WWE No Mercy is back with NXT’s next special event, after taking place between 1999 and 2008 and in 2016 and 2017. Implemented in 1999, No Mercy even had two editions in its debut year, one in May, in the United Kingdom, and the second in October, in the United States, where the pay-per-view was held annually between 1999 and 2008 and in 2016 and 2017. Now, in 2023, it resurfaces as a premium NXT event.
From the second edition, in 1999, to the 12th, in 2016, the event has always taken place in October. However, in 2017 it took place at the end of September, which will be repeated this year. Between 2003 and 2006 and in 2016 No Mercy was exclusive to SmackDown, while in 2017 the exclusivity belonged to Raw.
No Mercy will have its 14th edition this Saturday, September 30, in Bakersfield, in the US state of California. It’s therefore worth checking out our list of the ten best fights in No Mercy history, in chronological order.
No Mercy 1999; Ladder match for Terri Runnels’ management services and $100,000:
The New Brood (Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy) vs. Edge & Christian
Until July 1999, Edge and Christian were part of The Brood, a stable led by Gangrel, but the group’s leader attacked Edge and also ended up losing Christian’s company , later allying with the Canadians’ rivals, The Hardy Boyz , forming the The New Brood .
In late September, Terri Runnels organized the Terri Invitational Tournament, which consisted of a series of best-of-five matches between The New Brood and Edge & Christian . The winners, in addition to Terri Runnels’ management services , would receive $100,000.
At the start of this series, on SmackDown! On September 30, Edge and Christian won the first match of the tournament. Four days later, on Monday Night Raw , the Canadians emerged victorious again. However, the Hardy Boyz added two more victories and took the decision to the fifth match, which was decided to be a Ladder match , the first between two teams in WWE, at the PPV No Mercy.
No Mercy 2001 – WCW Championship:
The Rock (c) vs. Chris Jericho
At SummerSlam 2001, The Rock defeated Booker T to win the WCW Championship, at a time when the storyline that became known as The Invasion was taking place , in which a faction of wrestlers representing WCW and ECW faced a faction representing the WWF , after the WWF acquired WCW and ECW in March and April 2001, respectively.
However, The Rock defended the title against Rhyno on Raw is War on August 27 and against Booker T and Shane McMahon in a handicap match at Unforgiven.
On the October 8 edition of Raw, Shane McMahon, who was the owner of WCW, announced that he would team up with Rob Van Dam against Chris Jericho and The Rock . McMahon and Van Dam won the match after RVD settled on The Rock , who was accidentally hit by a chair shot from Jericho . After the fight, The Rock confronted Y2J backstage , but was attacked by Jericho . Three days later, on SmackDown! , Jericho beat Rob Van Dam to become the top contender for the WCW Championship at the No Mercy pay-per-view .
No Mercy 2001; WWF Championship :
Stone Cold Steve Austin (c) vs. Kurt Angle vs. Rob Van Dam
At Unforgiven, Kurt Angle beat Steve Austin to win the WWF Championship in a highly charged emotional night Post-9/11 Terror Attacks.
On the October 4 episode of SmackDown! , Rob Van Dam defeated Angle to give Austin the opportunity to fight for the title, which happened four days later on Raw , where Stone Cold regained the WWF Championship with the help of commissioner William Regal, who thus betrayed Angle and joined to The Alliance. On SmackDown! On October 11th, RVD lost a fight against Chris Jericho due to interference from Steve Austin , which led to RVD confronting Stone Cold .
However, WWF CEO Linda McMahon removed William Regal as commissioner, and it was later revealed that the Briton’s successor would be Mick Foley , who scheduled a triple threat match between champion Steve Austin , Rob Van Dam and Kurt Angle to o No Mercy, with the WWF Championship on the line.
