WWE Breaking Point (September 2009)

 

Original Airdate: September 13, 2009

                                                           

From Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Your Hosts are Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler (RAW); Jim Ross and Todd Grisham (Smackdown); Josh Matthews and Matt Striker (ECW)

Opening WWE Unified Tag Team Title Match: Chris Jericho and Big Show v Mark Henry and Montel Vontavious Porter: Jericho and MVP start, and Chris stalls. Porter knocks him around once things get started, and hooks a takedown for two. Porter takes Jericho into the corner for some abuse, and a swinging neckbreaker is worth two. Into the corner for a double team, but Chris slips away, and tags out to Show. Show cheats to win a power showdown with Henry, and he uses a corner whip, but a corner splash backfires when Mark catches him. Henry with a cross corner whip to set up an avalanche, and he tries a bodyslam, so Jericho sneaks in to help Show topple him for two. That's Mark's own fault. You do your bodyslam quick, don't waste time. This is what happens when Lex Luger isn't around to coach these fools. The champs go to work on Henry, who is a weird choice for the heat segment, but hey, at least it's a choice. Henry fights Jericho off long enough for the tag, and MVP comes in hot, running wild on Chris. Kneeling facebuster sets up the Ballin' elbowdrop for two, so Jericho goes for the Walls, but Porter blocks. Big boot hits, but Chris has made a blind tag to Show, and the big man spears MVP down. That one gives new meaning to the term 'blind tag.' I mean, Porter would legitimately have to be severely impaired to not see that tag being made. The champs cut the ring in half on their new victim, but Jericho again gets fought off long enough to allow the tag. Henry with a press-drop to set up a splash, but Show breaks up the pin at two, and Roseanne Barr the door! Henry has Jericho beat, but he's too busy grinning to notice Chris has a foot on the ropes, and Show gives Mark a knockout blow to allow Jericho the pin at 12:14. Pretty basic. * ¼

 

WWE United States Title Match: Kofi Kingston v Miz: Why is Lilian Garcia wearing a Rolling Stones t-shirt? I mean, great band, but off brand, I'm surprised she got away with it in this era. They feel each other out a bit to start, until Miz goes for the Skull Crushing Finale, but gets fought off in the corner. Kofi unloads, but Miz fights him off with a chincrusher, and adds a suplex. Clothesline, but Kingston ducks, and throws a bodypress. He adds a second one, followed by a dropkick for two. Kofi goes upstairs, but Miz knocks him off, and snaps his throat across the bottom rope with a catapult for one. Big boot gets two, and a seated version is worth another two. Flapjack gets two, but Kingston dumps him to the outside to escape a waistlock, only for Miz to dodge the follow-up dive. Inside, Miz hooks the leg to get a two count out of it, and he dives with a flying axehandle for two. The challenger starts throwing kicks, and man, he's lucky he had that Daniel Bryan feud a few years later, because it totally changed the game for him with what was an otherwise lame sequence. Kingston fights him off with the SOS for two, but a jumping clothesline misses, and Miz delivers an inverted DDT for two. Charge in the corner hits boot, however, and Kofi lands the jumping clothesline he missed earlier. Boom Drop, but Miz lifts his knees to block, and covers for two. Pinfall reversal sequence ends in Kingston hitting a Russian legsweep to set up a successful Boom Drop for two, but Miz rolls through a flying bodypress for two. Miz adds a hotshot into the corner for two, but then Kofi just clips him with Trouble in Paradise at 11:56 to retain. That finish felt totally out of nowhere, and not in a good way. This was pretty dull, but not poorly worked. * ½

 

