WWE No Mercy 2005

MNM VS Heidenreich, Road Warrior Animal & Christy Hemme
Christy was supposed to have a bad neck from taking the Snapshot a few days earlier, but didn’t show any signs of pain whatsoever. Heidenreich’s face paint makes him look like a big white Papa Shango (Remember him???). Not a lot to this match, but seeing Christy do the Doomsday Device was fun.
Match Rating: *

Simon Dean VS Bobby Lashley
The first thing that comes to mind when I see Bobby Lashley is that this guy is a genetic freak! Seriously, he looks like a cross between Brock Lesner and Monty Brown! And if they build him up right, WWE probably won’t need Lesner and Lashley will be the “next big thing”. The fans already respond well to the big man, and it’s too bad Teddy Long is the GM or he would have made the perfect manager for the guy.
The match itself was a total squash, with Lashley showing some inhuman power. He needs a better finisher than the Dominator though.
Match Rating: *

United States Title: Chris Benoit VS Booker T VS Christian VS Orlando Jordan
This was a good WWE style 4-way dance. It would have been more fun if they made it elimination rules.
Match Rating: **

Mr. Ken Kennedy VS Hardcore Holly
Kennedy’s classic ring announcer gimmick is really fun, but the match was very dull. Like Carlito on RAW, Kennedy has a good gimmick, but lousy in ring skills to make a match entertaining. Crowd only came alive for the ending spot when Kennedy hit a rolling Samoan drop off the top rope for the win.
Match Rating: *

John “Bradshaw” Leyfield VS Rey Mysterio
Damn, if not for that “deformity” on her face, Jillian Hall would be really hot!
The match itself was a pretty good big man vs little man match, and both men worked together well. The ending spot where JBL ducked the West Coast Pop and hit the Clothesline From Hell was pretty good too.
Match Rating: **

Handicap Casket Match: The Undertaker VS Randy Orton & “Cowboy” Bob Orton
They really should have saved this for the main event of the PPV seeing how the ended it with the casket being set on fire with the Undertaker in it. The match itself was pretty good also and was work rate worthy to be the main event.
Match Rating: **

WWE Cruiserweight Title: Juventud Guerrera VS Nunzio
Wow. A Cruiserweight title match on PPV. Juventud looked really sloppy and the match also seemed too one sided. It just didn’t seem like Juvi was protecting Nunzio much when hitting his big moves. And why would Big Vito actually back down from two cruiserweights? The crowd was rather silent for this one to up until the finish when Juvi hit the Juvi-Driver to win the title. Maybe now they can push Nunzio & Vito into the tag division.
Match Rating: *

Heavyweight Title: Batista VS Eddie Guerrero
This was good, just not PPV quality good. They played up Eddie wanting to cheat but not doing it too many times throughout the match. The ending of the match itself was also rather sudden and the whole darn thing could just have been done much better than it was here. At the end of it one would also have expected Eddie to finally snap and go back to his psychotic self, but it didn’t happen, leaving the PPV ending rather flat. Which is why I say the Casket Match should have been the main event.
Match Rating: *1/2

Overall: If you read elsewhere that this PPV was like a 3 hour Smackdown without all the promos, than they were right! Hate to say it, but 2 of WWE’s worse PPVs of the year fall in the Smackdown camp now.