No Mercy 2002; WWE Tag Team Championship (Finals):
Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit vs. Edge and Rey Mysterio
After the brand extension , the original WWE World Tag Team Championship ended up becoming exclusive to Raw , leaving SmackDown! without any tag team titles . That being said, the General Manager of the blue brand , Stephanie McMahon, implemented the WWE Tag Team Championship and organized an eight-team tournament to determine the inaugural champions, with the final scheduled for No Mercy 2002.
The unlikely teams from Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit , who eliminated Billy Kidman and John Cena in the quarterfinals and Los Guerreros in the semis; and from Edge and Rey Mysterio , who put away Brock Lesnar and Tajiri in the quarters and Reverend D-Von and Ron Simmons in the semis.
No Mercy 2003; Kurt Angle vs. John Cena
On the September 18, 2003 episode of SmackDown! , Kurt Angle lost the WWE Championship to Brock Lesnar , in an Iron Man match. A week later, Angle tried to call Lesnar to the ring to demand a rematch, but John Cena appeared , who attacked Angle .
On the October 2 episode, Cena and Lesnar beat the team of Angle and The Undertaker , after Cena hit Angle with a chain. The following week, Cena and Angle they took part in a rap battle , in which they insulted each other before engaging in physical confrontations.
No Mercy 2007; Last Man Standing match for the WWE Championship :
Triple H (c) vs. Randy Orton
Six days before No Mercy, John Cena suffered a chest injury during a fight with Mr. Kennedy and was forced to hand over the WWE Championship , and his duel against Randy Orton on pay-per-view was cancelled . However, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon announced that a new WWE Champion would be crowned at No Mercy.
At the start of the pay-per-view , Vince McMahon and Raw General Manager William Regal awarded the WWE Championship to Randy Orton , who was informed that he would have to defend the title that night. That said, Triple H went to the ring and challenged Orton for a title match , a challenge that Orton rejected. However, Vince McMahon accepted Triple H ‘s proposal and scheduled the match, which ended with The Game winning and subsequently winning the title , after a roll-up .
However, moments later Vince McMahon informed Triple H backstage that the match The Game had scheduled against Umaga would go ahead, with the additional stipulation that the WWE Championship would be on the line. And Triple H won, following a Pedigree .
After the match, while Triple H was icing his ribs, Vince McMahon informed him that Randy Orton had triggered the rematch clause and scheduled a Last Man Standing match for that night, once again with the title on the line.
No Mercy 2008 – WWE Championship :
Triple H (c) vs. Jeff Hardy
On the September 12, 2008 episode of SmackDown , Jeff Hardy won a Fatal-Four Way match featuring The Brian Kendrick, Shelton Benjamin and Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP) to become the top contender for Triple H ‘s WWE Championship . In the previous ten months, Hardy had beaten Triple H at Armageddon 2007, while The Game eliminated Hardy to secure victory in the Raw Elimination Chamber match at No Way Out 2008.
No Mercy 2008; Ladder match for the World Heavyweight Championship :
Chris Jericho (c) vs. Shawn Michaels
After winning and consequently ending Ric Flair’s career at WrestleMania XXIV , Shawn Michaels was confronted on different days by Batista and Chris Jericho , who accused HBK of selfishness.
A match between Michaels and Batista was then scheduled for Backlash , but on Monday Night Raw on April 14, HBK and Jericho faced each other again. Y2J said it wouldn’t be surprising if it had been Michaels who suggested to Vince McMahon the idea of Ric Flair stepping down, and then Michaels exploded and gave him a Superkick . Frustrated, Jericho asked Regal to be included in the Backlash match and the Brit assigned him the role of guest referee.
At Backlash , Michaels defeated Batista , but at one point appeared to suffer an injury to his left knee. On Raw on April 28, Jericho accused Michaels of faking the injury to catch Batista off guard and beat him, something HBK denied.
The following week, a duel between Jericho and Michaels was scheduled for Judgment Day. On Raw on May 12, Y2J apologized to HBK for accusing him of suffering an injury and gave him the opportunity to withdraw from the fight, but Michaels revealed that he actually faked the knee injury. At Judgment Day, Michaels won and they both shook hands afterwards.
