July 19th was a monumental day for the WWE with the announcement of the Brand Split; a concept, that the powers that be believed would revitalise an otherwise ailing and predictable product.
It was pushed as though it was a completely revolutionary idea, handily forgetting that the WWE had tried and failed with the idea in the mid to late noughties before eventually benching it completely.
To say the re-introduction of the concept is divisive is an understatement, some saying that certain divisions would suffer – namely, a paper thin Women’s Division roster that had taken years to drag from the doldrums of bra and panties matches, while some argued that the split would benefit stars who couldn’t buy a push if their lives depended on it.
The only thing we knew for sure? That we would be reverting back to the two pay per view a month system. Too much wrestling? Very possibly – especially when coupled with SmackDown Live, RAW, NXT, Main Event, Superstars and the newly introduced 205 Live shows.
It’s a shame really. Two pay per views a month dilutes the excitement that we all feel for them, and for me definitely, pay per views were the highlight of my month. Waiting on the edge of my seat to see when the title would change hands, or the end of the latest feud in whatever bizarre stipulation WWE creative had dreamt up in the build-up.
One of my earliest wrestling memories, in fact, is the 1996 Boiler-Room Brawl between Mankind and The Undertaker at SummerSlam, the culmination of carefully planned promos and vicious matches. This is the way pay per views should still be used today.
After the announcement of the brand split, I took to the Network to watch some of the classic pay per views of old, watching them carefully and with fresh eyes. Thus, this brand new feature was born!
The feature is called Eyes On... and each month I shall review a classic pay per view, the matches, the segments, the video packages and the backstage shenanigans that make the pay per views events that we looked forward to, not the diluted product I’m frightened it is becoming.
So without further ado, it is time for the first instalment of this new feature – Eyes On...Capitol Punishment 2011.
It might seem somewhat strange to some, that I have chosen to start this new feature with such an obscure and, some would argue, obsolete pay per view.
It took place in a year when the WWE product itself was arguably at it’s most boring and predictable: giving birth to the internet sensation ‘Cena Wins Lol’, which emphasised how obvious the fans thought the results and matches had become.
However, looking back at this night in the nation’s capital on June 19th, I feel that, despite the concept being bizarre and untouched ever since, the wrestling itself...was okay!
Necessary Background Information
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.
The Matchcard
Match 1 – Kofi Kingston (Champion) vs. Dolph Ziggler (United States Championship)
A really good match to start off the event, though you would expect nothing less from these two competitors. Kofi looked strong and Ziggler wrestled like the heel he was supposed to be portraying.
On a side note, Vicky Gurrero is and was an excellent manager; her irritating outbursts and antics, though sometimes overbearing, reflected the right amount of heat on her and her charge, whether it be Edge or Ziggler later on.
The only bad part of this match, and the sole reason really that it is not rated any higher, was the finish (a theme you will see develop throughout this PPV.) Ziggler applied a Sleeper Hold, and what happened next was confusing chaos. Kofi seemingly rolls to the rope, only for Ziggler to push him away using his foot.
The commentary team then begin explaining that the hold should be broken, whilst the referee, seeing things differently called for the bell and gave Ziggler the belt. Good match, strange finish.
Dave Meltzer Rating: 3.25 stars
Eyes On Rating: 7/10
Match 2 – The Miz vs. Alex Riley
This rivalry was one of the hottest things going when this PPV rolled round and, speaking as a fan, the build was excellent, well-paced and well portrayed by both of the involved parties. When it came to the culmination point of this battle, it was...okay.
Nothing more, nothing less, just...okay...especially when you consider the match before this between Kofi and Ziggler had us ready for some high-quality wrestling. The Miz, as you would expect, delivered the majority of the offence, with Riley offering very little otherwise, until the end that is.
Riley hit Miz with an Impact DDT and pinned him. A former World Champion, someone who has faced the best finishers in the business and main-evented pay-per-views, finished with a DDT. It was...an unsatisfactory end in fairness. Yes, the face won, which a lot of fans wanted to see, but with a DDT? Really?
However, there is definitely a point to be made for the best moment of the night being Michael Cole wrenched from his commentary position and flung to the floor by Riley. Though, unfortunately, it doesn’t make up for his terrible ‘heel’ commentary throughout.
Dave Meltzer Rating: 2.25 stars
Eyes On Rating: 4/10
Match 3 – Alberto del Rio vs. The Big Show
There was very little...wrestling... that took place during this match. Before the event, del Rio had hit The Big Show with his car, leading to a rivalry between the two (which is absolutely how the judicial system should work – hit with a car, sorted via a wrestling match.)
