No Mercy Archives - GeeksHaveGame

Felipe “The 3rd Deacon” Crespo
@F7ovrdrv

I guess it’s that time again huh? Here we go. No Mercy. This Sunday! Live from the Staples Center in sunny Los Angeles, California!! So what match am I previewing? … Apollo v Elias??? … Seriously??? Prediction: Lol. No.

**RAW Women’s Championship:** Emma v Bayley v **Alexa Bliss** **(c)** v Sasha Banks v Nia Jax

Soooooo. Bayley is back. And the RAW Women’s division is still stale as ever. I mean, no, I can’t complain about the eye-candy, but isn’t this women’s revolution supposed to about more than that? So we find ourself with a fatal five-way match at No Mercy. I can’t help but think that this is just a sneaky way to keep the belt on Little Miss Bliss without hurting anyone else… other than maybe Emma. #GiveEmmaAChance seriously. But let’s be real. We know Asuka is coming and we know NOBODY is ready for Asuka. What better way to prove that than for “The Goddess of WWE” to run through four of the “top” women on RAW and claim her dominance only to run into the Japanese buzzsaw and drop the title to “The Empress of Tomorrow”. Prediction: Alexa Bliss with the win.

**Intercontinental Championship:** The Miz **(c)** v **Jason Jordan**

Not even Maryse and the sons of Curt Henning and Mike Rotunda can save The Miz from the wrath he’s about to feel from the son of Kurt Angle! Su-plex! You suck! Su-plex! You suck! And not even the “highly coveted / must-see” Intercontinental championship can save the disastrous Angle/angle Double J found himself in! No matter how many 3.5-4 Bible matches Mr. Jordan has with the two biggest names in the WWE, he’ll never get over with that Angle. I hope I’m wrong. Jason has proved himself a worthwhile singles in the world’s biggest wrestling fed’s biggest weekly show, and Miz has had the title for a little while — looking great with it — without having to really compete. JJ seems more like a fighting champ who’ll wow in the ring, but has only 50% charisma and a current shit gimmick. Prediction: He’ll win.

I cannot remember a time in recent memory when a match with two people I like has left me so indifferent. I also do not recall when two athletes in a feud exposed each other’s flaws more. Balor is a workhorse among workhorses. His matches are hard hitting and fast paced–extremely fast paced. Fast paced matches do not make Wyatt look good. Bray can deliver some killer promos (though long winded and sometimes tedious); he needs someone who can go back and forth with him on the microphone. Balor, in a PG environment, is not the guy. I see Balor still being favored and possibly even protected by Triple H, so I don’t see him picking up another loss to the Eater of Worlds. Prediction: Hopefully after Balor picks up this win, this feud is done and both superstars can move on to bigger and better things.

**Cruiserweight Championship**: **Neville** **(c)** v Enzo Amore

Destiny “Evangelical” Edwards
@mochaloca85

Saying I’ve been anti-Enzo on 205 Live is an understatement (it’s even my current pinned tweet). I get why they did it; really, I do. They want more eyes on the product and Enzo sells merch. The problem is that, well, Enzo can’t wrestle his way out of a paper bag and he’s super-exposed in the workhorse division. As Gene put it recently, they treat him like a scrub. Which is true, partly because of his lack of in-ring ability and partly because his gimmick is getting stale.

And I’m not the only one that feels that way. Whenever ‘Zo appears onscreen, my feed blows ups with anti-Enzo tweets. Hell, when Braun wrecked him on Raw, #ThankYouStrowman started trending. He absolutely should NOT be the one to end our brilliant Goblin King’s reign for good (I’m still holding out for Cedric). Putting the cruiserweight title on Enzo is basically killing the belt’s credibility. You know, like they killed the original Cruiserweight Championship by putting it on Hornswoggle. Seriously, Hornswoggle was the last Cruiserweight Champion before the revival. Look it up.
Prediction: I’m going with Neville. I acknowledge they’ll probably screw it up and give the Boyhood Dream Championship to Enzo, but I’m going to pretend I live in a world where they don’t give titles to glorified managers with stupid hair and stale promos that last for 20 minutes.

**RAW Tag Team Championship:** Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins **(c)** v **Cesaro & Sheamus**

Is it just me or are Ambrose and Rollins even more annoying together than they are on their own? Was Roman Reigns actually the piece that made the Shield cool?? This doesn’t even make sense. Either way “The Lunatic Cringe” & Seth “Frigoff” Rollins (did I get that right?) are your tag team champs. This can’t be a long term thing. Please. I’m actually begging. Cesaro & Sheamus, otherwise known as The Bar, have definitely raised the bar for the tag team division, albeit a very lacking division, and deserve to get their belts back. I’d really love it if this whole thing leads to one of these two “brothers” turning on the other and turning heel again because, let’s be honest, they’re both more palatable when we’re supposed to hate them. Prediction: The Bar take their belts back and save the show.

