Punk commands the ring and steals the show this week on RAW

Going in to RAW last night, I was worried about the Viewer’s Choice aspect of the episode, given the car crash that last year’s version was; but was excited because I heard that Punk was going to make a huge ‘monumental’ announcement, and I knew Punk would deliver in some way. Having just finished writing up Capitol Punishment, i’m going to try and keep this one a bit more brief. It should be noted that, despite my previous skepticism, the ‘formerly creative’ guys (i.e. people who used to be on WWE Creative) have made it clear that these votes are legit, which is interesting and worth noting.

Punk came out first and simply told he truth: that he has beaten Cena and Rey Mysterio clean, and that he is the best wrestler (yes, he said wrestler!) in the world, which may actually be true. For this reason, he demanded to be named the #1 contender right then and there, and until he did, he was holding ‘an old fashioned sit in’ which evolved in to a snow angel, until an irate GM made him wrestle for it, and in a triple threat match. Great stuff, and there was more to come.

The first match saw the WWE Universe pick Kelly Kelly to take on Brie Bella for the Divas title. Now Cole made a seemingly small but actually big mistake in referring to Kelly as a former champion; this was so bad because a lot of the drama of this match was based on Kelly having never won the title before. Anyway, despite the relatively short length of the match, it was packed with action, and the Bellas again showed me that they are underrated as wrestlers, while Kelly is always improving. The finish came after a reversal of a victory roll from Kelly which was a nice progression and was a good way for Kelly to win the title. And, despite what hardcore wrestling fans might feel, it’s clear that Kelly really cares about her role and loves the business now. In fact, here’s a tweet from former head writer of Smackdown and ECW, David Lagana: “Congrats to @realkellykelly – who started in #ECW as “the dancing girl” and this actually means something to her.” So major props to Kelly Kelly, she’s worked hard and deserves this. She’s the top diva in WWE and if she keeps working, she could be a big big player.

Evan Bourne was out next, which I was excited about because following his outing at Capitol Punishment, he could be at the beginning of a push, and I was even more excited when I saw that Sin Cara was an option. Unfortunately, the Universe picked Mason Ryan (God know’s why!), which may not bode well for Cara, but also didn’t for Evan, as with Ryan being a future major player, he couldn’t lose and couldn’t really show off that much. Evan tried his best with Ryan, and it wasn’t that bad, but just a disappointment given the prospect of Bourne-Cara which I think WWE were pushing.

I have nothing to say about Kane and Mark Henry in an arm-wrestling contest, but I was interested and impressed by Henry’s initial promo, which was competent, confident, and threatening, and secondly, his World’s Strongest Slam to Kane through the announce table, again showing off his dominance. Now Henry goes through phases of being pushed as a monster, and it’s never really worked, so i’ll take it with a pinch of salt, but I think he’d work well at a higher level as a monster.

I was pleased to see a 2 out of 3 falls match on the card because they always have unique stories, and this one was Kofi’s rematch. This was nice, but it being on TV hurt it a little. For one thing, time restraints meant that the first fall was won during the commercial break, which I didn’t like because I think a fall should be shown, especially seen it was done in a nice way with a Zig Zag to the concrete. After a nice bit of back and forth and some nice progressions, Kofi maneuvered in to an SOS for the second fall. For the third fall, Dolph played a classic chickenshit heel nicely, escaping Kofi and going for his belt and the like. I didn’t like the finish though as Ziggler continued in this escapism and eventually coaxed Kingston to a position where he could hit him with a mic and gaining a DQ. Not only don’t I like it because while a DQ usually keeps the title with the champ, it is surely more complicated in a 2×3 falls match; but also because Kofi and Ziggler, good as it is, is getting a bit old, and with this ending, it’s probable that he will have another Kofi-Ziggler title match. I would much rather have seen Dolph win clean, though with dastardly tactic from Vickie, and move on to another challenger. If not Evan (coming off a loss to Ryan), why not bring out a brash Zack Ryder talking about his popularity and that he should have a title shot. I know a lot of people wont have heard of Ryder’s show, but to them it would draw heat because of his arrogance of assuming they know him. One final thing: it is now ridiculous that King continues, as a babyface, and representing a company that supports Be a STAR, to berate Vickie Guerrero for being ‘fat’. While Vickie is on record as saying she is ok with the jokes leveled at her because she is a professional, it is patently ridiculous to stick with the fat jokes. She is now almost as slim as the other divas, and to make that seem not good enough could have bad ramifications for impressionable female viewers.

The next match a fantastic, fantastic match for the #1 contendership between Punk, Del Rio and Mysterio, which was Falls Count Anywhere. Sometimes triple threats can be formulaic, with one guy being down while the others fight, and while that was the case here, the falls count anywhere stip allowed this to be more believable. The real quality of the match was simply on the fast-paced, unpredictable nature of the action, performed by three great wrestlers. I liked the new moves performed by some of the guys: Punk using a powerbomb, and Del Rio using a beautiful German Suplex with a bridge, something i’d like to see him incorporate to his move-set. As a lucha, Mysterio really turned it on, performing lots more exciting and varied lucha spots than usual. My favourite spot though was when Punk ran in to Rey’s lifted feet in the corner and fell, which led to Rey hitting a senton on Punk right up his body from head to toe before getting right to his feet and charging to the other side of the ring before hitting a suicide dive to Del Rio outside the ring. The action was great and surprising, but the drama was really well realised as part of a triple threat match with some pins or submission attempts seeming like sure things, only for the third guy to break it up, from nowhere. The end was like this after Rey hit a 619 and a springboard splash in what seemed like leading to a shock win for Mysterio. At that point, Punk entered the ring, again from nowhere, to send Rey in to the post and steal the pin for major heat and a major victory.

After his victory, Punk went back to his sitting position (which I love!) to speak again. He said that his contract was up, coincidentally, on the 17^th July, the night of the Money in the Bank PPV, in his home town of Chicago and threatening to make yet another shocking impact on the WWE Universe by beating John Cena and taking the title with him, out of the company. This was absolutely fascinating for several reasons. First of all, it toyed with the rumours surrounding his genuine contract status (as of now, it is not clear whether he has renewed his WWE contract), and so has an instant ring of truth to it, if not to the casual viewer (who may well believe it anyway given the legalistic way he talked about it: ‘On the 17^th of July, my contract with World Wrestling Entertainment expires’ (there’s the W-word again!), than to those who follow his career and frequent the dirt-sheets. Now I doubt his contract does expire on that night, but it would be a good time to go if it is about to expire. It is also interesting because of what could happen if he does win and leave. Could he return with a new belt? Could it signify title unification? It’s impossible to tell right now, but it’s certainly a fascinating dynamic he (and WWE) have created, and it’s built a great deal of interest in the MITB PPV already, which can only bode well for the PPV. I hope he doesn’t go, and WWE and Punk will sure as hell not let any information about his status slip if possible, and they might even slip out some mixed red-herrings to throw us off the scent and make the whole thing even more fascinating.

Our penultimate match featured the exciting new feud of Daniel Bryan and Cody Rhodes, who, as it turns out, were very nearly the guys to wrestle the ‘bonus’ match at Capitol Punishment. Both of these two are top notch, and hopefully future champions, but for the mean time, they managed to put on a nice little match. In the ring, the two darted around, showing off great timing, innovative offense and the sort of energy which makes them great to watch. This match was made different to their recent encounters too by the people’s vote, which made it a No Count match, giving them free reign to grapple outside the ring. Though this wasn’t utilized to its entire potential, it is forgivable given the fact that they had to prepare for 2 other possible stips the Universe could have chosen. What they did do outside the ring was pretty cool, grappling up the ramp, and Bryan hitting a sick looking suplex on to the steel part of the ramp. Back in the ring, Bryan managed to out-wrestle Rhodes to a pin-fall, before countering an attempted attack from Rhodes in to the LaBelle Lock. It was at this point that DiBiase rushed the ring to help Rhodes, apparently solidifying his association with his former Legacy brethren (which had until now remained unclear). This is great because those guys worked together so well in Legacy, and also because it signals a maturation in terms of storyline. Indeed, while these guys are great performers and underrated talkers, what this really needs to explode is a compelling storyline. Rhodes has great heat and Bryan terrific potential as a big-time babyface, so with some sort of personal issue between them, I could see them being a highlight for Summerslam if built properly.

The prospect of appearances from Zack Ryder or Drew McIntyre faded quickly once it was announced that Vickie Guerrero would face off in a dance contest against Cole. This has been criticized because commentators have rightly said that people would rather see Ryder especially than this, and while I agree, I understand why it happened. 3 hour specials are meant to be exactly that: special, and so they are treated as such and feature segs that you wouldn’t usually see on regular RAWs or Smackdowns. Not only that, but comic relief is incredibly important in wrestling, and this certainly provided that. So while I missed Ryder and McIntyre, I appreciated the need for this, especially in a show which lasted 3 hours. Not only that, but I did find it very funny I have to say. So while I would never pick it as a particular thing I want from wrestling, I’m not going to blast it.

The main event was an elimination tag team match pitting Cena, Orton & Alex Riley against R-Truth, Christian & The Miz. Depending on whether you include Miz in this (him being a pretty well established main event star now), there were four ‘new’ main eventers in this match, showing just how hard WWE is working to build future stars. One thing I still hate about Riley is that they’re still dressing him as a heel, him wrestling in his old ‘Varsity Villain’ trunks. The guy’s having no trouble getting over, but don’t hamper him by making him look unlikeable! While I like elimination matches, this one was a little uninspired. Of course, they suffered from the same problem as Rhodes and Bryan, but it was a little uninspiring. I was pleased to see Miz gain the first pin-fall as he’s been getting beat a lot recently, the only problem was that whoever was to lose from the face team, it would be damaging; obviously Cena and Orton, both World Champions and top talents, would have lost out by being pinned, especially seen as neither will be battling him in the future, so it had to be Riley, who can do without any derailments to his push right now. At least it was done after Miz managed to take advantage of Riley being distracted (I suppose mostly neutralizing the derogatory effect on Riley’s rep). Miz himself was next to go, solidifying his recent slump somewhat, but then again, whoever was to go from the heels would have been damaged, and I suppose Miz is the most resilient, being as I say, firmly established at the top, while Christian and Truth are genuinely on the bubble between top and upper-mid card. As is so often the case with these matches, they accelerate incredibly at the finish, and after Truth fell to Orton, Christian capitalized with a Spear to earn a very dear pinfall against the World Champion, supporting even further his claim to another title shot at Money in the Bank. Unfortunately for him, his elated showboating allowed Cena to position himself well to beat Christian which he did soon after with an AA. This led to a ‘feel good’ ending with Cena and Orton together again on RAW, celebrating together with their respective championships. Now Christian pinning the champ was something I really approved of, as it gave Christian a really good foothold to demand another shot at Orton’s title while reinforcing that he can beat the Viper. Unfortunately, it didn’t do much for Truth, who was not even mentioned in the #1 contender’s picture and so is between feuds; as well as the close of the show not seeming very interesting, either in surprise value, or with regard to the MITB PPV. I think I would have preffered it if the match was the same up until Christian pinning Orton. Then, with Cena readying himself for the AA, I would have had the disgruntled Truth come out and hit Cena with his finisher with the ref distracted by Christian/Orton, allowing Christian to pin Cena too (making him look great and also shocking the crowd). Then, after celebrating, Truth and Christian start to beat down the champs. Riley returns to the ring and fends off the heels briefly when Miz appears and finally nullifies him (making both look strong). They beat them down for a while before the faces recover somewhat. Punk’s music hits again, and here comes Nexus. Punk watches as the faces, now completely outnumbered, are destroyed. Christian Killswitches Orton and throws him out while Miz hits another Skull Crushing Finale to Riley and throws him out. This leaves only Cena, who receives a scissors kick from Truth before the Nexus guys pick him up and hold him up in a crucifix-like pose. Punk enters the ring and Nexus place Cena on his shoulders for the GTS before Punk kicks Cena out of the ring and sits down, smirking like he does and the rest of the Nexus salute while the other heels, though visibly a little nervous remain, standing tall. Not only would that make pretty much everyone (and especially the up-and-comers) look strong, but it would create or deepen the personal issues before, which would only bode well for the MITB build, and make Punk seem like an important, dangerous man – as he deserves.

All that aside, I did like RAW, especially given my wariness about P2P. Some nice matches and decent storyline progression, even if the end was a little cookie-cutterish. But again, a 3 hour RAW that didn’t feature Zack Ryder (ridiculous given that he’s proved to be popular with ‘the people’ when given a voice) or Drew McIntyre. Now I realize there are time restraints, especially, funnily enough, for 3-hour dual branded shows, but these guys are being left to stew on their considerable talent at the minute and it must be as demoralizing to them as it is to their fans. In fact, I recently wrrote an article for the Bleacher Report about the problems with 3 Hour RAW, which can be found here: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/736815-wwe-why-3-hour-raw-specials-are-usually-bad-and-the-brand-extension-is-good Looking on the bright side, I know Drew has been working on a tweaked gimmick recently while Ryder is apparently turning face – so perhaps they are just being given time to experiment with their new selves before debuting them on RAW. Luckily, RAW is back to just its own roster next week, so they should have a better chance at getting on.

As always, if you liked what i’ve written, check me out on twitter @RTVWOW for opinions on pro-wrestling and live-tweeting of RAW and PPVs.

WWE US Title Match-Dolph Ziggler Beat Kofi Kingston to become the new US Champion
Alex Riley Beat The Miz
Alberto Del Rio Beat The Big Show(The Referre stopped the match after Big Show coudlnt continue)
WWE Intercontinental Title Match-Ezekiel Jackson Beat Wade Barrett to become the new IC Champion
CM Punk Beat Rey Mysterio
WWE World Heavyweight Title Match-Randy Orton(Champion) Beat Christian
Evan Bourne Beat Jack Swagger
WWE Title Match-John Cena(Champion) Beat R-Truth

I wish I hadn’t bothered and just played Football Manager all night!

First up we have the United States Title match Dolph Ziggler Vs Kofi Kingston. To be honest this was the match of the night with some real nice spots and a good fast paced match. It really didn’t deserve to be the curtain jerker. There were lots of nice false finishes too.

