I'm not really sure how I feel about "Stone Cold" Steve Austin's heel run, even after getting the opportunity to see plenty of his work from this year. On one hand, it does feel a bit strange, and the lack of established top faces for him to fight resulted in declining business and a general lack of interest from the fanbase. On the other hand, he's still incredible entertaining regardless of disposition, as evidenced by the build to the main event of this show. Austin won the WWF title back from Kurt Angle on an episode of SmackDown about two weeks after Unforgiven thanks to a betrayal from William Regal, who had jumped ship to The Alliance. Mick Foley was reinstated to his post as WWF Commissioner, quickly announcing a triple threat title match for No Mercy, with Austin defending against Angle and one of Steve's fellow Alliance members, perhaps the hottest rising star in the company, Rob Van Dam. This allowed the booking team to go back to what worked earlier in the year, as Austin descended into full-scale paranoia over the fear of losing his title, and it was great once again. Van Dam did assist Austin in a win over Angle, which led the champion to throwing a party in celebration, but RVD turned up late, stepping out of a limo after meeting with Vince McMahon. In a big brawl on the go-home show, Rob let his intentions be known, hitting Austin with a Five Star Frog Splash, setting him up as a tweener for the main event. Nothing about this build was particularly amazing, but it all came together really well to set up a very intriguing match, capitalizing on the popularity of Van Dam and the character work of Austin to get the audience invested, and it worked. I'm definitely ready to see these two massive egos clash in what promises to be a great match.
- No Mercy 2001 comes to you from the Savvis(now Enterprise) in St. Louis, Missouri, the home of the 2019 Stanley Cup Champions St. Louis Blues. It's also been the venue for a lot of big nights in WWE history, and has shown up twice on this blog already, hosting Badd Blood in 1997, which featured the first Hell in a Cell match, and Survivor Series 1998, which focused around the "Deadly Games" tournament. Because of the ties between the company and the venue, you can always expect a very good crown in attendance, and this is no different. Jim Ross and Paul Heyman are on the call.
- Our opening contest sees the Hardy Boyz, accompanied by Lita, defending their WCW tag straps against odd couple pairing Lance Storm and The Hurricane, who have their female allies, Ivory and Mighty Molly, cornering them. There's tons of talent in this ring so it's not a surprise that this was an entertaining start to the show, with the highflying antics of Jeff and Matt complementing the fun character work of Hurricane and crisp mat wrestling of Storm. Lita, Molly and Ivory all get involved, and Lita is really put over big, taking Molly out with ease and giving her boys a huge advantage by taking Storm down with a diving hurricanrana. Hurricane takes the Twist of Fate and the Swanton Bomb as the champions retain.
- There were definitely some talent on the roster that could've been used far better in the Invasion storyline, and perhaps no performer suffered as much as Kane. "The Big Red Machine" had always had a big role throughout the Attitude Era as one of the company's defining characters, but most of his 2001 was spent just backing up his brother. He's still doing more of that here, facing off with Test who cost Undertaker a match against Booker T, but at least it's a singles match that gives Kane a bit more of the spotlight. This one is a pure slugfest, just two hosses knocking lumps out of each other for 10 minutes, which is an environment where both Kane and Test thrive. Unfortunately, we don't get a decisive finish, as the focus is more on referee Nick Patrick, who ignores Test's illegal usage of the ring bell early in the match before preventing Kane from using a chair later on. This distraction allows Test to hit a low blow and blast Kane with a big boot for the victory. Once again, Kane really doesn't look great, though he does at least get to chokeslam Patrick a couple times afterward to a pop.
- I tell you who does look great, Stacy Keibler in black lingerie, holy sh**. I mean, her actual "match" with Torrie Wilson was absolutely awful, as all pure eye candy matches will always be, but I'm also a guy who can't ignore the facts. Fight me.
- Pretty much every match on this show has offered something wildly different to this point, and that trend continues here as Edge and Christian fight for the Intercontinental title in a Ladder match. Much like RVD vs Jeff Hardy at SummerSlam, this is a slower match that focuses on creative spots, and it's not bad even if it does break immersion to see these two warring brothers work together to make the spots possible. My favorite spot was also the most gimmicky one in the match, as Edge sets up a ladder bridge across two chairs, before splashing Christian, who was laying on top of the ladder, that looked brutal. Edge finally gets some revenge on his two-faced kayfabe brother, using a chair to low blow Christian and prevent the champion from retrieving his gold. He then manages to hit a Con-chair-to on Christian on top of the ladder in a well-executed spot and unhooking the belt. I'm not certain if this match or feud did a whole lot for either guy, and the action didn't really suit the supposed blood feud between the two characters, but it was still entertaining.
