6 Major Booking Mistakes WWE Made At No Mercy
Mistakes which made No Mercy just another ‘B' show.
Expectations have rarely been so high for one of WWE's second-tier pay-per-views as they were last night for No Mercy. But expectation is a dangerous thing.
WWE built the show at the Staples Centre, Los Angeles, around two WrestleMania worthy main events between first-time opponents John Cena and Roman Reigns, and reigning Universal Champion Brock Lesnar and challenger Braun Strowman.
These high-profile matches merely satisfied, without excelling, and the undercard was just as much of a mixed bag. The RAW Tag Team Championship match was an outstanding spectacle, and RAW’s women more than held their own under the spotlight.
However, those positives were countered by an ill-judged match-up for the Intercontinental Championship and a cruiserweight catastrophe in California. All in all, No Mercy 2017 will struggle to be remembered as much more than just another 'B' show.
Yet it could have been so much better had WWE avoided these glaring mistakes...
6. Enzo Dethroning Neville
Neville as champion was the one thing holding the cruiserweight division together.
Among all of the unimaginative six-man tag team matches and the poor WWE Network ratings, the title still felt important because it was Neville who was the one holding it.
The Briton made people take interest in the stars of 205 Live with his defined character, and the viciousness with which he combined it with his acrobatics. And WWE fed him to Enzo Amore.
They made Neville look like a fool by falling for Enzo’s tricks, and this type of victory will not curry him any favour with the wiser fans who are beginning to see past his promo charm.
Enzo was moved to the cruiserweight division with the hope that he would enhance it, but putting the title on him this early is more likely to kill it. Since he was split from Big Cass, his in-ring limitations have become so obviously exposed that one-time fans have turned against him, and even more will do so now following this undeserved coronation.
Unless this title change is quickly reversed, already low interest levels in the cruiserweight division, and 205 Live, will drop even further. WWE needs someone to help Neville share the burden, but Enzo is not the man. The Cruiserweight Classic was about celebrating the best cruiserweight wrestlers in the world. That audience isn’t going to tune in for Amore.