WWE No Mercy (October 2016)

Original Airdate: October 9, 2016

From Sacramento, California; Your Hosts are Mauro Ranallo, David Otunga, and John Bradshaw Layfield

Opening Main Event: WWE World Title Triple Threat Match: AJ Styles v Dean Ambrose v John Cena: First fall wins it. With the real world championship match between Trump and Clinton scheduled for 9:00pm opposite this show, the main event got bumped down to the opening slot. Yeah, even after thirty years, I don't think they've quite grasped the concept of pay per view. You're not trying to hook channel surfers to pop a rating. You've already got our money. If I change the channel, you still get paid. If I watch the main event at a later time, you still get paid. Everybody tries for their finishers within the first thirty seconds, and all end up down for a triple-knockout spot during a criss cross. They spill to the outside for an Ambrose-controlled brawl, but Cena catches him as he tries a flying clothesline off the apron for a ram into the post. Styles nails John with a plancha before he can follow-up, but Cena recovers as Styles trades off with Ambrose on the way back in, and hits them both with a triple-German suplex. FU for Dean, but Styles saves and dumps Ambrose. Clash for Cena, but he counters with a slingshot, and a modified cutter gets two. FU, but AJ counters with the pele kick, and tries the Clash, but Dean comes in with a slingshot sunset flip for two. AJ responds by hitting both challengers with a DDT and an inverted DDT simultaneously for two, and he backdrops Ambrose over the top to get rid of him. Cena uses the time to recover and hit AJ with a sunsetbomb for two, but an FU off the top is countered with a spinout powerbomb for two. Sleeper gets reversed, and Cena tries the Five Knuckle Shuffle on Ambrose, but AJ cuts him off with a German suplex rolled into a wheelbarrow facebuster for two. Ambrose hits AJ with a double-chickenwing facebuster for two, but gets dumped again, and Cena recovers enough to setup the Shuffle on AJ - only for Ambrose to fly back in with a flying elbowsmash on John for two. Dirty Deeds for AJ, but the champ manages to block in the corner, and bring Dean off the top with a rana - only for Ambrose to hang on with a sunset flip for two! Victory cradle gets two, but a criss cross ends in a double-knockout, as Cena recovers and hits both gets with a double-Shuffle. FU on AJ, but he rolls to the floor to avoid the fall. That allows Dean to sneak over with the Deeds on Cena, but John counters to an FU for two. STF looks to put Ambrose away, but AJ breaks it up to save, and pounds Cena with a nasty snap suplex on the apron. Ouch! That leaves him dead on the outside, and Styles capitalizes with a springboard 450 splash on Ambrose for two! Wild sequence there, though is it any wonder guys are getting hurt on a regular basis? Phenomenal Forearm looks to finish Ambrose, but Dean counters to the Deeds - only to get countered to the Clash! Cover, but here's Cena to put AJ in the STF! He's ready to tap, but Ambrose physically stops his hand from doing so, then headbutts Cena to break the hold. John responds by trying a double-FU, but everyone ends up looking up at the lights. Dean gets the best of it, and tries a Dirty Deeds off the top on Styles, but Cena brings Ambrose down with a running sitout powerbomb for two. AJ dives at John with a flying bodypress, but Cena rolls through into the FU - Styles countering to the Calf Crusher! Ambrose saves with a flying elbowdrop, so AJ tries to put the Crusher on him, but Dean reverses the effort! Cena comes over and joins in by locking AJ in the STF at the same time as Dean wrenches the Crusher, and Styles taps at 19:27! Unfortunately, that means both Ambrose and Cena have a claim to victory, so they decide to restart the match. Dean tries the rebound clothesline on Cena, but runs right into a clothesline from John. FU, but Ambrose counters to the Deeds - only for Styles to pull the referee out at two! Dean responds by diving after him with a tope, but the reprieve allows Cena to recover, and he catches an incoming Ambrose with an FU off the top! Cover, but Styles rushes in with a chair, and blasts John for the pin at 21:40. This was really good in the sense that the complexity of the spots, timing, and pacing were all top notch, but it felt more like a video game simulation than a proper match. *** ¾

