WWE No Mercy (September 2017)

Original Airdate: September 24, 2017

From Los Angeles, California; Your Hosts are Michael Cole, Booker T, and Corey Graves

Opening WWE Intercontinental Title Match: Miz v Jason Jordan: Jordan controls with a headlock in the early going, so Miz tries to bail, but Jason keeps him inside with a nice hanging vertical suplex for two. That was a nice spot. Northern lights suplex gets two, so Miz bails again, but Jordan is hot on his tail for some abuse on the outside. He runs into the Miztourage, though, and that allows the champ to blast him with a baseball slide. Miz sends him into the barricade and into the apron before taking things back into the ring, where Miz works a cravat. DDT gets him two, as the announcers do an absolutely wonderful job of getting the story over, assuming the end goal is for both guys to have zero heat. Because they're the absolute best at that. Masters. They spill to the outside again, where Jordan manages to return the favor with the barricade, and a flying clothesline gets two on the way back in. Miz fights him off with yeskicks, but the big finale is countered with an exploder suplex. Jordan with a saito suplex for two, but Miz counters a second one with the Skull Crushing Finale - only to have Jason counter back with a victory cradle for two. Jordan keeps it going with a two-alarm rolling northern lights suplex for two (cool!), so the Miztourage pull their man out, but Jordan baseball slides into them all. He uses Bo Dallas as a projectile by suplexing him into the other two, then takes Miz back inside to finish off. He slaps on a crippler crossface to do it, but Miz makes the ropes. Don't even get me started on how inappropriate it is for the supposed son of Kurt Angle to use that hold. Like, of all people, you know? Jordan tries a charge, but Miz sidesteps, and the challenger hits the corner. That allows Miz a charge of his own, but Jordan counters with a release overhead suplex, and a spear. Schoolboy, but the referee is distracted by Dallas, and Curtis Axel whacks Jason to set up the Finale at 10:14. Both guys have got the goods in the ring, but this didn't really go beyond second gear here. Totally watchable in every way, though. ** ½

Bray Wyatt v Finn Balor: There's way too much filler on these shows. I mean, the first match was barely ten minutes long, but the bell for this one doesn't sound until thirty minutes into the show. And speaking of that bell, Bray jumps him before it, and dumps Finn right to the outside for a trip into the barricade, followed by a uranage onto an announce table. That does an inordinate amount of damage to Balor, and he ends up being helped to the back by a group of officials. Off of a single uranage on a table that didn't even break? In 2017? Seriously? I mean, that wouldn't have even been a big spot twenty years ago, let alone today, where guys take suplexes off ladders as transitions. Wyatt taunts him, so Balor pushes past the officials to come back, and he dumps Bray to the outside for a baseball slide, followed by a running dropkick into the barricade. Finn looks like he borrowed Rick Martel's old gear for tonight. Back in, Balor heads up, but Wyatt vertical superplexes him down for two, then takes him out onto the apron for a DDT. I like how apron spots have went from something unique and exciting to commonplace, all in the span of about a year. Back in, Bray works a cravat, but Finn uses a jawbreaker to escape, and he fires off a running dropkick. Charge in the corner is countered with a superkick, however, and Wyatt dumps him to the outside, but Balor manages to wedge him between the apron and the ring skirt when Bray tries to follow. Balor kicks him in the brain, then rams his face into a table a few times before taking it back inside for the Coup de Grace. Wyatt blocks by doing his crabwalk thing, and Balor is frozen. Hey, happens to the best of us. I can't tell you how many times I've been primed to do something important, ultimately to be deterred by yoga. He wakes up and hits a sling blade, but runs into a uranage, and Wyatt follows up with a senton splash for two. Sister Abigail, but Balor counters with a double-stomp for two, then hits a seated corner dropkick. He goes up to finish, so Wyatt tries to superplex him down again, but Finn is able to block. Coup de Grace to the back of the head gets two, but Bray blocks the 1916, and lands a clothesline for two. Wyatt with a pair of suplex-slams, but he takes too long setting up a move off the middle rope, and Balor knocks him down. Corner dropkick leads to a running dropkick, and Finn goes up for the Coup at 11:33. A few goofy choices, but good stuff in general, about on par with their SummerSlam match. ** ¾

