WWE No Mercy 2016: How a Questionable Match Order Hurt the PPV

The way that WWE presented No Mercy hurt the entire pay-per-view, with an uninspiring main event the ultimate downfall on the night.

At No Mercy, WWE pulled something of a curveball. A few hours before the show started, and with the Presidential debate set to go head to head with the last couple of hours of the card, they put the scheduled main event on as the first match of the night.

Whilst that was somewhat of a fantastic idea, with many fans probably tuning out to see Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton verbally battle, it more or less ruined the night for the rest of the matches on the card. With the main event not in the final slot, any more, fans on social media procrastinated what should replace it in the top spot.

Many thought that the Intercontinental Championship match, pitting Champion The Miz against Dolph Ziggler for the title, should have been the last matchup on the night. With the added factor that Ziggler had put his career on the line, for one last shot at The Miz’s gold, would have set us up with either an incredibly sad moment or something joyous to end the night. Seeing either a devastated Ziggler, or and ecstatic new Champion would have made for a brilliant final piece for the closing moments.

But that didn’t happen.

Instead, we got the latest chapter in the Randy Orton/Bray Wyatt saga. The match saw the return of Wyatt Family member Luke Harper. That was about all that happened. It wasn’t a bad match, it just didn’t feel anything like special enough to actually fill the main event spot. Neither man is particularly a massive star right now, which is a massive shame. Wyatt has the potential to be right at the top of the card, but he should be in the World title picture, not just an aimless with Orton.

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Orton himself isn’t the main eventer that he was a few years back, his most recent foray in a big match was the TKO loss to Brock Lesnar. Not really the greatest calibre from either man to fill the main event spot, regardless of the situation WWE found themselves in.

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The rest of the card was ok, but nothing spectacular. Nothing stood out massively, other than the fact that Ziggler won the Intercontinental title, even more reason why it should have been the main event of the night.

If you think that WWE was backed into a corner somewhat (or they thought they were) then surely a match that included a man putting his whole career on the line meant more something that turned into a bland main event. As much as Mauro Ranallo made the win for Wyatt feel like a big deal, the fact that Orton has done little since his return from injury doesn’t make the win feel that important.

As a company, the WWE had the chance to make Ziggler and the Intercontinental title look like a million dollars. Many years ago the IC title was something important and a stepping stone to greatness. With this match not going on in the main event, WWE missed a massive opportunity to raise the whole story a notch higher.

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That whole opportunity is now gone, and fans may find the whole thing a bit off-putting. The main event that went on first will be talked about for a while, but the rest of the night will very quickly be forgotten. A night that could have seen a title made that a bit more important, and pushed it’s new holder a little further, was let down by some awful match positioning choices.