“The Pope” Jeff Parker
IG @parkerlewiscntlose

If 40’s the new 30….and 30’s the new 20…. then No Mercy’s the new Mania. Vince…going all-in in September? Don’t get me wrong, my extreme adhd is glad he did. I’m just not sure what he’s going to do for a Mania main-event. I wouldn’t mind Brock/Roman II if they tell as good a story as I think they did the first time around. I’m not naive to the fact that I’m probably in the smark minority with that opinion and that the majority will let out a collective cringe once it’s announced.

Booking Cena/Reigns and Lesnar/Strowman for No Mercy takes two potential Mania main events off the table unlesssssss they come full circle with some type of retribution angle, which I could also dig. Whatever they decide on doing, we have two guys here going one-on-one who can certainly get a reaction; Cena has made Reigns look downright silly on the mic during the lead-up and it’s been somewhat painful to watch. This may be a genius way of getting Reigns over as fans pity his woeful inability to even remotely touch Cena on the stick but… As far as the match, Cena has far less to gain with a win than the big dog aka Vince’s binkey. Gotta keep building for Mania. Prediction: The Roman Empire Reigns supreme.

**Universal Championship:** Brock Lesnar **(c)** v **Braun Strowman**

Anthony “PriestMode” Holloway
IG @Grumpykore

Well wrestling, I feel, is on a new rise peeps… and WWE is maybe showing us all a V2.0 of an Attitude Era… I have been excited for that… Fall is in the air and annual WWE game will drop in less then a month. Before all that happens we have… The Staple Center. All the stars come out for the The Main Event…The Universal Champion “The Beast” Brock Lesnar vs “The Monster Among Men” Braun Stroman. Whaoooo! I get chills just thinking about the destruction these two will bring.

The staredowns are over… This has a big fight feel. There hasn’t really been an opponent facing Brock this large in years since Big Show. I’m hoping this will not just be a suplex traffic jam fest… Pillar to Pillar on the 110 and 10! I expect all Hell to break loose very quickly. Leading up this match we have seen steel stairs… tables… barricades being blasted thru… announce tables being broken and I want no different…

Bring it for the Universe and make us proud, Dammit!

Each guy has there own devastating moves that can end a match at any point. I have this small hunch that Heyman might play a part in this match… You never know what kind of Guy Paulie will be on Sunday Night! Prediction: My winner goes to Strowman. But it won’t be EZ getting that strap away from Brock. Stroman has put the time in week after week and it’s time for new chapter to start in the WWE title picture.
#ThankyouStrowman #nomercy

"Reverend" Lauro Rojas @Snarky_motif — “Reverend” Lauro Rojas
@Snarky_motif

Corbin and Swagger have the distinction of being the kickoff match in Smackdown Live’s second event, No Mercy. The match, compared to the main card, was hastily put together but these two have a chance to make something special down the long run. With WWE’s new, highflying era– its big men matches are few and in between–Swagger at 6’7 and Corbin at 6’8 is bound to be viciously physical. PREDICTION: Disqualification.

Swagger, again, gets sloppy seconds in a semi-dark match kickoff. This kinda feels like a good ol’ fistfight ready to burst, though. Both guys are looking to step up the ranks on SD and possibly get an intercontinental title shot. Hey! Just be thankful we don’t have Foley here to team them up! With lots of suplexes and sidewalk slams, it’ll be a short 15-minute max warm-up to the “Nawn Ninedee Nawn” PPV show, you know, before the people get wasted. PREDICTION: Swagger’s recent promo makes no sense, because I got the lone wolf, Baron Corbin, the new guy in town.

Ryan "Father Grimm" Davis @OGMrGrimm — Ryan “Father Grimm” Davis
@OGMrGrimm

In what could have been the “bathroom break” of the night, we now have to pay attention to the longest reigning “Divas” champion, Nikki Bella, and second generation wrestler Carmela in Becky Lynch’s (supposed) absense. Will Daniel Bryan make this a triple threat with Alexa Bliss? If not, at its heart this is the story of the up-and-comer going after the biggest baddest on the block. A toss up for the finish. They both need the win to establish or reestablish dominance. PREDICTION: Bliss. Hah. OK.. if not involved, I’ll give it to Carmela, because moonwalk and such.

