WWE No Mercy 2017

WWE No Mercy 2017

Los Angeles, CA - September 2017

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Brock Lesnar is the reigning WWE Universal Champion, The Miz is the Intercontinental Champion, Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose are the RAW Tag Team Champions, and the RAW Womens' Title is held by Alexa Bliss. Neville, meanwhile, holds 205 Live's Cruiserweight Championship.

COMMENTARY: Michael Cole, Corey Graves, and Booker T 

No Mercy 2017 kicked off with The Miz defending his Intercontinental Championship against Jason Jordan. Though I'm not sure it deserved the "This is Awesome" chant that came in during the last third or so, this was a good match and The Miz, as has been the case for much of his 2017, did a commendable job staying heel (and working that way) even as a sizable portion of the audience openly jeered Kurt Angle's kayfabe son. It looks to me like they're building up Jordan just to turn him - the formula that inadvertently created The Rock 20 years ago - and whether or not it works, one thing that won't be an issue is his technique. He has some beautiful suplexes in his repertoire, including a flawless rolling Northern Lights pair that's new to me (and Booker T too, as he noted on commentary). I'm not sure where the Miztourage is going, but I don't think it needs a destination to work as no one is really clamoring for Axel or Bo to get another look right now. At the very least, they've got front row seats for arguably the best pure heel in the company. The right man won this, but considering how good it was, I wouldn't be surprised to see them paired up for the next few months - a second round would absolutely work for me. (3/5)

Next up - Finn Balor vs. Bray Wyatt in a rematch from SummerSlam. The story coming into this match was that, in August, Balor defeated Wyatt as "The Demon" but Wyatt has goaded him into a rematch with the stipulation that he can't summon the Demon to fight. Ugh, okay. The premise made my skin itch, but the first minute of the actual match made it crawl. Is it a rule now that every WWE PPV has to have at least one match that is nearly or totally called off because of a pre-match attack? Is it me or did they use just ring the damn bell when it happened before? Balor ended up fighting on and we got our match, which wasn't too bad - but also really wasn't any better or different than I remember the SummerSlam match being. The crispness and execution of the in-ring work can only carry a very poorly booked feud so far and in this case, it wasn't far enough to make this worth recommending. Who has Wyatt pissed off backstage as of late to warrant such awful booking? And, in the case of Balor, he's not coming out of his any hotter than he was going in, so, despite two clean victories, he still seems like a guy dropping down the card and not on the rise. (2/5)

The RAW Tag Team Championships were on the line next with Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins defending the straps against Sheamus and Cesaro. Unlike their SummerSlam match, which was all about whether or not Rollins and Ambrose could gel as a team long enough to win the titles, this was about two proven pairs clashing for the gold. The first few minutes weren't too special and didn't have the madcap fun of the SummerSlam match, but once Cesaro got two teeth knocked out hardway, things got much, much more interesting. Its kind of a shame that WWE matches have become so "same-y" that it takes a pretty brutal unexpected accident to make a match seem really special, but that's where we're at in 2017 when nearly every guy on the roster shares at least 4-5 of the same signatures moves. Also like the SummerSlam match, it was obvious to me that its Sheamus and Cesaro who are doing the lion's share of the work in setting the pace, getting good heat, and keeping the fans invested because I can't recall a single cool spot or crowd-popping moment that Ambrose and Rollins delivered. I can see the argument that, as the babyfaces, their job is to sell and all that, but aside from their combo finish (which is admittedly cool), I don't know how invested I'll be in their future unless another quality team steps up that has the chemistry as good as Sheamus and Cesaro worked to have. I wouldn't call this a Match of the Year candidate or anything, but I thought it was definitely above average and memorable thanks to the ridiculous toughness of Cesaro. (3/5)

Alexa Bliss defended her RAW Women's Championship next against Bayley, Sasha Banks, Nia Jax, and Emma. My how Bayley and Banks have fallen these past two months, both women getting much smaller reactions than they used to. I feel for Bayley the most as I found her run as Womens' Champion to be pretty good and the fan backlash to be more based on RAW audiences wanting to be contrary for the sake of being contrary rather than Bayley not doing a good job in her role. Somewhat stilted start to the match as if everyone was buffering a bit, but things got better when the action whittled down to just 2-3 performers instead of the initial mix of all 5. The biggest spot of the match was an amazing (and amazingly dangerous) powerbomb spot that saw Nia Jax's neck and skull take a sickening drop onto the arena floor. Personally, I found it a bit sickening and would have had the same reaction if it was a male taking the needlessly risky bump (so, no, its not about me wanting just the women to work safer). Later, Jax would come back from the move - which, to me, had the counterproductive effect of making it seem like a less potentially career-ending spot. Having her get taken out of the match entirely with that move would've been not only believable, but also given her an easy out for why she didn't win the title - it took all 4 of the other competitors a combined effort to eliminate her. Who else could you say that about? Bayley ended up taking the pin, which I've seen some fans harp about a bit too much online. I agree that Bayley (and Banks as well) are shining less bright than they were a year ago, but its also worth noting that the entire division - on both RAW and SmackDown - have suffered a bit as of late due to questionable booking decisions all over (Charlotte's inexplicable face turn, the long unfunny joke that was Emmalina, the continued unnecessary trend of mini title reigns). (2.5/5)

