WWE Breaking Point

Concept

The concept of this pay-per-view was that the main event matches had to end in submission. Some matches that end in submission include the standard submission match, the "I Quit" match, and the Submissions Count Anywhere match.

Background

The professional wrestling matches at Breaking Point featured professional wrestlers performing as characters in scripted events pre-determined by the hosting promotion, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). Storylines between the characters were produced on WWE's weekly television shows Raw, SmackDown, and ECW with the Raw, SmackDown, and ECW brands—storyline divisions in which WWE assigned its employees to different programs.

At SummerSlam, WWE Champion Randy Orton intentionally got himself disqualified, counted out, and pinned John Cena with illegal leverage before retaining the title. WWE Chairman, Vince McMahon, proclaimed that, in result of how Orton retained the title, Cena would get a rematch, and if anyone interfered on Orton's behalf, in response to interference during their previous match from Brett DiBiase, he would lose the title. In the spirit of the submission concept of the show, the title was defended in an "I Quit" match, which can only be won by causing the opponent to say "I Quit".

After winning the World Heavyweight Championship at SummerSlam, CM Punk defended the title on the following episode of SmackDown against Jeff Hardy. It was announced that the winner of the match would defend the title against The Undertaker at Breaking Point in a match that can only be won by making their opponent submit.

The guest host and storyline matchmaker of the August 24 episode of Raw was welterweight boxing champion, Floyd Mayweather, Jr., who had a match with The Big Show at WrestleMania XXIV the previous year. Due to the lingering animosity, Mayweather announced that Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP) and Mark Henry would receive a match against The Big Show and his tag team partner, Chris Jericho, for the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship at Breaking Point, provided they defeat them in an exhibition match that night; MVP and Henry gained their chance after Mayweather gave MVP brass knuckles while the referee was distracted, to knock out and pin Jericho for the win.

During a night-long challenge on the July 27 episode of Raw, to determine who would challenge Randy Orton for the WWE Championship at SummerSlam, Triple H had to defeat his opponent, Cody Rhodes, in the allotted time of 6:49 set by prior competitor, Mark Henry, but was not successful in doing so; this was followed by Rhodes assaulting his incapacitated opponent with the assistance of his affiliate in The Legacy, Ted DiBiase. This led to Triple H enlisting help in the returning Shawn Michaels to reform the faction, D-Generation X (DX), to face his adversaries at SummerSlam in a winning effort. After continued assaults, it was announced on WWE.com that the two teams would face at Breaking Point in a submission match of their own, which can be won anywhere in the arena.

Since The Bash, Kane and The Great Khali had been in constant conflict, taking turns interfering in each other's matches, blindsiding each other, or, in Kane's case, avoiding Khali. To get Khali's attention and the upper hand, Kane kidnapped his adversary's translator and storyline brother, Ranjin Singh, before their match at SummerSlam, which was won by Kane. Khali continued after Kane following the show, leading to the announcement of a match between the two with legal use of a Singapore cane.

Event

Before WWE Breaking Point aired on television, an untelevised match took place between Evan Bourne and Chavo Guerrero. Bourne won the match after performing a shooting star press, which he calls Air Bourne, to get the pinfall on Guerrero.

Preliminary matches

The show aired with the tag team match for the Unified WWE Tag Team Championship, the defending team of Jeri-Show faced The World's Strongest Tag Team of Montel Vontavious Porter and Mark Henry. Henry countered Jericho's finisher the Codebreaker and whilst the referee was tending to him, Big Show delivered a knockout punch to Henry allowing Jericho to get the pinfall.

The following match was the WWE United States Championship match. Defending champion Kofi Kingston countered a neckbreaker by The Miz and delivered his finisher Trouble in Paradise to secure the win.

There was a Singapore Cane Match between Kane and The Great Khali who was accompanied to the ring by Ranjin Singh. Kane used the cane to apply a submission hold to Khali's arm only for him to break it. Khali used his signature Vice Grip but Kane broke out of the hold by hitting Khali with a cane. Singh interfered in the match allowing Khali to get the advantage but Kane managed to get the upper hand and delivered a Chokeslam to Khali to get the victory.