Submissions Count Anywhere Match: Triple H and Shawn Michaels v Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase: Booking Shawn in a submission match in Montreal is some world class audience trolling. Shawn looking uncomfortable telling people to 'suck it' will forever be my favorite thing about his second run. DX charge and attack before the bell, with Cody quickly getting dumped to the outside, allowing them to double team Ted. Cody runs in for the save, so he gets the same treatment, and the Legacy bail. This isn't Rockers Shawn, though, so DX give chase, and continue the beating on the outside. It spills into the crowd next for an extended brawl, and Shawn's lucky no one tried getting stabby out there. I guess time really does heel all wounds. Except these crazy eyes. Back in the safety of ringside, DX trap Cody in a combination sharpshooter/reverse chinlock that looks like something out of a gay porn, but Ted saves before Shawn's church group gets wind. Inside, HHH fights Ted off and puts him in a crippler crossface, but Cody saves. Hey, there are two referees for this! It's too bad Gorilla Monsoon died before getting to see his greatest wish come true. It spills back into the crowd for another brawl, and the crowd seems pretty disinterested. They're from Quebec! This should be the highlight of their lives! HHH apparently is very hurt at the lack of interest, and decides to straight up leave, but luckily Cody and Ted follow so they can brawl in the backstage area. At least there we have actors to act suitably interested. Ted slaps on the Million Dollar Dream, but gets put through a craft service table, and that's kind of a dick move, honestly. You're third match in! Kane or William Regal might still have wanted a snack, you inconsiderate jerks! Legacy manage to knock HHH out and leave him for dead so they can focus on Shawn back out in the arena, and they take him into the ring to double up on. Shawn is in trouble, and though he manages to hold them off for a while in hopes of a HHH save, he ends up trapped in a combination ring post figure four/Dream at 21:40 - just as Hunter starts to recover and stagger down the aisle. Too little too late CarpatHHHia. I thought the SummerSlam match was good fun, but this one felt really forced, and the extended brawls through the crowd killed my interest. ½*

 

Singapore Cane Match: Kane v Great Khali: Kane throws a couple of rights to buy time to go for a cane early, but Khali stops him from getting one, and uses a corner whip. Unfortunately that puts Kane right within reach of a cane, and both guys get one to set up a duel. Khali wins that one, so Kane bails, and clips Khali's leg when the monster goes after him. Kane unloads with the cane on the outside, and continues with the same as they head back in. Seated dropkick gets him two, but Khali steals the cane away, and goes to town. Big punch gets two, so Khali tries putting it away with a headvice, but Kane fights him off with the cane. Kane goes upstairs for a flying cane shot for two, and Khali is so rough that even his kickouts require suspension of disbelief. Kane sets up the Chokeslam, so Ranjin Singh comes in with the cane, allowing Khali to recover. Unfortunately for Khali he does nothing with it, and takes a chokeslam anyway at 5:51. This was not good, but definitely could have been way worse. DUD

 

ECW Title Match: Christian v William Regal: Ezekiel Jackson and Vladimir Kozlov (Regal's crew) are barred from ringside for this. Christian charges right at the bell, but Regal blocks an attempt at the Killswitch, and slows things down. Christian manages to dominate with a hammerlock, so Regal tries a backdrop, but Christian rides him with a sunset flip for two on the way down. Dropkick gets two, so Christian takes it to the mat with a side-headlock, but Regal powers to a vertical base. He tries dumping the champion, but Christian stops short, and dives with a flying bodypress for two. Christian goes to the middle for another dive, but this time Regal shoves him off, and the champ takes a bump all the way to the floor. Back in, that gets Regal two, so he grounds him in a straightjacket. Christian powers to a vertical base and uses a monkeyflip to counter into a double-knucklelock, but Regal manages to fight off the pin attempts. Regal kips up in the hold and uses a suplex to escape for two, and he takes Christian to the mat for a dragon surfboard. Christian fights free, and tries a 2^nd rope sunset flip, but Regal rolls through the cradle, and knees him in the face. That allows the challenger to apply a full-nelson, but Christian escapes again, so Regal suplexes him for two. He grounds him in another hold, but an attempt at a superplex backfires when Christian uses a tornado DDT for two. Regal quickly cuts him off with a clothesline for two, and an inverted fisherman suplex is worth two. That's a nice suplex, more people should use it. Slugfest goes Christian's way, however, and he starts making a comeback. Seated forearm smash gets two, and a 2^nd rope dropkick leads to a missile version, but Regal blocks that one. William capitalizes with a somersault senton splash for two, but a corner charge hits the knees, and Christian tries for the Killswitch - Regal able to block. Regal tries for a high knee, but Christian dodges, and lands the Killswitch at 10:14. Nothing flashy, just a good, solid midcard wrestling match. I liked this a lot. *** ¼

