wrestling / Video Reviews
Kevin’s Random Reviews: WWE No Mercy 2008
Image Credit: WWE
Loading...WWE No Mercy 2008
October 5th, 2008 | Rose Garden in Portland, Oregon | Attendance: 10,000
I’ve noted my enjoyment of 2008 WWE before and I recall this being one of the most notable shows of the year. It features a big moment in the lengthy Jeff Hardy WWE Title chase and the culmination of the phenomenal Chris Jericho/Shawn Michaels program. It’s interesting that the show is missing some of the top stars at the time. John Cena and Randy Orton were out with injuries, Edge wouldn’t return for another month and CM Punk, who was just World Champion a month earlier, was also not on the show. This was the 11th No Mercy event and the second of two PPVs to ever be held in the state of Oregon.
Normally, WWE kills it with their video packages, but this one made no sense. It seemed to involve the normalcy of 1950s suburbia and a Metallica song. Odd. Anyway, Jim Ross, Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler, Todd Grisham and Tazz handled commentary throughout the night.
ECW Championship: Matt Hardy [c] vs. Mark Henry w/ Tony Atlas
Matt captured the title last month in a Scramble Match, so he has yet to beat the dominant Henry in singles action. The fans were way behind Hardy. He took the expected beating from the start, with commentary hammering home that he’s the underdog. Matt wisely kicked at Henry’s leg and searched for any opening he could find. Henry wore down the champ with a bear hug. Though it’s a lame rest hold, it made sense in this situation. Hardy managed to hit the Side Effect for a near fall. Henry blocked the Twist of Fate and hit the World’s Strongest Splash, but his knee was too damaged to cover instantly. PSYCHOLOGY. Matt got out of the World Strongest Slam by punching Henry’s leg, and won with the Twist of Fate at 8:09. That was better than expected. It was a smartly worked David vs. Goliath story. Hardy cut him down to size and it played into the finish, while making Hardy’s survival feel realistic and unforced. Best pre-Hall of Pain Henry match. [***]
In the back, future Divas Champion Eve Torres interviewed Triple H and Jeff Hardy. HHH shilled the fan vote, saying he just voted and is rooting for Jeff to win tonight, which got a laugh. Jeff delivered his line poorly, before HHH went into a “I want to beat you at your best” kind of speech.
WWE Women’s Championship: Beth Phoenix [c] w/ WWE Intercontinental Champion Santino Marella vs. Candice Michelle
Candice held the title a year earlier, before losing it to Beth at this PPV. She later injured her clavicle against Beth. This was her big attempt at some payback. Beth grabbed Candice’s shoulder, which led to the challenger reeling off some quick offense. Beth targeted the shoulder and took control. Candice got in some hope spots, before crotching Beth up top. Why would Beth do that? That’s not something in her arsenal and it wasn’t like she needed to try something new. Santino pulled Beth to safety on a pin and she hit the floor hard. An argument led to a Candice near fall, but Beth retained with the Glam Slam at 4:48. Nothing to write home about. I liked that they used the shoulder, but Candice wasn’t very interesting and there were some logic holes. [*½]
Kane cut a lame promo about the lame feud with Rey Mysterio.
Kane vs. Rey Mysterio
If Rey loses, he must remove his mask. I remember this feud because a kid in our neighborhood asked my brother about it and he responded with, “Kane ate Rey Mysterio.” The kid looked like his heart broke. Rey brought fire, yet kept running into boots and clotheslines. Basically, whenever Rey gained momentum, Kane’s size cut him off. Kane took his time wearing Rey down. Rey got an opening after hitting DESTINO! I popped for it, even if it was before Naito used it and didn’t look as good. Kane tried ripping the mask, so I guess he wasn’t confident in himself as a winner. Rey got Kane on the apron and delivered 619 to the leg. He tried following with a dive to the outside, but Kane stopped him with a mid-air chair shot for the DQ at 10:09. Though a DQ isn’t usually fun, that was a creative and cool finish. Everything leading up to that felt hollow, though. The David/Goliath story was done better in the opener. [**]
Backstage, MVP was pissed about not being on the PPV and being in the midst of a losing streak. He went to see Vickie Guerrero, but Big Show answered. He told MVP to leave Vickie alone and shooed him away.
I usually don’t mention the shilling of another PPV, but I must do it here. Cole and Lawler plug Cyber Sunday, leading Lawler to say, “I love to pull it out during Cyber Sunday and come all over the information highway.” He was talking about his laptop, but still.
Still upset, MVP made his way to the ring. He complained more about being benched, until Randy Orton interrupted. This was the start of “Voices” and sleeve tats Orton. Randy told MVP to stop whining because he’s just potential at this point. MVP said he didn’t recognize Orton without his shoulder sling and MRI results. SNAP. They traded more verbal barbs before Team Priceless and Manu showed up. Manu was one of the most out of place characters in wrestling history. The fans chanted “boring” at Cody Rhodes, while he and Manu run down Orton. Orton didn’t take them seriously and walked out. Dibiase, Cody and Manu kicked MVP out because he’s not a legacy. He left just as CM Punk and Kofi Kingston showed up. The three in the ring helped take Punk out at the last PPV, which cost him the World Title. Punk convinced MVP to join them in a fight with Legacy, which the crowd liked. However, it was all a ruse and they backed off as MVP got in the ring to take the beating. They then followed and cleaned house. I don’t like promos on PPVs and this was no different. It allowed the fans to see Orton, continue MVP’s funk and build the Punk & Kofi Tag Title push, but belonged on Raw.
