7 Early Signs From WWE That No Mercy Will Top SummerSlam 2017
3. SummerSlam's Main Event Was Set Up For No Mercy
Again, SummerSlam's headliner was awesome. Going heavy on the big bumps and worked at a frantic pace, the Fatal-4-Way featured a stretcher job from Lesnar that helped make Braun Strowman look like the man (sorry, Roman, but it's true). That doesn't change the fact it was a mere set up.
WWE clearly had one eye on a future Brock vs. Braun showdown when laying out what would happen at SummerSlam. That's smart, but it does mean the supposed biggest pay-per-view of the summer months was little more than a precursor to the match everybody really wanted to see. That's an interesting strategy from WWE, especially when it concerns such a major show.
TV build post-SummerSlam has suggested that No Mercy was the end goal all along. Think about it: the September pay-per-view has two matches that could easily have been marquee attractions at SummerSlam, but WWE instead chose to hold off on those matches for the subsequent show.