WWE No Mercy 2016
Sacramento, California - October 2016
CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into tonight's show, AJ Styles holds the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, while The Miz is the reigning Intercontinental Champion. Becky Lynch holds the SmackDown Women's Championship, but was unable to defend the title due to injury. Finally, the odd couple pairing of Rhyno and Heath Slater are the SmackDown Tag Team Champions.
COMMENTARY: Mauro Ranallo, JBL, and David Otunga
Main event time! In one of the biggest shockers of the year, the WWE World Heavyweight Championship triple threat match kicked off tonight's show - AJ Styles defending the strap against former champion Dean Ambrose and SummerSlam opponent John Cena. Bizarrely, the wrestlers were introduced and welcomed to the match before a lengthy video promo aired, the kind of thing that seemed like a flub more than a "creative choice." After an awkward triple clothesline spot to start the match, we got a series of good moments, including Cena catching Ambrose and slamming him into the post on the outside and AJ following it with a forearm to the floor. Cena showed off his strength again minutes later with a double german suplex but also busted out his sunset flip driver thingy. Styles hit his Pele Kick and the Argentine Backbreaker Powerbomb he fancies, while Ambrose got in his trademark elbow from the top. The fun of a good triple threat match is seeing this sort of signature offense in new contexts and sequences and there were a handful of great moments and good sequences - Cena's 10 Knuckle Shuffle, AJ combo'ing a suplex on the apron and following it up with a 450 splash on Ambrose in the ring, the double submission false finish - but there were also more than a few hiccups (Cena not quite rolling through for the spot where he caught AJ off the ropes, Ambrose's rarely-good tope, the inanity of that double submission false finish). A letdown of a match only compared to the more jaw-dropping work that AJ has done this year with a finish that seemed tacked on for efficiency, not because it was the most creative conclusion that they could come up with. (3/5)
Nikki Bella took on Carmella next, continuing their rivalry. In 2014/15, I came to really appreciate Nikki Bella's efforts and felt like she turned a corner and became one of the better workers in the Women's Division, but based on this match, I'd say she still has some ring rust to shake off. Carmella is heading in the right direction with her own performance, but at times, her awkwardness in positioning herself for sequences is glaring. I anticipate the eventual Nikki Bella heel turn and feud with Becky Lynch, but there's no need to rush that storyline this fall or winter - better to keep the Blue Brand's two best female performers separated for the time being and plan for what could be a very good clash at WrestleMania. (1.5/5)
The SmackDown Tag Team Championships were on the line with Heath Slater and Rhyno defending against The Usos. I was not too impressed with their title match at last month's Backlash show and this one was even less interesting to me. The Usos' heel turn is a bit DOA and, considering the chemistry they had in their matches against The Rhodes Brothers, Harper and Rowan, and Cesaro and Kidd, it's a bit frustrating to see them struggling to keep the crowd engaged working on the other side of the good/evil line. (2/5)
The show continued to stick in mediocre territory with our next contest - Baron Corbin vs. Jack Swagger. Swagger has been around for 8 years, but I don't think he's ever been regarded as "important" for longer than 8 weeks at a time here or there. Sure, he's a former World Champion (as Mauro Ranallo pointed out on commentary), but he's also been a series regular on Superstars for years now, his last notable match being his bout against Rusev back in 2014 (is it really almost 2017?). Corbin has a bright future, but that's what people were saying about Swagger and I'm not sure Corbin is as fundamentally sound as Swagger was when he debuted. Giving credit where it's due, the combatants tried to add some actual psychology and storytelling to their match, but that didn't make it a classic or anything. Solid finish out of Corbin and I must admit to being curious as to how they will continue to build him when SmackDown is currently oversaturated with strong heels. (2/5)
Next up was the night's Intercontinental Championship Match - Dolph Ziggler challenging The Miz and putting his career on the line to do so. I've ranted and raved about The Miz for years now so its fun to see him finally getting the recognition he deserves in 2016. His work here was brilliant, skin-crawlingly annoying trolling, drawing heat from the crowd not just by viciously beating down on Ziggler (whose often overdramatic selling was slightly toned down on this night, which actually made it easier to feel sympathy for the guy) but by mocking Daniel Bryan. The crowd was a bit dead at the start of the match, but they pulled them in with near falls and basic, hard-hitting action (its worth noting just how much variety and quality "movez" Miz has made part of his repertoire at this point, including the slingshot powerbomb and the hangman's neckbreaker). The storytelling featured some clever callbacks to the events that led to this match, rewarding those that have been keeping up with the rivalry. While I didn't necessarily like the final result and wouldn't call this a "Must See" match when, the truth is, these two have had dozens of matches very similar to this (though, with much lower stakes), this was probably the match of the night and should've closed the show. (3.5/5)
With Becky Lynch out due to injury, Naomi challenged Alexa Bliss. The best thing about this one was Naomi's beautiful entrance as the rest of it was pretty ugly. Absolutely dead crowd too. One of the worst matches that's been featured on a Network special this year, but that could've been predicted when you consider this was a cold match featuring two talents that are not terribly over or smooth (though, I'm a fan of both and love Naomi's obvious drive to improve), inserted late into a card in front of an audience that had now been emotionally wrung out from the IC Title Match. (1/5)
Main event time again sorta - Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt. Like Naomi/Bliss, you can't knock the talent for not working hard and, given more opportunities, they showed enough natural chemistry for me to believe that we could see good matches out of these two some day...but this wasn't either guy's best night as the crowd definitely didn't bite on much they did aside from Wyatt's senton onto the steps and Orton's RKO teases. Overall, a so/so match featuring a few spikes of good action separated by stretches of meandering character work that lost my interest. The ending was designed to "shock" and, to some degree, it succeeded - but its hard to get excited for a "reunion" when the two characters involved have never been separated for very long anyway. (2/5)
With a score of 2.14-out-of-5, No Mercy is the lowest ranking show I've reviewed out of the WWE this year. Partially to blame was the match order, though its not like the WWE World Championship match actually delivered on its promise anyway. Giving Ziggler/Miz an additional 3-5 minutes and putting it at the end of the show might've helped make it truly "great," but positioned where it was and laid out in the minutes it got, I wouldn't rank it far above "good." Nothing else on the show was worth watching.
