{"id":883,"date":"2011-06-19T12:00:29","date_gmt":"2011-06-19T11:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=883"},"modified":"2011-06-18T23:16:53","modified_gmt":"2011-06-18T22:16:53","slug":"capitol-punishment-2011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=883","title":{"rendered":"Capitol Punishment 2011"},"content":{"rendered":"

In June 2010, the WWE’s pay-per-view show was Fatal Four-Way<\/em>. \u00a0That show was part of the WWE’s short-lived obsession with giving every pay-per-view its own gimmick. \u00a0The theory was that filling a card with four-way matches would in some way be of interest to somebody. \u00a0It wasn’t, really.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, the company seems to have figured out that not everything needs to be a gimmick show. \u00a0So this year the June show has been retitled Capitol Punishment<\/em>, for no particular reason other than that it’s coming from Washington. \u00a0This is a low priority show. \u00a0July gets Money in the Bank<\/em>, which is used to mark out future headliners; August is\u00a0Summerslam<\/em>, traditionally treated as a major part of the calendar. \u00a0Capitol Punishment<\/em>… is filling a slot in the diary. \u00a0In a couple of matches, the WWE is taking the opportunity to experiment with new pairings – but basically, nobody’s really pretending that this is anything other than a show for the hardcore.<\/p>\n

It may also be one for the purists. \u00a0Unusually, there are no gimmick matches on this show at all. \u00a0Not even a tag match. \u00a0It’s seven regular singles matches, and I can’t remember the last time that happened.<\/p>\n

1. \u00a0WWE Title: John Cena v R-Truth.<\/strong> Now this is a fresh pairing, and an important match for R-Truth, who has suddenly been catapulted into the main event after years treading water in the midcard.<\/p>\n

R-Truth used to be a dancing rapper, which is about as midcard a gimmick as you can get. \u00a0In keeping with wrestling tradition, he has freshened up his act by turning heel and rejecting the fans and his former showmanship – to the point where even his entrance music has been removed. \u00a0Messing about with the conventions of ring entrances is a good way of making someone stand out, and in the short term at least, this is working for him.<\/p>\n

The trouble is that the WWE is always reluctant to really get behind new headliners, and R-Truth looks to be the latest in a line of wrestlers who aren’t being presented as a serious threat to the established stars. \u00a0Yes, he technically has two wins over the champion, but both are on technicalities (and not even technicalities which could have won him the title, since it doesn’t change hands on a count-out or a disqualification). \u00a0The risk here is that in their attempt to reposition him as a paranoid maniac, the company goes too heavy on the craziness, not enough on the credibility, and ends up just turning him into a different sort of midcarder.<\/p>\n

All that being said, R-Truth has been excellent in the role, and he’s a good wrestler who was criminally underused as a dancing babyface. \u00a0He’s not winning this match in a million years – nor should he, since his whole act right now is based on his conviction that the powers that be are conspiring against him, and it would be way too early to cut to him “proving them on”, even if that was in the long term plans. \u00a0But he does need to put on a good show here and convince the company that he deserves to stay in the main event mix. \u00a0Hopefully he’ll get that opportunity.<\/p>\n

Cena’s winning, but the match could be both good and interesting.<\/p>\n

2. \u00a0World Heavyweight Title: Randy Orton v Christian.<\/strong> Over on Smackdown, the main storyline sees Orton and Christian continuing to feud over their version of the title. \u00a0The general idea is that, having finally won the title after years of trying, only to lose it to Orton days later, Christian has flipped out, turned heel, rejected the fans, and embarked on a crusade to win it back. \u00a0This is kind of sort of working, but suffers from the problem that the audience really rather likes Christian, and agrees with him that it was a terrible shame that he didn’t keep the title for longer. \u00a0So the heel turn isn’t really taking.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, it doesn’t necessarily have to; this can work as a face\/face feud, and they’ve had good matches so far. \u00a0Orton successfully retained the title on the last show, so it’s curious that we’re getting the match again, unless they simply don’t have any other challengers lined up. \u00a0(And the roster depth on Smackdown is less than spectacular, it has to be said.) \u00a0I would not rule out the possibility of Christian getting the title back on some sort of screwjob finish in order to allow the feud to be extended over the next couple of shows. \u00a0Knowing the WWE, though, Orton’s probably just going to beat him again.<\/p>\n

For all the storyline issues, the actual matches have been strong, so this should be a good one. \u00a0Incidentally, Orton has apparently been cleared to wrestle notwithstanding the (genuine) concussion which was mentioned on TV this week; seems a questionable call, but the company has generally been more sensible about these issues lately, so presumably there’s a basis for it.<\/p>\n

