No Mercy has, for the longest time, been a nothing PPV. One that is purely there to fill a gap. Then, this year, WWE got a bit excited, and we suddenly had a card headed up by two potential WrestleMania main events. It was a strange move, and the fact that the show wasn’t sold out a few days beforehand spoke volumes as to how successful it was (WWE reported it as a sellout on the day, but who knows if that was true). No Mercy felt like it had been given the chance to shine, and it was floundering. All of that would, however, be forgiven if it delivered in the ring. Let’s dish out those stars.
Elias defeated Apollo Crews
A perfectly serviceable match. There’s no denying that The Drifter is a heat magnet, and he has a look that will get Vince McMahon’s balls tingling. His only problem is in the ring. Apollo Crews is the exact opposite. He’s an incredible wrestler, but he lacks the personality for a main roster spot and Titus isn’t helping. This wasn’t offensive, but it wasn’t good either.
Verdict: Two Stars
The Miz defeated Jason Jordan to retain the Intercontinental Title
It was weird to hear The Miz getting cheered as he’s usually so reliably hated. If you’re Jason Jordan, it was probably quite worrying. He looked good here as he dished out a lot of beautiful suplexes, but his act isn’t working. I don’t even know if it is his fault, people just don’t care about him and Angle.
Character work aside, this was a fun match. Miz is never going to put on five-star classics, but he’s become a solid hand, and Jordan’s athleticism made up for any short-comings. The right man won too, as Jordan isn’t ready for a big moment, particularly if he is going to cut promos as cringeworthy as his post-match one.
Verdict: Two And A Half Stars
Finn Balor defeated Bray Wyatt
A man-to-man match? As opposed to all the dinosaur to man matches? WWE is doing a cracking job of convincing people that Finn Balor isn’t that special. It hurts me everytime I see it. Can we also bin the whole, ‘he isn’t going to wrestle, oh wait, yes he is’ gimmick? No one buys it. This was a Bray Wyatt special, which means it was boring. Some stuff happened but none of it was particularly interesting. The right man got the win at least.
This was a Bray Wyatt special, which means it was boring. Some stuff happened, but none of it was particularly interesting. At least the right man got the win.
Verdict: One And A Half Stars
The SHIELD (Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins) defeated The Bar (Cesaro and Sheamus) to retain the Raw Tag Team Titles
Damn, Cesaro overcommitted to that turnbuckle spot. All the credit in the world to him for finishing this match. In fact, not just finishing it. Putting on one hell of a performance.
In a year when WWE has struggled for great matches, their tag-team divisions have saved the day. We currently have The Usos and The New Day stealing shows on SmackDown while The Bar have been fantastic ever since they got on the same page. The addition of The SHIELD to the picture has only worked to make things better. Rollins and Ambrose were floundering in singles action, but they feel important in the tag division.
This was a great match. It was fast paced and hard hitting and both teams earned their money. The White Noise/Powerbomb spot was great and even Rollins’ Rainmaker rip off looked quite cool as a set-up for Dirty Deeds. Brilliant stuff.
Verdict: Four Stars
Alexa Bliss defeated Bayley, Sasha Banks, Nia Jax and Emma to retain the Raw Woman’s Championship
Did this need to be a five-way? Of course not, but I’ve already written about my issues with how WWE is booking their women. The whole match was a clusterfuck, but you can’t blame the wrestlers for that. It’s hard to have a five-way that isn’t. You just need to do enough to make sure the clusterfuck is exciting.
This had its moments. The powerbomb to Nia looked great and was a nice way to take her out of the match for a bit after she dominated the early proceedings. Unfortunately, we seemed to go from that into the spot-fest finish as they were suddenly trading finishers in the ring before the ridiculous decision was made for Bayley to eat the pin. Why? She only returned on Monday for crying out loud, and Emma was in this match!
A five-way that goes for under ten minutes is never going to steal the show, and that was the case here. Nia was undoubtedly the star. She looked strong on offence and took some big bumps, but it wasn’t enough. This division needs change, let’s hope the addition of Asuka is what kickstarts it.
Verdict: Two And A Half Stars
Roman Reigns defeated John Cena
A classic John Cena spotfest. Always entertaining, but kind of like bubblegum. The more you chew the less taste it has. Don’t get me wrong, this was a lot of fun, but from the Super AA onwards it was just two men trading finishers. Roman Reigns took four AAs and kept kicking out. It was just a teeny bit ridiculous. People accuse New Japan of this, but you wouldn’t see anyone kick out of two Rainmakers in a row.
It didn’t help that the early portion of the match when Reigns was in control, was slow and boring. Roman is a good wrestler when he’s in there with someone who is better than him, but with someone who wrestles in the same style, he seems to get lost. He falls back on the same few moves and is incapable of kicking things up a gear. If this is Cena’s last match (and it kind of felt like that was what they were hinting at the end) then it was a lacklustre one.
Verdict: Three Stars
Enzo Amore defeated Neville to win the Cruiserweight Title
I can’t put into words how much I hated this. They have spent weeks building Enzo up as a moron. As a scrub who talks a lot, but can’t wrestle. All for what? So that he could beat one of the few legitimate champions they actually have? This doesn’t just make Neville look like an idiot, it leaves the whole of 205 Live looking awful. Atrocious booking.
Verdict: Take Away All Of WWE’s Stars
Brock Lesnar defeated Braun Strowman to retain the Universal Title
Why was this match so slow? Both of these men are at their best when they’re working with their explosive power, but this was plodding until Brock started hitting the Germans. I get that these high impact moves take it out of them, but quite frankly I was bored.
Then, the ending just happened. Braun Strowman went from unbeatable monster to dead one within the course of one F5. Strowman has been one of the only reasons to watch WWE recently, but when they got to the big moment they decided to shrug him off and put their foot down on the road to Reigns vs. Lesnar. Disappointing.
Verdict: Two Stars
Overall Show
Meh. No Mercy wasn’t necessarily a bad show, it just wasn’t a good one. The tag match aside, which was fantastic, most of this was just there. On a show with two WrestleMania worthy matches, that should be worrying for WWE. They are in a bad place at the moment, and this wasn’t the show to drag them out of it.
Ramblings About Wrestling 
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