WWE No Mercy 2017 Matches: Grading Hype Level for Each Announced Match

On Sunday, Monday Night Raw will present WWE No Mercy 2017, a show with tempered hype as a whole. However, the event has many excited thanks to the amazing top of the card, with John Cena vs. Roman Reigns for the first time and Brock Lesnar defending his Universal Championship against Braun Strowman.

These two matches are must-watch contests that could well be among the best of the year. This is a seven-match card, though, and will be building to those contests with varying levels of excitement for the rest of the event.

From the second clash between the Raw tag team champions, Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins, and their challengers, Cesaro and Sheamus, to the battle between Bray Wyatt and Finn Balor, there is a lot of potential here for excitement. The stories of these varying matches have led to a card that is not all pure hype.

Some of these bouts are incredible contests with great stories, while others have been forgotten and thrown on the card at the last minute to make sure as many top stars on Raw get a spotlight. The excitement levels vary on this potentially excellent No Mercy card.

Elias vs. Apollo Crews (Kickoff)

Credit: WWE.com

Did you know this match was added to the No Mercy card? In classic Kickoff fashion, WWE announced at the last minute that Elias vs. Apollo Crews would warm up the crowd at No Mercy. It is impossible for this match to have any hype surrounding it when no one knew it was going to happen until Friday.

While some may be looking forward to Elias running down the Los Angeles crowd, this match has no buildup. Before Apollo Crews appeared on the most recent Monday Night Raw to continue Curt Hawkins' losing streak, Titus Worldwide's first client had been absent from TV for months despite Titus O'Neil expanding his brand and helping Akira Tozawa win the WWE Cruiserweight Championship.

Elias vs. Crews is clearly a television-quality bout that could have had a real story, but WWE decided not to give it even that, just wanting to make sure there was some match that could happen on the Kickoff. Another Elias concert could be a highlight here, but it would be surprising if the match itself got enough time and spotlight to be memorable.

Grade: F

Cruiserweight Champion Neville vs. Enzo Amore

If you have not watched 205 Live in the past month, you might have forgotten this match was even happening with so little buildup of the rivalry on Monday Night Raw. On Raw, the two have barely touched one another since Enzo Amore first joined the division, and too few people watch 205 Live for them to understand the full scope of Enzo's rise.

Instead of using screen time to promote this feud, WWE has repeatedly beat down and buried Enzo, from his promo with The Miz to his random crushing at the hands of Braun Strowman. Neville has spent most of this time backstage, occasionally popping up to laugh in the face of the Realest Guy in the Room.

Still, this is a potentially exciting match, with Enzo being the most charismatic performer to ever compete in the revamped cruiserweight division and Neville repeatedly putting on great matches with a variety of adversaries. These two are the most high-profile rivals the division has had, even if the champion will have to work hard to make Enzo's dangerously haphazard offense look good.

No match on the main card has had less buildup, but it still has the potential to steal the show and could affect the cruiserweight division massively with the potential of Enzo stealing the title.

Grade: D+

Raw Women's Champion Alexa Bliss vs. Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax vs. Bayley vs. Emma

Credit: WWE.com

The Raw women's division has started to look similar to SmackDown Live's, with everyone vying for the Raw Women's Championship. It has unfortunately diluted the stories being told and set up a match that will likely undervalue many of the participants. It does not help that this will not be an elimination match unlike other recent multi-woman title matches.

Bayley's return should have increased excitement for the match, but it just felt like an unnecessary addition. She was quietly added to the match after being part of a group that took out Nia Jax. Meanwhile, Emma did not even appear on the most recent Raw, which had little mention of her involvement.

While the feud between Alexa Bliss and Sasha Banks has not advanced much recently, a final match between the two would have been much more exciting than throwing everyone into the mix all at once. If anything, the bout helps to keep Jax in the title picture without hurting her credibility after a loss.

Perhaps Asuka's impending arrival will aid the whole division, but this match is more of a placeholder as everyone awaits the The Empress of Tomorrow's debut. The bout should be good but could also be a mess with too many moving parts.

Grade: C

Bray Wyatt vs. Finn Balor

The feud between Bray Wyatt and Finn Balor has had so many random bumps in the road it has caused a potential main event-caliber clash to fall by the wayside. This battle of the self-professed god and the man with a demon inside him should be wild and memorable, but the two have done little to give off that air.

Their SummerSlam match was good, but they had already wrestled one-on-one that same week, hurting the excitement for their first major clash. This second bout feels like a step back, with Balor seemingly not donning the paint and little work put in to add to the feud. It is hard to even say what these two are fighting over.

