Follow along with our live review of the WWE No Mercy pay-per-view.
On Sunday night, the WWE No Mercy pay-per-view will take place. This is SmackDown’s second Brand Extension show since the WWE Draft in July.
The main event of No Mercy will have some familiar faces from Backlash. It will see AJ Styles, who won the WWE World Championship, defend the title against former champion, Dean Ambrose, and John Cena. This feud began on the post-Backlash episode of SmackDown.
This feud has mostly seen tensions between Cena and Ambrose heat up. Despite being babyfaces, they’ve displayed a disdain for each other, that has captivated this program. Could they get in the way of each other with the world title on the line?
Becky Lynch will have her first SmackDown Women’s Championship defense at No Mercy. She’ll face No. 1 Contender Alexa Bliss, who won a Fatal Five-way match to earn this opportunity. The former manager of Blake and Murphy has since looked to get in the head of the champion. This includes a successful pinfall on the most recent episode of SmackDown.
Perhaps the match with the most at stake is The Miz vs. Dolph Ziggler for the Intercontinental Championship. However, if Ziggler loses, his career is over.
It’s a match that may be a roller coaster ride. If you’re a fan of The Showoff, you won’t want to see his career end. He hasn’t gone anywhere for the past few months, though. The case can even be made for this for the past two years. So, if Ziggler loses, would it be the worst thing?
The other title match will see Heath Slater and Rhyno defend the SmackDown Tag Team Championship against The Usos. Jimmy and Jey have taken on a new attitude in recent weeks, and are receiving their second title shot since this began. Can they win the titles this time, though?
With this in mind, here’s a look at the match card for No Mercy.
WWE World Championship Match
AJ Styles (c) vs. Dean Ambrose vs. John Cena
SmackDown Women’s Championship Match
Becky Lynch (c) vs. Alexa Bliss
Title vs. Career Match
The Miz (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler
SmackDown Tag Team Championship Match
Heath Slater and Rhyno (c) vs. The Usos
Bray Wyatt vs. Randy Orton
Carmella vs. Nikki Bella
Baron Corbin vs. Jack Swagger
Begin following along with our coverage of No Mercy beginning at 7:00 PM ET.
Curt Hawkins Debuts Again
Curt Hawkins made his return to a WWE ring, but didn’t wrestle. He instead said he’ll compete on Tuesday’s episode of SmackDown.
An interesting but weird waste of time. It looks like he’s going to be a heel, and we’ll see what he can do on Tuesday. His gimmick will need to get him over in some way.
American Alpha and The Hype Bros vs. The Vaudevillains and The Ascension
Result: American Alpha and The Hype Bros defeat The Vaudevillains and The Ascension via pinfall.
Rating: 2.0 out of 5 stars
With the No Mercy card in flux after Becky Lynch vs. Alexa Bliss got canceled, this match got created for the pre-show. It was your basic eight-man tag match, which saw everyone get their moment.
American Alpha getting the pin isn’t a surprise. They’ll receive a bit of momentum toward a future title shot. Could it be against The Usos?
WWE World Championship MatchAJ Styles (c) vs. Dean Ambrose vs. John Cena
Result: AJ Styles defeats Dean Ambrose and John Cena via pinfall to retain the WWE World Championship.
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
The main event of No Mercy suddenly moved to the opening match of the show. It could be due to the ongoing Presidential debate, so having this bout happen this early would compete with it.
Styles and Cena were the standouts from this match. They pulled out moves we’ve seen from them before, but they’re always a sight to see.
The talk of this match is the non-finish before the finish, though. This saw Cena and Ambrose submit Styles, but the referee didn’t count it as a win for either. A tie couldn’t be made because they’re in a Triple Threat match, so it continued. This took some life out of the crowd because of the confusing moment, but regained it when Styles won the match.
The Phenomenal One getting the win continues his title reign into WWE Survivor Series. He’ll likely be in one of the featured matches of the show. Who it’s against will be interesting, however. Ambrose and Cena both lost here, so does someone else rise on SmackDown? Could it be Randy Orton?
Ambrose and Cena’s direction will be something to watch too. Could they feud with each other for the November pay-per-view?
