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Credit: WWE.com
John Cena, Dean Ambrose and
AJ Styles’ tilt
for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship is kicked off tonight’s
show. With the second presidential debate and a high-profile Sunday
night game
between the Green Bay Packers and New York Giants, WWE could
have easily curled into the fetal position as it prepared for another
stiff night of competition. You’ve got to admire the promotion for
trying every parlor trick in the book. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s
trying to find ways to give away spoilers for the debate and
Sunday Night Football, Eric Bischoff style.
The crowd wanted no part of Dean Ambrose tonight. As the match
started, they went back and forth with Cena-Styles chants. How an arena
full of wrestling fans can be passive-aggressive is beyond me. Ambrose
was like the little brother who had to tag along on a date because the
babysitter was vacationing in Costa Rica. His main purpose was to break
up pinfalls and submissions, but the good news is he didn’t take the
pinfall. Either way, this is the third straight world championship
opportunity that he failed to convert into a win.
It’s probably time to take a break from the main event for a while.
Ambrose and Cena have shown good chemistry in the past, so maybe Ambrose
can challenge Cena for his “Never Give Up” armband.
Also on Forbes:
Nikki Bella and
Carmella felt like
its was being competed for the SmackDown Women’s Championship. Before
the match, WWE aired multiple clips from two months ago. This is an
actual storyline. There’s actual history here. No Mercy actually seems
like too small of a stage for this payoff. WWE has been building up
this feud into a personal rivalry that has clearly pitted a veteran
babyface against a young, flashy heel. What more could one ask for?
Maybe good wrestling? Oh, snap, they had some of that too! The match had
a good story, whit Carmella trying to take Nikki’s spot by ending her
career with another neck injury, but it was quite surprising that Nikki
held on for the victory.
The Miz is probably the best thing going on
SmackDown Live, but he is the worst contract negotiator. He once again
threatened to renegotiate his contract if he extends his never-ending
title reign past day 188. For a guy who is so into Fantasy Football, Miz
doesn’t seem to understand the concept of a holdout. Stop doubling
down. Just don’t wrestle and, as long as you have the Intercontinental
title, you’ll have leverage. The Miz needs to fire his agent and hire
Jeff Jarrett.
Heath Slater and
Rhyno are as funny
and entertaining of a tag team as one two men could be without being a
joke. The match structure of Heath Slater getting into a pickle only for
Rhyno to bail him out has yet to get old. It happened again against
The Usos, and
I fall for it every time because I know that’s how their title reign is
going to end, with Slater taking the deciding pinfall. These matches
have all the excitement of Slater walking a tightrope before Rhyno Gores
the opposition off of it.
Poor
Baron Corbin and
Jack Swagger. They
seemed legitimately geeked up to have a prime spot on the main portion
of a WWE pay-per-view. But this match began just as the second
presidential debate got underway and with the Green Bay Packers and New
York Giants deep into the first quarter. At this point, #WWENoMercy was
no longer trending. I can confirm that not only did this match happen,
but it was pretty darn good.
No Mercy was an odd show since it did not close with its main event.
It didn’t even close with its best match. That happened when
Dolph Ziggler and
The Miz went
to war for the Intercontinental Championship. The Miz has been so
brilliant as a heel on SmackDown Live, that I didn’t want to see his
never-ending title reign end. Still, such a payoff is an ode to Miz’s
run as a heel. The Miz would not be the villain he was if he couldn’t
set the stage for his own comeuppance.
Through vignettes that trolled Dolph Ziggler, obnoxious verbal taunts
and even the return of The Spirit Squad, Miz laid the groundwork for
his own downfall. After going to the well too many times with Dean
Ambrose challenging for the WWE World Championship, maybe this loss
frees up The Miz to get his shot.
The women’s championship division is no longer a fixture in the popcorn match. But as proven by
Naomi and
Alexa Bliss—who had to follow Miz and Ziggler
—sadly the women’s division still is.
Bray Wyatt and
Randy Orton tried
their best. Moving furniture, brawling, senton splashes a surprise
appearance by Luke Harper and quite a bit of posturing. But not only
were they not going to top the instant classic from Dolph Ziggler and
The Miz, WWE made it clear that the main event already kicked off this
show.
Orton and Wyatt felt like a bonus dark match. It was fine. It
certainly wasn’t bad. But the match was hurt by a seemingly experimental
ploy by WWE to position its true main event at the beginning of the
show. Wyatt needed a victory over a top star like Orton. But there have
been so many starts, stops and returns by Wyatt and his family members
that the Luke Harper return didn’t feel all that special.
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