The match was going nicely until the very end. Dolph locked in a sleeper hold, he blatantly used the ropes at one point in front of the ref so he could continue the hold, now as the ref saw this surely that should have been a break. As the hold continued Kofi started to lose conciousness again I have no problems with that, until the ref just called for the bell! Now forgive me but I have several things to be picky about here, firstly the ref was behind the men, how could he see how Kofi was reacting? Secondly why did he not do the tried and tested way to see if someone was out by lifting their arm up 3 times?

If they had done this the whole crowd would have known Kofi was out and could have understood what was going on but as it was it killed any heat the match had been killed when the ref just called for the bell without any explanation at all. I don’t think it really helps Dolph either as the new champ.

Winner and New United States Champion Dolph Ziggler

We go to the back and see R-Truth arriving carrying Cena’s belt which he stole recently, he says he is going to a party. Eve tells him she doesn’t know who he is anymore and he goes on to say nobody knows him anymore. I think I have said it before and I’ll probably say it a few more times during this blog but R-Truth is awful on the mic, he maybe ok when he is rapping but trying to deliver straight dialogue it is painful. I would go as far to say he is a bad as Hulk Hogan, sorry Hulk has improved lately so goes above him in my book.

We have one of the things WWE is good for and that is the video promos for matches. This time it’s for the contest between The Miz Vs Alex Riley.

Now Riley showed he has got some ring skills in this match and he has proved that he has got IT when on the mic. The only problem I have is where does he go after the programme with the Miz. I am not sure he is a good face as the crowd reaction to him tonight wasn’t really that great. Again this match wasn’t too bad and even the ending was ok.

Miz who for some reason still carries a brief case around (you’re not Mr Money in the Bank anymore) tried to use the case on Riely. Now the ref for this match was an observent ref and he cut him off and Riley hit a big DDT on Miz.

Winner: Alex Riley

As I say where this leaves Riley I don’t know and the Miz who up till a month or so was World Champ. I am not sure were either of these men go now, I can’t think of any feuds that these guys will now get into.

Ah yes now we get to see the “President” for the 1st time. Could the not have had a guy who looks a little more like Barack Obama? Anyway this silly segment leads to Vickie Guerrero pretending to Marilyn Monroe getting escorted away by the “Secret Service”!

Time for another video package and its all about Big Show getting run over and the subsequent feud with Alberto Del Rio. Del Rio makes his way out and as he starts to walk down the aisle Big Show runs out and attacks him. As they fight down to the ring Mark Henry then attacks Big Show in revenge for a previous attack. Now this was a good attack and show going over the announce table and then taking a Worlds Strongest Slam through the Spanish Announce Table.

Now, Big Show is down on the floor having not made it to the ring, Del Rio is in the ring yelling at the ref to count, forgive me if I’m wrong the bell hasn’t started for the match yet the ref starts to count. So as the ref gets to 8 Show manages to get into the ring. Now we get to the 2nd screwy ending in the first 3 matches. After Big Show mounting a small comeback Del Rio manages to lock in his Arm Bar finisher only this time on Show’s leg. Now Show manages to get to the ropes and gets the hold broken, the ref then goes to check on Show who tries to stand up, as he has trouble the ref calls for the bell. Now once again we had no I Quit from Show or anything just the ref calling the match. If show had been that bad Del Rio would have pinned him soon enough, there was no need for the BS finish. What I think is it is still more of this PG rubbish when they don’t want a man seen to be to badly hurt, so they ring the bell.

Winner by BS…Sorry as the opponent unable to continue Alberto Del Rio

One of the things that made me laugh with this was how Big Show hobbled to the back it looked like he was using the trainers as crutches, the way the size difference was.

After more rubbish from the completely incomprehensible R-Truth we get Wade Barrett taking the mic from Josh Matthews and comes out to the ring and he has a go at Americans saying they need a Queen or a King and in 20 years they’ll all be speaking Chinese. This was good stuff from Wade and I like this side to him, I just wish they would acknowledge where he was from properly, he is from Preston not Manchester, do some simple geography, just because you don’t know where it is doesn’t mean he shouldn’t be billed from there.

Anyway we have Wade Barrett Vs Ezekiel Jackson for the Intercontinental Championship

As the match starts the crowd as chanting USA USA, now at this point on Twitter Jim Ross noted that Jackson wasn’t from the US either so I did a little search and found he was from Guyana. But hey lets not let the facts get in the way of Americans not understanding there are places outside of their own boarders.

This was a typical big man match and didn’t do much else. When you have 2 big men like this it is hard to do much and as much as I am a Wade Barrett fan he is not over enough to help carry a guy who WWE want to push because he is just big. Wade can go in the ring but Jackson is limited in my opinion. Indeed the end came after a few body slams and a Torture Rack, wow high intensity ‘Zeke.

Winner and New Intercontinental Champion Ezekiel Jackson

You could tell the crowd wanted something else from this match as they were chanting for Zack Ryder during it (there is no point in chanting for what you want guys Vince won’t listen he knows what we want to see).

Up next is a match that has the potential to have been match of the night in CM Punk Vs Rey Mysterio it was nice to see some decent in ring action again with 2 guys who have been on top of the world. You know what you’re going to get with these guys, Rey will do all the high spots and get the crowd involved and Punk is just solid and tells a proper story in the ring.

It was a nice finish as Punk blocked a 619 after Rey had previously blocked a GTS. As Punk did block the 619 he got Rey on his shoulders and did hit the GTS.

Winner: CM Punk

I wonder if now Punk can get back in the mix for the WWE Championship?

It was then time for the World Heavyweight Championship Match Randy Orton Vs Christian

I had high hopes for this but again it was spoilt by bad refereeing and announcing at the end of the match. Orton didn’t look himself during this match and I like Orton, but I also think it was a poor move to take the belt off Christian only a couple of days after winning it, he could have been a big draw as a face champ and made loads of money but hey Vince knows best.

However I have to say there was some nice action in this match and I suppose it did tell a bit of a story which is what you want. But we must address the finish. Orton went for an RKO but Christian blocked it, he then hit a big spear on Orton but only got a 2. As Christian tried to come off the top rope Orton got out of the way, and as has become custom he hit the RKO from nowhere. Now as Christian fell his leg was under the rope, even before he moved it at 2, the ref again was looking at it. I could understand the ref not seeing if he was out of position but he was right there looking at it.

Winner still World Heavyweight Champion Randy Orton

So tonight we have had 3 shockingly bad ref decisions and I am sure they have all been booking decisions but it treats the fans like idiots and is so unnecessary. By this point I could see why I hadn’t bothered with WWE for a while. Slammiversary and you can find my report here http://www.tnauk.wordpress.com/2011/06/16/tna-presents-slammiversary-ix-shown-in-uk-on-challenge-tv-15611/ was a much stronger PPV and iMPACT Wrestling has been far more entertaining.

We go to a promo for the Main Event (I say main event but it has R-Truth in it so take it with a pinch of salt) so you think it is up next, however I am sure you can almost hear Vince scream “fill fill fill, we are going to be short of time. I know I have an idea” and we get a “Special Bonus Attraction” Even Bourne Vs Jack Swagger.

Wow that has got my juices flowing. No offence to the 2 competitors but I think Even Bourne is a poor AJ Styles and Swagger has never been top of my list of guys I want to see in WWE. Bourne managed to win but it wasn’t even with his AirBourne move which he landed on his feet as Swagger moved out of the way. No he won with a crappy roll up. I can see women’s matches ending like that but not a match that had been bumped from probably a Dark Match to the 2nd highest match on the card.

Winner: Even Bourne

Before we continue we have the “President” out to give us an address. I won’t go into it just that he said he wasn’t the Anonymous GM and I agree with him that JR should be on commentary more. After this Booker T got in the ring and told the “President” to join him in the ring and we got him doing a Spinaroony after Booker, wonderful thanks for that Vince, that is what I watch wrestling for…Sorry I said the W word whilst writing a WWE report.

Now it really was Main Event time (I am still using the words Main Event loosely) for the WWE Championship John Cena Vs R-Truth stop laughing little Jimmy at the back yes I said R-Truth in the main event.

So now we get into it and Truth who just doesn’t inspire me at all had a lot of offence in this match. Now we know there is a lot of Cena haters on the internet but I give the guy credit, a lot of the time he can carry opponents to a decent match, however here I just didn’t enjoy it, probably because of who he was against. Once again for the finish we had a questionable decision when a little “Jimmy” at ringside who R-Truth went to talk at. I think the poor kid had no idea what he was saying and though he was asked to cool down, so he threw his drink over him. Is that not a DQ and although R-Truth wouldn’t win the title, the ref was watching? So Truth should have won by DQ by this point (I didn’t want him too but fair is fair) Cena then threw Truth back into the ring hit the AA for the win.

Winner and still WWE Champion John Cena

So Cena struggles in this match and a quick drink in the face and he hulks up and wins. We are getting Cena pushed like an old style Hulk Hogan. I am not to fond of this and I think the public will get sick of it very easily and we could have this till Mania next year. Cena needs better opponents to make him look stronger not people like Truth who is a midcarder at best. I wish Vince would listen to the people a bit more and stop burying his head in the sand.

This was one of the worst PPV’s I have seen in a long time and doesn’t make me want to watch WWE programming, I may watch this thing on Monday where the fans are supposed to be in control, but it will just be them wasting money texting when the show is already written. Also I bet fans in the UK can’t watch they forget about us with these things. As for the UK viewers am I on my own in thinking it would be good to have a British commentary team maybe William (don’t call me Steve live on air Booker) Regal and possibly Roddy Piper and a British lead announcer? Just throwing it out there.

Anyway thanks for reading and I’ll catch you again tomorrow with the weekly iMPACT Wrestling report only on http://www.tnauk.tk you never know I may throw in a Monday Night Raw one on here too over the next couple of days.

Please feel free to follow me on http://www.twitter.com/peg_leg5125

Also please feel free to leave some comments and share the blog with your friends.

Craig

Always smooth.

Last night, Key Stone Light spokesman Keith Stone accompanied the Bella Twins to ringside during WWE’s Capitol Punishment, begging a number of questions.  What was Keith Stone, the world’s smoothest man, doing at a WWE pay-per-view?  Why did Nikki & Brie even come to the ringside area in the first place?  Has the WWE completely abandoned the illusion of sanity?  Unfortunately, I don’t have any answers for you.  What I do have are my reactions to the rest of the event, which saw new champions crowned, my man crush on CM Punk grow, and a pretty horrid presidential imposter wasting the time of everyone trying to enjoy the show.  Read all about it after the jump. 

• Dolph Ziggler is the new United States Champion.  He and Dolph Ziggler put on a pretty decent show, although their match failed to distinguish itself from any of their dozen or so prior bouts.  Ziggler was victorious when he locked on a Sleeper Hold, doing a good job of keeping Kofi from reaching the ropes.  The pressure of the sleeper managed to put Kofi, um, to sleep, and thus the referee called for the bell.  Since there was no pinfall or submission (the match ended on Kofi passing out), I’m a little fuzzy on why Ziggler was awarded the title.  Hasn’t the rule for title changes always been pinfall or submission?  Whatever happened to the Champion’s advantage?  And since when does a guy get declared “knocked out” without having his arm dropped three times?  At any rate, the outcome is of little consequence, as the belt currently means nothing and I don’t see either man springboarding up the card anytime soon.

• Alex Riley stinks.  But he beat the Miz last night.  After a pretty boring match that was mostly dominated by The Miz, Riley hit a DDT for the win.  Riley got a decent pop during his entrance, but the crowd died soon after, as it was probably lulled to sleep by the lack of action.  Thus far, most of Riley’s crowd reaction has been based around cheap tactics, and the trend continued in the middle of his match with Miz when he grabbed Michael Cole by the tie and removed him from the announce table.  I don’t think Riley lacks potential, but he’s in no way ready to ascend the card, and he certainly shouldn’t have been booked over The Miz.  I fully expect these two to have a pay-per-view rematch next month, this time with Miz walking out the victor.

• Before the Alberto Del Rio vs Big Show match could even begin, the two men brawled all over the ringside area.  While they were trading punches, Mark Henry appeared out of nowhere and DESTROYED the Big Show.  He tossed the World’s Largest Athlete around like a ragdoll, the attack culminating with a World’s Strongest Slam through the Spanish Announce Table.  More impressive, Henry actually took a few steps while holding Show horizontally across his chest before slamming him.  After Henry’s attack, the match finally begun, with Alberto Del Rio capitalizing on the pre-match assault and targeting Show’s leg.  After an awesome spot where Alberto locked in his trademark cross arm breaker on Show’s injured leg, the big man was unable to continue and the match was called.  They probably should have just had him tap out to the move, but whatever.  Henry’s mugging of Show was downright scary – I think this is the first time in Henry’s fifteen year career I’ve ever taken anything he’s done seriously.  Granted, that doesn’t mean I think he’s going to suddenly become a valuable commodity in the WWE, but he looked good last night.

• In his last promo as Intercontinental Champion, Wade Barrett cracked the WWE’s third Anthony Weiner joke of the week.  Somewhere, Vince McMahon cackled to himself.  Ezekiel Jackson was victorious after his usual series of powerslams leading to the Torture Rack.  This match was pretty much what you’d expect it to be – slow and plodding but not a disaster.  After Zeke’s big win, he was interviewed by the King.  His promo skills could stand to improve – he seemed to be channeling Ahmed Johnson.  Barrett is his clear superior, and now with the Corre and the IC Title in his rearview mirror, maybe jolly ol’ Wade will be able to make a lasting transition into the main event scene once and for all.

• I have a raging, schoolboy infatuation with CM Punk.  I could write poetry about the man.  Decked out in some nifty patriotic duds for his visit to the nation’s capital, God’s gift to wrestling notched a win over Rey Mysterio in a fantastic match.  We’ve seen these guys go at it dozens of times over the past few years, and every time this match manages to impress me.  Late-match high spots saw Mysterio counter the Go To Sleep with a Hurricanrana, some sick stiff kicks from Punk, and finally the 619 reversed into a GTS.  The amazing exchange to end it was just one of many impressive sequences that Rey & Punk charted, and both men deserve praise poured over them for their work last night.  Meanwhile, before the match, Punk spoke cryptically about the future of the WWE once more, piquing the interest of inquiring wrestling minds everywhere.  As an aside, do your homework, Cole.  Punk’s father was an alcoholic.  Dick.

