I don’t know how it came across on TV, but Capitol Punishment, while not necessarily a can’t-miss pay-per-view, was better than I expected it to be.

There were two title changes – Dolph Ziggler beat Kofi Kingston for the U.S. title and Ezekiel Jackson defeated Wade Barrett for the Intercontinental title – and three really good matches – CM Punk-Rey Mysterio, Randy Orton-Christian and Ziggler-Kingston.

One thing I really liked about the show was that the main events featured two guys – R-Truth and Christian – who just a few months ago were stuck in the mid-card. Both of them have paid their dues and their presence at the top of this card was refreshing.

Here is a match-by-match look at the show:

WWE champion John Cena defeated R-Truth (14:43): The match itself wasn’t anything more than serviceable, but to quote Michael Cole, the atmosphere was electric. The dueling chants of “Let’s go Cena” and “Cena sucks” were in full force. It was so much fun, I even joined in. Don’t tell Cena, but I enjoyed taunting all the little Jimmies, including one especially obnoxious one in my row who sported a Mohawk under his red Cena baseball cap. I don’t what was wrong with this kid’s parents, but the boy’s response to the anti-Cena chants was to tell adults that they were “homos” and to “shut up.” No wonder R-Truth doesn’t want to dance anymore for these brats. But I digress. R-Truth was in control for most of the match, which had a slow pace until the final few minutes. Cena went for the Attitude Adjustment at the 11:30 mark, but R-Truth countered with a Stunner-like maneuver. Around the 13-minute mark, R-Truth came off the top with a crossbody, but Cena rolled through and again set up for the AA. R-Truth countered by hitting his finisher, but Cena kicked out – and no one in the crowd seemed surprised. R-Truth then snatched a Cena cap from a young boy in the front row and took a sip from his drink. The kid responded by tossing his beverage into R-Truth’s face. Cena then grabbed R-Truth, threw him back in the ring and hit the AA for the victory. I’m curious to see if R-Truth gets another shot at Cena or if he is one-and-done and moving on to a program with John Morrison.

World heavyweight champion Randy Orton defeated Christian (14:04): These two delivered another strong match together. There were dueling chants about four minutes into the match, although they were nowhere near the level of the chants that occurred throughout the John Cena/R-Truth match. At the 10:35 mark, Orton had Christian up in a backbreaker position and then turned it into a mid-air neckbreaker for a near fall. That was a cool spot. Orton then went for the RKO, but Christian countered with the Killswitch for a very close near fall. Nearly 13 minutes in, Christian went for a spear, but Orton leapfrogged him and tried again for the RKO. Christian countered, however, and connected with a spear for a two count to cap a terrific sequence. Orton finally landed the RKO and covered Christian for the victory. Christian’s foot was under the ropes, but the referee didn’t see it. Christian pleaded with the referee after the match to no avail, and then Orton smashed Christian in the head with the championship belt. I don’t know if this was shown on TV, but Orton stood in the ring as the replay of the finish was shown on the big screen, and a sly smile crossed his face when it was clear that Christian’s foot had indeed been under the ropes. I’m guessing the controversial finish results in another match between them.

Alberto Del Rio defeated The Big Show due to the referee stopping the match (4:58): This was more of an angle than an actual match. Big Show jumped Del Rio from behind while Del Rio was making his way down to the ring. As Big Show continued to beat on him, Mark Henry appeared out of nowhere and attacked Big Show. Wow, that Henry is a fast healer, since we just saw him being carted out on a stretcher on Smackdown Friday night after being laid out by Big Show. In an impressive display of strength, Henry picked up Big Show and delivered the World’s Strongest Slam through the announce table. He then worked over Big Show’s injured knee. Once the match officially started, Big Show tried to put up a fight, but his knee kept giving out. Del Rio applied a move on Big Show’s knee that resembled his Cross Armbreaker. Big Show made it to the ropes to break the hold, but after repeated attempts, he couldn’t stand up and the referee stopped the match and awarded it to Del Rio. Big Show did a good job of selling the injury. I wonder if this is the end of the Del Rio-Big Show program and Big Show will now move on to a feud with Henry. For Del Rio’s sake, I hope so.

