10 Incredible Matches That Make No Mercy WWE’s Best Ever B-Show
4. The Rock Vs. Chris Jericho (2001)
Built around 'Y2J's supposed inability to win the 'Big One', the WCW World Heavyweight Title experienced its finest moment under the WWE umbrella when The Rock and Chris Jericho stole the show at No Mercy 2001 in the only contest not framed around the sagging war with 'The Alliance'.
Uneasy partners at points in the build-up thanks to the company-wide war against the WCW/ECW invaders, the match foreshadowed Chris Jericho's heel turn, as he willingly used a steel chair to dethrone 'The Great One' and partially exorcise the demons of his previous failures at the top level.
Up until the finish, the match itself was an energetic babyface battle that carefully crafted Jericho's eventual switch to the dark side, with The Rock entering in another hugely selfless display. Few main eventers in the history of the industry have parked their insecurity and laid down like 'The People's Champion', with the finish even aiding Jericho in establishing his short-lived 'Breakdown' full nelson facebuster finisher as a title-winning manoeuvre.
It was telling that the hottest feud in an organisation dominated by an intra-promotional war was between two talents on the same side, but the pair had magic chemistry together, proving it yet again in their rematch weeks later, and further still in a more conventional - but no less gripping - effort at January 2002's Royal Rumble.