• Randy Orton retained the World Heavyweight Title against Christian.  Sigh.  I was really pulling for Christian in this one.  The even bigger shame is that Christian had his foot under the bottom rope when Orton pinned him, so the count should have been stopped.  This probably translates into Christian reverting back to his old whiney heel persona, which is nowhere near as good as the recently developing angry Christian character.  If not for Rhodes and Daniel Bryan, I think I might give up on Smackdown altogether.

• Jack Swagger & Evan Bourne participated in an unannounced bonus match, one that the latter was able to win after reversing the Ankle Lock into a pinning combination.  This match was really sweet, and I was pumped to see these guys as a last minute addition to the card.  I’ve said it before, but Swagger works incredibly well as a menacing bully type, and Bourne’s most natural role is that of a loveable underdog.  Working with each other, both guys are able to perform in their best possible respective postures.  Good to see Bourne steal another victory, and a continued program between he and Swagger would make me one happy camper.

• All night, backstage segments featuring a fake President Obama polluted the pay-per-view.  They culminated when the impersonator approached a podium on the stage to address the WWE Universe, cracking awful political jokes and eventually joining Booker T in the ring to do a spinaroonie.  This segment was beyond terrible.  I can’t cast it in any other light, there was absolutely no redeeming quality about it.  It was dripping that Vinny Mac brand humor that no one on the planet besides Vince finds funny.  The decision to put it on just prior to the main event made it even worst, as it killed any momentum that the show had going.

• I’m sorry, but Booker T is unlistenable.  I’ve done my best to give him a fair shake as a commentator, but he’s ruining shows.  He yells “Whoa!” after every move and “What the hell?!” every time somebody kicks out.  Last night, at the sight of the Bellas with Keith Stone, he emphatically declared “Shucky Ducky!”  He insists that the referee is thinking about stopping just about every match as soon as somebody hits the mat, and he’s always stuttering and stammering over everything he tries to say.  Last night, I’m pretty sure he referred to Evan Bourne as John Morrison at one point.  That’s all I can stands, and I can’t stands no more.

• In the evening’s main event, John Cena successfully retained the WWE Championship against R-Truth in a match that was lackluster in every way.  Especially disappointing was the ending, one in which one of the Little Jimmys in the front row threw his drink into the face of R-Truth, which provided Cena with the opportunity he needed to connect with the Attitude Adjustment and secure the victory.  This was Grade A garbage.  I’d expect this ending on an episode of Raw, but at a pay-per-view?  That’s bush league, bro.  With one more PPV to go before SummerSlam, I expect a rematch at Money in the Bank before Cena is transitioned into his inevitable feud with Alberto Del Rio and R-Truth resumes his program with John Morrison.

WWE Capitol Punishment had its share of glaring faults.  The ending to the main event, Orton’s disputed win, and the heinous filler of the fake Obama spring to mind.  At the same time, CM Punk and Rey Mysterio tore the house down, Swagger and Bourne put on a hell of a match, and for the first time ever, Mark Henry did something that got my attention.  The red, white, and blue ring ropes were cool; the commercials for Raw and the Nitro DVD during an event that cost $44.95 to order were not.  The rest of the show, title changes included, fell somewhere in between the two extremes.

WWE United States Title Match: Dolph Ziggler vs. Kofi Kingston

Out first comes the WWE United States Champion Kofi Kingston to kick off the show. Vickie Guerrero escorts Dolph Ziggler to the ring next and we’re ready to go.

The bell rings and they go at it. Lots of back and forth action to start. They eventually go to the corner. Kofi catapults Dolph out. He goes for Trouble in Paradise but Dolph ducks and turns it around. Dolph with a big leg drop and a 2 count. More back and forth. Dolph hits a dropkick and another 2 count. Dolph applies a submission from behind. Kofi breaks out and rolls Dolph up for 2.

More counters, Kofi with another 2 count. Dolph applies a sleeper hold but Kofi breaks out of it. Dolph goes for a splash in the corner but Kofi moves. Lots of back and forth action. Kofi with a big axe handlefrom the top for a 2 count. Kofi misses Trouble in Paradise. Dolph catches him for a powerbomb but Kofi hits SOS. Dolph kicks out at 2.

More pin attempts from both men. Dolph goes for Zig Zag but misses. Kofi with a big leap and another 2 count. Kofi goes up top but Dolph meets him and knocks him down. Dolph climbs up top and goes for a superplex but Kofi drops him on his face. Kofi with a high crossbody and another 2 count. Dolph blocks SOS again and Dolph applies a sleeper. Kofi blocks it and slams Kofi into the corner. Kofi misses Trouble in Paradise again. Dolph misses Zig Zag and distracts the referee. Vickie interferes and attacks Kofi. Dolph takes advantage and puts the sleeper hold on tight on the mat. Kofi passes out while in the sleeper to end the match, after Dolph used the bottom rope for leverage.

Winner and New WWE United States Champion: Dolph Ziggler

- A limousine pulls up backstage and out steps R-Truth with the WWE Title. He says the champion is in the house. Truth says he’s got a party to go to. He runs into Eve Torres and invites her. She says she doesn’t even know who he is anymore. He says she’s right, she doesn’t know. He says nobody knows who he is anymore. Truth goes on to Eve before walking off.

- We see The Miz backstage with Todd Grisham. Grisham says the critics are asking if he has what it takes to beat Alex Riley. Miz says really? Is this how far his career has sunk in the last month? Miz says he is a former WWE Champion and is sick of hearing about Alex Riley. Miz says Riley was only good for carrying his briefcase. Miz puts Riley down some more and says he can go back to being someone’s bag carrier after tonight. Miz says he’s going to show the world tonight the fine line between luck and awesome.

- We get a video package for The Miz vs. Alex Riley.

The Miz vs. Alex Riley

We go to the ring and out first comes The Miz. Alex Riley, introduced from Washington, DC, is out next to a nice reaction from the crowd. Miz has his briefcase with him tonight. Miz taunts Riley before the match with the briefcase. Riley attacks and the bell rings. Riley takes it to the corner but Miz fights out and rolls to the floor.

Riley chases Miz around the ring but gets taken down when they re-enter. Miz works Riley over with rights, kicks and a high knee. Miz with a running kick to the face. Miz stomps away now but takes his time. Riley gets up and fires back. Miz kicks him to the mat and hits a big DDT for a 2 count. Miz with knees to Riley’s back now. Miz with another running kick to the face. Miz continues the offense and knocks Riley down when he tries to get up.

Riley rams Miz back in the corner but gets sent out to the floor. Miz comes outside and hits Riley with another kick to the face. Miz brings it back in the ring but keeps Riley on the apron and punches him, talking crap. Miz with a running knee to the face. Miz rolls Riley over for another 2 count. Riley tries to make a comeback again but Miz stops it. Miz applies a sleeper hold and takes Riley down to the mat with it.

More offense from Miz, another DDT and a 2 count. Miz with a big clothesline in the corner now. Miz climbs to the top and comes down with a double ax handle for a 2 count. Miz takes Riley to the corner and then ties him up in a tree of woe. Miz stomps away at Riley as he’s hung upside down in the corner. Miz goes for a baseball slide into Riley’s face but Riley pulls himself free and Miz hits the ringpost. Riley with an elbow and a spear now. Riley with several right hands before taking Miz to the corners. Riley throws Miz into the ringpost and hits a big spinebuster for a 2 count.

Miz tosses Riley to the floor. Riley comes back in with a big right hand and another 2 count. Miz rolls to the floor and Riley follows him. Riley slams Miz into the fan barrier, the ring apron and then the announcer’s table. Michael Cole runs his mouth to Riley and eventually distracts him. Riley grabs Cole by his tie and pulls him over the annoucner’s table and to the floor. Miz runs over and kicks Riley in the gut and throws him back in the ring. Miz brings the briefcase in the ring but the referee stops him from using it. Riley takes advantage and drops Miz with a big DDT for the pin and the win.

Winner: Alex Riley

- We go backstage with a fake Barack Obama and his Secret Service. Sgt. Slaughter walks up and Obama cracks a joke on Obamacare. Vickie Guerrero walks up and says she’s so happy that Dolph is the new US Champion that she wants to sing. Vickie starts singing Happy Father’s Day to the fake Obama and blows him a kiss, trying to be Marilyn Monroe. Obama has the Secret Service carry Vickie off as she’s still singing. Slaughter thanks Obama.

- We get a video with highlights from the Alberto Del Rio and Big Show feud.

Alberto Del Rio vs. Big Show

We go to the arena and in comes Alberto Del Rio driving a Mercedes Benz. As Del Rio is making his way to the ring, Big Show attacks him from behind and starts beating him up. Show brings Del Rio in the ring but Del Rio rolls back out. Show with big chops on the floor. The bell still hasn’t rang as Show throws Del Rio hard into the barrier. Show brings Del Rio back in the ring. As Show is entering, Mark Henry attacks Big Show from behind. Henry beats Show down and throws him over the announcer’s table. Henry manages to pick Show up and hits the World’s Strongest Slam through an announcer’s table. Del Rio is in the ring, demanding that the referee starts the match. Henry storms back over and slams Show’s injured knee hard into the table. Show rolls around in pain as the referee checks on him. The referee enters the ring and talks with Del Rio as we go to replays.

Big Show starts to get up. The referee starts the count but the bell still never rang. Big Show rolls into the ring at the 8 count but is down on one knee. Show finally stands up and is ready to fight. The bell rings and here we go. Del Rio attacks and Show throws him into the corner. Show with huge chops. Show grabs Del Rio for a chokeslam. Del Rio fights out and kicks Show’s leg. Del Rio with more kicks and offense until he gets sent out to the floor.

Del Rio drops Show’s neck over the ropes and goes to the top rope. Del Rio leaps off but Show grabs him for a chokeslam. Del Rio fights out and goes for the armbreaker but Show hits him with a hugeback drop. Show walks towards Del Rio now as Del Rio begs him to back off. Del Rio kicks Show’s leg out from under him and applies a submission hold on the leg.

The hold is finally broken but Show is hurt. The referee asks him if he can continue. Show keeps trying to stand up but he can’t. The referee calls for the bell and it’s announced that Del Rio wins due to Show not being able to compete.

Winner: Alberto Del Rio

- After the match, Del Rio celebrates as Show lays in pain and we go to replays. Del Rio continues the celebration as trainers help Big Show walk to the back.

- Another backstage segment with R-Truth. He’s telling a photographer to go ahead and do the photos now because he will be tired after tonight’s title match. And that’s when my feed goes out and comes back to a WCW Nitro DVD commercial.

- Josh Matthews is backstage with WWE Intercontinental Champion Wade Barrett. Barrett takes the mic and says he will handle this. Barrett starts walking to the ring from backstage and is talking about being in our nation’s Capitol and how we need a Queen. Barrett brings up the recent Weiner scandal, the US education system and the national debt. Barrett says in 20 years, everyone in this building will be speaking Chinese. Barrett says America looks good from the outside, but when you get closer you see it’s nothing but a hollow shell. Much like Ezekiel Jackson, he says. Barrett calls him pathetic. Barrett goes on and on before we get the bell.

WWE Intercontinental Title Match: Ezekiel Jackson vs. Wade Barrett

Barrett is formally introduced and gets boo’d. Ezekiel Jackson’s music hits next and out comes the challenger.

The bell rings and they lock up to USA chants. They go at it and break. Barrett comes back with right hands. Zeke goes for the torture rack but Barrett slides out and goes to the floor. Barrett comes back in and misses a clothesline. Zeke goes to work on him with rights in the corner and beats him down. Barrett dodges a splash in the corner but Zeke knocks him to the mat anyway for a 2 count.

Barrett with a big kick in the corner and a pin attempt. Zeke tries to fight back but Barrett catches him with a big sideslam for another 2 count. Barrett with a headlock now. Zeke fights out with elbows but Zeke stops him with a knee. A “We want Ryder” chant breaks out in the crowd. Barrett tries to roll-up Zeke and finally gets him down for a 2 count. Zeke runs into a big back kick from Barrett. Barrett with a pumphandle slam and another 2 count. Barrett with a bunch of kicks in the corner now and right hands. Barrett runs into an elbow from Zeke. Zeke comes back with clotheslines and splashes, knocking Barrett down. Zeke with a big running splash in the corner.

Barrett misses a splash in the corner now. Zeke fights back and goes for his series of bodyslams but Barrett counters. Barrett hits Zeke with Wasteland but Zeke kicks out at 2. Barrett tries a running kick but Zeke catches him. Zeke starts hitting the series of bodyslams and puts Barrett in the torture rack. Barrett taps out and Zeke wins the match.

Winner and New WWE Intercontinental Champion: Ezekiel Jackson

- After Zeke celebrates his victory, Jerry Lawler comes in the ring to ask him how it feels to win. Zeke says it’s awesome and the greatest accomplishment of his life. Zeke talks about domination and continues the celebration.

- We go backstage and see Santino Marella, Beth Phoenix and Kelly Kelly run into the fake Obama and his posse. Santino asks Obama if he wants to see how the Cobra is done. Santino shows him the motions and when he finishes, the Secret Service tackle him and rush Obama off to safety.

- Josh Matthews is backstage with CM Punk. Punks talks about how bad Washington, DC is. He says any performer or “sports entertainer”, as he mocks the term, who says they are a hero is lying to you. Punk says he, like Rey Mysterio and everyone else, just wants to get rich. Punk says after he beats Mysterio tonight in Washington, DC, he is going to do the most honest thing the WWE Universe has ever seen.

CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio

We go to the ring and out first comes Rey Mysterio to a nice reaction from the crowd. Out next comes CM Punk, who stares Mysterio down the whole way to the ring.

The bell rings and they go at it after some taunting from Punk. Lots of back and forth action. Punk keeps an offense going and gets a pair of 2 counts. Punk with a back kick before working on Rey’s arm. Rey fights out but Punk takes him down for a 2 count. Rey dropkicks Punk into position for 619. Punk drops off the ropes but Rey kicks him to the floor instead of 619. Rey leaps onto Punk’s shoulders on the floor but Punk drops Rey’s face onto the fan barrier.