(Smackdown Tag Team Titles: SLATER & RHYNO v. USOS — (*Smackdown Tag Team Titles*: **SLATER & RHYNO v. USOS**

Moody "Doom" @TravMoody — Moody “Doom”
@TravMoody

Come on, ba-byyyy!!! It’s everyone’s new fav redneck tag-team, the “Two Man Band” Heath Slater and TNA legend Rhyno. Man, there aren’t a couple ‘o dudes I’d rather drink a few cases of Busch Light at a racetrack with than the tag-team champs. As for their opponents, The Usos, their rivalry via Backlash‘s Tag Team Tourney was well calculated. Seeing American Alpha, the Hype Bro and a few other other babyface upstarts on SD Live made complete sense for Jimmy and Jae’s transition to the dark side (pun intended). You just know Vince is captilizing on the whole Colin Kaep/Black Lives Matter ordeal with the Usos and he must be laughing at his racist villifying all the way to the bank. PREDICTION: Too soon, Usos. Slater & Rhyno are wayyyy over. Do it for the double-wide, ba-byyy!!!

Destiny "Evangelical" Edwards — Destiny “Evangelical” Edwards

For the last month or so Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton have been feuding over…who knows what exactly. Something–an excuse to have Wyatt be creepy for the sake of being creepy, as per usual. They were supposed to face off at Backlash, but Orton’s concussion meant we got his interference in Wyatt’s forgettable match with Kane. Over the last couple of weeks, they’ve been trading weird mind games a lá whatever generic psychological thriller/horror movie you’re thinking of right now. Honestly, I just want this feud to be over so we can all pretend it never happened. PREDICTION: Randy Orton. As badly as Wyatt needs a win (the man hasn’t had one since the six-man tag match at Battleground and hasn’t won a singles match since last year), it’s just going to be more of the same.

"Father" Sean Farrell @IAMSCF — “Father” Sean Farrell
@IAMSCF

Curt Hawkins makes his debut. He comes out, makes a speech – nobody cares – Kane comes out. Choke Slam. Welcome to Bathroom Break City.

(Intercontinental Title v. Retirement Match): MIZ v. ZIGGLER — (*Intercontinental Title v. Retirement*): **MIZ v. ZIGGLER**

Other than the match just up above, this is the “neither can lose” match of the night. On one hand you have the Miz, hands down THE best heel that the WWE–not just SD Live–has at the moment, not to mention the most interesting champion. On the other, we have.. Ziggler; whom, let’s be honest, if not for the career stipulation, no one would care about in this match. PREDICTION: The Miz. The second I heard about the career stipulation, I thought “dammit! There goes the Miz’s amazing IC run”. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized it’s plausible that Ziggler will be gone: More and more new talent is coming in; it’s clear that creative/higher ups will never really get behind Zigs; and, as talented as he is, it has to be said: he’s just not that good on the mic. Seriously, as a heel OR a face, he’s just not compelling. Miz has brought out some good passion in Zigs that can mostly can be attributed to the sheer viciousness of the Miz’s character. See you in Lucha Underground, or something.

(Smackdown Woman's Title): BECKY v. BLISS — (*Smackdown Woman’s Title*): **BECKY v. BLISS**

Kenny "Saint Superkick" Sanders @HueySkyywalker — Kenny “Saint Superkick” Sanders
@HueySkyywalker

I watched a lot of Harley Qui… I mean Alexa Bliss’ work with Suici… I mean NXT. I like her. She isn’t Nia Jax. She isn’t Sasha Banks, but she got something there. Something nasty. While Shane and DB could have easily had (the already far more established) Nikki Bella as Becky’s first opponent, they went with a fresh direction after a year-plus run with the now defunct Diva’s Championship. PREDICTION: ***THIS JUST IN*** Lynch is reported to be injured, so we’re not sure where this match stands as of yet. Doesn’t look good.*** With Becky Lynch the right gal to lead the Smackdown branded Women’s Championship–and this being her first defense–she comes out on top of this one. She should hold the belt until creative builds a heel machine to battle Becky. It’s a slow build that shouldn’t be rushed. This reign also gives opportunities for other women on the brand, like Bliss(!!), to make a name for themselves. Yes lawd!

https://youtu.be/PrbYhiHbcj4

In the main event, John Cena gets his chance at history, Dean Ambrose gets his rematch and AJ Styles gets to prove why he IS the “Face That Runs The Place”. This feud has been built up pretty well, and that says a lot coming from me as much as I hate Cena. What Dean lacks on the mic, Cena picks up the slack and really makes this feud something I can get behind. While, of course, it doesn’t make sense to to have Styles win the title at Clash of the Champions and drop it a month later, it does nothing at all for the Blue Brand to bury their biggest face in this match. And no, I’m not talking about Cena. He’s on his way out the door at least for a little while to go film another movie. That leads us to one option… PREDICTION: AJ Styles pins Cena again to retain the WWE strap, with Ambrose able to save face — as he wasn’t a part of the decision. Children cry, grown men mark out and Cena rides off into the sunset, at least for the time being, and at least ONE member of the Club gets used to his potential. That’s the Phenomenal One.

Tag: No Mercy

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