User Reviews

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.

No Mercy 2016 Thoughts

No Mercy 2016 was the 12th No Mercy PPV event produced by the WWE. It took place on October 9, 2016, at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, California with an Attendance of 14,324.

The show was a Smackdown Exclusive PPV on the WWE Network with 7 matches being featured on the card. One huge major change for this show was the advertised main event involving then-WWE World Champion, AJ Styles defending the belt against John Cena and Dean Ambrose in the opening bout. It was changed right on this exact date due to the second U. S. A presidential debate airing at 9:00 PM this night. On top of that they had an MLB playoff game and a Sunday Night Football game to go head-to-head with. Instead Randy Orton battled Bray Wyatt in the main event and the opening the first time the WWE Championship match ever opened a PPV show. Another hyped match was The Miz defending the Intercontinental Championship belt against Dolph Ziggler which was no doubt one of the best feuds in the WWE at the time (maybe among the main roster). It was a Title vs. Career match which ig Ziggler loss, he would have to leave the WWE.

The Good - Intercontinental Championship match was outstanding and the crowd loved every second of it. It told a huge story of Ziggler being this guy who just can't succeed and just constintly fails every time. The Miz was also on a role post the second brand split and this was the peak of the Miz's career as he IMO would be one of the best Intercontinental Champions of all time after this reign. The opening was great and had a clever ending that is rarely seen in Triple Threat matches of someone remembering the obvious No DQ to use a weapons to an advantage of a pinfall of submission. A big problem was still it being the opening match which I will get to.

The Meh - I understand WWE wanting to not counter the presidential debate but I still believe the wrestling fans both in attendance and at home who still chose this show come first. Pretty much it ain't the easy way but it's the right way. The opening while great was definitely going to give every match post-it its run. Even on top of that, I thought that was the importance of the Intercontinental Championship? I don't see why that couldn't main event the show. It would have been another boost of importance and how prestigious the championship is following the WWE World Championship. The Tag Team Championship match was good but felt like a typical TV tag match and the main event was somewhat meh. The ending was kind of flat despite the return of Luke Harper helping Bray Wyatt secure the win (R. I. P to the both of them).

The Bad - Worst match of the night was Naomi vs. Alexa Bliss. It originally going to be Becky Lynch defending her Smackdown Women's Championship against Bliss but an injury changed things. It short with the crowd barely reacting to the quick roll up ending. Nikki Bella vs. Carmella was also pretty Lackluster. Nikki Bella (who I don't think is as bad as people say her and her sister are) was just not to be so hype for in a match and Carmella at the time was questionable if she was ready for a main roster run when she was pulled from NXT during the draft. Baron Corbin vs. Jack Swagger was boring with it just being a typical match to put Corbin over in a small feud. Crowd was dead for majority of the match as well.

Overall - It was kind of a forgettable show with the match order really doing a number on it overall. I feel if the IC title match would have ended as the main event, it would have given this show a boost for at least ending on a high note. Unfortunately we ended with an average and forgettable match that was definitely affected on the quality for how great 2 matches were before it.

Score - 6 out of 10: Decent

0 = Terrible : 1 = Bad/Lackluster : 2 = Decent : 3 = Good : 4 = Awesome : 5 = One of the Best of all Time :

1. John Cena vs. Dean Ambrose vs. AJ Styles: WWE World Championship - 4/5

2. Nikki Bella vs. Carmella - 1.5/5

3. Heath Slater & Rhyno vs. The Usos: WWE Smackdown Tag Team Championship - 2.5/5

4. Baron Corbin vs. Jack Swagger - 1.5/5

5. Dolph Ziggler vs. The Miz: WWE Intercontinental Championship & Ziggler's Career - 4.5/5

6. Naomi vs. Alexa Bliss - 0/5

7. Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt - 2/5

Best Match - Dolph Ziggler vs. The Miz

Worst Match - Naomi vs. Alexa Bliss

Most Memorable Moment - Ziggler's Victory. Too bad he pretty much went nowhere after this feud ended months later.

Top 5 Performers

1. Dolph Ziggler - Top 3 match of his career

2. The Miz - Outstanding Performance

3. AJ Styles - Great Performance

4. John Cena - Great Performance

5. Dean Ambrose - Great Performance.

This Pay Per View wasn't as good as Backlash, but it had some nice memorial moments. Every match I say was a bit below average to pretty dang amazing. Aj Styles VS Dean Ambrose VS John Cena was a fun way to start the show and showed the good sides of all three competitors. AJ Styles was a good choice, I believe he should stay champion for a good while, he deserves it for all the hard work he gave to the Professional Wrestling business. Randy Orton VS Bray Whyatt was a entertaining main event and I love Luke Harper coming back at the end and making his official return. Maybe we will see some nice Randy Orton Vs Luke Harper matches. It was overall great seeing this match after disappointingly never seeing them in a match back in BackLash. Dolph Ziggiler VS The Miz was definitely the match of the night! Both of them did awesome in the match and it was very stressful with the close moments were not only would Dolph loose the match but be force to retire, but in pure joy that he won the Intercontinental championship and gets to stay in a emotional heart felt victory.