Carmella vs. Nikki Bella
Result: Nikki Bella defeats Carmella via pinfall.
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
This feud became the only guaranteed women’s match of the evening with Becky Lynch hurt. This allowed Carmella and Nikki Bella to get a slightly bigger spotlight on their feud, which began after SummerSlam.
The win for Bella pushes her near the forefront of the women’s division. She hadn’t won an important singles match since returning and got the big win at No Mercy.
Carmella shouldn’t be affected by this. She has seen her stock rise since turning heel, and feels like a while ago that the crowd went silent when she did her Enzo Amore and Big Cass shtick. It’s new life for The Princess of Staten Island, who should remain a player in the SmackDown women’s division.
The SmackDown women’s division is changing and should allow these two to get some extra time with Lynch out. Maybe we’ll get a rematch on Tuesday night.
SmackDown Tag Team Championship MatchHeath Slater and Rhyno (c) vs. The Usos
Result: Heath Slater and Rhyno defeat The Usos via pinfall.
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
The Usos got a second chance at going for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship. They had a shot to end Heath Slater and Rhyno’s surprising run, but failed, again.
Jimmy and Jey seemed to have the momentum heading into this match. They were using their new attitude to take out The Hype Bros and American Alpha in recent weeks. It didn’t seem like anyone would be able to stop them, but that didn’t prove to be the case at No Mercy. This could mean they’re dropping off the grid of the tag division or doing something else.
Slater and Rhyno will need to find new opponents. One option could be The Ascension, who haven’t been taking many pinfalls lately. Breezango could always return and get a title shot as well. It saves American Alpha for a future opportunity, which will likely see them win the belts. This is a good slow burn for the former NXT Tag Team Champions.
Baron Corbin vs. Jack Swagger
Result: Baron Corbin defeats Jack Swagger via pinfall.
Rating: 2.0 out of 5 stars
This match had little build behind it and didn’t do much during the show. It wasn’t a bad match, but was something difficult to care about.
That End of Days on Swagger wasn’t bad, however.
Title vs. Career MatchThe Miz (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler
Result: Dolph Ziggler defeats The Miz via pinfall to win the WWE Intercontinental Championship.
Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars
Dolph Ziggler seemed like the underdog for this match. We noted a sign of his career potentially ending being over earlier Sunday, but that seemed to be a way of throwing everyone off.
The emotions were all over the place in this match. The crowd got invested from the start as they supported Ziggler in his quest to save his career and win a title. He kicked out of two Skull-Crushing Finales to survive, with the second one seeming like the end of the match. The Showoff ended Miz’s title reign, though, which felt like it would be “never-ending”.
The most curious call of the evening was not saving this for the main event, though. With the “main event” having already happened, this had plenty of reason to headline No Mercy. Not only had a title been on the line, but the career of a long-time WWE star was in jeopardy. That could have closed the show, provided suspense, and made the crowd leave happy. While No. 2 got accomplished and the crowd did get a thrill, how should they stay invested for matches that don’t mean as much?
This shouldn’t take away from what we saw, though. The drama and wrestling mixed perfectly and provided a great showing.
Bray Wyatt vs. Randy Orton
Result: Bray Wyatt defeats Randy Orton via pinfall.
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Surprisingly, this went on as the main event of No Mercy. The “main event” went on first and Dolph Ziggler vs. The Miz, which had a career on the line, got the third-to-last spot.
Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt was fine. It didn’t have a main event feel to it, and neither did the match’s quality. Everyone already saw AJ Styles, Dean Ambrose, and John Cena tear the house down. Ziggler and Miz put everyone on a roller coaster ride. Both of those matches had incentive behind it, but Orton and Wyatt did not. So, why put them as the last match of the show?
The positive here is Bray Wyatt finally got his first singles PPV win of 2016. He hadn’t won since last summer, despite the help from a returning Luke Harper. Ironically, that match against Roman Reigns in 2015 saw this Wyatt Family member return too to help Wyatt win.
It looks like this stable is reforming, again. This is the latest incarnation of the group, that seemingly splits every other month. Will WWE give Wyatt and Harper a push on SmackDown Live? Are they going to continue feuding with Orton?
What did you think of WWE No Mercy? Let us know below.
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