WWE No Mercy 2017 Results: Highlights, Analysis, and Grades

Source: WWE.com

Follow along with our live No Mercy review.

No Mercy is the latest Raw-exclusive pay per view event. WWE is putting on a show with seven matches on the main card. Five of those seven matches will be championship contests.

No Mercy this year is highlighted by a pair of main events. Both are billed as “WrestleMania-caliber” matches. In the first, Brock Lesnar defends his Universal Championship. His opponent? Perhaps the most dominant superstar in WWE since Lesnar himself – Braun Strowman. Over the past several weeks, Strowman proved that his nickname “The Monster Among Men” wasn’t earned lightly. He’s put Lesnar through the ringer. But can he do it when the title is on the line?

In the second main event, John Cena will do battle with Roman Reigns in a battle of icons. Reigns claims that WWE is his yard now, and a part timer like John Cena should step aside. Cena, however, is of the opinion that Reigns is not as good as he thinks he is. Cena wants to teach the young up and comer a lesson. The two have waged a war of words for weeks, trying to get under each others skins. So who will leave No Mercy victorious?

The undercard of the show is nothing to sneeze at, either. A fatal five way match for the Raw Women’s Championship is on tap. Alexa Bliss has to contend with Nia Jax, Emma, Sasha Banks, and the recently returned Bayley to retain her title. Plus, The Miz will defend the Intercontinental Championship against Jason Jordan.

Related Story: Should Finn Balor Finally Form The Balor Club?

Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins are slated to defend the Raw Tag Team Titles against former champs Sheamus and Cesaro. Meanwhile, Neville will defend the Cruiserweight Championship against Enzo Amore in the last title match of the night. And in non-title action, Bray Wyatt takes on Finn Balor in a “man vs. man” match – no demons allowed.

Follow along with our live No Mercy review right here starting at 8pm EDT.

Source: wwe.com

WWE Intercontinental Championship Match

The Miz (c) (w/ Bo Dallas & Curtis Axel) vs. Jason Jordan

Result: The Miz defeated Jason Jordan via pinfall to retain the Intercontinental Championship

Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars

Good choice for an opening match. Jordan had phenomenal matches to kick off two recent episodes of Raw. And The Miz is always a great option to get the crowd going. The Los Angeles crowd seemed very happy to see The A-Lister kicking things off tonight, as well.

Side note: The announce team points out that The Miz dedicated this match to his unborn child. That can’t go badly, can it?

Jordan put his amateur background to good use early on in gaining the advantage at the onset. Then, he followed it up with a display of power, picking Miz up from the mat into a vertical suplex. The Miz withstood the early onslaught, though, sending Jordan to the outside where a well-timed distraction from The Miztourage turned the tide.

After a bit of back and forth action, The Miz seemed to be in control when he landed his patented stolen Yes Kicks. Well, until the final kick, when Jordan caught the leg and hit a T-Bone suplex. Jordan started to string together some offense, including his rolling Northern Lights suplexes.

Back on the outside, Dallas and Axel again tried to create a distraction. This time, though, Jordan was ready and had a counter – throw Dallas at everyone else with an overhead belly to belly suplex. In the ring, Jordan trapped Miz in a crossface, but the Intercontinental Champ managed to get to the ropes and break the hold.

Jordan looked to have a victory lined up after hitting another suplex on Miz. He landed his running shoulder block in the corner, and was ready for the Angle Slam Neckbreaker until Bo Dallas climbed to the top rope. After knocking Dallas down, Jordan went for a roll-up – but the referee was distracted by Dallas. Curtis Axel hit a cheap shot, which set up The Miz for a Skull Crushing Finale and a victory.

After the match, Renee Young interviewed Jordan in the ring. He said he still doesn’t respect The Miz, and he wants a rematch. Jordan also says that while the WWE Universe lovingly chants “You Suck” at Kurt Angle, Jordan thinks Miz really does suck. Well, then. It was a good match, especially to open the show, but that post match promo was strange and unnecessary.

Source: wwe.com

Bray Wyatt vs. Finn Balor

Result: Finn Balor defeated Bray Wyatt via pinfall

Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars

Balor came down to the ring wearing some new gear. I’m guessing Wyatt wasn’t a fan of the non black attire, since he jumped Balor from behind before the match even got started. Several officials came down to ringside to attend to Balor, who looked like he injured his ribs during the assault.

As Balor was being led to the back, Wyatt took a mic and said he was not a man, but a god. After gloating that he had decimated the crowd favorite, Wyatt continued by saying that Finn was a coward. This spurred Balor to ignore the officials and head into the ring, where the match finally began.

Balor took charge early, feeding off of an adrenaline rush. But before too long, Balor slowed way down and Wyatt took over. A superplex from Wyatt further damaged Balor’s ribs. Throughout his attack, Wyatt played up to the crowd, systematically wearing down Balor.

Balor started to come back by emulating one of his heroes in Fit Finlay – he trapped Wyatt between the ring and the apron. But with so much damage done to his ribs and other parts of his body, he was still moving pretty slow. As he climbed to the top rope for a Coup de Grace, Wyatt went into his crab walk, momentarily stunning Balor. Wyatt took advantage, hitting a urinage and a senton to the ribs for a near fall.

