6 Ups And 9 Downs From WWE No Mercy 2016

Ups...

6. Bait And Switch As a Good Thing

Curt Hawkins
WWE Network

Ordinarily, advertising a wrestler’s debut at a PPV and then deliberately not delivering on it would be considered a negative, but in this case, WWE might have done the best thing possible concerning reintroducing Curt Hawkins to the fans.

Hawkins, as many fans might remember, was one of the Edgeheads along with Zack Ryder, then faded into a jobber role, teaming with Tyler Reks and eventually being relegated to NXT before being released in 2014. His new character, which includes a spin on the popular Chuck Norris facts that have lived on e-mail chains and social media, has been entertaining.

But let’s face it: Once he starts wrestling, it will be Curt Hawkins again. That’s not meant as an insult. Wrestling on the No Mercy pre-show would not have helped him, but by simply strolling into the ring and cutting a short promo and celebrating his appearance was about the best thing they could do to prolong his re-debut.

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Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.