Nikki Bella v Carmella: The blue/pink/blue rope color scheme gives the ring an early-90s WCW vibe. Too bad Clash of Champions didn't fall during October, though I suppose that was a RAW show anyway, so it wouldn't have mattered. Nikki throws her around until she bails to the outside, but Bella is right on her with a baseball slide. She gets dropped onto the apron while following, however, and Carmella throws her into the LED apron out there. We're forty minutes into the show, those could be quite warm! Back in, Carmella gets two, and she grounds Nikki in a chinlock. Lots of hairpulling from Carmella as she works Nikki over, but she takes too long showboating, and gets speared. Bella starts mounting her comeback, and a sitout facebuster gets two, but Carmella catches her with a headscissors in the corner, followed by a superkick for two. Nikki hooks an inside cradle for two, so Carmella finds a single-arm DDT and a sunset flip - only to get blasted with a forearm. Carmella makes a last ditch effort with the Code of Silence, but Bella's in the rope, and the TKO finishes Carm at 8:07. Carmella tried hard, but she's just not ready to work at this level yet, and Nikki's not the right worker to guide her through the tough spots. ¾*

WWE Smackdown Tag Team Title Match: Heath Slater and Rhyno v The Usos: They may not do anything particularly evil, but it's not hard for me to boo the Usos when they wear white after Labor Day like that. A crime against fashion is a crime against us all. Rhyno bounces the challengers around to start, but Slater gets caught in the wrong corner, and the Usos cut the ring in half. Heath manages to fight his way out of a side suplex for the tag back to Rhyno, and he picks up right where he left off. Belly-to-belly suplex sets up a Goar, but a double-team cuts that off, and the Usos cut the ring in half on their new victim. He manages a spinebuster for the hot tag to Heath, and Roseanne Barr the door, we've got a kettle on! It's... I won't say 'hard'... but at least 'not easy' to buy Slater in the house of fire role. The pop-up powerslam off the top is pretty wicked, though. The Usos shrug him off, but Rhyno saves him from a half-crab, and the Goar retains at 10:20. Dull, but competent. * ¼

Baron Corbin v Jack Swagger: Having recently watched a lot of Corbin's NXT efforts, it's kind of perplexing how badly they dropped the ball with this guy on the main roster. Swagger fights through the opening blitz, and clotheslines him over the top, following out to toss Corbin into the rail, then ram his face repeatedly into the announce table. Baron returns fire with a lariat out there, and Jack hurts his hand on the post during the fight. Inside, Corbin works the hand, and a shoulderblock into the corner gets two. Baron needs to consider working with a shirt on, because his belly button is distracting. Charge in the corner misses, and Swagger comes back with a pair of corner clotheslines, and a side suplex. Swagger Bomb gets two, but the bad hand prevents him from applying the Patriot Lock, and Corbin hits a spinning side suplex for two. Swagger tries turning things around with a clothesline out of a criss cross for two, and he powers through the pain to apply the Patriot Lock - only for Corbin to escape via the ropes, and finish with the End of Days at 7:29. Corbin reminds me of 911 in ECW - the type of guy who got over with extraordinarily protective booking, but becomes immediately exposed outside of that nest. ¼*

WWE Intercontinental Title v Career Match: The Miz v Dolph Ziggler: With the main event opening, I'm surprised this isn't going on last, honestly. Cautious start, and Miz dodges a superkick, but gets schoolboyed for two. Lariat gets two, but Miz counters a dropkick with a slingshot over the top - only for Ziggler to land on his feet, and slide right back in with that dropkick! Cactus clothesline sends them both tumbling over the top, but Miz manages to crotch him on the middle rope on the way back in - only for Ziggler to power through with another dropkick for two. Cross corner whip gets reversed to finally take the pep out of Dolph's step for two, and Miz adds a straddling ropechoke. He grounds his challenger in a double-underhook, but Ziggler starts powering out, so Miz sends him spiraling with a clothesline to setup a shining wizard for two. Slingshot across the bottom rope sets up a bow-and-arrow, but Ziggler escapes. Superkick, but Miz counters with a two-alarm neckbreaker for two. Miz with a series of three corner dropkicks, but he stops to mock Daniel Bryan before trying a fourth, and Dolph blasts him with a dropkick of his own. Ziggler starts mounting his comeback, and a stinger splash sets up a neckbreaker, followed by an elbowdrop for two. Fameasser, but Miz counters with a slingshot powerbomb - only for Ziggler to counter with a sunset flip for two! Miz cuts off the comeback with a big boot, but the referee is wise to his leveraged pin attempt, and Dolph is able to dodge a charge. Rollup, but Miz reverses for two, and executes a DDT for two. Miz pounds the knee to setup a figure four, but Dolph blocks, so Miz punishes him with a corner dropkick to the knee. Back to the figure four, but Ziggler counters with an inside cradle for two, so Miz blasts him with a clothesline in the corner as he desperately tries to retain control. Sunsetbomb, so Ziggler tries another sunset flip, but this time Miz is able to successfully counter to the figure four! Dolph gets the ropes, so Miz enlists Maryse to distract the referee - allowing him to remove a top turnbuckle pad! Ziggler hits an inverted fameasser for two before he can use it, but the knee slows him down as he tries following up, and Miz is able to drop him into the exposed buckle on a sleeper attempt. Miz with a slingshot sitout powerbomb for two, but a series of kicks get fought off with the Zig Zag for two! Superkick, but Miz counters to the Skull Crushing Finale - only for Dolph to counter back to a victory cradle for two! Sleeper, but Miz gets the ropes, and Maryse thinks fast - blinding Ziggler with the perfume! That allows Miz to hit the Finale, but Dolph has a foot on the ropes at two! Miz responds by unloading on the knee, and he pulls Ziggler's boot off to beat him with - only to get superkicked! Sans boot, however. That draws out the Spirit Squad, in the return that literally no one was waiting for. This is reminding me of that WCW match where Sting had to fight off all the previous versions of the character. And that's not a good thing to be compared to. Anyway, the distraction allows Miz to hit the Finale, but Ziggler kicks out at a dramatic two! That brings the Squad back into play, but the referee ejects them (along with Maryse), and Miz is flipping out! That allows Dolph to recover, and Superkick Miz into oblivion at 19:43. A bit too much overbooking at the end, but a really good, old school style match here, which probably should have closed the show, since they're not going to hit that dramatic high again with any of the remaining matches. ****

