Three Things We Hate and Three Things We Loved

Welcome to another edition of Wrestling Inc. retro reviews. Here we film notable wrestling shows from the past and apply universally famous, beloved/hated formats! Recently, I’ve looked back at the Royal Rumble 2008 and WrestleMania 22. Because it’s time for WWEBreakingPoint.

How many years do you ask? Well, it’s 2009, but if you were a scholar of WWE history, you already knew it. It replaced the relentless WWE’s usual September event, but was soon replaced on Champion Night. Event Gimmicks – that world title match was contested by the rules of submission style – was abandoned as well. Breaking Point is also one of four WWE PPVs in history held at Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada (and one of them was the exclusion chamber 2025 that occurred in February). Say what you do about breakpoints, you can’t say it’s not a unique event.

Why is it a good time to revisit it? Like everything that leads to the 2025 backlash, it’s all about Cena and Randy Orton. We have already provided five recommended watches from the historic rivals of these two performers, but the breakpoint match deserves special treatment. Some think they consider the best singles matches, including Dave Meltzer, who never gave another singles match between pairs of four or more stars. As Orton and Cena prepare to step into the ring together one last time, we pay tribute to their respective journeys by looking back at their iconic “I’m Quit” match. Here are three things we disliked and three things we liked about WWE breakpoints!

The relationship between WWE and tag team wrestling has been spotty at best over the years, with many very strange pairings holding the top titles claimed in the division.

Breaking Point provided much for the previous aspect of the equation, as the unified tag team titles lined up between Jeri-Show and Mark Henry and the MVP team. Thus, the 12 minutes felt like 36 was characterized by Henry working under the Big Show, and Chris Jericho making hot tags for the MVP.

It was a match designed to follow the opening segment of “WWE Raw” but expanded to fit pay-per-view billing, but if it still happens on TV, it’s not something to stay with you. Jeri-Show itself was a fun tag team of runs they had, but even in this same event there were tag matches worthy of the title. There was an idea to put two single stars in the unit. When done correctly, traditional tag team wrestling becomes completely the most exhilarating form of wrestling. But this was done right from the start, with the four dramatic, false cast yet talented wrestlers always swam against the flow.

Written by Max Everett

As a child in the attitude era when he was still a teenager in 2009, I’ll admit that the return of D-Generation X was very cool at the time. Looking back at it now, it’s pretty disgusting and not like the first iteration of DX in the late 90s, early 2000s. I initially wrote this down as something I thought I disliked on the show, but I actually really enjoyed this as Legacy Cody Lords and Ted Diviaze Jr. beat DX’s Shawn Michaels and Triple H. Legacy. Rhodes was excellent at microphones and it was really nice to see him get so good early in his career.

I enjoyed the entrance to the DX and the whole shoot-tipped in the ring. Of course, Triple H had to raise a Montreal screw JOB where Michaels was trying to shut him up. At first I thought I didn’t like this match concept, but my submissions were counted everywhere, which I was delighted and surprised. Certainly, Michaels and Triple H both used leglocks from the figures that day, but not particularly known. I think Dibiase had a million dollar dream submission, if you told me before this match ended I didn’t remember and didn’t know.

This match was exciting. Because it spilled out of the ring almost immediately, and most of it actually counted “anywhere” of submission. And honestly, WWE is bold to allow HBK to wander around the Montreal crowd, but we think he’s where he apologized and tipped the new leaves over. This match had a good sequence of “injury” and Triple H, Diviath and Rhodes battles until the battle of Triple H, Diviath and Rhodes was laid out, and the young man returned to Michaels in the ring. But not before they hit the “game” with a rather evil shot on the cooler right of the dome. The match ended in an interesting way. Legacy had HBK tapped a double submission around the ring post. Rhodes took him to the figure 4 foot, and Dibiase brought a dream of million dollars, sealed the contract and gave the younger team a “scratch.”

If you’ve seen Breaking Point in 2009, I certainly don’t remember it. Overall, it was a good show to have in the background during the day, and this match was a big highlight of the show, not two big main matches to end the night. I might have put this on the card a little more, but it was still really fun.

Written by Daisy Ruth

When you’re in Montreal, someone gets screwed. In 1997, WWE officials legally conspired to prevent Bret “The Hitman” Hart from joining WCW in the WWE Championship. In 2009, Teddy Long and Scott Armstrong conspired in the storyline to assure that Undertaker came out of WWE breakpoint without the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.

Of course, you can appreciate a good callback, especially for one of the most documented events in professional wrestling. Unfortunately, the only good thing about this callback was the additional heat given to the holding heel champion CM Punk.

In this case, Punk defended the World Heavyweight Championship against the Undertaker in the main event submission match. At one point, the Undertaker locked up a Punk in Hell’s Gate, causing him to tap out, temporarily crowning him as the new champion. But in the midst of celebrating, Teddy Long, general manager of “WWE Smackdown,” informed the Undertaker and the WWE Universe that it had previously been banned by his predecessor, Vickie Guerrero. On this awfully handy (and strange) base, Long ordered the title match to continue, and Punk later gained the upper hand at Anaconda’s vice-versa. As the Undertaker was trapped in the hold, referee Scott Armston immediately called for Bell, successfully defending the false submission from the Undertaker and the Punk title.