Punk brings Rey back in the ring for another 2 count. Punk goes back to stomping on Rey and keeping the offense going. Punk puts Rey in a surfboard maneuver and tries to make him tap. Rey turns it over and drops down on Punk. Before Rey can get some offense, Punk stomps and goes back to work on him for another 2 count. Punk with a body scissors now. Punk hits a tilt-a-whirl slam on Rey and goes back to the scissors. Rey fights out finally and drops Punk for 619 again. Rey goes for it but Punk takes him out with a counter for another 2 count.

Punk applies an abdominal stretch now until Rey fights out. Punk charges in the corner but Rey drops him face first into the turnbuckle. Rey goes up top but Punk knocks him down and he gets hung upside down in the corner. Punk takes advantage and kicks Rey in the face. Punk with two headbutts to the gut. Rey comes off the ropes and kicks Punk in the face and then sends him flying to the floor. Rey with a moonsault from the apron to the floor and both are down now. Rey brings it back in the ring and goes to the top. Rey with a diving headbutt for a 2 count.

More back and forth action. They trade kicks and kick attempts. Rey kicks Punk in the head and he goes down for a 2 count. They go back to the top and Punk brings Rey to the mat with a big back body drop. Punk with a 2 count. Punk with a big running knee in the corner. Punk charges again but Rey moves and he hits the ring post. More back and forth with some 619. Rey goes to the top for the big splash but Punk puts his knees up. Punk fires away with knees to the head on Rey. Punk goes for the GTS and holds it a minute while smiling. Rey blocks GTS and takes Punk down with a hurricanrana for a 2 count. Punk connects and drops Rey with a big kick this time for a 2 count.

Punk goes for GTS again but Rey counters again and puts him into position for 619. Punk blocks 619 and catches Rey on his shoulders. Punk nails GTS for the pin and the win.

Winner: CM Punk

- After the match, Punk heads to the back and doesn’t do that honest thing he was talking about earlier.

- We get a video package for tonight’s World Heavyweight Title Match.

World Heavyweight Title Match: Christian vs. Randy Orton

We go to the ring and out first comes the World Heavyweight Champion Randy Orton to a nice reaction from the crowd. Christian is out next, playing the heel. We get formal introductions from Tony Chimel and we’re ready to go.

The bell rings and they go right at it. Orton gets Christian down and starts stomping. Christian turns things around and knocks Orton down to one knee with rights. Orton misses a clothesline but hits a Thesz Press and unloads with right hands. Orton with a headlock now. Orton with a shoulder block now and a 2 count. Orton goes back to the headlock, keeping in control.

They run the ropes and Orton with a shoulder tackle and another 2 count. Christian fights out of another headlock and goes to the second rope. Christian goes for an elbow from the second rope but Orton dodges it. Christian tosses Orton through the ropes and to the floor now. Christian runs and dropkicks Orton through the ropes, and down he goes. Christian goes for a crossbody over the top rope but Orton moves and he hits the floor. Orton with a clothesline on the floor before bringing it back in the ring for a 2 count. Orton fires away on Christian before sending him back outside. Orton follows and works him over. Orton goes for a DDT off the steel steps but Christian counters and sends Orton head first into the steps.

Christian rolls Orton back into the ring for a 2 count. Christian stomps on Orton and stands on him in the corner. Christian with a reverse neckbreaker for another 2 count. Orton comes back with a 2 count of his own until Christian comes right back and drops Orton on his head with a spinebuster for a 2 count. The announcers play up Orton’s recent concussion. Orton counters Christian and whips him hard into the corner. Orton with a big back drop and repeated forearm shots to the chest. Christian counters and goes for the inverted DDT. Orton counters and comes back with clotheslines and a scoop slam.

Orton with an uppercut in the corner and a belly to belly suplex for a 2 count. Orton tries for the second-rope DDT but Christian hits him with a right hand. They go back and forth by the apron before going to the top rope. Orton hits a superplex on Christian but only gets a 2 count. More offense by Orton. Christian grabs him for the Killswitch but Orton blocks it. Orton goes for the RKO but it’s blocked. They leave the ring and come back in. Christian goes to the second rope but Orton pulls him down. Orton hits Christian with the second rope DDT. Orton hits the mat and gets ready to strike. Orton goes for the RKO but Christian counters with an inverted DDT for a 2 count.

Christian readies for a spear. Orton leaps over him and goes for an RKO but Christian blocks it. Christian nails the spear this time but only gets a 2 count. Christian with a dropkick. Orton charges in the corner but Christian kicks him in the head. Christian comes off the top rope but Orton goes under him. Christian walks into an RKO for the pin and the win for Orton.

Winner: Randy Orton

- After the match, Orton celebrates as Christian argues with the referee about the pin being good. Christian says he had his foot under the ropes. Orton walks over and lays Christian out with a belt shot to the head. Orton goes back to the corner to pose for the fans.

- We go to the ring and out comes The Bella Twins with Keith Stone, the guy from the Keystone beer commercials. It looks like they just have a seat at ringside.

- We go to a promo video for tonight’s WWE Title Match.

Evan Bourne vs. Jack Swagger

We go to the ring and out comes Jack Swagger for a bonus match that wasn’t announced before. Out next comes his opponent Evan Bourne. They lock up and go at it. Another chant for Zack Ryder breaks out. Swagger clams Bourne back to the mat and keeps in control. Swagger keeps Bourne on the mat.

Swagger keeps in control until Bourne takes him down with a head scissors. Bourne tries to mount an offense but Swagger stops it and slams him on his shoulder for a 2 count. Swagger drops elbows into Bourne’s ribs and covers him for another 2 count. Swagger with a chinlock and a knee in Bourne’s back, still keeping in control. We see Keith Stone and the Bellas sitting at ringside. Swagger does a push-up over Bourne and poses.

Swagger with a big back drop and another 2 count. Swagger takes Bourne to the corner and nails him with forearm shots to the back now. Swagger whips Bourne hard into the corner and he goes down. Swagger hits the big Vader splash from the second rope but only gets a 2 count. Swagger puts the boot to Bourne’s chest and continues the beatdown.

Bourne starts to make a comeback but Swagger stops him. Swagger misses the second rope splash and Bourne comes back again. Bourne goes up top but has to come back down. Swagger hits a big boot to the face out of nowhere but can’t get the pin. Bourne ends up on the top rope and they go at it before coming down. Bourne hits a big DDT for a 2 count. Bourne with two big kicks to the head. Bourne goes up top for Air Bourne but Swagger moves. Bourne lands on his feet. Swagger goes for the gutwrench powerbomb but Bourne slides out. Bourne goes for a roll up but Swagger goes for the ankle lock. Bourne counters it with another roll up for the win.

Winner: Evan Bourne

- We go to the stage and the fake Barack Obama comes out to a podium. He tells us thank you about twenty times and says he has some great WWE memories. Obama says every Monday night when he tells people he’s working on the budget, he’s up in his office watching RAW. He says if he were RAW General Manager, we would see a lot more Jim Ross and less Michael Cole. Obama wishes good luck to John Cena and the crowd boo’s. He wishes good luck to R-Truth and that seems to get a better reaction. He goes on and thanks everyone again before walking off. Booker T speaks up and stops Obama from leaving. Booker invites Obama down to the ring.

Booker says it’s a pleasure to meet Obama and talks about him making history by being the first black President and winning the Nobel Peace Prize. Booker T asks him if he can do the spin-a-rooni however. Booker’s music hits and he shows the fake Obama how it’s done. Booker asks us if we want to see the Barack-O-rooni. The music hits and Obama starts dancing before hitting a weak-a-rooni to end the segment.

- We get another promo video for tonight’s pay-per-view.

WWE Title Match: R-Truth vs. John Cena

We go to the ring and out first comes R-Truth, still in possession of the WWE Title belt. John Cena’s music is on next and here’s his entrance. We get formal ring introductions before the bell.

The bell rings and they finally lock up. Truth takes Cena down first as the crowd does dueling chants. They square up again and go to lock up. Truth throws a kick but Cena grabs his leg and throws him to the mat. Truth rolls to the floor and starts talking to himself. Truth comes back in and hits Cena in the face, taking it to the corner and working him over. They go back and forth but Truth rolls back out to the floor when Cena starts to get on a roll.

Truth comes in and Cena goes for the Attitude Adjustment. Truth blocks it and suplexes Cena on his face. Truth takes it to the corner and works Cena over but Cena comes out fighting. Truth with a side kick to the face for a 2 count. Truth with more offense and another 2 count. Truth with a chinlock now. Cena fights to his feet and out of the hold. Cena whips Truth into the ropes but Truth comes back with a corkscrew elbow, good for a 2 count. Truth mocks Cena and continues the assault. Truth fights Cena on the apron. Cena drops him over the ropes and comes back in the ring but runs into a clothesline. Truth with a 2 count.

Truth takes Cena to the mat and puts on the body scissors. More dueling chants from the crowd. Cena rolls out of it and goes for the STF but Truth makes it to the ropes. Truth gets up and drops Cena with a clothesline for another 2 count. Truth with a suplex and yet another 2 count. Cena starts to make his comeback and hits the usual moves followed by the Five Knuckle Shuffle. Cena goes for the Attitude Adjustment but Truth counters it and drops Cena but can’t get the pin. Truth misses a big forearm in the corner and Cena counters with a drop toe hold. Cena locks the STF but Truth makes it to the ropes and breaks the hold.

Truth comes back and hits the scissor kick but still can’t get the win. Truth goes up top and comes down with a crossbody but Cena rolls through and stands up with Truth. Truth slides out again and lays Cena out. Cena still manages to kick out at 2 and roll out to the floor to regroup. Truth goes to ringside and starts drinking a Cena fans drink. The fan throws drink in Truth’s face. Cena takes advantage, brings Truth in the ring and hits the Attitude Adjustment for the win.

Winner: John Cena

- After the match, Cena goes to ringside and picks the fan up to bring him in the ring. Cena raises the WWE Title and the little boys hand before giving him a thumbs up and helping him back out of the ring. Cena goes to ringside and poses with some troops. Capitol Punishment goes off the air with Cena saluting the camera.

Rey Mysterio v CM Punk

I think this match is going to be a bit boring but who knows? CM Punk is a real superstar and I think it’s unfair that he constantly loses all the time. I honestly don’t know which way this will go as WWE doesn’t seem to be pushing either of these two men for anything at the minute.

I’m going to go with a CM Punk win. I presume New Nexus will be involved but I have a feeling they will probably be banned from ringside.

Alex Riley v The Miz

An interesting one. The Miz is a must-see champion and he certainly could do without losing but then we wouldn’t get our big pay-off. I’m going to say that the WWE might surprise us and this feud could go on longer than we thought.

I’m predicting The Miz will pick up the win.

Big Show v Alberto Del Rio

I’m loving the direction Big Show is taking and I think that the match will end with him beating the hell out of Del Rio. I also have a feeling that maybe, just maybe, the match might not even happen. It’s a real long shot and it’d be a surprise but I think maybe Big Show might just get “arrested”.

If the match does go ahead, I’m going to say that Big Show will pick up the win and probably try to smash Del Rio’s face in afterwards.

Wade Barrett v Ezekiel Jackson (Intercontinental Championship)

It’s been an interesting character change for Wade as he breaks away from Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater. I think that, ultimately, Wade is more interesting in the ring which is why I think Wade will pick up the win.

I’m just not a fan of Zeke.

Kofi Kingston v Dolph Ziggler (US Championship)

I’m actually looking forward to this match. I’m a huge fan of Dolph and Kofi always does great at the big PPVs. I think Vicki will be a huge part of this and it could go either way. She might try to help him win it and result in him losing or she’ll try and she’ll succeed.

I’m going to say that she’ll try to help him and fail so Kofi will pick up the win. I see the Dolph/Vicki story taking a huge turn for the bad.

John Cena v R Truth (WWE Championship)

Another interesting one. R Truth has been amazing these past few months but I really don’t forsee him picking up a title. I don’t think Cena will be dropping the title just yet so John Cena will win.

Randy Orton v Christian (World Heavyweight Championship)

Another interesting one which could go either way. Everyone is expecting Randy Orton to win and often what fans expect usually happens. Christian has played a solid character but I think it’d be more interesting for him to lose again and see where he goes.

I’m going to say Randy Orton retains.

Other Predictions

• I predict that there will be many Anthony Weiner jokes
• I think the Anonymous Raw GM will announce that he/she will reveal themselves on RAW (wishful thinking)
• I think we’ll see an additional match which I think will either be Tag Team Title match between New Nexus and Gabriel/Slater or Jack Swagger v Evan Bourne. I hope though it’s a Divas match as there isn’t one on the card.
• I think Donald Trump will make an appearance somehow

WWE Capitol Punishment, Verizon Center, Washington DC, 19/06/2011

Capitol Punishment is just a name. I think, ultimately, it is doomed to failure, eventhough there are some nice stories going in to it and there are some fresh prospects (mainly R-Truth as a main player and a heel Christian). The build has all been about the fact that it takes place in DC, but what effect does this have on the action once it’s underway? Nothing. It’s empty branding, and although I found the press conference videos quite funny, I think the government-based build has affected the build for many of the matches. I’ll talk about this more with the individual matches, but I will say we might be looking at a new record low for buys, eventhough I hope it doesn’t come to that. Also, of the possible matches that may be announced on the night, I think The Usos might be thrown a tag team title match after the Smackdown announcers made the connection after their victory over Slater and Gabriel, and i’d be really in to that (especially if it led to a genuine storyline). If not, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the hot prospects of Cody Rhodes, Sin Cara, Ted DiBiase and Daniel Bryan in the ring in some combination, or a divas match as they shouldn’t really be left off the cards (God knows who would wrestle though!).