WWE RAW Tag Team Title Match: Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose v Cesaro and Sheamus: Dean starts with Sheamus, and the challengers try a distraction early, but Ambrose is on to them, and Sheamus gets dumped. Dean follows, but runs into a cheap shot from Cesaro on the outside, and he gets rammed into the barricade. Cesaro with a giant swing into the steps out there, then back in, where Sheamus hits a kneedrop. They go to work on Ambrose, targeting the shoulder as they cut the ring in half. Cesaro goes for the Neutralizer, but Dean counters with a catapult into the corner, and Cesaro overshoots - legit bashing his face into the post, and smashing his teeth into his gums! That, not surprisingly, causes him to start gushing blood from his mouth, as Seth gets the tag, and comes in hot. Rollins with a 2^nd rope flying somersault neckbreaker and a sling blade to set up a superkick on Cesaro for two, so Sheamus takes a cheap shot, then tags in to put the boots to Seth. Sheamus with a three-alarm no-release uranage backbreaker for two, and the challengers go to work cutting the ring in half on their new victim. Rollins fights Cesaro off long enough for the tag, and now it's Dean's turn to come in hot, and Roseanne Barr the door! Cesaro tries to finish Ambrose with a sharpshooter, but Dean nears the ropes, so Cesaro shifts to a crippler crossface instead. Dean gets the ropes anyway, so the challengers try a tandem crucifix powerbomb, but they only get two. White Noise hits, but Rollins comes in to stop Cesaro from punctuating it, so Cesaro responds by powerbombing Seth off the top rope ONTO Ambrose for two! Wild! Crowd totally bought that as the finish, and it would have been a good one. Brogue Kick, but Dean collapses before Sheamus can land it - only to be playing possum, and hooking Sheamus in a small package for two! Sheamus gets pissed, and tries another Brogue Kick, but this time accidentally hits Cesaro, and Dean capitalizes with the Dirty Deeds to retain at 15:57. I connected with the SummerSlam match a little more, but this was good. ***

WWE RAW Women's Title Fatal Five-Way Match: Alexa Bliss v Bayley v Sasha Banks v Nia Jax v Emma: First fall wins it here. Nia dumps Alexa right away, but the other three girls rush at her with a triplicate dropkick to send Jax to the outside as well. Sasha and Bayley then gang up on Emma from there, until they're able to clear her out. They settle into a feeling out process themselves, but Jax pulls Banks to the outside, and tosses her into the barricade out there. She heads in to blitz Bayley, but Emma saves before she can get too far. Jax responds by spinebustering Emma, but Bliss breaks up a pin attempt. She tries a tornado DDT, but Nia counters with a front-powerslam, and she tosses the champion around. Jax with an avalanche, so Sasha tries to come at her from the top to stop a Samoan drop, but Nia responds by piling Banks onto her shoulders for it as well - hitting both women with the drop at the same time! In comes Bayley with a guillotine choke, so the other girls all bum rush to help her toss Jax over the top. Inside, Emma hits Sasha with a butterfly suplex, but Bliss knocks her away so she can cover herself! That earns her a running dropkick from Emma, but Jax is recovering, so everyone gangs up to powerbomb her off of the apron before she can get back inside! Cool! Alexa with a somersault cradle on Emma for two, and but Bayley breaks up the splash/moonsault combo with an exploder suplex into the turnbuckles. Sasha's back with a wheelbarrow bulldog and a shining wizard, but Alexa breaks the count at two, so Banks smacks her around, and hits a lungblower into the Bank Statement! Bayley saves, and covers Bliss for two, then drops her with the Bayley-to-Belly, but Sasha saves at two! Meanwhile, no one is covering Jax, and she comes back in with a vengeance. Wait, wrong pay per view. She comes back in showing no mercy. There we go. Finish comes out of nowhere from there, as Alexa just kind of hits Bayley with a DDT to retain at 9:47. Finish was kind of out of nowhere (and not in the good way, like an RKO), but this was a fun train wreck. ***