Alexa Bliss v Naomi: This was originally scheduled as Bliss challenging Becky Lynch for her title, but Becky is injured. So we get Naomi instead. Lucky us. Bliss pounds her down to start, but gets cocky, and Naomi blasts her with a kick combo to setup a split legged moonsault for two. Alexa goes after the arm in dull fashion, but runs into a sitout facebuster, and Naomi follows with a dropkick. Naomi with the Rear View for two, but Bliss counters a tilt-a-whirl into a cross-armbreaker - only for Naomi to counter to a cradle at 5:27. Like in the earlier women's match, Alexa is another not quite ready for primetime player that gets lost out there without the proper guidance. And this was really bad, with clumsy transitions, and poor execution throughout. -*

Randy Orton v Bray Wyatt: Yep, this is your de facto main event. Orton goes for the RKO right away, but Wyatt bails to the floor, and stalls. Back in, Orton puts him down for a Garvin stomp, but Bray escapes a ten-punch. Sister Abigail, but Orton dumps him to the floor to block. He tries bringing him back in with the elevated DDT, but Wyatt snaps his throat across the top rope to block that, and they spill to the outside. Orton tries the RKO out there, but gets shoved into the announce table. This is really slow and dull thus far. Randy beats the count in, so Wyatt hits a senton splash for two, and pounds him in plodding fashion. Avalanche gets two, and he slows down the blistering pace with a chinlock. Oh thank God, I thought my fingers were going to start bleeding. Orton escapes, so Wyatt delivers a lazy DDT on the apron for two, and an equally lazy clothesline gets two. This match is dying, and putting it on last isn't helping things at all, since there's nothing to try to end on a high note with after this mess. Orton escapes another chinlock, so Bray bodyslams him, but takes too long trying a 2^nd rope senton splash, and misses. Hey, at least the camera angle was cool. That leads to an Orton controlled slugfest, and he starts throwing clotheslines. RKO, but Wyatt counters to the Sister, so Randy counters back with a powerslam for two. Too little too late with this crowd. Elevated DDT, but Wyatt blocks, and backelbows him down for two. Abigail, but Randy counters to the RKO, countered back to the Abigail, countered to a schoolboy for two. Bray with a uranage for two, and they spill back to the outside for Bray to satisfy Chekhov by bringing those steps into play. Senton splash onto them misses, however, and Orton side suplexes him against the rail. There's twenty five minutes left on the time bar, and I sincerely hope this isn't going to go that much longer. Orton with the elevated DDT on the way back in, but suddenly the lights die, and Luke Harper appears in the ring. He makes faces at Orton, and Randy is so flabbergasted that Wyatt is able to capitalize with Abigail at 15:40. Thank God. Terrible choice to close, and to make matters worse, both guys were very obviously phoning it in. Oh, and apparently those last twenty minutes are an episode of Talking Smack that got bunched in. ¾*

BUExperience: ‘No Mercy’ is a pretty accurate description. There are two matches that are absolutely worth seeing, but the rest is unmitigated garbage. Not to mention that deciding to slot the main event first but then also failing to close with the Intercontinental title match were two mistakes that damaged this show irreparably

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