Match 1) Intercontinental Championship Match: Wade Barrett (c) vs Ezekiel Jackson
I  like Wade Barrett, but I have no time for Big Zeke for the time being, and this is a match i’m not particularly looking forward to, though I hope to be surprised. My lack of intrigue is because the build has been minimal really being centred around the split of the Corre (eventhough that was minimal anyway) and throwing each guy together in booking, and for that reason, they haven’t really been able to build up any tension. This mixed with the very limited skills of Ezekiel Jackson will make this a bit of a dull match. It is also the most predictable: after losing in various ways to Barrett, but after the Corre left Barrett’s side, I don’t see how Barrett can go over, though it is a shame the IC title, held by Steamboat, Savage, Hennig, Piper, Owen Hart, Jericho and other great wrestlers, will be held by Ezekiel Jackson. Nonethless, they’ll go out first as relatively big names where a babyface will go over to set a nice tone for the night. My hope is that after losing the IC title (if he does), Barrett will be freed to make his way to the role of a top heel on Smackdown.

Winner: Ezekiel Jackson

Match 2) CM Punk vs Rey Mysterio
When Punk and Rey work together, their is usually a good match on the way, but I don’t understand why it’s happening again. This sums up a big problem with some of the matches on the card in that it has absolutely no build other than the fact that they ‘have history’. Indeed, we’ve already seen them wrestle on TV! At least, as I say, this should be a good match, but the lack of build also makes it difficult to predict (a good thing? I guess, but for the wrong reasons). I am backing Punk though, partly because Mysterio won out when they last met, and partly because I imagine WWE will want to keep Punk sweet for the time being; trying to keep him with the company. Hopefully they can both move on after tonight, though a heel victory often complicates a blow-off.

Winner: CM Punk

Match 3: United States Championship Match: Kofi Kingston (c) vs Dolph Ziggler
Both of these guys are, most probably, going to be part of the next generation of WWEs top guys, and to me, I would think that the winner of this match could be the guy on the shortest road to the top. This match is one i’m actually looking forward to; Kofi and Dolph have worked together in the past with great chemistry. Both guys are very athletic and we will see a lot of quick, hopefully unpredictable action, and could even be one of the best matches of the night. Now I hope, though I don’t expect, that two other guys who have wrestled Kingston recently: Drew McIntyre or Zack Ryder, get involved in some way, because both deserve that spot. Unfortunately like the Punk-Rey match, there seems to be very little build here, and if there was, it was not directly with Kingston, and for this reason, like the Punk-Rey match, it is hard to predict. As I say, I think the guy that wins this will be the guy closer to the front of WWEs minds, and for that reason, I think Ziggler is the slight favourite. While Kinston’s reign has been of acceptable length, given the fact that Ziggler is (technically) a former World Champion and seems to be someone WWE have wanted to experiment with (i.e, the hair-dying disaster), means he seems to be slightly higher up the ladder.

Winner: Dolph Ziggler

Match 4) The Big Show vs Alberto Del Rio
This match didn’t mean much too me until this week, but this week, the build was achieved much better, especially (though they really shouldn’t have been there) on Smackdown. Big Show has become this unstable, unpredictable and incredibly violent man, and scarily so. This has manifested in his brutal assaults on both Ricardo Rodriguez and Mark Henry. Despite the fact that the initial coming together of these two now seems like a special event, and one that is anticipated, at least by me, it is hard to imagine this as a long, involved match. Big Show wrestling wouldn’t make much sense, he can only behave as he has been in the last couple of weeks; so while I am looking forward to this confrontation, I don’t see it being a long, and in a way, I don’t see it being very satisfying. What I mean by this is that I think this match will be intentionally unsatisfying for the right reasons regarding storylines. Without Rodriguez to handicap Show, I see Big Show just beating down Del Rio, not caring about the match itself as much as getting his hands on Del Rio, and will get himself DQ’d very quickly. This I think will lead to a gimmick match (anything from a simple No DQ stipulation to a possibly appropriate Parking Lot Brawl) at Money in the Bank. It may not be very satisfying, but it will be interesting and compelling. For this to work though, Del Rio will have to cut a despicable promo beforehand to make sure no sympathy comes his way (Show has had a recent habit of beating down heels in a seemingly unfair way).

Winner: Alberto Del Rio

Match 5) World Heavyweight Championship Match: Randy Orton (c) vs Christian
This is the match I am most looking forward to. Though WWE hasn’t done a great job of building for the matches lower down on the card, the two/three matches that would be considered the main events of the show have been built nicely, and this one has arguably been built the best, simply because all of the emotions involved are completely understandable. Christian has taken Orton to his limit in title matches over the last few months, and has a legitimate gripe regarding how he lost his dream title whereas Orton has only behaved as any superstar should, jumping at the chance to hold the title, while doing that in, from his perspective, a fair way, not cheating Christian out of the title, even if Teddy Long arguably did. As i’ve mentioned, the matches these two have had have been excellent and they’ve gelled perfectly, which is why i’m looking forward to this match so much, and especially so given that this will be fought with a slightly different story given that Christian is now heel. As for the winner, i’ve found it hard to predict. Christian as a heel persona will possibly make this his best chance yet to take his title back, but it is also the case that, if he loses, he will be completely out of the title picture, which possibly seems premature. I’ve based this prediction based on the booking ramifications of either result, something the relative lack of depth on the Smackdown roster makes easier. If Christian wins, Orton would get a rematch at MITB but probably lose, and then who would take on Christian at Summerslam? Daniel Bryan? Sin Cara? While I can see them main event at some point soon, I don’t see that being at Summerslam. On the other hand, if Orton wins, he goes on to defend againsty a new heel, which I can imagine more; someone like Wade Barrett, Cody Rhodes, or Jinder Mahal, for example. I also think they’d rather have one of their top top guys hold the title for a while longer and especially through Summerslam, so for that reason, I see Orton ending this feud tonight.

Winner: Randy Orton

Match 6) The Miz vs Alex Riley
I don’t quite understand it, but Alex Riley has gotten remarkably over since splitting with The Miz. In fact, maybe his success has come from a rub from beating up The Miz, who is undoubtedly now the top heel in the company. Both these guys are sound in the ring, and i’m sure their history will make for a good in-ring storyline, even if I must admit to not being quite so interested in it as others seem to be. I have no doubt Riley will be working his ass off to get over further and show that he can handle a big-time match with a top guy. Now when I first thought about this, I thought Riley was the favourite to go over, making him seem like a strong guy. Then I started to worry about Miz seeming weak, especially after he has been on a bit of a bad streak starting with dropping the WWE title to Cena, which would only get worse if he lost to Riley the next month. Not only that, but I think this is being considered a big feud, and that a Riley win would make it hard to continue this, so here’s how I think it will go. Riley will look very strong against Miz, being able to match him in the ring and maybe even starting to look like he could beat his former mentor. That is, until Miz realises the jeopardy he is in and does something really quite low down to beat Riley – a low blow or something equally cheap. The victory would keep Miz looking like a resourceful big-time heel, while showing the potential and strength of Alex Riley and keeping their feud running towards Summerslam.

Winner: The Miz

Match 7) WWE Championship Match: John Cena (c) vs R-Truth
This is perhaps the most intriguing prospect on the card, which is a good thing for the main event! Truth has a genuinely unpredictable edge to him now, so i’m hoping for something surprising during this match from Truth in terms of sheer sinister aggressiveness. I think, given that Truth seems to be a pet project or WWE currently means that he’ll be given the time to show what he can do. There was a part of me that thought and even wanted Truth to win (something completely unfamiliar to me, and possibly to you guys depending on what i’ve written in the past right here), simply for the fresh, shock value of the event. I am, however, now of the opinion that Cena is quite a strong candidate for the winner here. This is partly because of Cena’s claim that he hopes to keep the title going in to WrestleMania, and partly because of the rumours that Del Rio will be facing Cena for the title at Summerslam, something i’d absolutely love to see and would be a fitting Summerslam main event. This doesn’t mean that Cena has to win clean of course – there would also be the option of Truth winning by count-out or maybe Cena winning by DQ. This would be a way of keeping Truth in the title picture for Money in the Bank without him winning the title, but it would be a slightly underwhelming way for the PPV to go off-air unless it was done in a legitimately shocking way. Unfortunately, I see this being the most likely course of events: R-Truth getting frustrated and attacking Cena illegally leading to a second match and a blowoff at MITB.

Winner: John Cena

So there is a lot of potential in this PPV with most of the matches, but by the time some of the matches have spoken for themselves, it will be too late to attract buys, and just goes to show the importance of proper build for PPV matches, and possibly even further, the need for slightly fewer PPVs on the calendar. I hope you all enjoy it though! I will be live-tweeting about it tonight @RTVWOW so gimme a follow.

Sidekick Andrew: Let’s get this out of the way first shall we? Look at that poster up there. It’s bloody horrible. We really enjoyed Fatal-4-Way last year here in the bunker, so there’s a chance I’m just feeling bitter that they replaced it with this, but the whole show seems like a bit of a non-event. The fact I haven’t really been watching any WWE shows recently might also be a contributing factor – which does mean that my predictions will be “from the heart” rather than based on any actual knowledge. I’m pretty sure this is how Boss Lady Ray does her predictions each month, and look how well she’s doing… [Boss Lady Ray's Edit: I'm losing deliberately. Duh!]

Sidekick Andrew: First up is Kingston vs Ziggler for the US Title. I have it on good authority that Ziggler has agreed with Austin to dump Vickie in return for a title shot.

It’s no secret that I have a pretty massive man-crush on Dolph Ziggler (hey, it could be worse right? It could be Justin Bieber or someone…) As such, I want Ziggler to hold a belt again. Kofi is a fun wrestler, but as a character he does nothing for me. Ziggler on the other hand makes a great cocky champion and I really want to see him in that role again.

Boss Lady Ray: Dolph’s been knocking about with Vickie for quite some time now and if he’s going to move on they probably need to separate them. A Dolph win without Mrs. Guerrero at his side would do that. I’m more than happy for Dolph and his re-bleached locks to start creeping back up to the top again. He was so very nearly there and, lovely as Kofi is, he holds no interest for me at the moment.

Sidekick Andrew: I’ve no idea why these two are feuding again, but they have a history of great matches over the last couple of years. We still have fond memories of Punk singing Happy Birthday to Rey’s daughter, and I wrote about how great their matches were even at house shows here.

So, despite not having a clue why these two are fighting again, I am looking forward to this match. It certainly should be the best match of the night if nothing else. As for a winner, I’m going to have to go with Punk.

Boss Lady Ray: Punk hasn’t had a successful run in so long. It’s hurting my heart. As the Sidekick said, this Mysterio feud had every drop of juice squeezed out of it in glorious fashion on Smackdown last year. This little dalliance is just a feeder feud to get them both through to Summerslam, where I expect them both to have moved on to other people. It may be wishful thinking, but I’m going to say Punk will win to start him on winning streak. I’m still not opposed to some kind of falling out with Mason Ryan. Now that WWE have started sending people on their merry way with their P45 in hand, I’m getting a bit nervous about ole Bazza’s employment status.

Easy, Tiger. We'll get you to the top. *shoulder-rub*

Sidekick Andrew: Hmmm… again (unsurprisingly) I have no idea why these two are feuding. It could be an interesting match though, and I’ll be intrigued to see how their styles gel with each other. Del Rio’s offence being aimed at his opponents arm could be tricky to pull off with someone of the Big Show’s size. They both have a lot of experience though, so I’d like to think they can pull something out of the bag.

I think Big Show will win this one. Not that he needs wins, he’ll always be over purely because he’s bloody massive. But I think they might consider splitting up Del Rio and Rodriguez soon, and having him mess up his interference and cost Del Rio a PPV win would be a nice way to do it. Plus Rodriguez said on Twitter this weekend that he was disappointed in the CHIKARA King of Trios this year, so I’m hoping he takes a kicking just for that.

Boss Lady Ray: He said WHAT? That is OUTRAGEOUS! We need to discuss. Not right now though. It makes me sad that the Del Rio match is the one I’m least interested in. As often happens, being drafted to Raw left Del Rio floating around behind the big hitters. Obviously you can’t tell how these things will work until you try them, but I can’t help but feel he’d have been better left on Smackdown.

Big Show will probably win as the good guy coming back to seek his revenge, but in a gesture of solidarity with what I think was one of the best WWE buys in years, I’m going to say Del Rio will win. And he can get rid of that wretched Rodriguez at the same time.

Sidekick Andrew: A-ha! I actually know a little bit about this one! Look at me, having some background information like a real wrestling journalist!

I only dress like this at the weekend, and even then it's strictly a comfort thing

So, the last thing I saw was Jackson getting beaten up and having a wheelie bin dropped on him by The Corre, but from what I can gather The Corre is pretty much done with now. I can’t say I’m surprised, given the drastic downturn in t-shirt logo quality from Nexus to Corre I’d be tempted to leave as well.

I’m going to with Barrett retaining the belt, but this PPV marking the definitive end of The Corre. Barrett needs a run by himself to show he’s capable of winning matches on his own merit. Slater & Gabriel would work well enough as faces or heels, and they could enjoy their slot as the “insert random tag match on day of PPV” team. I think Barrett won’t come out of the PPV unharmed, but I do think he’ll win, possible leading to a post-match beatdown to “beat him out of the gang” as he did with Jackson.

Boss Lady Ray: When we held a staff meeting to discuss these predictions yesterday (on my birthday, I should add. There’s dedication!) I was sure Wade would be dropping the belt to Zeke so he could finally walk away from The Corre alone with no ties to the group. However, Andrew’s logic seems pretty sound on this one and I do have a strange blind-spot when it comes to Wade Barrett. Maybe it’s Andrew’s local bias, maybe it’s because we followed him through every episode of NXT, maybe it’s because he quotes lyrics from Welsh bands on Twitter and confuses foreigners, but I find it hard to bet against him.

In the interest of keeping the competition between us spicy, I’m going to say that Wade will lose, but only so he can sever ties with The Corre and get back on his main event trail.

Trust me, Wade. I'm supporting you with tough-love.

Sidekick Andrew: Now, I think I might have seen some mention of this feud briefly on Twitter. I seem to recall a couple of people being slightly miffed at the fact that Christian lost the title to Orton so quickly. There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth, and all for naught. Yes, Orton is still champion; and yes, he’s almost insufferably dull, but it has led to a storyline and a heel turn for Christian. What was it Jericho said?

