WWE Capitol Punishment Review - June 19, 2011

The show kicked off with the United States Championship Match between Kofi Kingston and Dolph Ziggler, a very logical, but smart move. As much as their feud gets old, their matches never do, with fresh action for a solid ten minutes. The finish was a little odd, but it was smart to put the title on Ziggler to regain some heat.

I was a little surprised to see the match between Alex Riley and The Miz go on early, but it was great action. Riley looks comfortable in the ring, and Miz is the perfect opponent to make him look credible. The finish reminded me too much of Edge, and I was shocked to see Riley pick up the victory. Miz needs to regain some credibility, but putting over Riley will do wonders for how he is perceived by the crowd.

No one expected anything special from Alberto Del Rio and Big Show, as it was really the drama that drew this contest any attention. It was a typical move to have Mark Henry weaken him up, but I enjoyed Henry finally looking dominant and signaling a potential feud between the two. It was a good move to give Del Rio the victory, but couldn't they have just made Show submit? If the feud is over, then that's a disappointing way to go out.

The Intercontinental Championship Match was easily the quietest bout all night, and I don't blame the crowd by any means. WWE has given us no reason to care about this feud, and I'm glad it's finally over in a quick harmless match. It's time for Wade Barrett to reestablish himself as a serious threat on SmackDown.

It's simply amazing how CM Punk and Rey Mysterio can have no less than a dozen matches together but still find a way to make the matches interesting. That proved successful, and won this Match of the Night by far. I'm ecstatic Punk won clean with perfect, smooth finish without outside help from the New Nexus.  I'm looking forward to seeing Punk in the WWE Championship picture.


The World Heavyweight Championship Match was a bit predictable, but still found itself to be very suspenseful in the final minutes. The finish was smart in order to continue the feud running, but it was a bit ridiculous to not have the commentators notice Christian's foot underneath the rope.

After a hot World title match, no one in attendance cared to see Evan Bourne and Jack Swagger. It's unfortunate too, as they've had a simple but effective feud running on RAW and they had a decent match on live pay-per-view. It's a nice win for Bourne, but opening up the show with this might have been better suited.

R-Truth has been built up to be a very enjoyable heel on Monday Nights, but the crowd give neither him or Cena any love during their WWE Championship match. The result was easily predicted, but the way it was handled was something you'd see on RAW, not closing the show. Good action, but meaningless.

Overall, it was a decent show. We got some great action in three matches, questionable finishes, and stuff just no one cared to see. The Obama impersonation was hardly comedy, and it's sad to see WWE actually see it as funny. With two title changes, you would think it would be newsworthy, but proved to be lackluster as a whole.