Despite this being only the third time these two will wrestle each other, it already feels like a tired clash. That is a shame because, on paper, this was a feud that could have been one of the best of the year. Even with all that said, Wyatt vs. Balor has the potential to be a quality match, and the two are popular enough that it is easy to get excited for even the tamest stories between them.

Until WWE ramps up the wildness with this pair, the excitement will likely not increase for a clash between them, but the match could still be a sleeper hit on this card.

Grade: C+

Intercontinental Champion The Miz vs. Jason Jordan

The Miz has been one of the best parts of Raw since changing brands in April and has elevated many lackluster stories over time. His conflict with Jason Jordan has been oddly built, with the two separated for a month as Jason Jordan faced off against various high-profile opponents and Miz talked down everyone on the roster.

Jordan is apparently ready to challenge the WWE intercontinental champion and won a No. 1 contender's match at the last minute to face Miz at No Mercy. While the feud has build stretching back before SummerSlam, with Miz repeatedly insulting Jordan's father, Kurt Angle, it was hardly built up for No Mercy. There has been a single week of setup for this clash.

Jordan is clearly a good wrestler and has been putting on strong performances on Raw, and Miz has not had a bad day on live television in what seems like years. Thus the two combine to make a fairly solid match that should have people talking regardless of its result.

The excitement for the bout may be a bit tempered though because of Jordan's inability to win over the fans since he debuted on Raw in July. His story as Angle's son was meant to change his status and help him rise to the top, but he has not proved himself worthy of that status yet. This match might help change fans' perceptions of him as a potential star.

Grade: C+

Raw Tag Team Champions Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins vs. Cesaro and Sheamus

Credit: WWE.com

SummerSlam 2017 was not a perfect show, but it was a fairly ideal WWE event once the bell rang for Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins vs. Cesaro and Sheamus, the first of a series of great matches that made all that came before look tame in comparison. Now the two are set to lock horns for a second time and potentially outshine their previous effort.

The feud has not advanced much since SummerSlam, though, with Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson frequently appearing, only to not be added to the match at No Mercy. The third-wheel team ended up getting a large enough spotlight to take away from any meaningful extra story this match could have been given.

Still, Ambrose and Rollins are major stars who are fun to watch together, and Cesaro and Sheamus have steadily improved as a unit to the point they are the best tag team wrestlers in the company. The standing of the teams and potential of a show-stealer are enough to make this the biggest match on the card outside of the main event clashes.

If this is the last time these two teams go to war, expect this to be one of the best tag team matches of the year.

Grade: B

John Cena vs. Roman Reigns

Credit: WWE.com

The prospect of seeing John Cena battle Roman Reigns is exciting on its own, a rare opportunity to witness a first-ever clash between two top stars. The conflict between the two has also been quickly established despite both being faces, with John Cena believing Reigns is not worthy of leading WWE while Reigns does not believe Cena has the right to decide who will lead the next generation.

The story is simple. The matchup is enticing. What is there not to be excited for? While the feud could get more complex down the line, there will only ever be one time these two men fight for the first time. That makes the hype for this battle bigger than it perhaps ever will be again. Still, it would have been nice to see a little more effort put into building the rivalry up.

These two have barely touched each other, and their animosity feels a bit unearned. Both men already garner mixed reactions, and the feud has done little to settle who the fans are supposed to root for. Reigns and Cena are going at each other at such a personal level in their promos that it hides a lack of actual storytelling depth.

Still, this is a dream match realized, and it could have had no story at all and still garnered universal excitement. It would be shocking if these two don't steal the show and put on a match-of-the-year contender.

Grade: A

Universal Champion Brock Lesnar vs. Braun Strowman

This match shows exactly how you should build a main event clash between titans, with the build beginning on the night after WrestleMania. Braun Strowman is the one man who was so completely unafraid of Brock Lesnar he immediately staked his claim for the Universal Championship the night after Lesnar won it.

If not for a shattered elbow that sidelined him for a few months, he likely would have been The Beast Incarnate's first challenger.

Other wrestlers stepped up and got in his way thereafter, allowing Strowman to further showcase his dominance, particularly in a Fatal 4-Way match at SummerSlam, where he nearly eliminated Lesnar from his own title match. Every time these two have brawled, Strowman has stood tall, looking like the bigger and badder man.

Paul Heyman, the champion's advocate, has repeatedly emphasized how dominant and intimidating Strowman is while Lesnar revels in the chance to face a true challenge. These monsters are ready to fight and destroy everything in their path. Not since his return to WWE in 2012 has anyone been a more interesting and compelling rival to Lesnar than Strowman.

It is hard to say who will walk out victorious, and it is even harder to say who deserves to walk out with the championship. Strowman may already be established, but this could well be Lesnar's moment to put over a young talent who could rule WWE for the next decade.

Grade: A+