 

WWE Title I Quit Match: Randy Orton v John Cena: If anyone interferes on Orton's behalf, he loses the title. Cena blitzes him at the bell, but ends up getting dumped to the outside, sailing into an announce table in the process. Randy follows to bash him with a monitor, and Cena is out cold. Randy drags his limp body in for the rope-hung DDT, but John won't quit, so Orton grabs a chair. He sets up an RKO onto it, but as is almost always the case with 'setup RKOs,' it gets blocked. Cue the Cena comeback sequence, and the Five Knuckle Shuffle connects, but Orton manages to block the Attitude Adjustment. Randy capitalizes with a punt attempt, but Cena nearly counters to the STF, and Orton is forced to bail. John chases, but ends up eating steps out there, but won't quit. Orton responds by pulling out some handcuffs, and he chains Cena to the top rope to pound on. He won't quit, so Orton chains him to the post instead, and starts teeing off with a kendo stick. Cena still won't quit, so Orton tries choking the life out of him, though I'm not sure damaging his windpipe will help get words out of him. Cena kicks Randy in the ortons to shake him off, but he's still really battered, and Orton is able to hit him with a chair before the challenger can follow up. He chains John to the post for more abuse, but Cena still won't quit. John manages to fight him off with a backdrop this time, and he's all fired up now! He chains himself to Orton to make sure the champ can't get away, and inside we go for some pounding! AA, but Randy counters to the RKO. He looks for the keys to the cuffs, but they're out of reach, and Cena gets an STF on him to win the gold at 19:49. This was okay. SummerSlam was better. * ½

 

Main Event: World Heavyweight Title Submission Match: CM Punk v Undertaker: Punk bails to the outside immediately, stalling. He's drawing some impressive heel heat here, too. Punk sticks and moves once engaging, and manages to beat the challenger down in the corner, but makes the mistake of gloating, and gets dumped over the top. Back in, Undertaker clobbers him with a clothesline, and he unloads in the corner, before unceremoniously dumping the champion a second time. Undertaker continues the assault on the outside, but misses a charge, and hits the barricade. That allows Punk to turn the tide after the non-stop ass rape of the first four minutes, and the champ unloads with a chair. He tries a bulldog on the way back in, but Undertaker blocks, and goes to work on the arm/shoulder. Ropewalk forearm time, but Punk manages to crotch him on the top to block, as the announcers basically fight over who can blow Undertaker hardest. He's a legend! For every generation! And he took some chair shots! That's the only reason this greasy kid is even doing anything to him right now! Punk with a vertical superplex, and both guys stagger up for an Undertaker-won slugfest. Undertaker with a corner whip and corner clothesline, and the snake-eyes sets up the running big boot. Legdrop hits, and it's chokeslam time, but Punk kicks him in the head to block. Punk moves in for the kill, but Undertaker is ready with Hell's Gate, and Punk taps out immediately at 8:17. Um, that's it? No, apparently not, as Theodore Long shows up to remind us that Hell's Gate is a banned hold, and therefore the match must continue. Punk sneak attacks, but Undertaker quickly fights him off. Last Ride, but Punk escapes, clips the knee, and slaps on the Anaconda Vise at 0:31 (8:48 total) - the bell ringing despite Undertaker never submitting. Both Punk and the referee high tail it away the moment the bell sounds, since, you know, we're in Montreal. Get it? Get it? Get it? This was pretty much Undertaker squashing him, and never looking vulnerable, not even for a moment. Punk didn't even put a single submission hold on him at any point during the original match! ¼*

 

BUExperience: 2009 had some decent shows. This was not one of them.

 

DUD