Fancy that! It’s almost as if he has more experience and knowledge of the way pro-wrestling is booked and works than the members of the dreaded INTERNET WRESTLING COMMUNITY! I can’t see them turning around and just giving Christian the belt back just yet. As such I think Orton will win and retain the belt, but hopefully via DQ. I’d love to see Christian snap and just beat the crap out of Orton with a chair or something, really cement his heel status.

Boss Lady Ray: I think I made my views on the reaction to Christian losing his title quite clear last weekend, so I won’t repeat myself. I am, however, quite enjoying his heel turn. I’m not sure the audience have fully bought into it yet, but it certainly seems to have pushed Randy closer to being the face they’ve wanted him to be for a long time. This scrap has bucketloads of mileage left in it and I can’t see Christian getting the title back after there was such fuss when he lost it. Orton will retain and continue to buck the trend that is ‘facial hair = bad bad man’.

Sidekick Andrew: I’m pretty confused about this match. Regardless of the fact that I’ve missed their whole fall out, this match seems like a strange idea. I can’t imagine Miz getting beat by Riley considering how high the WWE are on him. I know people like Cena are in a position to lose and put guys over at PPVs (see below) but Miz doesn’t seem to be in that position just yet. The idea of Riley beating Miz seems like it can only leave Miz looking weak.

On the other hand, If Riley loses this match then the whole feud seems like a waste of time. Wrestling storyline logic states that in a position like this, the ex-sidekick gets the win, toppling the evil heel that has been dominating him for so long (take note Boss Lady.) Splitting them up and then having a blow off match on PPV which Riley loses seems pretty pointless, and wouldn’t bode well for his future. So, the match is either going to make one of their top stars look weak by losing to a guy with half the skill and a tenth of the charisma, or prove that the feud was a complete waste of our time and merely a shoddily put together plot device to fill some air time. Obviously The Miz is going to win, I certainly wouldn’t put it past them to happily waste our time like that.

Boss Lady Ray: Andrew, if you don’t start watching WWE with me again I’m going to send you off on a ‘sabbatical’. I mean, seriously, have I got a body odour problem you haven’t told me about?

I’ve quite enjoyed the way they’ve gradually brought Alex Riley to the fore. There’s something rather old-fashioned about it. Miz has been reigning high for a while, second only to Cena in being the guy they send out to promote the company. The loss to Piper and the way Austin metaphorically brought Miz to his knees on Raw this week were nothing short of genius. He will be just as good at playing ‘the fall of the Miz’ as he was at playing ‘The Rise of…’ For this reason, I think Alex Riley will win this one, leaving Miz with a broken man to play and Riley with a growing following.

Sidekick Andrew: Yeah, I’m just going to throw all my credibility away and pick R-Truth to win this match. While I’m at it, I’d like to confess that I have a certain fondness for Avril Lavigne as well. And I really enjoy tinned ravioli on toast. I shall expect none of you to be able to look me in the eye again.

Just like heaven...

Boss Lady Ray: I didn’t know this! Okay, yeah I did. You wouldn’t believe the number of ‘Avril Days’ we have in the Bunker. But then, I think John Cena is lovely and will definitely win tonight. Who am I to judge?

Hah! Now you can't say a thing!

- John Cena vs. R-Truth for the WWE Championship.

- Randy Orton vs. Christian for the World Heavyweight Championship.

- Kofi Kingston vs. Dolph Ziggler for the United States Championship.

- Wade Barrett vs. Ezekiel Jackson for the Intercontinental Title.

- Big Show vs. Alberto Del Rio.

- Alex Riley vs. The Miz.

- Rey Mysterio vs. C.M. Punk.

Looks like it should be a fairly good show. The really great news is that Randy Orton passed his IMPACT test and is medically cleared to defend the World Heavyweight Championship. The really bad news is that this is a RAW heavy show (only two matches from Smackdown), which means there’s no Sheamus, Cody Rhodes, Daniel Bryan, or Sin Cara match on the card (at least not one that’s advertised).

Event so, Christian vs. Randy Orton, Rey Mysterio vs. CM Punk, Alex Riley vs. Miz, and Dolph Ziggler vs. Kofi Kingston should all deliver in a way that makes this event worth seeing. Kingston and Ziggler is the match I’m most looking forward to, and I can only hope that WWE gives them enough time (and that Ziggler wins it).

Orton puts Sheamus as Smackdown closes

The first match that aired on this week’s Smackdown was a re-match from RAW pitting Sin Cara, Daniel Bryan & Ezekiel Jackson against Cody Rhodes, Ted DiBiase & Wade Barrett. These guys have been tearing it up of late and i’ve really enjoyedtheir matches (Zeke aside). Thiw was another quality match, though it did seem to have lost a bit of the cutting edge that has been apparent in their earlier matches, perhaps because they’ve been booked together for so long. Nonetheless,there weres some nice moments. Early on, with Sin Cara charging him, Rhodes connected with a perfectly timed Beautiful Disaster. Otherwise, Ted DiBiase had some nice progressions with Sin Cara while Daniel Bryan showed his intense aggressiveness well in the ring, darting about and making heavy contact with his opponents. It was, in fact, Bryan who scored the ‘pin’ in this match, after hitting a huge clothesline to DiBiase followed by a brutal dropkick in the corner. With DiBiase down, Bryan went for the cover and indeed got the three at a seemingly slightly unnatural time and despite the fact that DiBiase seemed to kick out just in time. At first I thought this was a botch, but I’m not so sure now given that WWE decided to highlight the incident and the announcers questioned the decision. Maybe this was just to cover their asses, and if so kudos, but I hope that indeed it is a storyline thing (or at least something that can evolve in to one), because while i’ve enjoyed this feud, it has been lacking a storyline which would make it a PPV-worthy match, something all involved (again, bar Zeke) deserve.

Next up was the exciting prospect of Jinder Mahal to take on Vladimir Kozlov. My first reaction was to Mahal’s music, which I think has been changed or tweaked and toned down somewhat. It’s not quite as sinister and has lost the chanting. Despite that, it’s still good. Mahal is on his way up, and Kozlov isn’t, and so this was something of a squash. At least Kozlov took a lot to get beaten, receiving a bit of a pithy chop from Khali before walking in to Mahal’s full nelson slam finisher. Kozlov also essentially jobbed on RAW. Without Santino, you’d have to wonder where he’d be in his career. As for Mahal, he continues to look strong, but he’s the sort of guy who needs to enter a proper feud soon, prabably after Capitol Punishment.

When Big Show came out, I was initially pretty unhappy seen as he’s a RAW guy, but I have to admit, the build that came out of his angles on Smackdown was the best his and Del Rio’s feud has received. First off, Show was interviewed in the ring, and he did a good job of coming across as still in shock from being ran down and unable to express his fury about what happened. This was followed by an impromptu match with Mark Henry, a match which didn’t actually get going because despite the fact that Show didn’t seem to want to, he seemed compelled to attack Henry as he entered the ring, beating him down brutally and eventually straight knocking him out, to the point where he had to be carried up the ramp on a stretcher. Seems like Henry’s push is over! Later on, feeling safe because Teddy Long had threatened to fire Del Rio if he used such violence again, Del Rio came out threatening Show, talking – interestingly – about how Ricardo Rodriguez is his best friend and how he would spit in Big Show’s face if he saw him. He did see him sooner than he thought as he came out to face Del Rio. Luckily for both of them, Del Rio flew to the stands and left alone, Show, after breaking the bottom rope upon entering the ring, started defacing the ringside area Nexus style, tearing the announce booth apart and picking up and throwing down the barricade (remarkably). This violence, when not happening to Del Rio, only makes up anticipate their match more. We were left with this image of violent carnage with Del Rio looking down from the stands, looking understandably worried about his immediate future, which was a great image building for the PPV.

The divas match was ok but regrettably short. I liked the finish though, with AJ going for a crucifix pin, but because of her size, only receiving a Samoan Drop for the loss to Tamina. I liked this because, despite the fact that AJ was probably the best wrestler out there, it told a story of her and Kaitlyn being green (which Kaitlyn is) and being in the process of being taught by Natalya. What is needed, however, is for these divas to stop being booked together and for them (especially AJ and Kaitlyn) to be entered in to a proper storyline.

The tag team division received a boost when The Usos were given their first serious match in a very long time against the newly Corre-less team of Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater. These two teams had a pretty nice match, but I was kinda surprised to see the Usos working as faces against the newly free Slater and Gabriel (thinking that them leaving Barrett would get them pops). This was one of the first tag matches i’ve seen in a while that was wrestled as a tag match, with specific tag spots. Both teams worked this well and really impressed me, and I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that The Usos went over – not because I dislike Slater and Gabriel, but because they’ve had a good spot for some time while the Usos haven’t, and they did so in style. Their throw into a Samoan Drop is amazing and following that we saw a Superfly Splash for the victory. Hopefully these guys get to keep working together and with the tag champions as well. I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but suddenly there is a tag division emerging, and maybe this could be the start of something good for the division.

Our main event was Christian against Sheamus in a match which would place Sheamus in to the main event at Capitol Punishment if he won. I thought Sheamus was a lock for this – partly because Orton was not yet cleared to wrestle Sunday, and partly because it’s odd to provide the opportunity for that sort of stipulation without pursuing it. The match itself was unspectactular in terms of moves and spots, but had a very natural back and forth and some nice progressions. The real intrigue came from Randy Orton being at ringside. This manifested early when Christian was dumped out of the ring and was confronted (unphysically) by Orton; this put Christian off his game and he walked in to a kick from the Celtic Warrior. Orton also took a closer look at several other points in the match, sending a message to both, but mostly, obviously, Christian. The finish of the math was pretty good, as with Orton looking on, there was a scramble to hit finishers, which started after Christian seemed to look for the Spear (his use of the move now seeming very sinister, rather than euphoric like it was when he was a face). Neither man was successful however, in hitting their respective finisher. The finish came, instead, when Sheamus was, again, distracted by Orton’s presence while he was going for a superplex. This distraction allowed Christian to slip loose and push Sheamus on to the actual ring post which knocked him out and gained Christian the pin. The only problem I had with this was i’d have liked to see Sheamus stumble in to a Killswitch, just to make his loss seem less weak (not that he seemed that way, but this would have helped even more). Following the victory, Christian was forced to flee after Orton charged the ring. Staring Christian down, Orton familarly realised that Sheamus was still in the ring and he went to take his frustrations out on Sheamus (as well as do what he likes best: hurt people). Orton was successful at hitting the punt on Sheamus, which was another thing that sort of surprised me, simply because a punt usually means at least a month away from the ring, so it will be interesting to see whether this is an angle or whether Sheamus is injured. Anyway, like with Big Show and Del Rio, the amping up of tension as well as the rejection of the confrontation made for great build for the PPV.

Don’t forget, if you enjoyed this post, my thoughts can also be found in bite-size form on twitter, where I give my reactions to current wrestling events as well as live-tweeting RAW and PPVs. If that interests you, you can find me at @RTVWOW

Passed the IMPACT test.—
Randy Orton (@RandyOrton) June 18, 2011

So there you have it, Orton passed his test and will be able to defend the World Championship against Christian tomorrow night. Great news.

Matches

Ezekiel Jackson, Sin Cara & Daniel Bryan v Cody Rhodes, Ted DiBiase & Wade Barrett

Jinder Mahal v Vladimir Kozlov

Big Show v Mark Henry (which didn’t happen)

Tamina, Rosa Mendes & Alicia Fox v AJ, Kaitlyn & Natalya

The Usos v Heath Slater & Justin Gabriel

Christian v Sheamus

Good

I’m struggling here. This was a particularly lame-ass edition of Smackdown.

I suppose it was good to be able to see some real talent albeit wasted in pointless tag matches (you can work out for yourself who I’m talking about). Part of the problem with this week’s show was that Randy Orton hadn’t been cleared to compete, meaning they needed to find some space-filler and a main event where he was present but not involved. However, bringing in Big Show and Alberto Del Rio in an illogical storyline is not the way to fix things.

Ezekiel Jackson didn’t slam everyone to death in the six-man tag. That was good.

Oh, and Christian did some great trash-talk. ”I’m nostalgic for the days when Teddy Long knew how to run a show. Which was NEVER.”  HA. He’s actually managing to get the crowd to boo him in places now, but if they’re still intending a Sheamus face-turn, they need to work a little harder on the storylining.

It’s worrying when the match from the vaults is the highlight of the episode – this was CM Punk v John Morrison from 2009, which obviously made me a very happy woman. Also, Punk did one of his epic handshake swerves at the end of the match, followed by a brilliant expression on his face which neatly encapsulated his feelings: ”Sorry, I know it was a cheap shot, but I HAD TO DO IT, because HOW STUPID ARE YOU?” Amazing.

Bad

Botch finish to the six-man tag – the referee didn’t see Ted DiBiase’s shoulder clearly lifted from the mat. Clearly botch is CONTAGIOUS *cough*Sin Cara*cough*.

No paper bag promo from Cody. Sad face.

Johnny Curtis managed to screw up his recorded promo. Which didn’t involve any foodstuffs.

Alberto Del Rio turned up after a promo from Big Show calling him out. Seriously. Because we don’t care about this feud on Raw (where BOTH THESE TWO ARE ROSTERED), we also have to not care about it on Smackdown?

About to take an Impact test. It will determine if I can be cleared to fight Christian, after receiving a concussion. Wish me luck.—
Randy Orton (@RandyOrton) June 17, 2011

As the tweet clearly states, the results of this test will determine whether or not Randy Orton is able to defend the World Heavyweight Championship against Christian this Sunday at Capitol Punishment.

Here’s hoping he’s okay and cleared to compete.

I interviewed Killings hours before one of  Total Nonstop Action Wrestling’s Wednesday night pay-per-views at the the Asylum in Nashville.  The former NWA champion talks about his background and even John Cena.

Now, seven years, later R-Truth will square off against Cena for the WWE championship at Capitol Punishment this Sunday from Washington D.C. Funny how things work out.

By Scott Fishman (April 2004)

Polygraph test need not apply, Ron Killings speaks the truth. Since the beginning of NWA/TNA Killings emerged as one of the upstart company’s breakout stars defeating Ken Shamrock to capture the heavyweight championship, the first African-American in NWA history to hold the crown.

