Top Matches: John Cena vs. R-Truth; Randy Orton vs. ChristianGreat matches: Punk vs. Rey, Orton vs. Christian Good match: Dolph vs. Kofi Okay matches: Del Rio vs. Big Show, Ezekiel vs. Barrett, Bourne vs. Swagger, John Cena vs. R-Truth The week before the Capitol Punishment PPV from Washington DC, UFC 131 aired from the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, BC. Originally scheduled with Brock Lesnar/Junior dos Santos, Brock was replaced by Shane Carwin on the PPV. The event drew about 330,000 domestic buys which actually put right in the middle of UFC events that year. However, 330k domestic buys eclipses all non-Wrestlemania WWE PPV that year. (In other MMA footnotes, the night before Capitol Punishment was a Strikeforce card on Showtime headlined by Alistair Overeem vs. Fabricio Werdum as part of their 8-man heavyweight tournament.) It was not good timing for a lameduck WWE PPV. In terms of quality, in the 2011 Wrestling Observer awards, "WWE Capitol Punishment" finished 3rd behind two TNA events (March's Victory Road and November's Turning Point). This show was also the spiritual successor to Fatal Four Way PPV held the year before (6/20/10) which also did awful. CAPITOL PUNISHMENT 2011 FINAL VERDICT: It's a B-show headlined by R-Truth getting a title shot. Skip this.
I'm a professional wrestling analyst, an improviser and an avid NES gamer. I live in Saint Paul, Minnesota and I'm working on my first book (#wrestlenomics). You can contact me at chris.harrington@gmail.com or on twitter (@mookieghana)