Meanwhile, Shawn Michaels once again became involved in a rivalry with Batista , who beat him in a Stretcher match at One Night Stand. Later, on June 9, Chris Jericho invited Michaels to his talk show , The Highlight Reel, highlighted that the fans continued to support HBK and boo Jericho despite him doing what was right and then threw Michaels against a television screen, causing damage to his rival’s eye.
At the time, Chris Jericho was the intercontinental champion and defended the title at Night Of Champions against Kofi Kingston, having lost after Shawn Michaels caused him a distraction.
This led to another match between Jericho and Michaels , this time at The Great American Bash . Y2J From the beginning of the duel he sought to cause damage to his opponent’s eye, benefiting from the help of Lance Cade, which at one point caused the referee to consider Michaels unable to continue, declaring Chris Jericho the winner.
After several weeks away, Shawn Michaels went to the ring during SummerSlam and, together with his wife, Rebecca, announced his withdrawal. Jericho interrupted him and, when trying to hit Michaels with a punch, he accidentally ended up hitting Rebecca. A week later, on Monday Night Raw , Michaels announced that he was no longer withdrawing and challenged Jericho for an Unsanctioned match at Unforgiven, having won after the referee declared that Y2J no longer had a chance to defend himself.
However, the night wasn’t over yet for Chris Jericho , who was invited to replace CM Punk – who had been attacked by Randy Orton – in the Scramble match for the World Heavyweight Championship and ended up winning the match, becoming world champion. A week later, on Monday Night Raw on September 15, it was announced that Chris Jericho would defend the title against Shawn Michaels in a ladder match . in No Mercy.
No Mercy 2016; Title vs. Career – WWE Intercontinental Championship :
The Miz (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler (If Ziggler lost, he would be forced to retire)
On the August 23 episode of Talking Smack , Intercontinental Champion The Miz was involved in a bitter exchange of words with general manager Daniel Bryan , who accused him of fighting like a coward, afraid of getting hurt.
On the following week’s edition of SmackDown , Dolph Ziggler confronted The Miz and challenged him to a match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship , which Daniel Bryan booked for Backlash .
At that pay-per-view , The Miz retained the belt after his wife, Maryse, pepper-sprayed Ziggler in the face.. And two weeks later, The Miz beat Ziggler again after using the spray again.
The week that followed, Ziggler announced that he would put his career on the line if The Miz gave him another opportunity for the title , something that the intercontinental champion accepted, and a match between the two was scheduled for No Mercy .
However, until the event The Miz was playing some mind games , remembering the times when Ziggler was part of the Spirit Squad, bringing two other members of the faction, Mikey and Kenny, to SmackDown , who attacked their former teammate.
No Mercy 2017; WWE Raw Tag Team Championship :
Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins (c) vs. Cesaro & Sheamus
At SummerSlam 2017, Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins won the WWE Raw Tag Team Championship that belonged to Cesaro and Sheamus . The following night on Raw , The Hardy Boyz (Jeff Hardy and Matt Hardy) congratulated Ambrose and Rollins and challenged them to a non- title match , which Ambrose and Rollins won.
A week later, Cesaro defeated Rollins after he was distracted by Sheamus and Ambrose beat Sheamus after interference from Rollins . That same night, Cesaro and Sheamus invoked the rematch clause for No Mercy .
On the September 11 episode of Raw , a tag team match between Cesaro and Sheamus and Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson failed to start when both teams got involved in a brawl with Ambrose and Rollins , who were at the table. of commentators. This led to an eight-man tag team match, with Ambrose , Rollins and The Hardy Boyz defeating Cesaro , Sheamus, Gallows and Anderson.
The following week, Cesaro and Sheamus accused Ambrose and Rollins from using each other. That night, the Swiss and the Irish beat Ambrose and Rollins and Gallows and Anderson in a triple threat tag team match.