WWE Chairman Vince McMahon faced WWE Champion CM Punk at Powertrip's main event
In a night where the WWE Universe was in control and the future of WWE was at stake, Powertrip took place in the US Airways Cener in Phoenix, Arizona.
In similar fashion to previous WWE events Taboo Tuesday and Cyber Sunday, the power was given to the people, as voting was open to decide several conditions portaining to the matches that would take place than night.
Background[]
Matchcard[]
- Dolph Ziggler defeated Big Show in a Street Fight
- Sheamus and Wade Barrett defeated Dean Ambrose and Cody Rhodes in a Tag Team Tables match to retain the WWE Tag Team Championships
- Damien Sandow defeated Triple H in a First Blood match
- Christian defeated The Miz
- Antonio Cesaro defeated John Cena in a 2 out of 3 falls match
- Trish Stratus, Stephanie McMahon-McIntyre and Summer Rae defeated AJ, Lita and Kaitlyn in a 6-Diva Tag Team match
- CM Punk defeated Mr. McMahon to retain the WWE Championship in a match where Stone Cold Steve Austin was the Special Guest Referee
The Event[]
The show began with the reveal of the Special Guest Referee for the match between CM Punk and Mr. McMahon. The WWE Universe chose Stone Cold Steve Austin.
The first match of the night was between the Show-Off Dolph Ziggler and the Big Show, with the voted stipulation being a street fight. In a courageous effort, and after kicking out of Big Show's devastating KO Punch, Dolph Ziggler won the match after hitting the World's Largest Athlete with a sudden Zig Zag.
We saw Triple H encounter Drew McIntyre backstage. As the tension was palpable, the Chosen One would tell The Game that he should forget about the issues batween them, as he was trying to "move on to bigger and better things". After McIntyre walked away, The King of Kings would say it was not over until he said so.
The WWE Tag Team Championships were on the line as Sheamus and Wade Barrett defended their titles against the unlikely duo of Dean Ambrose and Cody Rhodes in a tables match. The titles almost changed hands as Ambose and the self-professed Hardcore Champion nearly had the match won, but the match ended Dean intentionally put his own partner through a table, throwing away the match, and thus the reigning champions sucessfully retained their titles. As a result of losing the match, Dean Ambrose and Cody Rhodes did not get the Hardcore match they wanted.
Up next, Triple H faced Damien Sandow in a first blood match. This encounter seemed to be going The Cerebral Assassin's way, as he had the Figure 4 Leg Lock applied on Sandow, but Stephanie McMahon-McIntyre would interfere, sticking her fingernails on The Game's forhead, causing him to get busted open and awarding the win to the Intellectual Savior. As Triple H tried to take revenge on Stephanie by Pedigreeing her, Drew McIntyre would prevent his wife from being attacked with a Missile Dropkick. Drew would then sucessfully run away and flee the arena, despite Triple H chasing after him,
The WWE Universe was given the option to vote for the two men who would fight for the vacant World Heavyweight Championship, between Christian, The Miz and Drew McIntyre. It was decided that the two men who got the most votes would face off in a non-title match at Powertrip, and would fight for the title at SummerSlam. Christian and Drew McIntyre were the most voted, but since McIntyre had left the building earlier, The Miz came out to face Christian instead. In a great preformance, Christian defeated The Miz after a Killswitch. It was later revealed that Drew McIntyre automatically forfeited his title shot when he left the US Airways Center, and so The Miz will take on Christian for the World title at SummerSlam.
Next came the third encounter between John Cena and Antonio Cesaro, wich was voted as Two out of Three falls. In a great, but very close match, Cena got the first fall after an Attitude Adjustment, but Cesaro would even things up with a Very European Uppercut, catching Cena in mid air. After an exciting series of great maneuvers, Cena crashed and burned from the top rope and Cesaro took advantage and hit the Neutralizer to get the third and final fall. After the match, the two competitors shook hands, in a showing of sportsmanship that encited cheers from the crowd.
Daniel Bryan's theme song started to play, much to the surprise of the audience. The cheers quickily turned too boos as it was not Bryan who came out, but Alberto del Rio, mocking the man he put out of action by utilising his mannerisms. However, before Del Rio could even begin to talk, Daniel Bryan came out and after a short brawl floored the Intercontinental Champion witha brutal running knee to the face. But Bryan's night would not be over there, because as he was celebrating, Paul heyan appeared on the stage, and the song associated to the mysteryous entity known as Juggernaut started playing. From the crowd came Brock Lesnar, Ken Shamrock and Jack Swagger, and the three men proceeded to quickly beat down the former Intercontinental Champion.
The unpredictable rivalry between AJ Lee and Divas Champion Trish Stratus continued at Powertrip. This time, the team of AJ, Lita and Kaitlyn would face Trish, Stephanie and a partner chosen by the WWE Universe. The choices were either one of the Bella Twins or a mystery partner. Perhaps looking to give AJ's team the advantage, the Universe voted in the mystery partner, who was none other than the debuting Summer Rae. The newcomer looked impressive and managed to get the pinfall on Kaitlyn, after a distraction by Trish Stratus.
In the Main Event, Mr. McMahon put the control of WWE on the line against CM Punk's WWE Championship. The referee Stone Cold Steve Austin After several minutes of violent fighting, CM Punk was getting ready to hit the GTS on McMahon when the Big Show came out and knocked out the WWE Champion. Dolph Ziggler would then come to the rescue, Superkicking Big Show over the top rope, only to recieve a vicious Chokeslam from Kane. Things took an unexpected turn when the Undertaker returned and took out his brother Kane. McMahon took advantage and covered Punk, as the straight-edge superstar was still suffering the effects of the KO Punch. However, Austin refused to count the pin and got the chairman to win a Stone Cold Stunner. Punk then pinned McMahon to win the match. Due to another stipulation of the match, Austin's contract was terminated. CM Punk and Stone Cold would then shake hands and have a toast, only for the situation to take a shocking turn when Punk floored Austin with a GTS, and ended the night standing over the man who helped him rid the WWE of Vince McMahon.