10 Things WWE Wants You To Forget About No Mercy
5. CM Punk, Meet The 'Hometown Rule'
No Mercy 2007 was a funny old event, with three separate Triple H matches and two WWE Title changes taking place to make up for John Cena's ill-timed injury and withdrawal. It was also a weird night for old CM Punk, a man who had only recently bagged the ECW Title after a months-long chase and was set to perform in front of his hometown crowd, defending the strap against Big Daddy V.
And perform he did, for approximately 96 seconds, before the match was called off due to Matt Striker's interference. Needless to say, the crowd were less than thrilled with the booking, which was undoubtedly counter-productive.
Of course they wanted to keep Big Daddy V strong for the future and didn't see a clean Punk win as an option. Of course they didn't want to 'bury' Punk at the same time. But 90 seconds for a PPV championship match? For a struggling brand no less? Adding injury to insult, BDV crushed Punk's ribs after the so-called contest, leaving him laying on the mat.