3. \u00a0Intercontinental Title: Wade Barrett v. Ezekiel Jackson.<\/strong> Another rematch from the last show. \u00a0The IC title is the secondary belt on Smackdown. \u00a0Barrett, the defending champion, was the de facto leader of a not-very-successful heel faction called the Corre. \u00a0Jackson was the first member to break from the group and turn babyface. \u00a0They’ve been feuding over the IC belt since then. \u00a0Until now, Barrett has held onto the title with the help of the rest of the Corre. \u00a0But now the group has disintegrated entirely, so common sense says this is the point where Jackson completes his chase and wins the belt.<\/p>\n

Jackson is, shall we say, a wrestler of limited range, and he was probably better cast as the big guy in a group. \u00a0Still, the match last month was competent enough, and if they keep this to a sensible length, they’ll be fine.<\/p>\n

4. \u00a0US Title: Kofi Kingston v. Dolph Ziggler.<\/strong> Did you enjoy last summer’s feud between these two over the IC Title? \u00a0Well, now they’re both on the Raw roster, so apparently we’re going to do it again. \u00a0There’s not much story to this; it’s just a match for Kingston’s title. \u00a0On the basis that there’s no story to this, and Kingston probably needs the belt to preserve what momentum he has, I’d expect him to retain. \u00a0I really hope this is a stopgap before both guys move on to fresh opponents, but to be fair, they’ve apparently been having good matches at the house shows, and god knows they’ve wrestled each other often enough that they should have the act sorted by now.<\/p>\n

5. \u00a0The Miz v. Alex Riley.<\/strong> A very big match for Alex Riley, who was introduced as Miz’s student on the second season of NXT<\/em>, and then (after failing to win the show) joined the Raw roster as Miz’s sidekick. \u00a0He spent literally months as Miz’s dogbody, but now they’re doing the break-up angle, Riley has turned babyface, and the crowd has got behind him to a surprising degree.<\/p>\n

You can see why the company likes Riley. \u00a0He looks the part and he can talk. \u00a0And from what little we’ve seen of him in actual matches, he’s okay considering his level of experience. \u00a0Nonetheless, he is<\/em> inexperienced and he’s now being shoved in there against wrestlers far higher up the card. \u00a0There’s also a question about whether the fans will still care about him when he moves on to feud with someone else – is he getting cheered because of Miz’s heat?<\/p>\n

This is a tricky match to predict, both because the quality is hard to judge, and because both guys really need the win. \u00a0Miz’s main event aura would take a real knock from losing to Riley, who until a few weeks ago was just a sidekick and barely presented as a threat even to opening match wrestlers. \u00a0But on the other hand, the audience is just getting behind Riley – it’s the wrong time to beat him in a high-profile match. \u00a0Any clean finish will be interesting. \u00a0I suspect we’ll get some screwjob designed to protect both guys. \u00a0(They’ve been doing this match on house shows, and in that version it apparently ends in a double count-out, but it doesn’t mean they won’t have a proper finish on pay-per-view.)<\/p>\n

It may not be good, but it could be very interesting. \u00a0And who knows, Riley may surprise us – he’s held his own so far as a babyface in tag matches.<\/p>\n

6. \u00a0The Big Show v. Alberto Del Rio.<\/strong> Well, Raw has these two guys and they’re not doing anything, so… \u00a0Del Rio is still supposed to be in line for a future title feud with Cena, which makes sense. \u00a0Miz has been done to death, and R-Truth isn’t going to be in that role for the long run. \u00a0Big Show, on the other hand, is more a feature of the landscape at this point. \u00a0So Del Rio should win, though it’s fine if he cheats to do so. \u00a0(The return of his supposedly-injured sidekick Ricardo Rodriguez would seem a good option.)<\/p>\n

This doesn’t exactly sound like a technical mat-wrestling classic, but I’m sure they can have a decent story-driven match.<\/p>\n

7. \u00a0CM Punk v. Rey Mysterio.<\/strong> And another pairing of supernumerary Raw wrestlers. \u00a0Punk and Mysterio were feuding only a few months ago in the lead-in to Wrestlemania, and I question the decision to go back to it this soon. \u00a0But they did have decent matches, and to be fair, I’d rather see this combination than Punk\/Big Show and Mysterio\/Del Rio (which has also been ridden into the ground). \u00a0This will probably be good; if it serves any storyline function, it should be to build up Punk’s Nexus faction and use them to give him a win.<\/p>\n

Worth buying?<\/strong> Well, it’s got major matches in the career of R-Truth and Alex Riley, and it is an entire show of straight wrestling matches, which is something of a rarity these days. \u00a0It’s one for the completists, but at least that’s the audience who would probably be most receptive to a straight wrestling show with some rematches of good feuds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In June 2010, the WWE’s pay-per-view show was Fatal Four-Way. \u00a0That show was part of the WWE’s short-lived obsession with giving every pay-per-view its own gimmick. \u00a0The theory was that filling a card with four-way matches would in some way be of interest to somebody. \u00a0It wasn’t, really. Fortunately, the company seems to have figured […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wrestling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=883"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":885,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883\/revisions\/885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}