Now the Truth has come full circle, once again reclaiming the gold in a Deadly Draw match against Wildcat Chris Harris, Raven and AJ Styles. In the business of sports entertainment finding your niche is the key to success. For the champ it was easy because with Killings what you see is what you get and beneath the hip-hop exterior there is no gimmick. He is a triple threat. In addition to being a wrestler, he is a dancer and rapper since he was 14. His veracity is one of the reasons Killings has earned the fans adulation.

“People can relate in what they are going through,” said Killings, who also produces on his K-Krush Enterprize record label. “Whether it’s something on their job or whatever. This is my job. We talk and deal with a lot of real issues. A lot of people can probably relate and see that they got a lot of truth in them that they would love to get out on. They are like, ‘I’m glad he said that. That’s how I felt.”

Anger fueled with drive and determination has help mold the Charlotte, North Carolinian. As a child Killings marveled at NWA stars Nikita Koloff, Magnum TA, Dusty Rhodes and Ric Flair, but being a wrestler never crossed his mind. In high school the youngster had many interests including playing football and pursuing music. Like any typical teenager he got into his fair of trouble, but was able to learn from his mistakes.

“Younger years were more into sports, dancing and entertainment,” said Killings. “Getting out of the high school years and being a young man I was seeing what the world had to offer. You had things right here and you got that. I took a lot of dance for the quick money, flashy cars, and females. Becoming a young man going into the world of being a man, it was a great experience.”

Whether he knew it or not his resume foreshadowed his career in pro wrestling. After two attempts by promoter Jack Crockett, Killings finally agreed to give sports entertainment a try. The superstar was a natural fusing his breakdancing and rap background with in-ring fundamentals taught by Manny Fernandez. Then K-Krush made the move to Atlanta’s NWA Wildside until he was picked up by WWE.

In order to get primed for his big debut he was sent to Memphis Championship Wrestling where he won the MCW Southern Title. As K-Kwick, Killings joined the main roster forming a team with the Road Dog Jesse James. The two began growing a fan base combining the established Road Dog with K-Kwick’s energy exuded every time they entered the arena rapping Killings’s “Get Rowdy”. His WWE stint ended on a sour note shortly following Road Dog’s release. The 32-year old approached the situation like any other of his career goals.

“At that time I was still learning,” said Killings. “The last thing I did was a European title match on Smackdown, and then I got the call. I may not have the number one album in the country or the greatest dance artist, but I performed the song I produced live on RAW on national television. So get your dreams, and sometimes you take a different course.”

The Truth persevered and became one of the staples of the Jarrett’s NWA/TNA promotion. Actions spoke louder than words when Killing’s captured the heavyweight championship for the first time. At the time the superstar was virtually unproven when it came to being a major player in the main events. However TNA’s gamble paid off as Killings carried the company on his shoulders well during those crucial first months, and made the most of his push with decisive victories over Jerry Lynn, Low-Ki, and veterans Scott Hall and Curt Henning.

The Truth was now a bonified superstar. In order to keep his standing Killings had to work with countless physical problems. During his seven years in the industry he has come to expect this aspect of the business is part of the territory and unavoidable, but does not stop him from doing what he loves.

“It’s true,” said Killings. “There are times when I am in so much pain and I watch TV and wrestling seeing the guys take the most dramatic bumps. It’s part of are our job and a part of our living. There are times in my mind when I’m like, ‘this hurts.’ As soon as that pain goes away I’m ready to get back in to it. Once it becomes apart of you that’s it.

“I’ve had C4 vertebrae in my neck, hip dislocated, pelvic problems, three broke ribs and one fractured, left shoulder dislocated. I’ve had injuries. Each time I moaned to get up or have someone help me get up or had pain, sometimes my mom would sound, ‘you might want to think about what you doing.’ Being in there is like a ball of fire. It’s either going to make you hot or burn you up. You just got to take that adrenaline and make magic with it.”

Following his title loss to Jeff Jarrett, the Truth was embroiled in a feud with his former partner BG James. The two would settle their disagreements and join Konnan in 3-Live Kru. The street faction became notorious for their pranks and humorous skits.

Musically, Killings is open-minded when it comes to other wrestlers entering the hip-hop domain including Macho Man Randy Savage’s release of Be A Man. That’s until you mention WWE superstar John Cena

“Honestly it’s a doggy dog world,” said Killings. “Get in when you can. I liked [Be a Man]. I thought it was real nice. With the Rock doing movies and people branching out, ain’t nothing but mo money mo money. I feel if you can do it, do it.

“I saw on the internet that Cena said something about rapping against me. This was a while ago and I had something prepared for Cena last. Wasn’t he the Prototype or something like that, and it’s cool. It’s getting where you fit in at. As a person and a guy I think he’s great, but as a rapper I think he sucks. Freestyle never won a Grammy and I rhyme freestyle, produce and everything. I write from the mental. Anything you hear me rap about like in the 3-Live Kru song I produced and done that. I don’t have a gimmick that’s put with me to become something. Music, that’s where I’m made of.”

After a successful run as tag team champions with James, the Truth returned to the heavyweight title picture. Despite the fan support for Killings, he was still slighted until he won a 10 man Gauntlet for Gold for a shot at the TNA championship down the road. A few weeks later Killings suffered a controversial loss to Styles, but eventually would win the big one.

TNA is getting ready to celebrate its two year anniversary with a new television show ready to debut and Killings has been at the helm through it all. Now at the top of the mountain once again he can look back at how the company has evolved and also how he has grown right along with them.

“I think it’s changed from wearing a pair of shoes to an outfit,” said Killings. “TNA hasn’t changed at all. I’ve been here since day one. The same fans come in here and a lot of them are dedicated fans that want to see what’s happening week to week.

“I’ve changed my perception to what the game is. The game doesn’t owe anybody nothing, but the Truth part. That anger part. It’s still there. Everyone has a little Truth in them. You just have to be backed into a corner.”

I’m pretty sure I’ve spent my share of time disrespecting R-Truth in the past, from his weak-ass rapping at the Taco Bell drive-thru to his inclusion on a WrestleMania DVD cover when his breakdancin’ ass wasn’t even booked on the card. But you know what? When a wrestler really comes out of his shell and does good work, it needs to be recognized, and the above video deserves that recognition. Hell, I’d rather buy Capitol Punishment to see R-Truth cut a 20-minute promo now, not to see him flail around with “Mr. PPV” John Cena. Check the video out and see how, in WWE and in life, R-Truth gets “diddly squat.” (Brilliantly awkward cameos by Jim Brunzell, Jim Powers and Sean Mooney!) (Thanks, Kevin Wang!) -Eric

Turns out, while the stated cause was bogus, World Heavyweight Champion Randy Orton really does have a legitimate concussion and his status for Sunday’s Capitol Punishment pay-per-view is in question as he may or may not be medically cleared to compete.

Randy Orton confirmed the news himself yesterday in a reply to a fan’s tweet:

@VenomousxSecret because I was knocked out in Spain. U can't wrestle, or should i say, perform, the day after a concussion.—
Randy Orton (@RandyOrton) June 14, 2011

Orton suffered the concussion during a match in Madrid, Spain on Sunday. He retained the World Championship in a match against Christian and Sheamus.

We’ll have more on the status of Randy Orton for Sunday’s pay-per-view, hopefully later today.

Tom Carson, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office, said Wednesday the federal jury in New Haven decided 29-year-old Azibo Aquart should receive a death sentence. Aquart was convicted in May of racketeering murder and conspiracy.

Aquart was one of three men charged in the beating deaths of 43-year-old Tina Johnson, 40-year-old James Reid and 54-year-old Basil Williams. Authorities say Aquart’s group sold drugs at an apartment complex and Johnson was selling crack cocaine there without his permission.

The three victims were tied up and beaten to death with baseball bats. Cases are pending against Aquart’s brother, Azikiwe Aquart, and Efrain Johnson.

     (Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

Truth adds insult to injury with his customary bottle of water

First out was The Miz to cut on Stone Cold and Alex Riley in what was a convincing and engaging promo, demanding an apology (with some justification) from Austin for his assault on him last week when he was an official, saying that he was indeed calling the Rattlesnake out. Austin didn’t have to be asked twice. Now I don’t know whether i’ve said this publicly before, but i’ve always thought Austin was always an overrated talker, but this time, I was very entertained by his words and delivery, telling Miz in his own foul-mouthed way that though he respected Miz’s achievements, it was his time to talk, and if Miz knew what was good for him, he would let him and leave the ring – which Miz (a great coward heel, remember) did. Austin wasn’t given peace though, as Alberto Del Rio came out next to interrupt Stone Cold, where he too managed to flourish, but it was a move which only landed him a match with the tag team partner of the man he injured (accidentally or not) with his car, Kane.

That match was next and was ok, but it was really meant as an angle to further his feud with Big Show and,o a lesser extent, Kane. Del Rio managed eventually to contain the rage of the Big Red Machine, getting him in to his cross arm-breaker. Kane reached the ropes, but Del Rio showed no mercy, not relinquishing the hold after 5 and earning himself a DQ but a statement to him and Show of his power. This was a message Show apparently heard as he ran as fast as i’ve ever seen him to the ring – surely he should have been selling his knee injury more! Nonetheless, the intensity of their coming together was believable and compelling, especially when Show turned his attentions to Ricardo Rodriguez, repeatedly pounding him in the head until he was completely unconscious. This therefore had multiple levels of build for the PPV match which was made immediately afterward, with Del Rio showing some brutally evil traits with his armbar attack on Kane, while the emotion of Big Show came across well to set up the classic money-maker of wanting to see the bastard heel punished by the unstoppable face of justice.

Following this was another nice match featuring Sin Cara and Daniel Bryan against Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase, but this time with Ezekiel Jackson and Wade Barrett joining each team respectively. It wasn’t as long a match as their other outings and the inclusion of Big Zeke in a match with such otherwise refined talents didn’t help all that much. Nonetheless another eminently watchable match with these players, this time ending with a Sin Cara springboard-crossbody. One of the many things i’ve liked about Sin Cara has been that he’s won matches with many movessaving his match finishes from ever being predictable. What he needs now is to continue the current programme he’s in with AmDrag, Rhodes and DiBiase, but with some more of a personal issue injected therein. As for Zeke and Barrett, this was just more of them in the ring together (though not one-on-one) Not great build, but I guess it keeps them associated in memory.

Sheamus-Santino was ok for what it was. The real interest here came from the pushing of Sheamus’s power in the ring. Though Santino looked good at points, Sheamus was booked to overshadow him, even kicking out of the Cobra (the first ever person to – yes, kicking out of the Cobra is impressive given how it’s been booked!) before making Santino submit with the addition of a Cloverleaf – a welcome addition to Sheamus’s arsenal going forward as it adds a new dimension to his move-set, maturing it somewhat and equipping him to only become more impressive as he already is.

Out next was Randy Orton returning to RAW where he called out Christian under the guise of just wanting to talk. Christian didn’t bite and appeared on the tron, which Randy admitted was wise. Christian followed up with his best promo for a long time, saying he would only do something if he wanted to from now on, and asking the WWE Universe to poll whether he should come out, before refusing to do what they requested – a nice play on how he lost the World Title to begin with. Orton however managed to coax Christian out by taunting him with the charge of being carried by Edge. Before Orton could get his hands on Christian though, the RAW GM chimed in, claiming that Orton had a concussion and that he would be stripped of his title if he got physical with Christian. This was great build because it really amped up the tension while holding back the actual fighting for the PPV. These two really are great together. Christian didn’t escape action though, as he was made to take on Rey Mysterio immediately. This was fine, but apparently another angle-based match as after not too long Christian was DQ’d for not breaking a foot choke by 5 (though it looked very close – a mistake?) This was followed by the approach of the New Nexus with Mason Ryan eventually managing to get to Rey, despite some admirable fighting, and thrust him in to the ring-post before a predatory Christian would hit the Killswitch for added insult.

Earlier on, GM-Austin had punished R-Truth for an attack on Hornswoggle by booking him against someone his own size, John Morrison, something which surprised me given Morrison has just undergone surgery and would have recovered almost instantly. When Morrison was introduced, no one came out, and when R Truth, who got over as incredibly threatening, went to find Morrison, he eventually found him in a heap, seemingly beat up by Truth, and he added extra pain to Morrison’s experience, by absolutely crushing him with a storage crate. This was great because it makes Truth seem crazy and legitimately dangerous, keeps Morrison on-screen during his recovery, and provides us with a readymade feud when Morrison returns.

There was some nice play from Austin backstage as he made Ziggler admit he would drop Vickie Guerrero for a US title shot. On the plus side for Ziggler, he doesn’t have to drop Guerrero, but on the other hand, Vickie now knows she is a low priority for Ziggler. He and Jack Swagger then tagged against Kofi Kingston and Evan Bourne. Another short one, but one I was glad to see Bourne shine in as he hit a shooting-star press for the victory.

Piper’s Pit with Miz and Alex Riley followed. Riley needs to stop wearing suits – HE LOOKS LIKE A HEEL … AND THE MIZ (just a niggling point there). Piper was another highlight for the show, really showing why he is considered arguably the best talker ever, giving A-Ry a rub and bamboozling Miz with his classic line “Just when you think you know all the answers, I change the questions.” This led to Miz berating Piper in retaliation, challenging him to a match with $5000 on the line from each man, which he would wrestle in his suit. Of course, that sort of stipulation meant that the resulting match would only go one way, especially once Austin made A-Ry the special guest ref. It was limited due to Piper’s age, but he can definitely still go and after Riley became a very physical referee, Miz retaliated, which allowed Riley to attack Miz who was knocked backwards, rolled up by Piper and pinned quickly for the loss. Cool segment, and did an ok job of building Miz-Riley, even if Riley wasovershadowed by the other two.

Before the main event there was a fantastic backstage segment between Stone Cold and CM Punk, a meeting which was highly anticpated by many wrestling fans following their twitter (kayfabe one must think) war of words. Indeed, Punk and Austin were excellent together, playing off each other’s completely opposite lifestyles. Punk using Austin’s ‘What?’ chant against him while Austin offered Punk a beer comically before calling him Punk in a more serious, Eastwood-esque ‘Punk’ and leaving.