John Cena v Roman Reigns: Feeling out process to start, but Cena gets annoyed at the crowds taunts, and decides to walk. You'd think he'd be used to it by now. Reigns drags him back, and uses Cena's own modified side suplex on him, then stomps a mud hole in the corner. To the outside, John manages to reverse a whip into the steps, but Roman reverses Cena's own attempt at a whip into them. I get what they're going for here, but this has been really slow and plodding thus far. Reigns with the Drive-By for two, and he hammers Cena with right hands, but John starts slugging back, so Roman kicks him down for two. Chinlock time, but Cena escapes. He starts mounting his usual comeback, but Reigns sidesteps a jumping shoulderblock. He tries a clothesline, but now it's Cena's turn to sidestep, and he finishes his earlier sequence to set up the Five Knuckle Shuffle, but Reigns counters with a Samoan drop for two. He unloads in the corner, but Cena slams him down to set up the Shuffle. AA, but Reigns counters with a big boot - only to have the Superman Punch countered with the STF. Reigns powers out into a sitout powerbomb for two, but a bodypress is impressively countered into the AA for two. That took some serious upper body strength on John-boy's part. John goes up for the flying rocker dropper, but Reigns catches him in a powerbomb for two. Well, kinda. Superman gets two, but the spear misses, and Roman runs himself into the post in the process. John muscles him to the top rope for an AA from up there, but that only gets two, so he takes him to the outside for an AA through a table, but Reigns counters by spearing him through one instead! Back in, that gets Reigns two, so he tries the spear again, but this time Cena counters with the AA! He rolls right into a second one, but that still only gets two. Again, great conditioning on the part of John Cena there. Cena doesn't know what to make of that, and Reigns is able to capitalize on his shock/fatigue with the Superman into the spear at 22:08. Good stuff once it finally got going, but I'd say this one under delivered based on the expectations going in. In many ways this reminded me of the Michaels/Perfect match from SummerSlam '93, where they were trying really, really hard to have a classic match, to the point where you could see the strings. ** ¾

WWE Cruiserweight Title Match: Neville v Enzo Amore: They ought to single-name him, 'cause there ain't much amore for Enzo at the moment. Enzo appears to be wearing a diaper tonight. Neville dominates him with a wristlock to start, so Enzo tries some escape techniques, but ends up getting dumped to the outside. He manages to snap Neville's throat across the top rope on the way back in, but a tornado DDT gets blocked, and Neville stomps him down in the corner before shoving him to the outside again. Amore takes a bump into the barricade out there this time, and the champ leaves him to take the countout, but Enzo beats it in. Neville goes at him with a chinlock, and a superkick connects for two. The crowd is lost here. Neville with a series of kicks to set up the Red Arrow, but he changes his mind, and tries the Phoenix splash instead - which misses. Okay. Enzo capitalizes by coming off the top with a flying DDT for two, so Neville wisely bails. Amore tries a tope, but Neville blocks with a kick, and he tosses his challenger over the barricade. Amore responds by snagging the title belt out there, and he holds it up to taunt Neville with. That suckers Neville into a chase, and Enzo kicks him in the balls to score the upset title win at 10:38. Pretty lackluster stuff, that didn't connect with the crowd. Definitely the low point of the night. ¾*

Main Event: WWE Universal Title Match: Brock Lesnar v Braun Strowman: Brock tries to spear him down at the bell, but Braun just sort of absorbs it, and tosses the champion to the mat. Brock backs off and waits for Strowman to come at him, ducking a clothesline into a German suplex, but Braun pops right up, and hits a chokeslam! Running powerslam gets two, and an avalanche leaves Lesnar crawling around on the canvas. Strowman unloads in the corner, so Brock tries another German suplex, but Braun elbows him to block. Brock tries for the F5, but Strowman blocks that as well, and knocks the champion to the outside with ease. He follows to ram Lesnar into the post, then back in for a spear in the corner, but a second one misses. That allows Brock to try for the kimura, but Strowman maintains a vertical base. Brock hangs on, and manages to get him down in the hold, but Braun has the ropes to force a break. He slams Lesnar with a spinebuster for two, but Brock manages to land old faithful - the release German suplex! Lesnar drops him with several more, but it takes a lot out of the beast as well, and he can't manage the F5. Braun hits a pair of running powerslams for two, but Brock musters the strength for the F5 as Strowman looks for a follow-up, and that's enough to retain at 8:56. Kind of a letdown as a match, and definitely a major letdown as a booking decision. I can't fathom why they didn't put Strowman over here. * ¾  

BUExperience: There was a lot of anticipation going into this one, and while maybe the two big matches under delivered, overall everything was good. This needed a standout great match to really push it over the top, but worth checking out anyway.

**