WWE No Mercy 2017 Matches: Latest Picks, Including John Cena vs. Roman Reigns
As WWE Raw's first exclusive pay-per-view event since Great Balls of Fire, WWE No Mercy 2017 on Sept. 24 will host one of the most star-studded cards all year. Between the top two main events and the solid undercard, it should prove to be an entertaining event on the whole.
WWE deserves credit for building up Brock Lesnar vs. Braun Strowman and John Cena vs. Roman Reigns extraordinarily well in recent weeks and billing them as WrestleMania-worthy matchups. If both bouts manage to deliver, No Mercy will surely be considered a success.
This year's installment will also see the Raw Women's Championship defended in a Fatal 5-Way match where any one of the women could walk out with the title in tow. Similar to current Raw women's champion Alexa Bliss, Jason Jordan will have the odds stacked against him as well when he vies for the Intercontinental Championship against The Miz with The Miztourage in his corner.
Additionally, more titles will be up for grabs as Neville puts his WWE Cruiserweight Championship on the line versus Enzo Amore and Sheamus and Cesaro contend for Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose's Raw Tag Team Championship. Finally, Finn Balor and Bray Wyatt will settle their score once and for all in their third one-on-one encounter.
Ahead of the anticipated event, let's look at the updated card* for No Mercy and predict who will reign supreme in each matchup.
*Not including Kickoff show match between Apollo Crews and Elias.
Neville vs. Enzo Amore (WWE Cruiserweight Championship)
1 of 7
After scoring a victory versus Big Cass on the Aug. 21 edition of Raw, Enzo Amore immediately set his sights on Neville's WWE Cruiserweight Championship. Although he picked up a handful of wins early on in his stint on 205 Live, including one in a Fatal 5-Way matchup, he has been beat down time and time again by the likes of The Miz, Strowman and Neville himself.
If it wasn't already apparent, Amore is far from a credible challenger to the cruiserweight title and has no business being a part of the division. Despite being portrayed as obnoxious on WWE TV, he has somehow remained popular with the audience, but that doesn't make up for his lack of skills in the ring.
Meanwhile, Neville has been on an incredible roll as champion this year, running rampant over the entire cruiserweight roster. Save for the one loss to Akira Tozawa last month, he has been undefeated, so to think The Realest Guy in the Room has a chance of dethroning him is laughable.
It is worth noting that Amore has displayed heel tendencies lately by cheating to become the No. 1 contender to the championship and hitting Neville with a low blow last Tuesday night. There is a remote possibility of him taking the title and holding it hostage as a heel, but Neville is much more deserving of that top spot at the moment.
Neville squashing Amore at No Mercy is absolutely the right call, and the shorter this contest is, the better.
Prediction: Neville retains the WWE Cruiserweight Championship.
Finn Balor vs. Bray Wyatt
2 of 7
At SummerSlam, it looked as if Finn Balor had finished up his feud with Bray Wyatt when he defeated him in decisive fashion. Unfortunately, it wasn't long after that Wyatt resurfaced and cost Balor a shot at the Intercontinental Championship, rekindling their rivalry in the process.
It would have been one thing if the program were compelling, but it has instead failed to define either character. Both of their bouts last month were solid yet not spectacular enough to warrant a rematch at the No Mercy pay-per-view.
Balor has mostly been spinning his wheels since returning to the ring earlier this year and should be higher on the card. Meanwhile, Wyatt hasn't been interesting for ages, and nothing he is involved in ever seems to serve a purpose.
The best thing for Balor and Wyatt right now is for this feud to end at No Mercy so they can start to build momentum again on their own. Balor would be a perfect fit for the Intercontinental Championship picture, while Wyatt must evolve his stagnant persona by either turning face or taking time off from TV.
Needless to say, Balor will have more to offer for the foreseeable future and therefore should score a second straight victory versus Wyatt.
Prediction: Finn Balor wins.
Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose vs. Sheamus and Cesaro (Raw Tag Team Championship)
3 of 7
Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose were responsible for one of WWE's hottest stories this summer when they gradually began to trust each other again and put their differences aside in favor of a shared goal: becoming the Raw tag team champions.
Sure enough, they were successful in their pursuit of the titles and have since embarked on a dominant reign as champions. It was expected that their feud with Sheamus and Cesaro would continue beyond SummerSlam, and the boost of star power has helped bolster Raw's tag team scene.
Prior to partnering up again, Rollins and Ambrose were largely directionless, and this tag title run has given them new life, so their holding the straps at least through the remainder of 2017 would be for the best. Sheamus and Cesaro can either wreak havoc elsewhere in the division or go their separate ways.
That said, Sheamus and Cesaro could regain the gold at No Mercy solely to keep the rivalry going and to build to a blockbuster bout at TLC next month. There, the former Shield members could take back the belts in even more monumental fashion before The Revival resurfaces to challenge them.
Either result would work, but I predict Rollins and Ambrose will maintain their possession of the twin titles for quite some time. This rematch from SummerSlam should be every bit as enjoyable as the original.
Prediction: Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose retain the Raw Tag Team Championship.