Neither superstar had any quit in him, so things got pretty violent. Wyatt eventually took to just throwing Balor around the ring. Finn withstood, hitting a pair of corner dropkicks and a Coup de Grace to seal the victory. It was another solid matchup at the start of the show, even if predictable after the pre match attack.

Source: wwe.com

Raw Tag Team Championship Match

Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins (c) vs. Sheamus & Cesaro

Result: Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins defeated Sheamus & Cesaro via pinfall to retain the Raw Tag Team Championships

Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars

Before the match, The Bar once again point out that they believe Rollins and Ambrose will implode sooner rather than later. And with the reigning champs still coming out to the ring separately, rather than in tandem like most real teams, well, who knows?

Once the match got going, Cesaro went for the Cesaro Swing on the floor. But instead, he just swung Ambrose into the steel ring steps. The only thing better than that move was Dean’s reaction. The referee even stopped the match briefly to check on Ambrose, really selling the damage the move could have done. Good things early on.

From there, the match was basically “The Bar beats down Ambrose so we can work towards a Rollins hot tag.” And the hot tag was a good hot tag. Ambrose slingshotted Cesaro into the ring post – and the Swiss Cyborg busted up his face pretty good in the process – to create the separation, and Rollins went to town.

Unfortunately for the champs, Ambrose was so badly beaten down from the early part of the match that it was easy for The Bar to keep him from being able to tag in. It was basically Rollins by himself for a while, until we got an Ambrose hot tag this time. Has WWE really come to this? Both guys on the babyface team have to play Morton?

The Bar showed their teamwork often. A double team Irish Cross Powerbomb (which reminded me of Ragnarok, a triple team move Cesaro used to do on the indies), White Noise on Ambrose followed by a trap powerbomb on Rollins onto Ambrose – it was nuts. But Ambrose somehow kicked out, and The Bar made the one mistake that cost them the match.

Somehow, this match was better than the two before it. Hey, this show is pretty good tonight, everyone!

Source: wwe.com

Raw Women’s Championship Fatal Five Way Match

Alexa Bliss (c) vs. Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax vs. Emma vs. Bayley

Result: Alexa Bliss pinned Bayley to retain the Raw Women’s Championship

Rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars

Right off the bat, Nia took out Bliss, then the remaining three competitors took out Nia. Sasha and Bayley worked together to get Emma out of the ring, but before those two could really get into it Nia came back to break it up.

And the quasi-hometown girl Nia showed off why she’s not like most girls. Her considerable power advantage helped take out Bayley, Emma, and Alexa with slam after slam after slam. The money moment came when she landed a double Samoan Drop to Alexa and Sasha – and she may have won the match had Bayley not broken up the pin.

Bayley got the upper hand on Nia with a guillotine choke – a callback to their time in NXT that Corey Graves made sure to mention. A quadruple team resulted in Nia being dumped over the ropes to the outside, opening things up for Emma and Bliss to clash for a while.

In a really crazy moment, there was a modified Tower of Doom spot. Instead of a powerbomb/superplex combo, this time Emma went for a sunset flip bomb on Nia to the outside. When she couldn’t get her over, Bayley assisted, but it still wasn’t enough. A double dropkick from Banks and Bliss, though, was enough to send Nia crashing – hard – to the arena floor.

With the biggest threat neutralized, Emma made a run for the title, but couldn’t get the pinfall. Alexa tried to take out Sasha, but a backstabber into the Banks Statement ended that threat. Bayley came back with a Bayley to Belly on Bliss, but the pin was broken up. Nia came back, but went hard into the ring post to the outside. Amidst the chaos, Alexa hit a DDT on Bayley for a victory to retain the championship.

After the Tag Team Title match tore the house down, it was going to take a lot to keep the momentum going. But I’d say the five superstars in this match did more than enough to keep everyone’s interest.

Source: WWE.com

John Cena vs. Roman Reigns

Result: Roman Reigns defeated John Cena via pinfall

Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars

First things first, one of the signs in the crowd shows just how much things have changed over the past decade. Here it is, in all its glory:

One of the things we’ve been talking about since he made his way to Raw is that John Cena has been acting all weird and goofy. Right off the bat, a dumb crowd chant of “You both suck” led Cena to wander away from the ring. Reigns went to get him, and Cena sold on a level not seen since Shawn Michaels, circa SummerSlam 2005. I don’t know what’s up with him lately, but at very least it’s interesting.

Reigns had the upper hand for much of the early parts of the match. But much of that part of the match was honestly kind of boring. I completely get that they were going for a big fight feel, but it didn’t come across like either guy really believed it. I mean, Reigns sitting on a chinlock? You don’t do that in a big fight. Everything you do in a big fight needs to cause major punishment to your opponent. Just wearing him down a little bit doesn’t really make sense to me.

Honestly, things didn’t really seem to pick up for me until the first AA/Roman kick out. There was no way this match was going to end that quickly and on the first finisher. So there wasn’t a whole lot of drama. But that’s where the big fight feel actually started to have some meaning.

