5 Takeaways From WWE No Mercy

– Welcome back to column time with Larry. Following the TNA Bound For Glory PPV, I did a takeaway column that some seemed to enjoy and figured that I would do the same for the WWE No Mercy PPV. I hope that you enjoy, and feel free to share your takeaways/future booking plans or whatever from the PPV.

5. Can We Stop With The Miz Hate NOW?: As I write this it is October 10th, the Miz has had a list of great TV matches with a wide variety of people. The Miz has been one of the best characters on WWE TV all year. The Miz’s feud with Dolph Ziggler has featured strong promo work and recently two great PPV and one very good TV match. The Miz is delivering on the mic and in the ring, so can we stop with the irrational hate for the guy now? It’s a shame really, the guy knocks it out of the park once again last night and there are some fans as well as some “experts” that still do nothing but hate on him and refuse to give him any credit. I hear that “Ziggler did all the work, took all the bumps, Miz was just along for the ride.” And that’s bullshit. I watch and review all the WWE shows, and all I have witnessed this year is a guy working hard with Zayn, Styles, Cesaro, Ziggler and others. I have watched a guy who knows he’s a great character elevate that work and also work harder than ever in the ring. He’s become a very well rounded performer, he’s stepped up his game and he has simply delivered. Hating on the Miz is old now and I know a lot of my readers know this, but there are others out there that have been fed a false narrative and blindly follow it. The Miz has been pretty damn great in 2016, dare I say awesome, and he should be appreciated.

4. It Was a Rough Night For The Women: At the WWE Backlash PPV, the Smackdown women stood tall delivering a good title match (in a difficult match) and crowned their first champion. Since then, the booking of the division had been on point and they were getting a chance to shine at No Mercy in two matches. While Becky Lynch missing the show due to a health issue was not a help to things, the ladies unfortunately had a rough night at No Mercy. With Lynch out, Alexa Bliss was slotted in against Naomi. Their match was clunky and just not good, a disappointment really because they should have been able to at least have a passable match. Instead, Bliss came out of the match damaged, partly due to bad booking (she should NOT have lost) and because of the overall poor match. Nikki vs. Carmella was a perfectly solid, but unspectacular match. It felt long, they had to work really hard to get to “solid,” and that is because Carmella came off as exposed here. She has been trying hard character wise, and in multi-person and tag matches she is protected well enough but she is not ready for longer singles matches, especially on PPV. Unfortunately it all goes back to Carmella being called up too early, we know that they needed bodies, but she has been floundering since day one. The crowds didn’t care about her, they turned her heel and it helped to play off of Nikki, but even after how many wins over Nikki on TV, she came out on the PPV to silence. No Mercy was just a rough night for the lades of Smackdown, hopefully they turn it around next time.

3. I Think They Are Building to American Alpha Winning The Tag Titles at WrestleMania: To me it feels like Smackdown has a lot of long term plans in place, and while I am not 100% sure of this and wouldn’t bet money on it, it feels as if American Alpha’s big win will be held off until WrestleMania. The first thing that makes me think this is the fact that the Usos did not win the tag titles at No Mercy. Had they won I could see the Alpha win coming sooner, but with the Usos win being delayed, I think things play out like this. With the cluster tag they did at No Mercy, I see the drama in the tag division escalating, leading to a Survivor Series tag match at the Survivor Series PPV. Coming out of that, we’ll head to the TLC PPV, with the Usos vs. Slater & Rhyno vs. Alpha vs. another team (lets say FaBreeze). The Usos win the titles at TLC when Fabreeze take out Alpha. That allows The Usos to give Rhyno and Slater their rematch, Alpha to feud with Fabreeze and then plenty of time to build to the match at Mania where Alpha finally overcome and win their first WWE Tag Team Titles. Hell for all I know the Usos may win the titles on this week’s Smackdown and ruin the whole plan, but that’s the vibe I get.

2. The Miz vs. Dolph Ziggler Should Have Main Evented The Show: As soon as they announced that Styles vs. Cena vs. Ambrose was going to kick off the show I though that The Miz vs. Dolph Ziggler should main event the PPV, but that Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt would main event the show. And that’s not because I have a crystal ball or anything like that, it’s because WWE still thinks of Randy Orton as a major player because people pop for his music and the RKO, despite the fact that he hasn’t done anything interesting seemingly in years. It’s because they think Bray Wyatt is a star despite the fact that they book him like complete dog shit. Bray Wyatt obviously has a ton of potential, but between the poor booking and the fact that as a singles performer he has been completely under whelming, he’s just a guy that cuts creepy promos. That match never did anything for me and as a main event had no buzz. Miz and Ziggler had been killing it in promos, they had been having great matches and unlike Orton and Wyatt with all of the bullshit hocus-pocus, the crowd cared about their feud. When weighing the choices, even if Miz and Ziggler have just a “good match,” the visual of Ziggler overcoming, winning the title, saving his career and celebrating to close the show comes off way better than Wyatt vs. Orton, even with the return of Luke Harper. The choice was clear which was better, but WWE didn’t trust Miz and Ziggler to deliver again, they made the wrong choice and the show ended on a complete down note. It’s like No Mercy prom night and WWE had two choices, and those choices were to go all the way and a nice crisp handshake, and WWE took the nice crisp handshake. WWE had a chance to do something different and to put some extra shine on the IC Title, they refused to do that and went with “what they think works.”

1. I Am Almost Positive That They Are Building to Styles vs. Cena at WrestleMania: As I mentioned above, it really feels as if Smackdown has long term plans in place, and I also believe that it goes for the WWE Title. Heading into the PPV I had the feeling that this was the case, but after Styles retaining at No Mercy, I am almost 100% positive that AJ Styles will be defending the WWE Title against John Cena at WrestleMania. They have really pushed the narrative that John Cena is focused on tying Ric Flair’s record for world title wins, and they have also made a huge deal about Styles beating Cena so many times and keeping the title. Cena will be taking time off to film his Fox TV show, and will likely miss the remainder of the year. This gives Styles the time to carry the Smackdown brand and to put together a strong world title run. To me it makes sense that when Cena returns that he will still be focused on winning that 16th title, and that he will be focused on Styles. He will want revenge he will want to get the win back to prove that he’s still “the face that runs the place” and that is a major angle, a WrestleMania angle. Whether you love him or hate him, John Cena is still a big part of WWE, and unless they are planning the long rumored Cena vs. Taker match for WrestleMania, I think that this is the plan.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia.”