The first ever Submissions Count Anywhere match pitted D-Generation X (Triple H and Shawn Michaels) against The Legacy (Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase Jr.). The match was quickly taken out of the ring as Michaels threw DiBiase over the barricade. Michaels attempted to make Rhodes submit by using a sleeper hold on the rail of the steps in the crowd. Meanwhile, Triple H and Rhodes fought in the lobby of the arena and eventually all four men returned to ringside. Triple H placed Rhodes' legs through the back of a steel chair and performed a Boston crab simultaneously Michaels performed a camel clutch on him. Rhodes later threw Michaels out of the stands in the crowd leaving he and DiBiase to double team on Triple H. They ended up in the backstage area where Triple H delivered a spinebuster to DiBiase through a catering table. A crossface on Rhodes was broken after DiBiase hit Triple H with an icebox. Rhodes and DiBiase headed back to the ring with Michaels in tow and dominated him for a while. Michaels started to fight back when he hit Rhodes with the Sweet Chin Music and applied a figure four leg-lock but this hold was broken by DiBiase. After, Rhodes performed the figure four leg-lock to Michaels around the ring post whilst DiBiase performed the Million Dollar Dream which resulted in Michaels submitting.

The ECW Championship match saw defending champion Christian face William Regal who was accompanied by Ezekiel Jackson and Vladimir Kozlov. However, before the match began it was announced that Jackson and Kozlov were banned from ringside. In a physical match Christian dodged a left knee from Regal and executed the Kill Switch to get the victory.

Pat Patterson made an appearance and was interrupted by Dolph Ziggler. Ziggler then attacked Patterson but John Morrison made the save.

Main event matches

The I Quit match for the WWE Championship was the second main event of the night which saw defending champion Randy Orton face John Cena. After wrestling in the ring Orton threw Cena towards the commentary desk and hit him with a camera monitor. Orton dragged Cena back to the ring hoping to deliver an RKO to him on to a steel chair but Cena countered. The action went to ringside as Orton threw Cena into the steel steps. After Orton had punished Cena with the steel steps the referee asked if he wanted to quit to which he refused. Orton then handcuffed one of Cena's arms to the middle rope and continued to assault him by hitting him with the referee's microphone. After refusing to quit once again, Cena was placed on the steel steps in a sitting position with his arms in handcuffs hanging over the top of the ring post. Orton then poured a bottle of water over Cena and when asked if he wanted to quit, Cena spat the water in Orton's face. Orton repeatedly hit Cena with a Singapore cane and choked him with it until Cena delivered a low blow to Orton. Cena escaped from the ring post only to be hit with a steel chair by Orton and handcuffed with one arm to the bottom rope outside the ring. Cena managed to give a one armed Attitude Adjustment to Orton, took the key from around Orton's neck and handcuffed himself to Orton. Whilst still handcuffed together, Cena dragged Orton inside the ring and Orton hit an RKO on Cena. Orton reached for the key to the handcuffs at the other side of the ring but was unsuccessful as Cena held him back. Cena then applied the STF tugging at the handcuffs to hurt Orton's wrist. As a result, Orton said the words 'I quit' to which Cena was victorious.

The final main event was a Submission Match for the World Heavyweight Championship between defending champion CM Punk and The Undertaker. Immediately after the bell rang Punk retreated outside the ring and once back in the ring he cornered The Undertaker with multiple elbows to the back of his head. The Undertaker tossed Punk out of the ring, Punk ran back to the ring and The Undertaker hit him with a clothesline. The two ended up at ringside, The Undertaker threw Punk into the barricade and missed a big boot. Punk began to attack The Undertaker with a steel chair. The two returned to the ring and Punk countered The Undertaker's signature Old School and delivered a superplex from the top rope. The Undertaker later went for a Chokeslam but was met with roundhouse kick from Punk. The Undertaker eventually applied Hell's Gate and Punk tapped out. However, Theodore Long interrupted the celebration by informing everyone that The Undertaker's submission Hell's Gate was banned by Vickie Guerrero. Long ordered the match to be continued, when the bell rang Punk immediately applied the Anaconda Vice and the bell rang to signal the match was over although The Undertaker did not submit. Regardless of this Punk retained the title thus mimicking the Montreal Screwjob.

Reception

The event received generally mixed reviews.

The Sun in a generally positive review praised John Cena and Randy Orton's performance in the WWE Title match and the match in general. However the newspaper, along with many critics and fans, harshly criticized the World Championship match, particularly the screwjob finish, stating: "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". Overall the event was awarded a score of 8 out of 10.

Brian Elliott, writing for Slam! Wrestling gave the event a generally negative review. He awarded the Tag Team Submission match a score of 7 out of 10, his highest rating for the night, while the Kane/Khali match was awarded a highly negative score of 1 out of 10, the event's lowest score.