Review of WWE No Mercy

Unlike last month's abnormally named Smackdown PPV 'Backlash', at least, this PPV title makes a little more sense. After all, this card had wrestlers being quite brutal to each other. Plus, this was the 11th event in the 'No Mercy' chronology to be held in October and the first since 2008, and unlike 'Backlash', 'No Mercy' has always been a Smackdown PPV, so the title kinda works. However, the first wrestling show at the newly opened, Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, California was badly structure. After all, the event starts off, with a returning lower mid-wrestler, Curt Hawkins stating out that he is "stepping back into the ring" at No Mercy, when technically, he was on the pre-show. For me, personally, I was never a huge fan of his work. He was somewhat forgettable, back in the late Ruthless Aggression (2007 to 2009) and early PG era (2008 to 2012) days. So, I wasn't really into, his so-call return. Also, WWE needs to stop using pay-per-views to air segments that promote free TV as opposed to the other way around. The television shows should build up to the big money events, not vice versa. Also, on the pre-show, was a four man tag team match between The Hype Bros (Mojo Rawley and Zack Ryder) and American Alpha (Chad Gable and Jason Jordan) facing off against the Ascension (Konnor and Viktor) and The Vaudevillains (Simon Gotch and Aiden English) with little to no build. The match was alright, but nobody came out of it, looking anywhere near good. The actual pay-per-view opened up next, with the once main event, now looking like a normal curtain jerker match. This was really stupid to do. I know, a lot of people saying that WWE did it to prevent people from watching the 2016's U.S Presidential debate, instead, but it's not like, they are competing each other in ratings; seeing how 'No Mercy' airs on the WWE Network, where wrestling fans can watch it, anytime, they want. So, I really have no idea, why they thought of putting the Triple Threat World Heavyweight Match between champion AJ Styles & challengers, Dean Ambrose and John Cena here. Unless, they wanted to win the night social media threading polls, in no way, were they close. It's up for debate if WWE made the right decision, but for me, all three of these men, deserve to be, on the top of the card, seeing how many years, they fought to reach that status. Call me, old school, but I always felt like the World Championship Match should always be the last match on the card, as it's the one match that all the people want to see. To put it in the beginning of the show, where most people could be catch, off-guard is shameful to the title's value. Anyways, the match was fine, but highly predictable. It was a bit anti-climax with the chair shot. Following that was Nikki Bella Vs Carmella, a feud, I really don't care much about. Short and somewhat pleasant match, but nothing worth noticing, about. Champions, Heath Slater and Rhyno Vs the Usos (Jey and Jimmy) for the Smackdown Tag Team Championship was next. Match itself was entertaining, however, the knee injury selling from Slater was pretty weak. The ending is also jarring, as I still have no idea, where they're going with this Beauty and the Man-Beast story. It was somewhat disappointing like the next match. Baron Corbin Vs Jack Swagger is a match, barely anybody was looking forward to. Nothing worth noting, here. It was pretty much, my toilet break. Career vs. title match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship was next on the card. I was really surprise that this match was not the evening's main event!?! This was arguably the best match of the entire night and one of the better matches WWE has put on thus far this year. Every element fans could look for was present here: high stakes on the line and amazing action utilized to tell a great story. It was sad that this match was stuck in the middle of the card. Anyways, the match that follows it, was going to have a hard time topping it. While, it was sad that Becky Lynch couldn't wrestle in her previously scheduled and promoted SmackDown Women's Championship match with challenger, Alexa Bliss. I did think, her replacement, Naomi did well against Alexa Bliss. It's just sucks that Alexa's title shot was pushed all the way back, until November 8. Talk about WWE, not sticking with the 30 Days champion title defense cause. In the end, it still should be OK. I'm willing forward to it. One thing, I wasn't really looking forward to, was seeing Bray Wyatt Vs Randy Orton as the closing match. Don't get me wrong, both are amazing wrestlers, however, nothing about the match was particularly thrilling. It's also disappointing to see how much WWE recycle the old and tiresome Wyatt Family gimmick, yet again with Luke Harper returning to Bray Wyatt's side. Anybody who is looking for something new, like Harper turning on Bray or introducing a wrestler to play Bray Wyatt's Sister Abigail will be frustrated. This could have been a great opportunity for great shocking to end the night. Instead, WWE play it safe. Overall: 2016's PPV 'No Mercy' is nowhere near as good as previous 'No Mercies'. In the end, Smackdown second PPV in the second WWE's brand division era was just secondary short from being amazing good.