One of the biggest matches of the year followed - John Cena vs. Roman Reigns. Say what you might about the super-meta build-up that saw Cena and Reigns talk about everything except who was the better wrestler, the battle of the brands had the crowd hot and the internet abuzz. Cena was the more interesting persona to watch here as he put on one of his most crowd-baiting performances in years, practically begging them to chant "Cena Sucks" at times (even after his initial pop absolutely dwarfed Reigns'). His facial expressions were extra corny, his "If you don't like me, I'll just walk away" hamming at the start of the match unsufferable - this was Cena at his most annoyingly Cena while Reigns played the brooding, laser-focused young lion. This clash of attitudes would ultimately lead to the finish as Cena became cuter and cuter with his combos of non-finishers (the Attitude Adjustment ceased being a credible end to a match years ago) while Reigns withstood the punishment and found an opening to hit his Superman Punch-Spear pairing (which I loathe, but will admit have been protected comparatively). Between the beginning and end there was some nice action, but I found that aside from Cena hitting his Super AA from the top rope, I wasn't biting on any of the nearfalls (and the fans in attendance didn't seem to be either). While certainly an above-average match, this wasn't the classic that many hoped it would be. In fact, if one were to overlook the inherent "big match feel" of this one, I'm not sure its pieces and parts were any better than what we saw in the opening match. The bonus half-point I'm rewarding to it, though, is for the post-match scene. After trying to put his mark of approval on Reigns as "The Guy" (which was kind of a silly notion considering that Cena's overness with the same demo booing Reigns has only recently come to existence), Cena then did a silent farewell, basking in a considerably light "Thank You Cena" chant and doing some of his signature hand signals one last time. The fact that the camera crew couldn't seem to find a single teary-eyed face has me thinking that the audience didn't read this as a true farewell - which makes sense because why would anyone have assumed this would be his retirement match when that aspect of the rivalry had only been hinted at? I think he'll be back for Mania (if not for the Rumble), though its hard to think of what he'd actually be doing at either event aside from trying to top Ric Flair's World Championship record. Speaking of that, did anyone notice how many times Cole called Cena "the greatest ever"? Felt like he went out of his way to get that endorsement out there and the post-match explained why. (3.5/5)

The next match was designed as a space filler but ended being one of the more interesting contests of the night - Enzo vs. Neville for Neville's WWE Cruiserweight Championship. As expected, Neville dominated for the most part and the crowd responded with a noticeable "Boring" chant around what should've been the final few minutes but ended up just being the 3-4ths mark. I want to like Neville as much as some of his fans and his work in this match was definitely very good for what the intention was - but that still wasn't enough to carry this beyond being a "good TV match" (and I might argue that having a title change like this would've made for better TV than just being relegated to the bathroom break spot). Enzo is not a great worker, but I probably cared about this match more than any other Cruiserweight Championship match since Neville feuded with Gallagher, which just goes to show how cold the 205 Live brand is when Enzo probably isn't even in the top 10 of the best in-ring talents on that roster. I should note, though, I loved Enzo's psychology in stealing the title to break the ref's count on the outside of the ring (and wish the commentators had noted how clever that was when Neville seemed perfectly happy taking the countout victory). Upset victory that I thought was well-executed and puts some needed drama into the Cruiserweight scene (even if it had to come at the expense of someone who has done a very respectable job with the hand he's been dealt in Neville). (2/5)

Main event time - Brock Lesnar defending the WWE Universal Championship against Braun Strowman. I expected more thrills and spills in this one, to the point that I have the sneaking suspicion that someone laying out the match was told to explicitly keep the action in the ring, not throw in any major spots (like, say, one featuring a table as a nod to their SummerSlam showdown?), and keep things straight-forward just to test Strowman's ability to stay over and be a "good soldier." While I could understand that logic - that giving Strowman too much, too early could turn him into the next Lesnar (and all that might negatively come with that) - there's something to be said for striking when the iron is hot and the iron may never be hotter for Strowman than right now. That being said, this was not a Strowman burial. He got plenty of offense in; Well more than Samoa Joe got a few months back. But going down so decisively after a single F5 certainly didn't help Strowman's credibility and it will take some work to rebuild him to make him a reasonable challenge for Lesnar in the future (which doesn't seem like its in the cards, but again, why not?). Lesnar, meanwhile, looked old here, maybe the least impressive he has since coming back in 2012. At under 10 minutes, this was a let-down compared to nearly every possible scenario I had heard outlined in the weeks building up to it. (2/5)


No Mercy 2017 started out well enough with a "good enough" opener in Miz/Jordan that progressed Jordan's character (and Miz's impressive IC Title reign). Wyatt/Balor wasn't great, but like Enzo/Neville, it wasn't offensively bad and both matches had their moments. Things went off the rails during Cena/Reigns, an "epic" that didn't feel like an "epic" during its actual runtime but made up for it slightly in the post-match (which played out like a mirror image of the Undertaker's send-off at WrestleMania). To be a legacy-capper, this match needed to be more than just "pretty good," but I wouldn't rank it in the Top 10 of either's guy's career (and Reigns really hasn't been around that long). The main event was another disappointment as Lesnar's obvious decline could not be halted by Strowman, who had quietly become one of RAW's most consistently entertaining in-ring performers in 2017. With an unexpectedly low Kwang Score of 2.57-out-of-5, No Mercy 2017 fell far short of its expected, on-paper greatness. 

FINAL RATING - High Risk Maneuver