-- 9/13 WWE Breaking Point PPV Reax

Gavin Duenas of Bristol, England (7.0): Best: Orton vs. Cena. Worst: Kane vs. Khali. The ending soured what had been an enjoyable event, but I can forgive the finish to Punk-Taker for the following reasons: first, it keeps the title on Punk. Second, WWE had totally booked itself into a corner in presenting this match. Taker wasn't going to submit in his return match, but neither could he just walk back in and get the strap. Finally, it was a genuinely surprising finish (though it really shouldn't have been!), and sets up an interesting twist to Smackdown with Teddy Long perhaps becoming a reluctant heel authority figure. The storyline of the Orton-Cena match was very strong and excellently told by both men. My only gripe is that the finish came pretty suddenly. I never thought I'd find myself wishing those two had five more minutes, but I really did. Great drama. It looks like the feud ends at Hell In A Cell, but who is there for the champion, whether that is Orton or Cena, to move onto afterwards? I felt Kofi and Miz both proved they are ready to step up with an excellent ten-minute match, but it is wishful thinking to hope that either will get anything resembling a main event push. DX-Legacy had the right finish,
and it's sad in a way that it came as such a surprise. The symbolism of Shawn Michaels submitting in Montreal seems to have gone unnoticed; presumably it was an act of catharsis on his part. Overall, another good pay-per-view in a string of decent offerings from WWE.

Terrie Neilson of Las Vegas, Nev. (9.0): Best: DX vs. Legacy. Worst: Kane vs. Khali. Well, some interesting things happened. The PPV got off to a pretty good start with the tag title and Kofi-Miz matches. There seemed to be a noticeable feeling among my markish friends that Miz was actually going to win. I consider this a good sign. And Miz turned in a very good performance to have earned that sentiment, as well as remind viewers of his Maryse connection. It also looks like a new finisher for Kofi (something akin to a rolling gutwrench move) was being tested. Only real flaw in the opening tag match was seeing Jericho visibly set up the nearfall where he gets his foot on the rope. Legacy talked a good promo, but they seemed to be a little factually impaired. Triple H has tapped to Cena's STF and Shawn to Cena's STF, Angle's Anklelock, and Benoit's sharpshooter (as well as Bret's, long before Montreal). Don't know who DX was intending to dedicate the match to, but the tongue in cheek handling of the umteen millionth "You Screwed Bret" chant was nice. I went into the DX-Legacy match contemplating the ideal finish considering where the event was held. It kept coming back that Shawn had to tap out to Legacy, with my preference being tapping to Ted (bigger upside at the moment). Not only did I get my ideal finish, but a bonus. Shawn tapped out to Ted, but also to Cody (who did a Bret Hart signature move, the post-aided figure four). I'm hoping this means, when added to the finale, that Shawn can put some of Montreal 1997 to rest. Kane-Khali was there, as expected, and with two straight wins, you'd think it would be over, right? And strangely still no "You Can't Wrestle" chants at Khali despite being no different in the ring face or heel. The exclusion of Jackson and Kozlov actually upgraded the Regal-Christian match. Those two really don't do it for me. In lieu of a rushed Morrison-Ziggler match, we get a Ziggler-Patterson promo. This was not much of a help storyline wise, and in hindsight only seemed like time filler for what was to come. Not sure what to make of the "shut the f*** up" chant but Dolph handled that and the "what?"s extremely well. Cena-Orton has been done enough times before that they know how to turn in a really good match. The biggest problem I had with it was that while the finish verified Cena's "I Will Not Quit" promo, it did so by giving him very little offense. As for Undertaker-Punk, I don't seem to be in as much uproar about the screwjob finish as I probably should be. I didn't see the original Michaels-Hart match until well after it happened, and by then any possible honest opinion I could have about the finish had been tainted. Twelve years later, most of the crowd at Sam's Town either doesn't realize the repeat or never knew the first existed. Some were so mad (marking out angry) that they stormed away from the PPV refusing to watch Smackdown ever again. Even I got caught a little off guard when there wasn't an Anaconda Vice tease and Punk tapped strangely early. Then Teddy Long came out to make his announcement. I remember there had been no overturning of the Hell's Gate ban, which was placed long enough ago to be forgotten by those who don't keep track. What this means storyline wise is development of Teddy Long probation and his back-against-the-wall decision to replicate Montreal 1997. Smackdown will need to come up with a suitable "surprise"--other than a returning Vickie Guerrero--to make sense of the repeat. Some at Sam's Town may not be watching, but I will.

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