WWE Breaking Point 2009

Montreal. Say that to any wrestling fan and they will say one of two things:

Screwjob

Or

Bret screwed Bret!

In 1997, Vince McMahon screwed Bret Hart out of the WWE Championship and so any time the company go back there, they feel the need to address it. Really they shouldn't. It's like someone telling the same joke over and over and over. Yes, we have heard it. We thought it was funny the first time, maybe the second time, by the twelfth time... It's just sad.

WWE Breaking Point is one of the many themed PPVs that WWE are convinced the fans want to see. It also means that they don't have to write good storylines as the stipulation is enough, right? Wrong! You see, unlike in the past when two people would wrestle a few times and then they would have an explosive stipulated match... Now? They don't need to do that. Why have CM Punk and The Undertaker wrestle a few normal matches over a month or two and then build to a submission match, when we already have a PPV that has them? That's one to three months of storylines in four weeks! Isn't that great? Again, the answer is no. Because now the stipulation, rather than being the end of a feud it is just the beginning.

Think of it this way, if the Stay Puft Marshmallow man was the first ghost the Ghostbusters fought, you'd expect the final ghost to be something even bigger right? Well, now that WWE have already used the 'submission stipulation' on three feuds, they have to think of something even bigger for next time... which means (as the next one is Hell in a Cell) that they throw away another stipulation and make that one mean less. I'd like to say WWE Breaking Point proves me wrong...but it doesn't, not in the slightest.

WWE Unified Tag Championship Match

Chris Jericho and Big Show vs. MVP and Mark Henry

I hate Mark Henry. I have never been a fan of this lumbering oaf and this match didn't do anything to dispel any of this. We can talk about there aren't many wrestlers like him in the business and there's probably a reason for that. It's because they usually suck. Thankfully his partner MVP is a pretty good wrestler and his stuff with Jericho in this match was pretty good. Although I like what Jericho and Show or Jerishow have done to elevate the tag belts, they still haven't done that much to make them mean anything. But still (as long as you're not watching the parts with Mark Henry) a good match to start the show.

United States Championship

Kofi Kingston vs. The Miz

I love The Miz and I love Kofi Kingston and so this match was almost booked for me. What surprised me was that the match was given enough time to actually mean something. Both men had some great back and forth and the final moment of this match is the very definition of 'Boom'. Great match.

Submissions Count Anywhere

DX (Triple H and Shawn Michaels) vs. Legacy (Cody Rhodes and Ted Dibiase)

I loved the reference to the Montreal Incident at the beginning of this match. As I have always said, when Triple H is in DX he is such a great face and it's just a shame he can't be this entertaining when he's not. During this match I realised once again just how much I hate Michael Cole: 'Vintage Shawn Michaels' he calls as he rolls out of the ring? Seriously Michael Cole. Just because he may have done it once it doesn't make it vintage. I mean he throws several punches in the match. Are they vintage punches too? I enjoyed this match, but I do think the whole 'submission count anywhere' was a bad idea as there was far too much walking around in the middle of fans and because it couldn't be won with a pinfall it just felt awkward. The double figure four was a great sight to see though and the boston crab/camel clutch over a chair was simply insane though made both moves now pointless. The problem with the match is that there was far too much one person being able to fight off two from both teams (mostly Triple H of course) and after a while this just became a bit too much to watch.

Singapore Cane Match

Kane vs. The Great Khali

Finally JR and Todd Grisham are taking over the commentary! If I had to listen to anymore of Michael Cole I may have exploded. This is quite frankly a battle of the bulls and really you get what you expect, this isn't going to be a technical bout and certainly wasn't going to be a five star classic. However, this wasn't a bad match, it didn't outstay its welcome and the almost duelling between the two with the canes was pretty entertaining. Granted it isn't exactly a classic, but like I say, you shouldn't have expected that.

ECW Championship

Christian vs. William Regal

Though I understand why they did it, they wasted far too much time on getting rid of Regal's useless bodyguards. Time that could have been spent on... oh I don't know, the match. Though I am glad they gave it more time than the Summerslam farce. This was a much better match with both men proving why they are in this feud. I just wish it was a more important belt, but still a great match from both of them.

Though I understand the WWE honouring Pat Patterson in his own home town, but you would have thought they would have included an Intercontinental Match on the PPV?  In fact, Dolph Ziggler even says 'How can we waste valuable PPV time on this?' and I couldn't agree more. In the time it took the segment to play out both Ziggler and IC Champ John Morrison could have had a match?

WWE Championship

I Quit Match

John Cena vs. Randy Orton

Oh yay Michael Cole is back! Why does Michael Cole try so hard? If he just relaxed and called the match it would be a lot more interesting. So this is Orton/Cena Match 178 or something and so really who cares who wins. My opinion is there is nothing worse than a submission match when both competitors are not submission wrestlers. The reason why Angle/Benoit worked so well is that these guys knew how to submission wrestler. Even if there is one expert like Bret Hart in the classic Austin/Hart from Wrestlemania 13 it makes it all the better. Both guys are trying and both guys are failing. The handcuffs part of the match was just badly organised and much like the DX/Legacy match this was a little too prolonged for my liking and watching I wonder exactly who is enjoying watching this?

World Heavyweight Championship

CM Punk vs The Undertaker

I love both of these guys and the build up to the match was pretty good and so I expected a good match. And? This was a great match with an awful, awful ending. Watching this made me wish that people in WWE would forget what happened at Montreal. Though I must admit The Undertaker's reaction was possibly the funniest I have ever seen from him. He looked genuinely shocked by what just happened. As much as I understand why WWE does this kind of thing, this is also the kind of horrible booking that put WCW out of business. As I said, a great match, stupid finish and sadly that's not what WWE should be doing right now.

This PPV comes with two extras, a highlight clip from the Bob Barker hosted Raw. Though why this was included is a mystery as it bears no relation to the PPV in anyway. The short clip has its moments, but also highlighted just why the 'Guest Host' idea is such a bad one and the longer it goes on, the harder it will be for a.) WWE to end it and b.) WWE to recover from the damage having these hosts has caused. Also included is a less than two minute interview between the awful (but hot) Eve Torres and Jerishow, though it's a nice little interview with a hilarious back and forth between Jericho and Show about a trip to Hawaii.

Breaking Point was a fairly good PPV. I'm not a big fan of these themed PPVs as I believe they reduce the effect of the stipulation, but the matches were all pretty good. I just wish that someone would think about whether we want to watch people being whipped, choked or tortured during a match as it didn't make for fun viewing at times and pushed me a little to my breaking point of whether I should carry on watching or not.