Number One Contender’s Match: Batista vs. John “Bradshaw” Layfield
In the Scramble Match at Unforgiven, Batista was about to be the World Champion, when Chris Jericho snuck in and stole the win. These two slugged it out early, which was expected since it’s what they do best. When JBL tried a Clothesline from Hell, Batista cut him off with a spear. JBL caught him with a boot and went to a rest hold. You could tell JBL was winding down here. He blocked a second spear with a boot, but then got hit with a spinebuster. The Batista Bomb followed and it was over in a quick 5:17. About as close to a squash as you’ll find from a match involving two upper card guys.[*]
Post-match, JBL got on the microphone and admitted his heart wasn’t in the match. He then went into a lengthy rant about the Congress bailout. He got interrupted by Cryme Tyme on the Titantron, who proceeded to stela his limo and have a party with various Divas and Sgt. Slaughter. I’m making none of this up.
Big Show vs. The Undertaker
Between the video package and Undertaker’s entrance, this took forever to get started. Undertaker came out in a fighting stance as this was when they liked to hype him as the “best striker in the game.” I never liked that approach with him. With that and Show’s WMD in play, this started kind of like a boxing match. Show took control as it became more of a match, until Undertaker hit his signature leaping clothesline for a near fall. Show had him scouted well, turning Old School into a Chokeslam. When that wasn’t enough, he wanted the WMD, but Taker avoided it. Take countered a Chokeslam into a DDT, which was odd to see from him. Usually it happens to him. Show exposed the turnbuckle and rammed Undertaker’s head into it. He used the WMD and knocked Undertaker out for the win at 10:05. I appreciated that they focused on the move they’ve built up for so long, but watching these two mostly strike each other for ten minutes wasn’t exactly exciting TV. [**¼]
WWE Championship: Triple H [c] vs. Jeff Hardy
The fans voted in favor of wanting Jeff to win by a 72%-28% margin. Wow. However, the live audience was quite split. They shook hands to start, but HHH got in a cheap shot and rollup for a quick two. MIND GAMES. Early on, HHH outsmarted and overpowered Hardy, who answered with speed and elusiveness. Interestingly, Jeff used his quickness to have an advantage on the mat, which was where HHH was supposed to own him. Jeff countered a Pedigree by back dropping HHH outside. He then took a rough spill himself, when HHH avoided a plancha. Tit for tat. Since Jeff landed on his back, that became the focus of HHH’s offense. He even went old school with the roe-assisted abdominal stretch. We need more rope-assisted cheating in wrestling these days. Ever the risk taker, Jeff tried the plancha that missed earlier, and succeeded. With momentum on his side, Jeff started going for bigger offense and racked up the near falls. HHH slammed him to counter a cross body and delivered the spinebuster. The end seemed near, but Hardy countered the Pedigree. He hit a slingshot and Whisper in the Wind for a near fall that most of the crowd seemed to buy. Jeff missed the Swanton and it felt like that was his last shot. But then, he countered another Pedigree into a Twist of Fate and nailed the Swanton Bomb! His lax cover allowed HHH to turn him over into a crucifix pin to retain at 17:00. Easily the best non-gimmick match of Jeff Hardy’s career. A genius match filled with great psychology. Jeff tried throwing HHH off his game early, before resorting to his usual bag of tricks late. They consistently used things from earlier to set up later moments (like the missed plancha). In the end, Jeff showed a ton of heart, but Triple H was just smarter. Also, his subtle heel moments helped get the crowd even more in Jeff’s corner. [****¼]
After shaking hands with Jeff, Triple H bumped into Arn Anderson backstage, who congratulated him. HHH was then confronted by Vladimir Kozlov, cementing that next month’s WWE Title program would be way weaker.
World Heavyweight Championship Ladder Match: Chris Jericho [c] vs. Shawn Michaels
Another great video package set this up. At Unforgiven, Shawn was a man with a desire for revenge and brutality. Here, he wanted to take Jericho’s most prized possession, and came with a more patient plan and style. They worked some quality exchanges to start, though it felt a bit out of place in a ladder match. Jericho took the first real ladder shot, eating the seesaw spot that ruined Joey Mercury two years earlier. Shawn was first to get knocked off the ladder, evening things out. In one of the most painful looking things all night, Jericho got his leg caught in the ladder and Shawn slammed it down. Shawn went to a figure four and Jericho attacked the eye. Both made sense in the greater story, as it all began back when Shawn and Batista got into it over Ric Flair’s retirement and Jericho busted Shawn’s eye in a previous match. They continued using the ladder as a weapon. Jericho wanted a back suplex off one through the announce table, but Jericho countered in midair, causing both to go through the table. Inside, Shawn hit the big elbow onto the ladder onto Jericho and immediately regretted the decision. Jericho used the ladder to cut off Sweet Chin Music and then hit a Lionsault onto it. Jericho opened the ladder on top of Shawn and climbed, but Shawn powered up and tilted it over, sending Jericho crashing outside. He landed on his leg and sold it fantastically. Jericho returned to knock Shawn off and Shawn seemed to try to get his leg trapped in the ropes like WrestleMania X. They both went back up, with Jericho using one leg, and fought. Jericho got his leg stuck in the ladder, so his buddy Lance Cade ran out for the save. Shawn took him out and went back to fighting with Jericho atop the ladder. In an awesome moment, the belt got unhooked and they both pulled on one side in a tug of war. Such great drama. Shawn pulled hard enough to bring Jericho forward, and Jericho used the momentum for a headbutt that knocked him down. Jericho pulled the title down to retain at 22:19. One of the best straight ladder matches in WWE history. They did a wonderful job of mixing in the big ladder match spots we’ve come to expect with tremendous storytelling. It fit the intense rivalry these two had and everything they did fit that bill. I loved Jericho’s selling of the leg and the finish was possibly my favorite in ladder match history. [****½]
