Triple Threat for the WWE World Championship
WWE No Mercy started off with the WWE World Championship, which I thought was a great idea. It has never happened before and WWE wanted to try and offset the Sunday Night Football game and the Presidential Debate. Well, this match was great and was exactly how I thought it would be booked. All three men looked good, with John Cena showcasing his strength from the very beginning. AJ Styles was caught off the top rope and rolled through into an attempted AA. Dean Ambrose was always right there, waiting for his opportunity to steal a victory. When you watch how it unfolded, you have to applaud a few things. AJ Styles is their best worker right now and it showed. He hit a beautiful move to the outside, followed up with a 360 splash off the ropes onto Dean. He would only get a two count. When Dean Ambrose reversed into a Calf Crusher, John Cena came in and locked in the STF. AJ Styles tapped out, but there was no declared winner. Dean and John both thought they won, but the match continued. Dean hit a Dirty Deeds, but AJ Styles capitalized and used a chair to finally pick up the win.
Thirty minutes of total time for this was a great way to kick off WWE No Mercy. You protected all three men tonight. John Cena was the muscle, almost hitting a dual AA. He is a generational superstar, love him or hate him. He always brings out the best. Watching Dean Ambrose tonight makes me certain that he is good, but not main event caliber. He is not at the level of Styles or Cena. At the end of the night. AJ Styles won dirty tonight and needed to continue to find other ways to win. Yes, he tapped out. Yes, this is their way of keeping all three men involved in the chase for that championship. Don’t you feel that Ambrose vs. Cena is a better feud for both men in itself? Either way, this was a very good contest and one that may not be a match of the year, but was certainly enjoyable.
Heath Slater and Rhyno defeated The Uso’s
Tag Team Championship match pitted the new heels versus the Summer of Slater and his Man Beast. Another night and another opportunity for Slater to solidify his roster spot on Smackdown. Jimmy and Jey really controlled the offensive pace and added some new pieces. I loved the double team kick to the leg on Slater, as well as dueling kicks. They scrapped the dives to the outside, which makes sense that they are now heels. Slater leaped up the top rope and hit Jimmy with a powerslam. I really liked this, which was followed with a neckbreaker. Rhyno needed to get the hottest tag of the night, which he did. He would hit a Gore on the outside and then get the tag to finish off the brothers.
You have to enjoy what Rhyno and Slater are doing right now. They are being stripped down to the basics, letting their personalities clash and make for some fun matches. I enjoyed the pacing and the story being told. A clean loss for Jimmy and Jey surprised me, but I do think they continue to stay exactly where they are at. They are their best heel option right now in a flooded division of faces. This was the right call and was a good championship match. A continued build of the champions will pay dividends.