The main event was the only match of the night given decent time, and it certainly delivered in terms of quality and PPV build. The crowd were seriously wild for this match, which always helps; the main chant being ‘Let’s go Cena/Cena sucks’. Punk and Cena always have decent chemistry, and that was the case again this week, but Punk was given an awful lot of offense, and performed it as sinisterly as he could – one point standing out where he had Cena in an abdominal stretch while twisting Cena’s ears and headbutting him. Punk followed this up with some nice dive attacks from the apron to the floor and then to top rope to the floor. Just as Cena started to recover towards the end of the match, however, R-Truth reappeared on the scene, approaching a ‘little Jimmy’ and offering him a trade of a Cena hat for a trade of water. This was brilliantly sinister, not only because the child seemed in danger generally, but also because of the violent associations Truth has with water (it’s both hilarious and brilliant that that works without being stupid!). This distracted Cena, and rightfully so, and so he tried to warn the kid off Truth, but this only let Punk recover to the point where he could hit a GTS to Cena for the win, a good sign for Punk. Following this, Truth entered the ring, telling Cena how he’d take his title on Sunday before using his water against him, hitting his Cool Shot finisher, and holding the WWE title above him.

Now, while I liked RAW, there were two omissions I didn’t like. The first one is Drew McIntyre. How is that he can’t get on a 3 hour RAW? Well it’s because 3 hours isn’t enough for showing the mid-lower card of both brands. Indeed, I will be writing on the subject of 3 hour specials for the Bleacher Report soon. Keep an eye on my twitter @RTVWOW for that. Hopefully his absence can be explained by him simply working on his new ‘American Nightmare’ character before returning to TV, but its a shame that he didn’t get a spot.

Even worse though was the baffling choice not to book Zack Ryder on the show, not even backstage! RAW came from Long Island, and so it would seem that featuring him, after he’s gotten himself over and after he was featured last week, not in Long Island. A lot of WWE talents and even more fans have spoken out against this mistake (that’s what it is unless they plan to make a weird storyline out of it). I don’t really have much more to say about this: Ryder is over, and got a huge pop for his Superstars match as he’s in his home town and has been seen on TV recently; and yet he was forgotten about. It’s easier to get it right than wrong and WWE somehow got it wrong.

Raw is live from Long Island tonight and that must mean an appearance from the Long Island Iced Z himself right?  Right?

The Miz starts off the show and says that he will get revenge on Alex Riley.  But first he’s going to call out Stone Cold Steve Austin.  The glass shatters and tonight’s very special general manager of Raw comes down to the ring.  Stone Cold gives respect to Miz but verbally hands Miz his ass at the same time.  Its the skill that only old school wrestlers have.  Austin is building up the Miz while simultaneously owning him.  Stone Cold announces a very special Piper’s Pit for tonight.  Austin gives Miz the opportunity to leave.  It could have failed, but Miz doesn’t look weak at all by walking away.  It doesn’t come across like Miz doesn’t think he can beat Austin, but more like tonight is not the time.  As Miz leaves, Alberto Del Rio comes out.  ADR wants Stone Cold to pass the torch to him.  For some reason I don’t see that happening.  Stone Cold says he smells an ass whooping and its time for the Big Show’s former tag team partner to get some revenge for his buddy.

Alberto Del Rio vs. Kane

Del Rio cant battle Kane’s strength so he switches tactics to out maneuver the monster.  Del Rio gets Kane locked in the arm bar and the big red machine’s height works to his advantage as he easily makes his way to the ropes.  Alberto refuses to release the hold though and gets disqualified, but it doesn’t matter to him as long as he does damage to Kane.  Big Show comes out to attack Del Rio and Alberto runs away faster than the Flash.  Big Show turns his attention onto Ricardo Rodriguez and damn near kills the personal ring announcer.  Kane has to choke Show out to get him to stop the beating.  Austin remembers there’s a pay per view coming up in less than a week and makes the revenge match.

Wade Barrett, Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase vs. Daniel Bryan, Ezekiel Jackson and Sin Cara

Michael Cole has to explain to Jerry Lawler the current Smackdown story lines.  I realize the benefit this has for the Raw viewers, but there must be another way of doing it than implying Lawler couldn’t give a shit about the guys on the other show.  The match is lit up in the dark blue and yellow tones that have become Sin Cara’s signature.  They’ve also become difficult to watch.  He’s not even in the ring!  Its a showcase for the blue team.  Zeke shows off his new body slams and torture rack moves.  Zeke press slams Bryan onto Priceless.  Jackson tags in Sin Cara who hits a high cross body on Wade for the pin.  Granted, Ezekiel did all the work, but does Sin Cara have a valid argument now to be thrown into the Intercontinental title match?  We’ll see if this is ignored on Smackdown or not.

Raw comes back from commercial and Hornswoggle is in the ring firing off the t-shirt gun.  R-Truth comes out, oh no he’s going to beat up Little Horny!  Wait, that didn’t come out right at all.  Truth says his usual rabble and Hornswoggle tries to escape by firing the t-shirt gun at Truth.  This plan does not work and the munchkin gets a kick to the head for his troubles.  I’d stay under the ring next time.  Stone Cold appears on the TitanTron  and makes a match with… the returning John Morrison!  Holy crap that was some fast surgery.  R-Truth kicks Hornswoggle some more on the way out.

Santino Marella vs. Sheamus

In a match that would usually have been very fun, the wrestlers are overshadowed.  By the fans.  The fans start to chant “We want Ryder” and its impossible to pay attention to anything else.  Which is a damn shame because Sheamus debuts a new finisher.  It needs to be called The 4 Leaf Clover, because it is a modified Texas Cloverleaf hold.  Sheamus gets the win.

Randy Orton comes out and cuts a promo on Christian, eventually calling him out.  Christian, in a brand new ridiculous yet awesome t-shirt you can order online, refuses to come out because he knows its just a set up.  Orton gets under Christian’s skin when he says that Edge can carry Christian to the ring, just like he always has.  Oh, that was low.  Christian walks out but has second if not third thoughts about it.  Security keeps the two men apart and the anonymous Raw GM says that Orton may have a slight concussion and cannot wrestle until Sunday.  To protect him from himself, Randy will be stripped of the world title if he tries to fight anyone.  But that doesn’t mean Christian cant have a match.  Stone Cold (you know, the actual GM for the evening) makes a match.

Christian vs. Rey Mysterio

Booker T comes out to help the announcers for this match.  I bet someone will be beat so bad they say, Daddy I don’t want none.  Christian takes a nasty fall into the bottom rope and he’s lucky to still have his ear.  Its a very different match than usual from Christian because for one of the rare few times, he isn’t the smallest guy in the ring.  Back from commercial, and Christian wont take Rey out of the ropes, thus he gets disqualified.  What the hell?  Rey fights back and is about to come off the top onto Christian when CM Punk runs out.  Rey jumps off the top rope onto Punk.  Christian tries to hit the Killswitch but Rey fights out.  Rey goes for the 619 on Christian but by now the rest of the Nexus is out there.  Mason Ryan bangs Mysterio against various metal objects at ringside and then throws the carcass into the ring for Christian to pick at it.  Christian picks up Rey’s limp body and hits the Killswitch, just to confirm the heel turn for the Raw fans.

Vickie Guerrero interrupts Stone Cold and wants Dolph Ziggler to get a US title match at the PPV.  Austin says he’ll give Dolph the shot, but only if he drops Vickie as his manager.  Stone Cold gives Dolph a pep talk about making sacrifices to get to the top.  Dolph agrees to dump the cougar and Vickie flips out.  Stone Cold gets the best of both of them when he says he already made the match earlier today and just wanted to mess with their heads.  That was a nice little segment.

R-Truth vs. John Morrison

So help me if this match ends with a disqualification as well.  Truth is in the title match in 6 days and there should be no other outcome for this match other than a pinfall victory to gain momentum.  Morrison’s music plays but no one comes out.  This is fast becoming one of the worst wrestling episodes of Raw ever.  Truth calls the big screen the “Triton”.  The big screen is also the Greek god of the sea.  Truth finds John Morrison knocked out in the back.  I’m guessing the neck hasn’t fully healed yet.  Truth runs one of the equipment carts into Morrison.  Well, it does help build up the PPV I guess.

Dolph Ziggler (with Vickie Guerrero) and Jack Swagger vs. Evan Bourne and Kofi Kingston (US Champion)

After the previous matches this evening, I’m not expecting a whole lot from this one.  Everyone gets some ring time and its pretty good but definitely rushed.  The referee tries to get Dolph to the outside and block him from interfering.  Kofi takes advantage and sneak attacks Swagger with the Trouble in Paradise.  Evan pairs it with an Air Bourne for the pin.

Piper’s Pit with Rowdy Roddy Piper, The Miz and Alex Riley

Piper comes out first to a great cheer from the fans.  Miz is next, and instantly disrespectful too.  Miz says he doesn’t want to be the next Roddy Piper.  Piper says there will never be another Piper.  Miz and Roddy trade some amazing jabs at each other.  Miz may have jumped to the number one promo guy in wrestling tonight.  Alex Riley comes out to a huge pop and chants from the crowd.  Piper gives the older fans a little something while putting over Miz and Riley.  A-Ri says that Piper can beat Miz right now.  I’m a huge Piper fan but those metal hips aren’t defeating anyone.  Also, when did Hot Rod start looking like Michael J Fox?  Miz bets a grand he’ll win, Piper ups it to 5 grand.   Stone Cold makes it official and adds the twist that Riley will be the referee!

The upcoming match is previewed with the new WWE All Stars game.  Off topic, this game is ridiculous and totally over the top.  Which means its a fucking awesome wrestling game.

The Miz vs. Rowdy Roddy Piper.  Winner gets $5,000.  Alex Riley is the special guest referee.

Piper gets an eye poke and a sleeper hold in the first minute of the match.  Miz fights back until Riley pulls him off of the Legend.  Miz and Riley come to blows and it ends with Alex knocking Miz down and Piper sneaking in a roll up to get the victory.

Kelly Kelly, Gail Kim, Natalya, Beth Phoenix, Eve Torres, AJ, and Kaitlyn vs. Melina, Alicia Fox, Tamina, Maryse, Brie Bella (Divas champion), Nikki Bella, and Rosa Mendes

Way way too many women in this match.  Half of which have no storyline and no connection with the audience.  Kelly and Rosa start it off for a only a minute and that’s all it takes before all the Divas get involved in a ring apron clearing brawl. Kelly gets a kick on Rosa and the pin.  This was a pathetic match.  Eve announces a WWE Diva tribute to Broadway.  The Divas do a kick line.  Because the Rockettes are the same as plays and musicals.  This is the worst thing to happen to Broadway since Spider-Man Turn Off the Dark.  There’s a joke somewhere in there comparing falling Spider-Men and Blue Blazers.  (This may be one of the worst things I’ve ever written.)

Stone Cold has a beer with the new Tough Enough champion, Andy.  CM Punk shows up and Stone Cold offers him a beer.  Punk flips the script and pulls the “What?” card on Austin.  How is WWE passing on CM Punk?!  He just held his own against one of the greatest talkers of all time!  In a not-too-likely future best of CM Punk DVD release, this needs to be a bonus.

Stone Cold rides out to the arena on his signature ATV.  Austin gets interrupted by the GM, who says Stone Cold did a good job of filling in tonight.  Wait, the GM already made one announcement tonight.  Also, as he only communicates via e-mail why the fuck would anyone have to fill in for him?!  He can do this job from home!  Does no one in WWE understand how e-mail works?  Stone Cold announces a viewers choice edition of Raw next week, which the GM agrees to.  The GM sound keeps going off, so Stone Cold steals the laptop, dumps beer on it and then drives the ATV over it.  Does anyone realize that this doesn’t mean the death of the anonymous GM?  That he can just use another computer?  In fact, he could use ANY computer?!  This should have been a fun segment, but it just smacks of ignorance.

CM Punk vs. John Cena (WWE Champion)

Crowd is chanting CM  Punk’s name.  Real smart wrestling crowd tonight.  The kids start to rally, and dueling chants begin.  I apologize for getting a little lost in this match, but it is a fantastic wrestling match.  If the WWE logic was to have shitty matches all night so that this one would stand out even more, then Kudos.  This should be a PPV main event.  Punk channels his inner Macho Man and drops an elbow sledge from the top rope down to the arena floor.  CM Punk wears Cena down and John has to use every ounce of the super soldier serum to fight his way back up.  The match becomes a stalemate and Punk is lucky that Cena overshoots a shoulder tackle and falls out of the ring.  Punk is willing to win by count out, but John beats the count.  Punk controls the match for a few more minutes until John Cena begins his Superman comeback.  The comeback is brought to a dead stop, not from Punk or even Nexus, but from R-Truth.  Cena is distracted by Truth threatening a kid wearing John Cena gear and CM Punk takes advantage, hitting the Go To Sleep for the pin.  Fuck yeah!

R-Truth comes in the ring and smashes a water bottle over Cena’s head.  One Lie Detector later and R-Truth is looking like a strong challenger for the WWE title.  The same title that he steals, and leaves with.

Main event aside, it was a terrible night for in ring wrestling.  However, the show set up the pay per view to be a must buy.

- CM Punk will take on Rey Mysterio.

- Big Show will face Alberto Del Rio.

- Kofi Kingston will defend the United States Championship against Dolph Ziggler.

These three newly announced matches join the previously announced matches of:

- John Cena defending the WWE Championship against R-Truth.

- Randy Orton putting the World Championship on the line against Christian.

- Ezekiel Jackson looks to take the Intercontinental Championship away from Wade Barrett.

- Alex Riley gets his one-on-one match against former mentor, The Miz.

All of this happens this Sunday night (Father’s Day) exclusively on pay-per-view, and as you can see this is a very RAW heavy show with five of the seven announced matches coming from the Monday night brand.

Capitol Punishment is being discussed down in our forums, so join HeelZone.com today and take part in the discussion and play our pay-per-view prediction contest. It’s free to join, so get to it and enjoy some wrestling talk with the crew of The Vortex Effect.