WWE Capitol Punishment
Promotional poster depictingRey Mysterio, then U.S. PresidentBarack Obama, andJohn Cena[1]
Promotion	WWE
Brand(s)	Raw SmackDown
Date	June 19, 2011
City	Washington, D.C.
Venue	Verizon Center
Attendance	9,850[2][unreliable source]
Buy rate	170,000
Pay-per-view chronology
← Previous Over the Limit Next → Money in the Bank

WWE Capitol Punishment was aprofessional wrestlingpay-per-view (PPV)event produced byWWE. It was held for wrestlers from the promotion'sRaw andSmackDownbrand divisions. The event took place on June 19, 2011, at theVerizon Center inWashington, D.C. This was a one-off event, as in2012, Capitol Punishment replacedFatal 4-Way as the June 2011 PPV, but it itself was replaced by the reinstatedNo Way Out in June 2012. Capitol Punishment had a PPV buy rate of 170,000, up from the 143,000 buys that Fatal 4-Way received in June the previous year.

Nine matches were contested at the event, including one on the pre-show. In the main event,John Cena defeatedR-Truth to retain theWWE Championship. In other prominent matches,Randy Orton defeatedChristian to retain theWorld Heavyweight Championship,Ezekiel Jackson defeatedWade Barrett to win theWWE Intercontinental Championship, andDolph Ziggler defeatedKofi Kingston to win theWWE United States Championship.

AsWWE's June 2011pay-per-view (PPV) event, which featured wrestlers from theRaw andSmackDownbrands, Capitol Punishment replaced the 2010Fatal 4-Way themed event. Promotion towards for Capitol Punishment was centered around the setting for the PPV, that being the United States capital,Washington, D.C., held at the city'sVerizon Center on June 19, 2011.^[3][4] WWE produced a video to promote the event using actual press footage of PresidentBarack Obama spliced and edited with footage that WWE recorded using actors. The video was intended to show Obama answering questions about Capitol Punishment in a press conference.^[5] First airing on May 22 atOver the Limit, WWE received criticism for the video. To avoid legal complications with the U.S. government, WWE added a disclaimer at the start of the video for future airings. This included spelling out their acronym as "World Wrestling Entertainment",^[6] a name theyceased using earlier in the year, in which "WWE" became anorphaned initialism.^[7]

The parody of a White House Presidential press conference is intended to publicize WWE's (World Wrestling Entertainment) pay-per-view television event known as Capitol Punishment, which emanates from our Nation's Capital on Sunday, June 19.

The promotional poster for the event also featured the President, where Obama is acting as a referee in a confrontation between WWE SuperstarsJohn Cena andRey Mysterio. WWE released a similar disclaimer for the artwork as they did for the video.^[1] The event featured an appearance byU.S. PresidentBarack ObamaimpersonatorReggie Brown.^{[8][unreliable source]}

Theprofessional wrestling matches at Capitol Punishment featured professional wrestlers performing ascharacters inscripted events pre-determined by the hostingpromotion, WWE.^[9][10] Storylines between the characters were produced on WWE's weekly television showsRaw andSmackDown with the Raw and SmackDown brands—storyline divisions in which WWE assigned its employees to different programs.^[11]

Raw's main feud was betweenJohn Cena andR-Truth for theWWE Championship. The crazed R-Truth started to set his sights on the WWE Championship and John Cena. R-Truth had been scheduled to compete againstThe Miz and John Cena in asteel cage match atExtreme Rules for the WWE Championship.John Morrison questioned R-Truth's ability to compete in the match and challenged him to a match for his spot. Morrison won the match, causing R-Truth to turn heel by attacking Morrison. R-Truth would cost Morrison the match at Extreme Rules. R-Truth claimed that there was a conspiracy against him in WWE and announced that he was done entertaining the fans as it did not earn him titles. He repeatedly ranted about Cena's popularity and even harassed a young Cena fan and his father by throwing water in the father's face after defeating Cena in a non-title match by countout. Theanonymous Raw general manager announced a championship match between him and Cena at Capitol Punishment on the condition that R-Truth apologize for his actions. On the June 6 episode ofRaw, R-Truth apologized for his actions and retained his title shot against John Cena.

