WWE No Mercy 2017 Review

WWE No Mercy 2017 Review

This year’s No Mercy event had such a stacked card that many were calling it WrestleMania calibre. The two main events were certainly WrestleMania worthy. But did they live up to the hefty billing?

Many fans bought the Raw exclusive event to watch Brock Lesnar defend his WWE Universal Championship against Braun Strowman, and John Cena’s first time ever clash with Roman Reigns. Did either deliver? In my opinion, one did, the other flopped terribly.

Cena and Reigns had the fans in the palm of their hands throughout, and even though the selling and structure was off in places, they both did very well indeed. The main event however lacked drama, excitement, action and crowd participation. Lesnar’s title defenses have become increasingly disappointing. Strowman has had a few great bouts with Big Show this year, yet Lesnar seemed like he couldn’t be bothered to turn in even a respectable level of commitment.

The match of the night was unquestionably the Tag Team title bout between the former Shield Brothers and The Bar. It was electric, stirring stuff. It thrilled from start to finish. The women’s five way was fun but could’ve done with a few more minutes added to it. Alexa Bliss gets better every time we see her.

Here’s our take on each of the matches:

The Miz def. Jason Jordan to retain the Intercontinental Championship

Jason Jordan is very capable in the ring, but he comes across so annoying that it’s impossible to like him. The show opener was lively but lacked any real emotion. The crowd were all over Jordan from the start, choosing to side with the conceited champion instead. Jordan has to turn heel soon, and then WWE may have a star on their hands. Until then he’s going to continue treading water and failing to resonate with the fans. Miz, meanwhile, keeps going from strength to strength, and a programme with Finn Balor would be very interesting indeed.

Finn Balor def. Bray Wyatt.

This was a strange one. Why have Bray Wyatt completely annihilate Finn Balor prior to the bout only to have him lose the subsequent match? It just didn’t make sense. The contest itself was average, as is every Wyatt match. He is truly incapable of having a good bout between the ropes. Balor was his usual electric self but didn’t have much to work with here. He deserves better from the creative team. He’s a main event player. Wyatt looks as lost as ever. Where he goes from here is anyone’s guess. Hopefully both move on from this rivalry, as it will only hurt Balor’s aura in the long run.

Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins def. Cesaro & Sheamus to retain the Raw Tag Team

Cesaro’s toughness has never been in question, but he went up and beyond what was expected of him last night. To lose that many teeth in a nasty collision with the ring post and carry on as normal is nothing short of tremendous bravery. He deserves so much credit for continuing. How he didn’t even lose consciousness defies medical science. The Swiss Superman indeed. Onto the match, and it was tremendous. Even better than their SummerSlam barnstormer. This was tag team wrestling at its best. Both shows are doing this well to be fair to SmackDown. However, these two tandems might be the best around. It looks like The Shield might be returning soon for TLC which should be fun, but don’t expect it to last.

Alexa Bliss def. Bayley, Emma, Nia Jax & Sasha Banks in a Fatal Five Way Match to retain the Raw Women’s Championship.

This was way too short. However, with the time allotted to them the women did very well. It was action packed throughout. Nia Jax impressed with her size and power, while the other four women used a lot of creative and inventive offense to keep the match flowing. It was a shame that Banks wasn’t showcased more. They’re seriously dropping the ball with her. Emma looked in her element on PPV, and her “reward” will probably see her being fed to the debuting Asuka at TLC. As for Alexa Bliss, she continues to shine and be the top female performer in WWE.

Roman Reigns def. John Cena.

Lots of fans didn’t enjoy this one, but it absolutely delivered in this writer’s opinion. You know what you are going to get out of a Roman Reigns and John Cena match. This was never going to be a Kurt Angle and Shawn Michaels classic.

This was filled with high impact moves and lots of realistic near falls, the trait of Cena in recent years. The selling from Cena was shoddy to say the least, but he’s never been any different. Reigns is on a different level to Cena in that respect. At first it looked as if WWE were going to replicate Cena’s humbling defeat to Brock Lesnar from SummerSlam 2014, but it soon became more even. Was iteither man’s best match? Absolutely not, but they gelled well together and the bout came off great. It was surprising to see Roman kick out of four AAs, and defeat Cena with a single Spear. It seems as if WWE are doing their best to keep that move strong for a certain Beast to kick out of.

Cena’s farewell after the bout seemed forced. We all know he isn’t retiring so it was just pointless. It reminded me of Hulk Hogan stealing the limelight off The Ultimate Warrior. Cena is exceptional at this dark art.

Enzo Amore def. Neville to win the Cruiserweight Championship

This was certainly the bathroom break filler on the card. Neville has been awesome as champion, so it seems odd to give Enzo Amore the gold. Amore has very little talent in the ring, his only strength is his promo skills. The match was absolutely awful, as was expected. It was completely boring and devoid of any real athletic moves. Amore taking a page out of the legendary Eddie Guerrero’s playbook to win the contest was fun. But it just means Neville will get his rematch and we will have to see this drivel once again. The Cruiserweight division did not need this. It was on life as it was. Vince McMahon may have just pulled the plug on it.

Brock Lesnar def. Braun Strowman to retain the WWE Universal Championship.

For a brief moment it looked as if Braun Strowman was going to replicate Goldberg’s super quick victory over Brock Lesnar when he hit him with his running Powerslam a minute into the contest, but The Beast kicked out. Strowman completely dominated Lesnar for 90% of the contest. Lesnar seems to be barely surviving each title defense these days as opposed to walking through his opposition. How will this booking make Roman Reigns look strong when he inevitably defeats Brock? This match certainly did not live up to the hype.

It was slow and plodding, just like Brock’s match with Samoa Joe from July. Lesnar’s act is growing stale now, and it’s time for a change. We know how great he is, why does he only stick to doing suplexes? Because he’s lazy. Having Strowman lose cleanly was a big mistake. He’s lost a lot of momentum with that defeat, and he’s the most over superstar on the roster currently. It’s unclear when we will see Lesnar and the title again, probably Survivor Series or Royal Rumble. WWE should have pulled the trigger on Strowman here. The time was right.

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