WWE No Mercy Review 09/24/2017

Hello Misfits! It’s the Wrestling Classic here with my No Mercy review. I was 3-3-1 with my predictions, which isn’t great but it’s not horrible. The draw on the predictions is because I never made a prediction for the Intercontinental Championship match. As per usual, I totally missed out on the kick-off show but I started the show as the Miz was making his way out. The show had two really big Wrestlemania quality matches that had a ton of hype around it with Cena/Reigns and Lesnar/Strowman. Lets see if they lived up to the hype and expectations.

Image via WWE.com

No Mercy 2017 comes to us from the Staples Centre in Los Angeles, CA.

– The Raw announce team of Corey Graves, Michael Cole and Booker T are calling the show.

Intercontinental Championship
The Miz (C) w/ The Miztourage def. Jason Jordan
in 10:15 via pinfall
This was actually a really solid opening match. The Miz delivers as he always does and is finally being appreciated for nowadays. Jason Jordan has been having good in ring performances show after show, but the son of Kurt storyline has really hurt him and has play barley any role in his career since the reveal. If anything it has made him a target for the fans to hate. I found it amusing that The Miz got a pop for cheating and that WWE thought Jordan would get a face reaction his post match promo. The entire match Jordan was getting boo’d and The Miz was over with this California crowd. When Miz got cut off from the YES kicks by Jordan, the fans boo’d in disgust. It was really weird because Miz is the best at getting actual heat from the crowd. However, Miz did capitalize on the crowd reaction in arrogant heelish fashion and won by getting the Miztourage involved. Jordan tried to cut a promo following the match calling Miz a loser but literally got eaten alive with boo’s from the crowd that it had him stumbling and rambling. The match was solid though and a great show opener.
Rating – ***

Finn Balor def. Bray Wyatt
in 11:35 by submission
I have absolutely no idea what is going on in this rivalry but I really enjoyed this match. I mean I am a fan of both guys and was looking forward to this rivalry before it began yet its been a total bust. I mean this was a “Man vs. Man” match to show that Finn as himself and not his alter-ego as the Demon could still overcome Bray. He did. Now what? I’d imagine this was the end of the feud but I don’t think it according to what happened on Raw tonight. Does it end with Finn still going over or does Bray become the first guy to defeat the Demon. This match was good and had me invested for the sake of just telling a good story in the ring but I dont really want to see it again. Finn sold the ribs and Bray had a good amount of offence, but in the end Finn overcame the eater of worlds. I loved that we could hear Bray reacting to his mouth getting busted open. Thus far, this just shows Bray can’t defeat Balor demon or man, so whats the point? Quality wrasslin’ match though.
Rating – **3/4

Tag Team Championship
Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose (C) def. Cesaro & Sheamus
in 15:55 via pinfall
Another great match up between four great competitors. Cesaro even lost his teeth or it was reported they were badly damaged taking a slingshot bump into the corner post. He wrestled the rest of the entire match in what had to be incredible pain. This was a really good match but I still enjoyed the Summerslam match a bit more. These two teams have great chemistry and you can tell they really trust each other. This match had great pacing, drama and left you on the edge of your seat. The spot where Sheamus hits white noise on Ambrose and Cesaro power bombs Rollins onto Ambrose for a great near fall, pretty much countering how Rollins and Ambrose won at Summerslam had hyped. I’d be more than happy if these two teams continued to feud as long as stipulations got involved. For example 2-out-of-3 falls, ironman or a submission match? There are rumours that they might put the Shield back together for TLC to take on the Miztourage but I’d rather see this tremendous rivalry continue. Eventually with Sheamus and Cesaro winning back the straps and tension sparking between Rollins and Ambrose.
Rating – ****

Raw Women’s Champioship
Alexa Bliss (C) def. Bayley, Sasha Banks, Emma & Nia Jax
in 09:40 via pinfall
I CALLED IT. I said Alexa Bliss would find a way to overcome the odds and retain the Women’s Championship. Thankfully I was right because this means the championship isn’t playing the hot potato role for the time being. As much as I would have enjoyed Sasha Banks winning the belt to get a proper lengthy reign or even Nia getting the initial run, the time will come. I feel like the match allowed everyone to shine and was really well paced. Sometimes when you have too many superstars in one match it can come off as a cluster fuck but this one didn’t feel that way. The crowd was really into it as well which really elevated the feel of the match as well. Everyone looked strong but it really made Alexa look like the star that she says she is by overcoming the majority of the Raw Women’s locker room. It was definitely a fun and solid outing from the Raw Women’s Division.
Rating – **3/4