SmackDown's main feud on the card was betweenChristian andRandy Orton over theWorld Heavyweight Championship. After losing his rematch against Orton atOver the Limit, Christian challenged Orton to another match for the World Heavyweight Championship on the following episode ofSmackDown, but was interrupted byMark Henry andSheamus.SmackDown General ManagerTeddy Long then announced a triple threat number one contender's match between Christian, Henry, and Sheamus, with the winner facing Orton for the title the next week. Sheamus won the match after the referee missed Christian's pinfall on Sheamus due to Orton's interference. The following week, Christian asked to be added to the title match that night, but Long instead made him thespecial guest referee. Christian would help Orton retain the championship, but struck him with the title belt afterwards, turningheel for the second time since 2005. The next week, Christian again challenged Orton to a World Heavyweight Championship match at Capitol Punishment, which Orton accepted. Later that night, Sheamus defeated Orton in a non-title No Disqualification match after Christian interfered and hit Orton with the title belt again. On the June 17 episode ofSmackDown, Sheamus faced Christian with the stipulation that he would be added to the championship match at Capitol Punishment if he won, but Christian ended up winning. After the match, Orton, who was at ringside, attempted to attack Christian, but he escaped; instead, Ortonpunted Sheamus in the head, sending a message to Christian.

Evan Bourne andJack Swagger had a mini-feud leading up to Capitol Punishment. Bourne and Swagger exchanged a series of wins and losses.

But a more important feud on the card was betweenCM Punk andRey Mysterio. Punk and Mysterio similarly exchanged a series of wins and losses like Evan Bourne and Jack Swagger did, but Punk and Mysterio were reigniting a feud dating back toWrestleMania XXVI. Punk enlisted the aid of TheNew Nexus to help him win against Rey Mysterio, but The Anonymous Raw General Manager announced they will be banned from ringside at the pay-per-view.

Ezekiel Jackson started to grow apart fromThe Corre, and wanted to pursue a singles career away from the group.Wade Barrett,Heath Slater, andJustin Gabriel didn't take kindly to Jackson's new aspirations, and promptly beat him down backstage, thus ousting him from the group. Jackson was given multiple opportunities at Barrett'sIntercontinental Championship, but each time he got Barrett in theTorture Rack, his signature submission maneuver, Slater and Gabriel would interfere and attack Jackson. This would make Jackson win the match by disqualification, but Barrett retained as titles can't change hands by disqualification. During a six-man tag team match against The Usos and Jackson onSmackDown, Barrett abandoned Slater and Gabriel. He claimed that he was preserving his own interests since he had a title match at Capitol Punishment against Jackson, but Gabriel and Slater were angered by his actions. Gabriel and Slater then announced to Barrett that The Corre was no more and he could defend his title on Sunday without their help, effectively dissolving the group.

On the May 23 episode ofRaw,Big Show sat onAlberto Del Rio's luxury car, which angered Del Rio. When Big Show and his partnerKane lost theirWWE Tag Team Championships to The New Nexus (David Otunga andMichael McGillicutty), Del Rio mocked them backstage during an interview segment. Del Rio even slapped Big Show across the face, resulting in Big Show chasing Del Rio into the parking lot, but Del Rio's personal ring announcerRicardo Rodriguez "accidentally" ran Big Show over with Del Rio's car. This injured Big Show's leg and left Kane without a partner. Del Rio and Rodriguez then made fun of Big Show by having Rodriguez dress like him, mocking Big Show's weight. On the June 13 episode ofRaw, Big Show returned during Del Rio's match with Kane and assaulted him, but Del Rio managed to escape after Rodriguez attempted to save him, resulting in Big Show beating Rodriguez so badly that Kane had to pull him off Rodriguez. After that, guest hostStone Cold Steve Austin announced a match between Big Show and Del Rio at Capitol Punishment. On the June 17 episode ofSmackDown, Del Rio made an appearance, but Big Show ran down to the ring and chased Del Rio into the crowd. The segment ended with Big Show destroying the ringside area.

Another feud on the card was betweenThe Miz and his former protégéAlex Riley. At Extreme Rules, Riley was not present when The Miz lost the WWE Championship to John Cena. The next night onRaw, Miz regained the championship from Cena after hitting him with the title belt; however, Riley accidentally revealed the title belt in Miz's hands to the referee. The referee then reversed his decision to Miz being disqualified and Cena retaining the championship. At Over the Limit, during The Miz's"I Quit" match with Cena, Riley left his cell phone behind which they had used to trick the referee into believing that Cena had said "I quit". The decision was reversed again and Miz went on to lose the encounter. On the May 23 episode ofRaw, after theanonymous Raw general manager denied Miz's request for another WWE Championship match, he blamed Riley for him not regaining the title and fired him. Riley then assaulted Miz, turningface for the first time. The next week, Riley's interview withMichael Cole ended with Cole insulting Riley and Riley attacking Cole. Miz then came out and attacked Riley, but he got the upper hand and chased Miz out of the arena. A match between the two was then made official for Capitol Punishment.

