WWE No Mercy 2006 was another uneventful pay per view that could have been very good if it had been handled with any care or decency. There was effort there from guys like Paul London, Brian Kendrick, Ken Kennedy plus the return of Chris Benoit but the show felt flat at the end and some of the booking was head scratching
The show began with a decent match between Matt Hardy and Gregory Helms. Both men knew each other after years of friendship so they had good chemistry and had a very good cut and paste match. Helms in particular seemed motivated to deliver and showed great intensity and heel antics. Hardy, not so much. The fall of Matt Hardy saddened me because he was always a favourite of mine back in 2000-2001 when he was living in his brothers shadow yet carrying their team. Hardy just appeared to be going through the motions in this one, despite being in his hometown and given the opportunity to have a good match, both men got a more than reasonable chunk of time to put something good on, he seemed almost bored at times. Finally he showed some trademark vigour and fire at the end and the match was more than adequate. I’d give it **1/2
Up next was a very good tag team contest as London and Kendrick defended the tag team titles against K.C James and Idol Stevens. Stevens and James looked more than competent on the big show for a team with as relative inexperience as they have, London and Kendrick clearly went out with one goal and that was steal the show. The best part of this match was how the fans at first seemed only mildly interested but the final five minutes they were exhilarated. It just goes to show that if you give London and Kendrick time to sell and craft something then they can be a very effective babyface tag team. The finish was slightly botched but the body of the match was very good and all four guys deserve credit. Whether either of the teams will still be together in 6 months is questionable but that’s down to whether WWE actually care with pushing their tag division. I think we all know the answer to that but I’d like to be wrong on that front. As for the match rating I think ***1/2 is a fair rating.
M.V.P’s debut was boring but, strangely enough, you’d think WWE wanted it to be so. Clearly booked as a big letdown that’s exactly what this debut squash match was and M.V.P showed nothing that proved he was going to be anything more than a stereotypical mid card heel. No rating for the match
The whole Miz thing was awful so lets just move on
Now Kennedy Vs Undertaker. Quite simply I was really digging the story being told in this one as Kennedy tried everything in his arsenal to beat Taker and actually had him on the ropes at points. All goodwill I had to the match, which was paced very well by Undertaker, was destroyed by the terrible DQ finish at the end. Simply put this match could have “made” Ken Kennedy. A pinfall win over Undertaker, however tainted, would have raised his stock because he was competitive throughout the match with Taker. There were so many good parts to the match, like Kennedy undoing the turnbuckle pad and using it 15 minutes later. That was a fantastic slice of match psychology which tied in with the story of a desperate Kennedy doing whatever was possible to finally bag the win. The ending ruined everything though and thus made the match pointless. Kennedy was treated like a jobber and his belt as a pointless trinket. Kennedy’s further job to Benoit the next week only exasperated the problems. Kennedy will need a long time to recover after the way he’s been handled following this whole mess. Going into No mercy he was a hot upper mid card heel who could have risen up the card. Now it looks like he won’t be moving up the card anytime soon. Why does this company proceed to book it’s entire roster to look like total saps except for Undertaker and HHH? In fact don’t answer that one it’s too obvious. As for the match I had it in the ***+ range but the crappy booking knocks it down to **. Disappointing
Rey Vs Chavo was good for a mini brawl but the ending came out of nowhere and I’m sick of having to watch WWE exploit a real death when it clearly has no plans for Chavo and Rey has been made to look so inept recently that any chance of him main eventing has been shot down for at least a year. Vicky Guerrero has two daughters who she wants to ensure have a future. That I sympathise with and understand but Chavo and Rey have no excuse for taking part in this mess. Anyway the match was about **ish for me. It wasn’t bad but didn’t rock the world either
Benoit Vs Regal was brilliant. It was stiff, violent and basically everything why technical wrestling can be so good. Without a doubt there is an audience for this style of wrestling, me included, and both men were given plenty of time to tear themselves apart for the audience. Great match and **** from me
The main event four way bored me to tears. At times I was watching it but began to drift off into my own dream world where Booker T is still a good worker and not the lazy heel he is today. Booker sucks these days. I’ve been saying that since his heel turn. He’s sucked since 2004 when he pretty much gave up. Now he has a main event push, heat and a decent gimmick and he just doesn’t seem to care. In ring he’s gone from one of the best in the business to one of the most lazy and predictable wrestlers in the whole WWE. The fact is he can do so much better than this. Back in 2000 he was one of my favourites and had great matches with a host of varying opponents. He had great matches with Jeff Jarrett, Scott Steiner, DDP, Kanyon and even worked a modern day miracle with Kevin Nash. Now the thought of watching him actually wrestle makes me shudder. The man just can’t back it up in the ring anymore and that upsets me as a fan. Lashley is green but he has something Booker is missing, drive. Lashley wants to improve, to get better and actually seems motivated in there. Sure he may not be a full complete package yet but he improves in every match he takes part in. He has deserved his push because he’s worked damn hard to get better, as has Finlay. No two guys in the whole company try more than those two so to see them dragged down by Booker and Batista, who clearly see their acts as so developed that they don’t have to try anymore is a real killer. Batista in particular has lost that flair he had before he left. Batista just seems uninterested and if I was him I would be too. He’s been booked pathetically and has failed three times now to take the belt off Booker and forced to feud with his servants. Finlay breaking away from Booker was the best thing he’s done. Anyway this match gets ½* from me because I honestly can’t think of anything in it worth watching except for a good ending sequence.
The Inside Pulse
So once again WWE ruin what could have been a perfectly good B-Level pay per view with some shoddy booking and lack of in ring effort. This company needs to pull one out of the fire but with Survivor Series coming up, or the “yearly letdown” as I like to call it, I don’t think it’s going to happen soon.