Roman Reigns def. John Cena
in 22:05 by pinfall
This was the big match between the WWE’s franchise star against the chosen one for the future. This was a Wrestlemania worthy match but happening here at No Mercy because Cena’s life outside of wrestling is unpredictable and he feels like his time might be winding down as we found out on Raw Talk. There is a chance he could even miss the next years Wrestlemana and to me thats mind blowing. Anyway back to the match, I actually thought there was a slim chance Cena would go over here only to lead into a mega rematch at Wrestlemania. Having that thought in the back of mind really made me believe this match could go either way, where many went into it just believing Reigns was going over. I thought that this was a very good, but not great match. They had commentary heavily tell the story that Cena was the “old warhorse” possibly coming to his end and questioning himself against Reigns. They gave Cena enough to make it competitive, but Reigns largely dominated before picking up the big win. Reigns overcame all of Cena’s big offensive moves, including the big double AA and picked up the win after a deadly spear.
A lot of people will say this was WWE’s way of trying to get the fans behind Reigns by Cena passing the torch to him but in my perspective Cena was the only guy who was able to bring the best Roman Reigns out of Reigns. I mean most of those same fans who boo Cena also boo Reigns, so Reigns beating Cena doesn’t change anything. Although, I’ve said many times that 2017 has been one of the better years for the Reigns character, Cena made Reigns step up his game to actually cut better promos and made him even more legitimate by putting him over like he has for many over the past five years. The question now is can Roman carry that imaginary touch at the same pace Cena did without getting complacent or fall off? Cena spent moments in the ring after as the fans chanted “Thank You Cena” but Cena has said it many times in the past that he could never really leave because nobody could step up to take his place…now it almost seems like he’s trying to give it to someone and we have to all hope he can run with it.
Rating – ****

Cruiserweight Championship
Enzo Amore def. Neville (C)
in 10:40 by pinfall
I dont hate either guy. Everyone knows I believe Neville is the saviour of the Cruiserweight Division and I’m a loyal Enzo Amore fan. However, Enzo may really be the star who saves the cruiserweight division and 205Live. Once Cass got hurt and they had no angle for Enzo, he joined 205Live. Whether people want to admit it or not, Enzo got people to tune into 205Live due to his popularity and unmatched charisma. Now by no doubt did I see him being the one to defeat The King of the Cruiserweights. If anything, I figured he’d lose in this rivalry and move forward to help another 205 star by feuding with them. I knew there was a slim chance that Enzo could walk out victorious. They played up the idea that Enzo has been cheating to earn victories so it wouldn’t be surprising if he beat Neville and did so by cheating. Thats exactly what he did. He distracted both Neville and the referee by bringing the belt into the ring only to kick Neville in his crown jewels to become the new champion. I felt like the match was a little long just to get to that outcome and it wasn’t really special but it got across the story they wanted to tell and ENZO FUCKING AMORE is the cruiserweight champion. The talented jester beat the King. I hope Austin Aries wasn’t tuned in.
Rating – *1/2

WWE Universal Championship
Brock Lesnar (C) w/ Paul Heyman def. Braun Strowman
in 09:00 by pinfall
This was another match that I was really looking forward to but it ended up being really underwhelming. Lesnar sold for Braun and did his best to make Braun look like a monster. However, Braun still ate a series of suplexes and lost to one F-5. The story here was that Brock struggled to get that one F-5 and if he did, he could defeat the monster. He did it. The problem was that I think us fans expected for chaos and destruction and there was none of that. I also think that there wasn’t really a moment where was actually think Braun had it in the bag. I feel like we’ve been trained to think Braun is in control when he’s completely causing destruction or his opponent struggles to get offence on him. It was hard to believe either of those things because the lack of chaos and Braun eating those suplexes. The match fell flat at the end and felt crappy for Brauns’ first Universal Championship opportunity on PPV. The finish could have been something where both men looked strong and there was no clean finish which I think would have worked out so much better. Lord knows when we’ll see Lesnar again.
Rating – **1/2

Final Thoughts
This PPV had a lot of potential but after it was all over it just felt kind of flat. It will definitely be remembered for a lot of reasons like the Cena/Reigns match, the main event, Enzo winning the CW title and Cesaro losing his teeth but it was more moments rather than the actual content of the matches that surrounded them. If you didn’t watch it, I’d recommend watching it for the moments. If you already watched it, I feel like it’ll be a year or so until kind of feel like you could sit through it all over again. I expect to see this Reigns/Cena match on many DVDs for years to come.
Final Rating – 6.5/10

What were your final thoughts on No Mercy? What final grade would you give the event? Where would you rate it on a scale of ten? Do you agree with my review? Leave your comments, opinions and thoughts below in the comments section.