Orton/Christian feud coming up now.
Randy Orton (c) vs. Christian for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship:
Physical match up, with Christian looking a little more "intense" than their match at Over the Limit. Every big offensive move attempted by Christian getting countered early. The attacks Christian is managing to land, are focused on Orton's head, with the announce booth wondering what effects they may have on the champion. As the match wears on, Orton is showing the effects, being slowed, and stumbling a bit. Orton still pushing though, landing some nice slams. Big suplex off the top rope from Orton leads to a near fall. Awesome slam by Orton, still can't finish. The near finishes and counters starting to stack up. After a near fall, Christian goes for the spear, Orton leaps over Christian, goes for the RKO, Christian slams him to the mat to counter, and as Orton stands, Christian nails the spear. Near fall! Another great showing by these two. Christian to the top rope, Orton runs to knock him down, Christian jumps behind Orton, a dazed Orton backs up into Christian and lands an RKO out of nowhere, and covers for the win! Randy Orton def. Christian, retaining the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
After the match, Cole points out that Christian's foot was under the rope, which would be a rope break. Alas, Lawler and Booker dismiss it. Oh yeah, Orton cracked Christian with the belt as he was complaining to the ref. Fun.
The Bella Twins come out with Keith Stone, the Keystone Light beer commercial dude. He's carrying a case of Keystone Light. PG??? Huh? So lost. Now the R-Truth/Cena lead-in...and a "bonus attraction"?
Jack Swagger vs. Evan Bourne:
Evan Bourne taking a beating for the most part, occasionally pulling off a slick counter, only to be caught by the much larger Jack Swagger again. Some near finishes for both mean leads to a great sequence where Bourne looks to roll up Swagger, but gets his ankle caught, Swagger goes for the ankle lock, but Bourne counters, rolls him up, and gets the three count. Nice treat of a match before the main event. Evan Bourne def. Jack Swagger
President Obama look alike comes out and gives a speech. The crowd "What!?"'s all the way through the speech, and boos Cena when he's brought up. Obama look alike says R-Truth is like the Joe Biden of WWE, don't know what he's saying, but he's a hoot. The crowd sounds dead when "Obama" says "Are you ready for the main event?" ouch. Booker T stops "Obama" and invites him down to the ring...to ask him if he can do the spinarooni. Jeeze...yes, he pulled off the "Barackarooni". Nice.
Cena/R-Truth lead-in for real now.
John Cena (c) vs. R-Truth for the WWE Championship:
After quite a bit of cat and mouse, R-Truth gets a rhythm going and starts to take it to Cena. Not a bad match. The crowd is hot, chanting the back and forth "Let's go Cena/Cena Sucks", for some reason the "Let's Go Cena" is a significantly higher pitch. Cena coming back, misses the Attitude Adjustment, and Truth lands a NICE move...no idea how to explain that one. Cena with the STF, Truth gets the ropes. A scissor kick by Truth leads to a near fall after they get to their feet again. A cross body from the top rope by Truth, Cena catches him, falls to his back, rolls, stands up, and tosses Truth over his head. Truth lands on his feet and lands his finisher. Near fall for Truth, Cena rolls out of the ring. Truth heads outside of the ring, he takes a Cena hat from a little kid, as well as his drink. He takes a sip of the drink, and the kid throws the drink into Truth's face. Cena throws him into the ring, lands the AA, and gets the three count. Damn those little Jimmy's! John Cena def. R-Truth, retaining the WWE Championship.