CM Punk defeated Rey Mysterio (14:58): I thought this was the best match of the night, and I’m convinced that these two simply are incapable of having a bad match with each other. There were a significant amount of Punk fans, but he received more boos than cheers. At the 11:30 mark of the back-and-forth match, Punk hit a big belly-to-back suplex off the top for a near fall. About a minute later, Mysterio connected with a 619 around the ring post that knocked Punk out of the ring. Mysterio rolled him back in and went for a splash off the top, but Punk got his knees up and covered Mysterio for another two count. At 13:45, Punk set up for the GTS, but Mysterio countered with a huracanrana for a near fall. Punk went for the GTS a second time, but Mysterio countered again, this time with an arm drag that set Punk in position for the 619. Mysterio went for the move, but Punk caught him and finally hit the GTS for the victory. That’s two clean losses in row on pay-per-view for Mysterio (he lost to R-Truth at Over the Limit last month), but losses don’t hurt him at this point in his career. As for Punk, he has now defeated the top two babyfaces on Raw in a span of seven days, as he also beat WWE champion John Cena in a non-title match on Raw Monday. It seems as if WWE is setting up Punk for a main-event program before his expected departure when his contract expires in a few months.

Alex Riley defeated The Miz (10:12): Riley, who is billed as being from Washington, D.C., got a nice pop coming out, but Miz had his fans as well, and there were dueling chants early in the match. They started brawling immediately after the opening bell sounded, which made sense since there is such a heated issue between them. The story of the match was that Miz was in control but he couldn’t put Riley away. Riley finally seized the advantage at the 7:45 mark when he moved away from Miz’s attempted baseball slide in the corner, and Miz ended up taking a steel post to the groin. After the action spilled to the floor, Michael Cole stood up at the announce table and began yelling at Riley, who grabbed Cole and threw him down. While Riley was preoccupied with Cole, Miz attacked him from behind and threw him into the ring. Miz then grabbed the briefcase from ringside and went to use it, but the referee took it away from him. That gave an opening to Riley, who kicked Miz in the gut and hit a jumping DDT for the win. Miz is at the point now in his career where a victory over him means something, so Riley appears to be on his way to becoming a player. The loss doesn’t hurt Miz because he’s going to be over regardless of whether he wins or not.

Dolph Ziggler defeated U.S. champion Kofi Kingston to win the title (11:04): These two work very well together and they got the show off to a hot start with a fast-paced match. At about the 7-minute mark, Ziggler ducked Trouble in Paradise, but Kingston hit the SOS for a near fall. There were several terrific exchanges and near falls from there. At 9:15, Ziggler was setting up for a superplex, but Kingston knocked him off the ropes and followed up with a soaring crossbody block for another near fall. Just past the the 10-minute mark, Kingston again missed Trouble in Paradise, but he then countered the Zig Zag by holding onto the ropes. While the referee’s back was turned as Kingston was near the ropes, Vickie Guerrero raked Kingston’s eyes. Ziggler then caught him in a sleeperhold. Kingston fought it, but his effort to make it to the ropes to force a break was unsuccessful, and the referee called for the bell to give Ziggler his first U.S. championship (I mistakenly wrote in the Capitol Punishment preview Sunday that Ziggler had held that title before, but I was getting it confused with the Intercontinental title).

Ezekiel Jackson defeated Intercontinental champion Wade Barrett to win the title (6:39): Barrett cut an anti-American promo as he made his way to the ring. After the match began, a “USA” chant broke out, which was pretty funny considering that Jackson is from Guyana. There also was a “We Want Ryder” chant (and there were quite a few Zack Ryder signs in the crowd, as well). Jackson was put over strong, as he kicked out of Barrett’s Wasteland finisher, delivered a series of body slams and then put Barrett in the Torture Rack for the submission victory. The crowd was behind Jackson, but not to any great extent. Barrett, who was main-eventing pay-per-views six months ago, is going nowhere fast.

Evan Bourne defeated Jack Swagger (7:15): This match, which was not announced ahead of time, served as the buffer between the two world title matches. They worked well together, but the crowd wasn’t really into it. After some good back-and-forth action, Bourne countered Swagger’s ankle lock by rolling him up for the win. I don’t know what if anything Swagger has done to tick off management, but there’s no way he should be jobbing to Bourne in a “bonus match” on pay-per-view.

Dark match – Santino Marella and Vladimir Kozlov defeated Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater (4:40): This was the perfect match to warm up the crowd, which absolutely loved Marella. Marella used The Cobra on Gabriel for the victory. Gabriel and Slater’s stock is plummeting.

Notes: There were several skits involving a President Obama impersonator, the funniest of which involved Santino Marella, who tried to show “Obama” how to apply The Cobra and was immediately tackled by secret servicemen. (By the way, one member of the security team bore a strong resemblance to former Maryland Championship Wrestling champion Tyler Hilton.) I also got a chuckle out of the faux president doing a Spinaroonie with Booker T. in the ring. As far as impersonators go, this guy was way better than the Bill Clinton impersonator WWE brought in years ago. … The dude from the Keystone Light commercials sat in the front row with the Bella twins during the Bourne-Swagger match. There were actually some fans who wanted their picture taken with him. Good lord.