The Miz vs. Jason Jordan (Intercontinental Championship)
4 of 7
Back in July, Jason Jordan was revealed to be Raw general manager Kurt Angle's long-lost son and appeared to be next in line for an Intercontinental Championship match. However, his feud with The Miz was quietly cut short as he looked to prove himself against each of Raw's top-tier talents, including John Cena, Roman Reigns and Finn Balor.
Despite eating defeat every time, Jordan remained resilient, eventually earning himself a shot at the intercontinental title with a win in the main event of Raw this past week. He was then immediately laid out by The Miz and The Miztourage, so momentum won't exactly be on his side come Sunday's No Mercy event.
At some point, Jordan could be a strong intercontinental champion, but he is far from being on that level yet due to how oddly booked his push has been this summer. He still lacks that connection with the audience, and without it, he will be considered a significant step down from Miz as champion right now.
There is no doubt that they can contest a great match together, but this must be the beginning of a longer story with Jordan. Rushing his ascent to the top will cause fans to resent him even more, but if the plan is to turn him heel sooner rather than later, perhaps that would work out.
Currently, that doesn't seem to be the case, so Miz should hold on to the gold until an equally popular star comes along to beat him for it.
Prediction: The Miz retains the Intercontinental Championship.
Alexa Bliss vs. Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax vs. Emma vs. Bayley (Raw Women's Title)
5 of 7
As convoluted as the Raw Women's Championship picture has been this year, the one constant has been Alexa Bliss at the top of the totem pole. Although she lost the title to Sasha Banks at SummerSlam, she regained the gold eight days later on Raw and has been riding high ever since.
However, she will have four different challengers at No Mercy, thus drastically decreasing her chances of coming out on top with the title intact. The odds will certainly not be in her favor, but the fact remains that she must still be in possession of the prestigious prize after Sunday.
Bayley returned to Raw last Monday and was inserted into the match after not receiving her rightful shot at SummerSlam, so she could capture the gold and kick off her anticipated program with Banks. However, Bliss only recently took the belt back and should not be dropping it any time soon.
Furthermore, it has already been confirmed that Asuka is on her way to Raw, and it's safe to assume she will be gunning for the gold immediately upon her arrival. Nia Jax isn't ready for a run with the title yet, and Emma is hardly a threat, not to mention that Asuka has beaten both of them before.
Bliss is the best choice to continue carrying the division for the rest of 2017, and once she escapes this Fatal 5-Way unscathed, she will have an even tougher challenge to deal with in the form of Asuka.
Prediction: Alexa Bliss retains the Raw Women's Championship.
John Cena vs. Roman Reigns
6 of 7
When John Cena resurfaced on Raw for the first time in over a year on the Aug. 21 episode, he wasted no time in announcing his intentions to face Roman Reigns. The dream match was then signed for No Mercy, and in the weeks since then, they have engaged in heated verbal battles with Cena getting the last word every time.
Aside from his latest promo on Raw (where Cena was not present), Reigns has been made to look fairly inferior to Cena on each occasion they have come face-to-face. The only way to justify that is if the plan is for Reigns to beat Cena in their upcoming clash, as he should.
It's unknown what Cena's schedule will look like beyond No Mercy, but regardless of whether he will be around, he should put over Reigns on his way out. Further damage will be done to Reigns' credibility as a full-time member of the roster if he can't defeat Cena, who wrestles on a part-time basis these days.
Let's not overlook the option of booking a non-finish that could protect both guys and lead to a rematch down the road. After all, this is a WrestleMania-worthy matchup and would be best blown off on the grandest stage of them all with Cena passing the proverbial torch to Reigns.
Considering WrestleMania marked the last time he won a match on pay-per-view, Reigns should emerge victorious against Cena in their initial outing.
Prediction: Roman Reigns wins.
Brock Lesnar vs. Braun Strowman (Universal Championship)
7 of 7
Brock Lesnar has been booked to be an unstoppable force since coming back to WWE in 2012, and even those who have conquered him (such as Goldberg) were eventually vanquished. That said, he has never been positioned as an underdog before, and he might have finally met his match in Braun Strowman.
The handful of face-to-face confrontations these two have had have been nothing short of sensational, with Strowman laying out The Beast Incarnate each time. As well as they have built up Strowman, it remains to be seen whether WWE will go ahead and pull the trigger on a title win for him.
If WWE wanted to transition the title from Lesnar onto someone else, the company would have done so at SummerSlam when Lesnar fought in a Fatal 4-Way and didn't have to be pinned. It's unlikely that the Monster Among Men will be the one to slay Lesnar, but now is as good of a time as any to try something new and run with Strowman as the main attraction on Raw.
Worse yet, assuming Lesnar retains the title at No Mercy, he is bound to be off WWE programming until at least the Royal Rumble in January. That leaves Raw's top talent without anything to fight for, but that doesn't necessarily mean WWE will stray away from their original plans with Lesnar defending at WrestleMania 34 in order to rectify that issue.
Strowman should have a strong showing against Lesnar, but it won't be enough to dethrone him as universal champion.
Prediction: Brock Lesnar retains the Universal Championship.
Graham Mirmina, aka Graham "GSM" Matthews, is an Endicott College alumnus and aspiring journalist. Visit his website, Next Era Wrestling, and "like" his official Facebook page to continue the conversation on all things wrestling.
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