WWE No Mercy 2017: Live results, analysis, grades

WWE No Mercy 2017 heads to Los Angeles, CA on Sunday, Sept. 24 for a stacked card. Live results and instant analysis, grades for each match on the show.

One of the big complaints among wrestling fans after the WWE brand split was the watering down of the product. Though it hasn’t been a major issue, there were certainly some pay-per-view shows where that felt like the case. WWE No Mercy 2017, which takes place in Los Angeles on Sunday, Sept. 24, is not one of those shows.

When you look at the card for WWE No Mercy, it’s truly ridiculous. Chief among the matches making it such a potentially great show is John Cena facing Roman Reigns. For starters, this seemed like a feud that the promotion would undoubtedly save for WrestleMania or a Big 4 show. Yet here we are, and then these two men have gone off on one another verbally to build to a crescendo on Sunday.

Meanwhile, we also should get a hoss fight for the ages for the Universal Championship. Brock Lesnar will defend the belt against Braun Strowman. As we all well know, Strowman has been an unstoppable force since debuting. Now putting him against Lesnar makes for a fascinating clash.

There’s plenty more to like on this card for WWE No Mercy as well. From Finn Balor vs. Bray Wyatt to the Women’s Championship multi-woman match to even Jason Jordan vs. The Miz, this show should be money.

Make sure you’re keeping up with all of the action on Sunday night. We’ll have all of the WWE No Mercy results and highlights below, complete with instant grades and analysis for each match.

Results, Highlights and Grades

Kickoff Match: Elias def. Apollo Crews

Intercontinental Championship Match: The Miz (c) def. Jason Jordan

The Miz continues to be one of the most underrated workers in the business. He can have a good match with almost anyone in WWE, so when he gets in there with a talent like Jordan who is just young and relatively inexperienced, it’s highly entertaining. Personally, I’m a bit tired on the Miztourage interference and overall involvement. Even still, it serves its purpose for a heel champion, so I won’t hold it against a quality match.

Grade: B

Finn Balor def. Bray Wyatt

Especially with this specifically being Man vs. Man with no demon involved, I enjoyed the pre-match attack angle from Wyatt. It furthers this persona that he tries to create, one where he’s fully capable of destroying people, but is both maniacal and cowardly at the same time — that’s the mark of a good heel.

With that being said, the work in the actual match was good, but it was hard to care. This feud feels like it should’ve ended four months ago and I’m not entirely sure it had started then. Both guys need something fresh, particularly Balor. However, him getting the win without embracing The Demon earns some bonus points.

Grade: C+

RAW Tag Team Championship Match: Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose (c) def. The Bar

Someone get Cesaro to the dentist. The Swiss half of The Bar went right into the ring post early in the match, but the tough son of a gun remained in the match. Even crazier, these four men most certainly put on a great show on Sunday night. There was plenty of brutality and fantastic shows of strength. What’s more, that being coupled with great storytelling that allowed Rollins and Ambrose to get the win made for a fun match.

Grade: B+

RAW Women’s Championship Fatal 5-Way: Alexa Bliss (c) def. Bayley, Nia Jax, Sasha Banks and Emma

Men or women competing, there is always the potential for a multi-person match to go horribly. That was not what happened at WWE No Mercy. These five women absolutely worked their tails off and killed it in the ring. We knew that the story would likely be about taking out the physically dominant force in Nia Jax. However, it was still done in a way that was fun for the fans. What’s more, Alexa Bliss continues to be phenomenal in the ring, even if she goes off the rails sometimes in promos. This was just a superb match to complete the undercard of a very good show.

Grade: B+

Roman Reigns def. John Cena

Look, I get that people are going to be angry about this match because Roman Reigns won. I understand and, in a perfect world, that wouldn’t be the case. That being said, can we please recognize how great the match itself was? These two guys went all out and had to pull out all the stops to try and beat the “other superman”. It was a fantastic culmination to all of the promos and barbs they’ve exchanged in recent weeks.

The finish was anti-climactic to a degree, but fine nonetheless. In my book, that’s the only thing keeping it from being an A+

Grade: A

Cruiserweight Championship Match: Enzo Amore def. Neville (c) – NEW CHAMP

While I’m not sure about the decision to take the belt off of Neville, I don’t hate how it happened. Enzo was clearly put in the Cruiserweight division to add some charisma and inject life. However, that’s not going to happen if he’s the same character on RAW. So having him pull something like this with the running to the outside, using the belt as a distraction and then hitting a low blow to win the title puts 205 Live in a much more interesting place moving forward.

Grade: C-

Universal Championship Match: Brock Lesnar (c) def. Braun Strowman

Unfortunately, this show kind of went off the rails after Cena vs. Reigns. There’s no doubt that most wrestling fans — myself included — enjoy seeing two behemoths such as Lesnar and Strowman go at it in a match like this. And these two were fun to see as it’s not often someone can Lesnar look like a normal-sized human. With that said, I’m not sure what the point of it was, from the feud to the finish, with how things ended up. Why put Braun in that position at all — and why end the show like that?

Maybe this will be explained on RAW, but the finish to WWE No Mercy definitely left me wanting.

Grade: C

Next: Best WWE star from each state

If nothing else, the company has been loading the cards of these brand-specific pay-per-views. WWE No Mercy 2017 is no different. However, the big key is having the high-profile matches pay off in a good way.