TheUnited States Championship was also defended at the event, withDolph Ziggler challenging championKofi Kingston. On the May 30 episode ofRaw, Ziggler defeated Kingston in a non-title match, thus earning a championship match at the pay-per view.

The actual pay-per-view opened with Kofi Kingston defending the WWE United States Championship against Dolph Ziggler (accompanied byVickie Guerrero). The match ended when Ziggler applied asleeper hold on Kingston, who passed out. Ziggler won the match by technical submission and the title.

Next, The Miz faced Alex Riley. Riley performed alifting DDT on Miz to win the match.

After that, Big Show faced Alberto Del Rio. Before the match,Mark Henry attacked Big Show and delivered aWorld's Strongest Slam through a broadcast table. Del Rio won the match by technical knockout after Big Show could not continue.

In the fourth match,Wade Barrett defended theWWE Intercontinental Championship againstEzekiel Jackson. Jackson forced Barrett to submit to theTorture Rack to win the title.

In the fifth match,CM Punk facedRey Mysterio. The stipulation of the match was that The New Nexus was banned from ringside. In the end, as Punk attempted to perform aGTS on Mysterio, Mysterio countered and attempted to perform a619 on Punk, however, Punk countered and performed a GTS on Mysterio to win the match.

In the sixth match, Randy Orton defended the World Heavyweight Championship against Christian. During the match, Orton attempted anRKO on Christian, but Christian countered the move and performed afalling inverted DDT on Orton for a near-fall. Christian performed aspear on Orton for a near-fall. The match ended when Orton performed an RKO on Christian to retain the title, despite Christian's foot being under the bottom rope (which the referee did not see).

In the penultimate match and also an impromptu match,Jack Swagger facedEvan Bourne. In the end, Swagger applied anankle lock on Bourne only for Bourne to counter and pin Swagger with aninside cradle to win the match.

The main event was for the WWE Championship between defending champion John Cena and R-Truth. During the match, Cena applied theSTF on R-Truth only for R-Truth to touch the bottom rope to void the submission. R-Truth then performed ascissors kick on Cena for a near-fall. As Cena attempted to perform anAttitude Adjustment on R-Truth, R-Truth countered and performed aShut Up on Cena for a near-fall. In the climax, R-Truth stole a hat and a drink from a young fan in the crowd. When R-Truth handed the drink back to the fan, the fan threw the drink on R-Truth's face. Cena then threw a distracted R-Truth back into the ring and performed an Attitude Adjustment on him to retain the title. After the match, Cena celebrated with the young fan in the ring.

While the feud between John Cena and R-Truth would boil down, R-Truth along with The Miz would then assault Cena, Alberto Del Rio, and CM Punk inside a steel cage following their triple threat match atHell in a Cell in October.^[12] The two men would never cross paths until 13 years later when Cena, who then became anaggressive villain, defeated R-Truth atSaturday Night's Main Event XXXIX.^[13]

On the following episode ofSmackDown, Christian demanded another match for Randy Orton's World Heavyweight Championship, and SmackDown General Manager Theodore Long granted the match if Christian could defeat Kane. Christian lost via disqualification after interference from Mark Henry.^[14] A tag team match pitting Christian and Henry against Kane and Orton then took place, where Henry pinned Orton to win the match. The following week, Henry lost to Orton via countout after interference from Christian. As a result, Christian was scheduled to face Orton for the World Heavyweight Championship atMoney in the Bank.^[15] It was also stipulated that if Orton were to get disqualified or if there was poor officiating, Christian would win the title.^[16]

Capitol Punishment would be a one-off event for WWE. In2012, it was replaced by the reinstatedNo Way Out.^[17]

Wikimedia Commons has media related toWWE Capitol Punishment.

• Official Capitol Punishment website

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• WWE pay-per-view events
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• 2011 WWE pay-per-view events
• June 2011 in the United States
• Cultural depictions of Barack Obama

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