So, what was the reason for this screw job? In a subsequent episode of “Smackdown,” Armstrong claimed he received an order from a high-ranking WWE representative who followed it to continue his job as a judge. Blue Brand GM Teddy Long reflected that sentiment, adding that he couldn’t afford to disappoint his family or seek out another profession. Long hinted at then-President Vince McMahon as the source of the order. But according to McMahon, he has been saying for a long time simply to “fun” the crowd at breakpoints.

Well, think of me do not have I still scratched, entertaining my head at this rather lame reasoning.

Written by Ella Jay

These old wrestling cards, especially in relatively famous one-off shows like this, can be a bit slow, especially when Kane and Great Kari are playing a Singaporean cane match, especially when they’re just caring about their business. But sometimes, right after that, you come across something like Christian vs William Regal.

It would not be surprising to anyone that Christian and William Regal had a good wrestling match, but this is a classic example of hidden gems. After all, the outer covering is not the most beautiful. They compete for the ECW world title on the last day of WWECW’s existence, and the time is less than anyone else on shows other than Khali and Kane, and the revelation of ECW GM Tiffany (Future TNA Knockouts Champion Champion Champion and Vladims Jackien begins. Kosloff, banned from ringside. It’s tough. But when the bell rings… it’s a Christian and imposing guy. They pack so much action into a 10-minute ring time. Legal absolutely shines as a wrestler. The story of the match is simple – Christian wants a kill switch, Legal won’t give him that – But the Christian needed little to get the crowd behind him than the abuse he did almost every time. It also helps if you want to see the babyface of Christian work, this is the time to enter. He recently returned from TNA and had perhaps the most organic audience support he’s ever enjoyed in WWE. Looking back at 2025, it was incredibly refreshing to hear “Just Your Eyes” again, especially as someone who has outperformed the Christian heel character completely in modern AEW.

If you were looking at a list of more prominent WWE events of the era, you might see Christian struggling with pride at Summer Slam 2009, and think, “Oh, I should watch that match.” No, don’t do that. That match lasts only 8 seconds. This is a hidden gem at the breakpoint in Montreal.

For a while I was a protector who protected Miz as being very good at his job. The job is to be a WWE superstar in contrast to actors and professional wrestlers. That’s how it is, there are the best and the worst of the final two WWE champions. Because of all his mistakes (yes, he has many), Vince McMahon manages to meet Frankenstein’s Hollywood monster and wrestling.

You can become a truly talented professional wrestler, but you can’t meet Cut with WWE’s eyes. And you can become an immeasurable character worker just to bump into the boundaries of what you can really achieve in promotions and find yourself.

But at the end of the day, after all the entertainment, grandeur and admirable dedication, you’ll only win one so far when the starting bell rings. In that vein, Miz isn’t exactly offensive, but never thought they were really honest with themselves and no one claimed to play one of his matches or look forward to it. And that’s the Miz we see today, a performer with a much improved performance that is comfortable leaning towards what works for him.

Meanwhile, Ms, who was challenging for Kofi Kingston’s US champion, were those trying to fit a role he wasn’t ready for. This was another example of booking a pay-per-view title match that actually belonged to TV. They have been largely demonstrated by the fact that they have been shying about 100 TV matches ever since. And it doesn’t get into an incredibly racist ideology when you see a Ghanaian-born wrestler and say, “Yes, you’re going to be Jamaican.”

Written by Max Everett

He beat something like Sean Michaels. Slaughter, Rick Flair, Mick Foley and Randy Orton were deserved to be “legendary murderers” early in his WWE career. In particular, the 2009 version of “The Viper” looked even more dangerous and unforgiving. But there was no path to getting there.

Frankly, Cena made Orton squeal his butt on the line of the WWE Championship in the early part of the “I Quit” match. Orton’s beatdown so far has seen multiple purple scars formed on Sena’s abdomen after he defeated him with a kendo stick, while the “Senation Leader” was helplessly handcuffed to the ring post. Orton also plunges Cena into the steel stairs, attacks him over his head with the referee’s microphone, slams him back with a chair, and suffocates him with the same kendo stick. Still, like his “never give up” catchphrase, Cena showed resilience.

He also transformed Orton’s secret weapon, handcuffs, into his Kryptonite. With his free arm, Orton was able to instantly ground Cena with RKO. But what he didn’t explain was what came about as an attempt to drag himself in, and the in-moving Cena, close to the handcuff key on the other side of the ring, unleashed them. As Orton struggled to retrieve the key, Cena recovered and moved his momentum to the STF submission. And for the man who previously punted and Rkoed three members of the McMahon family earlier this year, it seemed like a good amount of (storyline) karma at the time.

Written by Ella Jay