WWE No Mercy 2008 Previews

At No Mercy, ECW Champion Matt Hardy defends his title against Mark Henry. Theirs is a rivalry forged in a champion’s quest to affirm his ultimate glory and a former champion’s hunt to reestablish his greatness.

Mark Henry dominated the Land of the Extreme from the moment he claimed ECW’s top prize. He stomped on top of the mountain as a dangerous champion, nearly impossible to defeat. To add fuel to the fire, The World’s Strongest Man enlisted WWE Hall of Famer Tony Atlas to stand beside him, a factor that tipped the scales even further in his favor during his first two defenses against Hardy. Hardy refused to give up, a quality that allowed him to rise up against the odds and claim the title in the ECW Championship Scramble at Unforgiven.

But, even with his heroic achievement, the fact remains that Matt Hardy has never pinned Mark Henry’s shoulders to the mat – neither in the Scramble Match nor in subsequent tag team competition since. If Hardy hopes to realize his dream of becoming the greatest ECW Champion of all time, he will first need to alleviate any doubt that he is at all weaker than his predecessor.  

Can the ECW Champion score a definitive victory and finally solidify his reign? Or will the scourge of The World’s Strongest Man return to ECW?

Matt retains the ECW Championship

World Heavyweight Championship No. 1 Contender Match: Batista v. JBL

While Chris Jericho’s World Heavyweight Championship is a prize that many WWE Superstars have their eyes on, there are two that have gone farther than anyone else in proving they are worthy of holding that coveted gold: Batista and JBL. At No Mercy, the WWE Universe will find out which of these athletes deserves a title opportunity, as The Animal squares off against the Longhorn Loudmouth to determine the No. 1 contender.

With Chris Jericho holding the most revered title on Raw, both Batista and JBL have made compelling cases for why they should have a title match against the World Heavyweight Champion. However, convening with Raw General Manager Mike Adamle, Jericho stated that neither of these dominant competitors was worthy of challenging him yet, and the decision was made to have the two mix it up, allowing the cream to rise to the top, with the winner going on to face Jericho at the very next pay-per-view.

Both of these former World Titleholders have struggled to seize championship gold since coming to Monday Night Raw, but in spite of their in-ring dominance, neither has been able to close the deal. Most recently, the two were included in a World Heavyweight Championship Scramble at Unforgiven, where late-entrant Chris Jericho snuck a win out from under Batista’s nose at the last possible moment, denying The Animal the gold for which he had fought so hard. Even before that, both Batista and JBL were gunning for then World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk, but to no avail, with the Straightedge Superstar managing to foil each of their attempts.

Batista wins and goes to face the World Champion at Cyber Sunday...hopefully

Big Show vs. Undertaker:

Two colossal Superstars, Big Show and Undertaker, will square off at No Mercy, and the fate of SmackDown may very well lay in the wake of their epic battle.

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