FINAL RATING - DUDleyville
Nikki Bella took on Carmella next, continuing their rivalry. In 2014/15, I came to really appreciate Nikki Bella's efforts and felt like she turned a corner and became one of the better workers in the Women's Division, but based on this match, I'd say she still has some ring rust to shake off. Carmella is heading in the right direction with her own performance, but at times, her awkwardness in positioning herself for sequences is glaring. I anticipate the eventual Nikki Bella heel turn and feud with Becky Lynch, but there's no need to rush that storyline this fall or winter - better to keep the Blue Brand's two best female performers separated for the time being and plan for what could be a very good clash at WrestleMania. (1.5/5)
The SmackDown Tag Team Championships were on the line with Heath Slater and Rhyno defending against The Usos. I was not too impressed with their title match at last month's Backlash show and this one was even less interesting to me. The Usos' heel turn is a bit DOA and, considering the chemistry they had in their matches against The Rhodes Brothers, Harper and Rowan, and Cesaro and Kidd, it's a bit frustrating to see them struggling to keep the crowd engaged working on the other side of the good/evil line. (2/5)
The show continued to stick in mediocre territory with our next contest - Baron Corbin vs. Jack Swagger. Swagger has been around for 8 years, but I don't think he's ever been regarded as "important" for longer than 8 weeks at a time here or there. Sure, he's a former World Champion (as Mauro Ranallo pointed out on commentary), but he's also been a series regular on Superstars for years now, his last notable match being his bout against Rusev back in 2014 (is it really almost 2017?). Corbin has a bright future, but that's what people were saying about Swagger and I'm not sure Corbin is as fundamentally sound as Swagger was when he debuted. Giving credit where it's due, the combatants tried to add some actual psychology and storytelling to their match, but that didn't make it a classic or anything. Solid finish out of Corbin and I must admit to being curious as to how they will continue to build him when SmackDown is currently oversaturated with strong heels. (2/5)
Next up was the night's Intercontinental Championship Match - Dolph Ziggler challenging The Miz and putting his career on the line to do so. I've ranted and raved about The Miz for years now so its fun to see him finally getting the recognition he deserves in 2016. His work here was brilliant, skin-crawlingly annoying trolling, drawing heat from the crowd not just by viciously beating down on Ziggler (whose often overdramatic selling was slightly toned down on this night, which actually made it easier to feel sympathy for the guy) but by mocking Daniel Bryan. The crowd was a bit dead at the start of the match, but they pulled them in with near falls and basic, hard-hitting action (its worth noting just how much variety and quality "movez" Miz has made part of his repertoire at this point, including the slingshot powerbomb and the hangman's neckbreaker). The storytelling featured some clever callbacks to the events that led to this match, rewarding those that have been keeping up with the rivalry. While I didn't necessarily like the final result and wouldn't call this a "Must See" match when, the truth is, these two have had dozens of matches very similar to this (though, with much lower stakes), this was probably the match of the night and should've closed the show. (3.5/5)
With Becky Lynch out due to injury, Naomi challenged Alexa Bliss. The best thing about this one was Naomi's beautiful entrance as the rest of it was pretty ugly. Absolutely dead crowd too. One of the worst matches that's been featured on a Network special this year, but that could've been predicted when you consider this was a cold match featuring two talents that are not terribly over or smooth (though, I'm a fan of both and love Naomi's obvious drive to improve), inserted late into a card in front of an audience that had now been emotionally wrung out from the IC Title Match. (1/5)
Main event time again sorta - Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt. Like Naomi/Bliss, you can't knock the talent for not working hard and, given more opportunities, they showed enough natural chemistry for me to believe that we could see good matches out of these two some day...but this wasn't either guy's best night as the crowd definitely didn't bite on much they did aside from Wyatt's senton onto the steps and Orton's RKO teases. Overall, a so/so match featuring a few spikes of good action separated by stretches of meandering character work that lost my interest. The ending was designed to "shock" and, to some degree, it succeeded - but its hard to get excited for a "reunion" when the two characters involved have never been separated for very long anyway. (2/5)
With a score of 2.14-out-of-5, No Mercy is the lowest ranking show I've reviewed out of the WWE this year. Partially to blame was the match order, though its not like the WWE World Championship match actually delivered on its promise anyway. Giving Ziggler/Miz an additional 3-5 minutes and putting it at the end of the show might've helped make it truly "great," but positioned where it was and laid out in the minutes it got, I wouldn't rank it far above "good." Nothing else on the show was worth watching.
FINAL RATING - DUDleyville
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