During Del Rio’s entrance, Show runs in and attacks him before throwing him into the ring. Mark Henry then appears, for some reason which is not really clarified by the commentary team, as the World’s Strongest Man picks up the World’s Largest Athlete and World’s Strongest Slams him through the announce table without even taking the top off.
After that, Big Show climbs back into the ring, and some very slow and very ‘clunky’ wrestling happens with del Rio attacking the leg injured by the car. Then, completely out of left field, the referee has the bell rung as the Big Show can apparently no longer continue with the match.
It is a truly baffling end, with no resolution at all. An anti-climax to a poor match. Shame.
Dave Meltzer Rating: 2 stars
Eyes On Rating: 1/10
Match 4 – Wade Barrett (Champion) vs. Ezekial Jackson (Intercontinental Championship)
Make no mistake, this was an awful showcase of wrestling. I know I said in the introduction to this feature that the wrestling during this PPV was okay as a rule; this is the epitome of why it was simply okay.
I would give this match 1/10 if it wasn’t for Wade Barrett, who singlehandedly carried Jackson (a person who seemingly only knows how to deliver a rudimentary power slam) before he performed one Torture Rack to win the match.
Not only was I not invested in the match but I both didn’t care about The CORRE – the post-Nexus stable they were both a part of – and could not get behind Ezekial Jackson, no matter how hard I tried.
In this match, he showed he had little skill in the ring and little skill on the mic. But he had muscles, which apparently places him high on Vince McMahon’s ‘to push’ list. Unsurprisingly his push didn’t last long. Terrible match.
Dave Meltzer Rating: 2 stars
Eyes On Rating: 2/10
Match 5 – Rey Mysterio vs. CM Punk
In my humble opinion, the best match of the night. You would expect nothing less I feel from these two men, though, both former World Champions and veterans of the ring. The match itself was high-octane and fuelled by CM Punk’s insane desire to be the best.
His taunts toward Mysterio, including a sarcastic wishing of ‘Happy Father’s Day’, before Irish whipping Mysterio into his raised knee, were excellent as always. The successive reversed kicks into roll-up pin attempts was a nice touch, along with Punk catching an airborne Mysterio before dropping him headfirst into the barricade.
The spot of the night, however, is the reversed 619 into the GTS for Punk to get the victory. A good solid match.
The only thing that stopped it from being higher, was the lack of genuine offence by Rey Mysterio. He took very little to CM Punk, merely reversing Punk’s moves before the latter started his offence again. One could argue that this was to make Punk look strong going into his feud with Cena at Money In The Bank 2011.
However, Mysterio looked sluggish at various times during the match, even though he did deliver some of his famous high-flying moves. Maybe I’m being slightly too picky, but this was, overall, a good mid-card PPV match.
Dave Meltzer Rating: 3.75 stars
Eyes On Rating: 7/10
Match 6 – Randy Orton (Champion) vs. Christian (World Heavyweight Championship)
Two observations before I go into reviewing this match; the video package to prelude the match was excellent. It really told the story of Christian’s (unfair?) decline, after he’d had the title taken away five days after earning it at Extreme Rules – and why on earth did Randy Orton, the champion and the face, come out first?
Surely Christian, as the challenger and heel in this storyline, should have been out first?
A good match with both wrestlers giving their all. The main focus, aside from Christian’s pathetically tiny title reign, was the concussion The Viper suffered when Christian hit him with the title belt on an episode of SmackDown.
Orton sold the concussion like an Oscar award winning actor at times, and Christian did his utmost during the match to target the head, garnering more heel heat on himself. The longer the match went, the more the crowd were invested in the feud, with audible gasps after Orton kicked out of a Spear.
The near-falls continued before Randy Orton countered a leap off the top rope from Christian into an RKO, gaining the 3 count and retaining his belt.
A minor quibble with the finish...Christian’s foot is clearly under the ropes. Meaning that once again, Christian has been legitimately cheated out of his title. Can a person be called heel if he keeps being cheated?
Even whilst arguing with the referee at the end, the commentary team made reference to ‘moaning,’ ‘whining’ and ‘crying’. This is a little harsh, as anyone watching the PPV can see Christian has a valid point. That’s not whining.
If you wanted Orton to win, let him pin Christian cleanly. Don’t allow further confusion and allow a continuation of a story that has played out well so far, but could go stale if it continues. Good match, but a very strange finish.
