The period for the WWE after SummerSlam until the end of the calendar year has annually been described as “The Fall of The Fall”, as the National Football League begins and the ratings for both RAW and SmackDown usually dip. This causes the writers of both shows to basically “mail it in” and not come up with some great ideas because, well, hey not as many people are watching so we can just coast through the rest of the year.
This is definitely not the case this year.
The first post-SummerSlam, brand-exclusive pay-per-view, No Mercy, a RAW specific show has 2 massive main events, both literally and in the scope of the possible changing of the wrestling landscape with both being first time singles matches.
Despite there being a Universal Championship match between champion Brock Lesnar and challenger Braun Strowman, the top of the card is still occupied by Roman Reigns. He is facing a guy who has been there for the past 12 years, John Cena. Reigns’ position at the top still bores me, but he is the biggest heel in the company. Cena is as polarizing as anybody in the wrestling business, the only reasoning I can think is him being shoved down everybody’s throats years ago, although that is completely different now with Cena as he takes weeks and sometimes months off for various outside projects. In the past couple of years when Cena has returned, it has been to wrestle mid-card talent. The whole angle seemed to be rushed with no background when they had their first face-to-face the night after SummerSlam, but Cena’s promo work on Reigns, including some blistering work on Reigns not being able to be the “Big Dog” of WWE, so this is why Cena has to always come back, have turned this feud almost personal.
The 2nd monster main event (no pun intended) features “The Beast Incarnate”, WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar defending his championship in another first-time ever singles match with “The Monster Among Men” Braun Strowman. There is nobody who is as physically dominant in professional wrestling than these 2 men. I thought they could headline the show themselves, but I guess WWE still doesn’t think Strowman can handle the bright lights of headlining a show with Lesnar in the city of Los Angeles. Lesnar has been on much more than I expected since he had been a dormant champion for his previous title reign, which is another way that WWE is showing that fans should not take the fall off to watch football. Strowman has been booked perfectly in this situation as he has manhandled Lesnar every step of the way, and just missed winning the Universal Championship at SummerSlam. However, I don’t think a “B” show like No Mercy is the exact place to hand the ball off to Braun and see if he can run with it. He’s the most over talent in all of pro wrestling and his ascension to the top seems appropriate to cap off at a great WrestleMania main event title win, which is why I believe Lesnar will retain.
It may only be one show in September, but the card at No Mercy and the writers of RAW have certainly given me hope that this fall fans will be sticking with WWE programming instead of tuning into the new fall broadcast tv season or Monday Night Football. Now if only we can the people at SmackDown Live! to give us a better champion than Jinder Mahal. One can only hope.
Recent Comments