WWE No Mercy Review - September 24, 2017

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Elias def. Apollo Crews (Kickoff Match)

Elias has gradually been building momentum on Raw since debuting earlier this year, but he has yet to settle into a real feud. That said, I think he and Crews could benefit from working with each other since it would give them direction and we could get good matches out of it such as the one we saw here. It wasn't anything overly exciting and no different than any other Kickoff match you've probably seen, but it served its purpose in giving Elias a nice win.

Intercontinental Champion The Miz def. Jason Jordan

There is no doubt that Jordan can hang with the best of them in the ring, and there's also no doubt that he isn't over with the audience as a babyface. Crowds didn't care about him before, whereas now he's being booed. Then again, Miz calls Los Angeles his home away from home, so I can't say I was shocked, but he's basically the second coming of Rocky Maivia at this point. I realize The Miztourage cost him the championship here and the feud might not be over, but Jordan's awful post-match promo should be an indication that it's time to turn him heel.

Finn Balor def. Bray Wyatt

It's been well-documented how I have hardly been invested in this program since it started, but at least they (hopefully) finished up their feud with their best bout to date. Granted, that isn't saying much considering their first two matches were mediocre, but I liked that they told a story this time with Wyatt attacking Balor beforehand and the nearfalls were well done. This match proved that Wyat can go when motivated, so he shouldn't be written off just yet. Meanwhile, with this win, Balor should move on to bigger and better things.

Raw Tag Team Champions Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose def. Sheamus and Cesaro

This wasn't much more than an average tag team outing before Cesaro's mouth got busted and he lost a tooth (or two), which was a gruesome sight. From there, it was an incredibly entertaining, hard-hitting affair as they picked up the pace in the second half. It was the attention to detail that made this match such a treat, and obviously their terrific chemistry helped as well. I thought there might have been a chance Sheamus and Cesaro regained the gold to keep the program alive, but The Bar teasing tension with Sheamus accidentally running into Cesaro could lead to a split in the near future.

Raw Women's Champion Alexa bliss def. Bayley, Sasha Banks, Nia Jax and Emma in a Fatal 5-Way Match

I wasn't sure how well this match would work out on paper with so many women involved, but it turned into a blast of a bout. There never seemed to be a dull moment as all five ladies played their parts to perfection, especially Jax. She shines in these types of matches because she can be limited and be showcased as a monster. Everyone else hit their signature spots and forced fans to stay engaged in the action. Bliss retaining the title was absolutely the right call with Asuka set to debut at TLC next month.

Roman Reigns def. John Cena

With both men being babyfaces, I felt like I was watching Cena's SummerSlam match with Batista from 2008 during this and I don't mean that as a bad thing. I loved that match, and this was equally epic. You had to know going in that it wasn't going to be a mat classic, but the big spots they delivered were enough to captivate this crowd and keep them on their feet throughout. The goal of this match was apparently to make Reigns look as invincible as possible, because I don't think anyone has ever kicked out of four Attitude Adjustments (including one off the top rope). Then, all it took was one spear to put Cena away. Regardless of what you thought of that finish, Cena should be commended for doing the honors when it mattered most and I assume he'll be taking time off again for the foreseeable future.

Enzo Amore def. Neville to Win the WWE Cruiserweight Championship

I guess what they were going for was the crowd rallying behind Enzo as Neville brutally beat him down, but it didn't exactly pan out that way. Instead, this match painfully dragged on and on with the crowd chanting "This is boring" at one point, and I don't disagree with them one bit. The one nearfall with Enzo hitting the DDT off the top rope was fine, but that was about it because the finish with Enzo low-blowing Neville sucked. Only Eddie Guerrero could get away with something like that, and I expect Enzo to be booed going forward. If the Cruiserweight division wasn't already dead, it is now.

Universal Champion Brock Lesnar def. Braun Strowman

Given how brilliant the build-up was, I had high hopes for this mega match, and ultimately, it fell flat. It wasn't entirely terrible, but it lacked drama and Strowman connecting with his finisher on Lesnar three times didn't feel significant. Fans were waiting for them to kick it up a notch... and then Lesnar laid out Strowman with an F5 and it was over. That felt anticlimactic to say the least, and now we'll be left without a world champion for then next four months. Ugh.

Overall Show

This was truly a tale of two shows as everything up to the Cruiserweight Championship match was excellent and I appreciated the consistency the show had, but then No Mercy fell off a cliff with Enzo vs. Neville and then the main event. So, what do you rate an event with an awesome undercard but two disappointing final matches? Cena vs. Reigns delivered in a major way, so you can't consider the show a failure with that in mind. I suppose you can decide yourself, but I thought the good outweighed the bad. Check out the first two and a half hours and skip the rest.