Eyes on #1...Capitol Punishment [2011]

WWE Capitol Punishment’s official logo

Necessary Background Information

The main focus of this PPV was not the belts but the feuds!

The build-up to this particular PPV, centred more around feuds than actual title defences – Even though four separate titles were on the line, the PPV itself was built mainly around the feud between R-Truth and John Cena.

R-Truth (a person I still find hard to believe has main evented a PPV when you consider his status as a comedy act in 2016) set his sights on Cena and with him, The WWE Championship. After Truth’s ability in the ring was questioned by John Morrison, a match was set between the two to determine the third competitor in the main event of that year’s Extreme Rules, which Morrison won.

Furious with the defeat, R-Truth turned heel spectacularly, turning on Morrison before costing him the match at Extreme Rules. He then began claiming there was a conspiracy against him in the upper echelons of the WWE preventing him from grasping the gold.

In his crazed rage, he yelled repeatedly about Cena’s popularity, culminating in a stand-off with a young Cena fan, throwing water at the face of the boy’s father. In an attempt to stem the ‘kayfabe’ poor publicity this was garnering, The RAW General Manager set up a match at Capitol Punishment for the title, between R-Truth and John Cena, on the condition that R-Truth apologised for his actions.

On the June 6th episode of RAW, R-Truth obliged and the match was set.

A feud was also built between The Miz and his former protege Alex Riley. The Miz blamed Riley for the eventual loss of his Championship, publically shaming him on several different occasions before Riley eventually snapped letting loose a volley of punches to his former mentor, thus, a match was arranged for Capitol Punishment.

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