Dave Meltzer Rating: 3.75 stars
Eyes On Rating: 6/10
Match 7 – Evan Bourne vs. Jack Swagger
Not entirely sure how this match went on after a World Heavyweight Championship Match but there you are. Not one person in Washington, nevermind the Verizon Center, cared about this match – the only sound from the crowd being the odd ‘We Want Ryder’ chant.
As for the match itself, it was as unremarkable as it was pointless. Nothing really to say, apart from the one spot which ended the match, where Bourne reversed the Ankle Lock into a roll-up for the win. Apart from that, a clunky match, which finished 7 minutes too late.
Dave Meltzer Rating: 2 stars
Eyes On Rating: 3/10
Match 8 - John Cena (Champion) vs. R-Truth (WWE World Championship)
Again, WWE produced an excellent video package to prelude this encounter. The only problem is, I just cannot buy into anything R-Truth said.
I thought his intensity was excellent, but the whole ‘conspiracy’ angle and the ‘unhinged R-Truth’ storyline was just boring and flat. Don’t get me wrong, the heel act with the water and the John Cena fan is excellent work by Truth, but I’m sorry, I just cannot invest in him.
Saying that, I also hated John Cena’s pathetic, blatant pandering to the fans during R-Truth's outburst, calling us the ‘best fans in the world.’ I found that really patronising. Also, I do think R-Truth had a point about Cena being nothing short of a ‘Propaganda Seller’ which at that point, in 2011, he most certainly was.
As a match, this was okay. As the main event? To a PPV no less? Terrible. The first two minutes of the match is the two men grappling then breaking apart to listen to the incessant chants of ‘Let’s go, Cena,’ ‘Cena Sucks’ from the Washington faithful.
That aside, the match descends into a spell of R-Truth offence with regular breaks for him to talk to himself. It's hard watching. Eventually, Truth builds up enough steam to hit 'Little Jimmy' for a close 2 count before the action was taken to the outside.
After an altercation with a fan, that involved R-Truth having water thrown at his face, Cena rolled him back into the ring, hit the ‘Attitude Adjustment’ and pinned Truth to retain the title.
Not only is this the perfect example of ‘Cena Wins Lol’ but it was the only offence Cena had all match. He had kicked out of everything that Truth had thrown at him, and for him to then be pinned after one move seems strange to me if you are pushing them to the main event scene, as they were at the time with R-Truth.
Dave Meltzer Rating: 2 stars
Eyes On Rating: 4/10
The Segments
Without mincing my words too much, the segments between matches during this event were awful. They were cringeworthy, and even if you hadn’t read the title of the PPV and noticed where it was taking place; come the end of the night, you’d had it rammed down your throat so much that you just didn’t care.
From Vicky Guererro singing ‘Happy Birthday Mr. President’, to Santino Marella being taken away by members of the Presidential Detail for attempting to show off his Cobra Strike, to Booker T and Reggie James, a half-way decent Barack Obama impersonator, taking 20 minutes out of the show to complete a Spin-A-Roonie in the ring.
The crowd was...impartial to say the least. This was WWE at their head-in-hands worst, attempting comedy for comedies sake. It’s something the company are still yet to learn, that the times that they reach comedy perfection, are the times when they aren’t over-thinking.
However, being subjected to this for nearly 40 minutes of the show really ate into the wrestling time. Another match or even an extension of a rushed finish (here’s looking at you half the match card) could have replaced the time the WWE wasted with pointless segments.
The only redeemable part of these was an interview with CM Punk, in which he alluded to him being the most honest man in the company, and that he would have something big planned for everyone to see when he beat Rey Mysterio.
This little comment eventually built into what we know today as his infamous Pipe-Bomb, delivered two weeks later on the RAW leading up to Money in the Bank. Thank goodness for CM Punk!
Is it worth watching? An overall rating
No. Quite frankly no. It’s such a shame that this PPV came at a time where the company was viewed as stale, with content that many fans labelled as ‘overly’ family-friendly. The wrestling, when it wasn’t stagnated by odd finishes, or clogged up with wrestlers who were completely out of their depth (Ezekial Jackson), was of a good standard.
The CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio bout was a good match-up, with the Randy Orton and Christian encounter adding more to their feud and the opener between Kingston and Ziggler showed some excellent wrestling skill.
It is a shame therefore that the remainder of the matches were subject to bone-headed booking decisions and unnecessarily confusing finishes, as it really does drag the quality of the overall product down. Would I recommend it to you as readers? No.
Capitol Punishment Eyes On Rating: 4.5/10
Got an idea for Eyes On #2? What PPV shall I retrospectively look at next? What era shall we go to? Comment below.
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