WWE No Mercy 2016: 10 Things We Learned
Dolph Ziggler isn't going anywhere...
Before No Mercy, it's fair to say that the match receiving most in-house attention was the 'Career vs. Title' affair pitting Dolph Ziggler against WWE Intercontinental Champion The Miz. Naturally, any bout John Cena is involved in is also going to turn heads, making it all the more surprising that Cena's Triple Threat alongside Dean Ambrose and AJ Styles for the WWE Title happened so early on the card.
There was a lot of emphasis placed on the potential for Ziggler to lose to Miz and therefore have to walk away from WWE. Sitting snugly alongside both those matches was another marquee effort, this time between Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton.
Overall, No Mercy had enough major matches to make it seem like an important event. Arguably, that's something Backlash sorely lacked at points.
The big question though is what can be learned from SmackDown Live's latest slice of pay-per-view? What happened on the show will have an impact going forward, and it's what kind of impact that is focused on here.
Let's analyse the event in-depth to see what can be gleaned...
10. Curt Hawkins Will Have His First Match On SmackDown Live
Thus far since returning to WWE, Curt Hawkins has been seen in vignettes and doing an awful lot of talking. Actual wrestling hasn't been part of his act since coming back to the company, however that's about to change on the very next episode of SmackDown Live. There, Hawkins will actually step foot in the ring to work a match.
On the Kickoff show, Hawkins emerged to inform everybody of the good news. It's unclear just who his opponent will be on the Tuesday night show, all the man made clear was that he would be wrestling. There's little doubt that Curt is good at playing his cocksure character, he just needed to do some in-ring work sooner rather than later.
Clearly there to pad out the SmackDown roster rather than become a top star in his own right, Hawkins has a little bit more pizazz about him this time around in WWE. Hopefully, that will translate into success when it comes to matches.
Look out for that Hawkins match on the next episode of the blue brand's show.