Hello everybody, and welcome to the very latest edition of Reading Between The Ropes. Fresh from my perfect score (PERFECT SCORE!) in my Unforgiven predictions, I now head towards the realms of Smackdown! to preview their exclusive October offering, No Mercy.
Before I begin, I must express my deed sadness at hearing the passing of Stu Hart over the weekend. What Jared said at the top of Swerve was perfect, so I will not add anything else except that the wrestling business lost someone very special in Stu Hart. Rest in peace, Stu.
Now, on to No Mercy. Who the hell is fighting at No Mercy? Let me go and check.
* runs off to the official No Mercy website *
This is by no means the strongest card that Smackdown! can put together and I cannot say that it really jumps out at me as being spectacular. Having brushed up my knowledge, I now offer you my brilliant No Mercy predictions.
BRILLIANT NO MERCY PREDICTIONS – WAHOO!
Matt Hardy Vs. Zach Gowen
ZACH GOWEN returned pretty damn quick from a “broken leg”. All the Gowen stuff confuses me. Nevermind, here comes Mattitude, and a return to PPV for the Hardyster is just what the SD! doctors ordered. Of course, they didn’t really order it, but if they could… they would have.
This match came together very late in proceedings, especially considering the Smackdown! team had two months to put this show together. I guess they needed to keep Gowen “injured” for as long as they could. However, a few interviews from home about the injury and other cool stuff could have built this one up without Gowen being good to go.
I think that this match is one of the tougher ones to call on the card. It could go either way. Gowen could really use a victory soon, however. I think that we may just see him go over Hardy tonight. Yeah, Gowen for me.
Cruiserweight Title: Tajiri Vs. Rey Mysterio Jnr.
Another heel turn for Tajiri, who never gets a run as a face or a heel that long it seems. I didn’t see how spraying mist in Nidia’s eyes built this match up on Smackdown!. I think, again, a better build up could have been achieved for this one.
As for the match itself? Well, it should be great, and I would love to see these two get an extended period of time for this one. This is another hard one to predict, but I’m going to go with instinct and predict a new champion. It’s a risky one, though.
Chris Benoit Vs. A-Train
This is such a pointless feud. where is this going? where is Benoit going? Chris Benoit is shat on repeatedly by the WWE and it is beginning to look like he will never get the title he so richly deserves.
I hope that Benoit pulls this one off, but I really am sceptical. Geesh, this is another match that is tough to call. Maybe my comment about Hardy-Gowen being one of the tougher matches to call was a bit inaccurate. There are a few hard ones here.
This is a difficult moose to tackle, and I’m not going to attempt to tackle it. Benoit in a match that I’m NOT excited about. Nice one WWE. Will Benoit get the nod over A-Train?… YES! What the hell. I’ll say he will anyway. I’m the 71st biggest Benoit fan in the world, ya know.
John Cena Vs. Kurt Angle
The best match on the card is THIS ONE RIGHT HERE if you ask me. And if you don’t ask me… I will tell you anyway. It seems like it is getting much less than top billing on this card. It is more like a mid-card match in terms of the way the others around it have had more attention. I hope this is not reflected in the time given for this match. I hope that these two go at it for 20 minutes. With only 7 matches on the card, I think that is a possibility.
The first time these two fought each other was on Smackdown! when Cena debuted, and that match was absolutely out-standing. I hope we see more of the same here, and I think we will. Of course, the style will be different with Cena playing the heel rather than the face like last time. Although, I do hear this PPV is near Cena’s “hood”, and that the crowd may be anti-Angle. I read that on the news pages, but I wasn’t sure if they were talking about the PPV or a match at a house show or even a Smackdown!. Oh well, I will stop exposing my frailties right now… IT IS A SUNDAY, AFTER ALL!!!
Will Cena over come Angle this time? I actually think he will get the job done. I can see that chain being used, maybe a few tights pulled, a few hair pulls… wait, Angle doesn’t have any hair. Oh damn.
US Title: Eddie Guerrero Vs. Big Show
This has got the desired build up. One of the few feuds on this card that has got enough attention. I think this can actually be a good match. Eddie and Show need to find some sort of chemistry and pattern in their match, and then this could work.
It could be a little vs. large style match, but I’m hoping that it offers more than that stereotyped style match-up. Guerrero could try and out-wit Show, only to at one point get caught in the big man’s grasp. Yes, I have positive vibes about this one.
As for a winner? Well, I think Show could have a run with the US Title, but I’m going to pick Eddie. This is another one which would go either way, and picking Eddie is risky, especially since he’s had a lot of the upper hand in the build up.
I Quit Match: Vince Vs. Stephanie
I have no desire to speak much on this match. Another feud with a lot of build up but, although that is normally good, in this type of match… it’s criminal. CRIMINAL… CRIMINAL.
The reason this is the first ever father-daughter match is because nobody has been stupid enough to book such a dumb match before. The way this has got the full attention of all the No Mercy ads is… CRIMINAL… CRIMINAL… criminal.
Vince will win. Steph will go off and get married. CRIMINAL!
Biker Chain WWE Title Match: Brock Lesnar Vs. The Undertaker
What a shite stipulation. I’m so uninspired about the stipulation that I’m like… something uninspired. These two met at last years No Mercy. Both are the same alignment (Brock – heel, ‘Taker – face), the challenger/champion positions are the same (Brock – defending, ‘Taker – challenging). Why do I want to see these two fight again? Also, this match is definitely not going to top the Hell in a Cell match these two had… so… WHY? WHY, WHY, WHY???
Lesnar goes from the big bully on Smackdown!, to the scared mongrel within every change of the wind. His character contradicts itself all the time. In this one we’ll see scared mongrel Brock, based on the build up. However, this will contradict last years match, where Lesnar was the man unafraid of the Dead Man.
Lesnar is not going to lose this match. I think we may see some interference, actually. I doubt Lesnar will go over in clean fashion. I don’t see a change of champion, but I also don’t see ‘Taker getting beat. However, somehow he will do.
Until next time, folkers… GOOD………………………NIGHT!
Mitchell L. Gadd