The near falls picked up in intensity for both superstars. Notably, Reigns kicked out of the “super AA” from the middle rope. It was frustrating for the crowd, who was mostly pro-Cena for the majority of the match. Cena himself was clearly stunned, heading out to the floor to clear off both the Spanish and German announce tables.

More from Daily DDT

• It’s time for Adam Cole and MJF to drop the ROH tag team titles
• Tom Lawlor talks MLW return, AEW opportunity, CM Punk’s WWE return and more
• Eddie Kingston stands to gain the most from the AEW Continental Classic
• Trish Stratus on WWE NXT would help elevate that women’s division
• Randy Orton signs with SmackDown to go after The Bloodline

And somehow, WWE figured out how to have one guy spear another through a horizontal table. I get what they were going for, but Reigns basically DDTed himself. It was an all or nothing kind of spot, and I’m not sure how it landed. Also, it’s less tables for Braun and Brock to destroy later in the show.

Reigns went for a spear, but Cena caught him with an AA – then rolled through for yet another, but Roman still kicked out. Yes, after four AAs, Reigns was still alive, and Cena must have been thinking, “Huh, is this what it’s like to wrestle me?” And while Cena was shocked that someone was as resilient as him, Reigns connected with a Superman punch and a spear for the victory. After the match, Cena raised Roman’s arm in victory, with both superstars coming to respect the other. And Cena stuck around for a quasi-curtain call. Cue speculation on his “retirement.”

For a WrestleMania quality match, it was a bit uneven in my opinion. The second half was a clear improvement over the early part. But it took too long to really get to the “big fight feel” that was hyped for so many weeks.

Source: wwe.com

WWE Cruiserweight Championship Match

Neville (c) vs. Enzo Amore

Result: Enzo Amore defeated Neville via pinfall to win the Cruiserweight Championship

Rating: 2.75 out of 5 stars

Going to be 100% honest here: I have no idea what Enzo said tonight before the match. One look at his black and white striped outfit, and I had to suppress the urge to make a “go directly to jail” joke, or a Beetlejuice joke. Plus, I just figure that he said the same garbage he always does, and it didn’t mean anything in the long run.

Also: If Enzo had a new T-shirt debut literally this week, wouldn’t it make more sense to have him wear it for not just the match, but for his entrance too? I mean, It’s not a good shirt at all, but I’m sure the guy wants to make more than zero dimes on merch sales. LEt him promote.

On to the match, it was everything I wanted at the onset. Meaning, Neville controlled everything, and Enzo just got annihilated. It’s really the only way the match should have gone. Enzo is the newcomer to 205 Live, and he’s never been known for his technical ability in the ring. Why wouldn’t the self-proclaimed King of the Cruiserweights have an easy go of it?

Enzo managed to avoid a countout loss at one point, only to get more punishment upon his return to the ring. As the crowd chanted “This is boring,” Neville egged them on, and even slowed down the pace further (such a good heel). And he also refused to satisfy the crowd with a Red Arrow, instead going for a second rope Phoenix Splash – which missed.

Enzo followed up with a jumping DDT from the top rope, but Neville kicked out. Enzo went for a suicide dive, but Neville kicked him in the head and threw him into the timekeeper’s area. While there, he grabbed the Cruiserweight Championship belt and entered the ring threatening to use it. The referee took it, but while his back was turned Enzo kicked Neville below the belt for a cheap victory.

This was…not good. Don’t get me wrong, I like Enzo getting beat up. But the good guy cheating to win only works when the good guy’s name is “Eddie Guerrero.” Enzo is not likable, and having him as Cruiserweight Champ is a travesty.

Source: WWE.com

WWE Universal Championship Match

Brock Lesnar (c) (w/ Paul Heyman) vs. Braun Strowman

Result: Brock Lesnar defeated Braun Strowman via pinfall to retain the Universal Championship

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

While Cena vs. Reigns may have been somewhat disappointing, the main event was everything you would have expected from it. It was just all attack attack attack. And it was all Braun early on, too.

About five minutes into the match, Michael Cole pointed out that Lesnar’s entire offensive output consisted of one German suplex and one right hand. Unbelievable. After Braun continued the offensive outpouring a little longer, Lesnar managed more offense in the form of a Kimura Lock. Strowman continued to battle but eventually hit the mat and forced a rope break.

Somewhat surprisingly, there wasn’t a whole lot of down time in this epic hoss fight. Both superstars just kept going at each other. Lesnar eventually hit five consecutive German suplexes before Strowman escaped to deliver a running powerslam. Even after another powerslam – making three for the match – Strowman was unable to make an immediate cover, and Lesnar kicked out.

On his third attempt, Lesnar finally hit the F5 – and scored a pinfall. It was honestly a little abrupt, but after the war that this match had been it wasn’t too surprising. It’s a little disappointing that the trigger wasn’t pulled on Strowman as champ, but he’s young and there’s still time.

Next: 25 Greatest WWE Entrance Themes of All Time

What did you think of No Mercy this year? Sound off in the comments below!