Wednesday, September 16

WWE Breaking Point PPV: The Review

THE WWE have given fans a taste of their new-themed PPV idea with Breaking Point.

Borrowing from TNA's hugely successful all-cage match Lockdown event, Vince McMahon's company are starting to introduce shows where the headline bouts are all under variations on a gimmick.

At Breaking Point it was all about submissions, for the main events at least, and there will be TLC and Hell In A Cell focussed PPVs to follow.

And we are pleased to say the changes actually made for a very good event.

The WWE's way of doing the concept - keeping the lesser contests using standard wrestling rules - means fans don't get burned out.

And the submission idea, at least in the awesome John Cena v Randy Orton I Quit contest, made match-ups we'd seen before so much better this time around.

In fact the problem at Breaking Point was not the new ideas introduced by the WWE, but their constant need to revisit an old one.

Back in 1997 - for those old enough to remember - Vince McMahon screwed Bret Hart for real in Montreal, Canada.

Bret was leaving for WCW but refusing to drop his world title to Shawn Michaels, so Vince ordered referee Earl Hebner to "ring the bell" when HBK had a Sharpshooter locked on - meaning a furious Bret 'lost' the match without his knowledge.

Since then the WWE - and to be fair WCW and TNA too - seem to want to repeat the same feat whenever in Montreal, although scripted this time.

And so it was that CM Punk retained his world title against The Undertaker in the night's final submission bout, via a tap out that never happened.

The fact that Teddy Long and Scott Armstrong were in the McMahon/Hebner roles says all you need to do about how cheap this copy was.

What made Montreal so special the first time around, and still talked about today, was the fact Bret was screwed for real.

YOU BOOTY ... Kofi kicks Miz

YOU BOOTY ... Kofi kicks Miz

We can't imagine anyone will still talk about Taker v Punk next week, unless it's to complain about another BS finish in a PPV main event.

But that's really our only complaint about a show that provided excellent entertainment throughout the card and elevated lots of new talent.

Breaking Point opened with Chris Jericho and Big Show retaining their tag titles against the new duo of MVP and Mark Henry.

As you'd imagine this was great when Jericho and Montel were in together and not so good the rest of the time. Victory came via a Big Show punch.

Next up was our new favourite WWE talent - Kofi Kingston.

Kofi is quickly turning into one of the best high-flying talents in the industry and was so impressive yet again in his US title match with The Miz.

A fast-paced contest full of near falls, this was easily both men's best ever bout in the WWE.

The crowd ate up all the reversals, especially a kicking contest, before Kofi put Miz to bed with his Trouble In Paradise finisher.

It was simply a must watch match for any wrestling fan.

Triple H and Shawn Michaels took on Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase next in the night's first themed bout - a Submissions Count Anywhere contest.

The references to Hart and the "you screwed Bret" chants at Michaels weren't surprising, but the result was.

Legacy dominated D-Generation X for much of the arena-wide brawl - with Michaels tapping out to a double submission hold before a badly beaten Triple H could save him.

It wasn't quite a passing of the torch, but will certainly have WWE fans seeing Rhodes and DiBiase as another rung up the ladder.

Kane v Khali in a Singapore Kane match was as dreadful as it sounds on paper. The only good thing was the weapons meant less grappling. The crowd's "boring" chants and commentators' admissions that "this won't be pretty" made us chuckle.

Christian beat William Regal with the Killswitch to retain his ECW championship next in a good but short contest before Randy Orton proved why he is the best in the business today.

CHAIN REACTION ... Cena and Orton

CHAIN REACTION ... Cena and Orton

He may have lost his WWE championship in I Quit match to John Cena, but provided a masterclass in storytelling.

Orton methodically and deliberately took Cena apart, with facials as evil as the beating he was dishing out.

Introducing handcuffs heightened the tension and the more Orton slowed the match - cuffing Cena to the ropes and then the ring post - the more we actually enjoyed it.

When John turned the tables - escaping, handcuffing himself to Randy instead and winning with a metal-enhanced STF - the place came unglued.

But why, when putting on matches like that, the WWE feel the need to keep revisiting events from 12 years ago almost has us at Breaking Point.

We give the PPV 8 out of 10.

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