- As part of the feud between Torrie Wilson and Stacy Keibler, Wilson was put through a table by WWF tag team champions The Dudley Boyz, leading to her kayfabe boyfriend Tajiri seeking revenge, partnering up with Big Show to try and win the tag straps. Tajiri was on a hot streak at this time and once again puts in a good shift here, hitting a crisp plancha to the outside of both champions and getting a big pop for applying the Tarantula on D-Von. Tajiri misfires on the green mist, taking out the referee, which allows Rhyno to run in and Gore Big Show, making it essentially a handicap match. The challenger does get a very close near fall with his Buzzsaw Kick, but eventually falls to the 3D. This match mostly just existed as filler to get all four guys on the card, not a whole lot better than what you could see on an episode of Raw, but Tajiri at least made it exciting.
- As mentioned earlier, Booker T scored a win over The Undertaker with help from Test, setting up a grudge match here that has the potential to really elevate the five-time WCW Champion. Of course, that's not going to happen, because Undertaker will never job to anyone from Atlanta, but at least Booker fares better than DDP. This match mostly consists of brawling and both men trading offense, though at least the crowd is super invested, St. Louis loves the "American Badass". Booker appears to be closing in on victory, but takes too long posing in the corner after hitting several mounted punches, allowing Undertaker to finish him off with the Last Ride. I may not be a huge fan of Undertaker's work in this persona but I will always love that move, it might be my favorite finisher in wrestling. The elevation he gets on it and the sound when the victim hits the mat, it sounds like a car crash, what a way to end a match.
- Even though both The Rock and Chris Jericho are aligned with the WWF, tensions have risen between the two after an accidental chair shot by Y2J, and neither man's ego has allowed him to back down. Chris wants to finally gets his paws on a world title, and gets his chance here, challenging for the WCW Championship, which JR snidely notes he never got an opportunity to fight for during his tenure in WCW. There's not a lot of story for both guys to work off of, and nothing's really been booked for them to do here, so they just trade offense for the entire match. It is better than Undertaker-Booker though, if only for the performance of The Rock, who is going all out to make this one great, bumping his a** off and putting tons of effort into each offensive move. The drama really picks up after Jericho hits a Rock Bottom, then a Lionsault, for a terrific near fall. Jericho attempts the People's Elbow, but Rock rolls out of the way and locks in his terrible Sharpshooter. Chris finds the ropes but can't escape the champion's wrath, going through an announce table courtesy of a Rock Bottom and taking a spinebuster back in the ring. Now the champion looks for the People's Elbow, but Jericho trips up Rock and beautifully transitions into the Walls of Jericho to a massive pop, well deserved, that was some gorgeous wrestling. For some reason, Stephanie McMahon hops onto the apron, yelling at Jericho, which I guess angered Rock. He drags her into the ring and hits a Rock Bottom to an even bigger pop, I suppose he was just making sure Jericho would have no excuses for losing. But that decision backfires, as Jericho hits, of all things, a Skull Crushing Finale on the chair that Steph slid into the ring, claiming his first world title in controversial fashion. I didn't like this finish, Stephanie's interference was unneeded and it ruined the story they were telling with Jericho as a choke artist who couldn't win the big one, which still had some legs in it. Still, this was an intense and dramatic match, well worthy of a big showdown between two of the greats.
- Main event time, as Steve Austin defends his precious WWF title against Kurt Angle and Rob Van Dam. You would never expect a match involving these three guys to be bad, and this certainly wasn't, although it wasn't quite the classic I was hoping for. A common complaint about multi-man matches is the booking trope for two guys to work in the ring while the other competitors sell on the outside, essentially making it a normal singles match. I understand that gripe, but I actually though this match had the exact opposite problem, as all three guys were involved at all times and that made telling an interesting story very difficult. There's still plenty of good wrestling to enjoy, with everyone cycling through their best offense. RVD wipes out both the current and former champion with a big dive to the floor, leading to Vince McMahon making his way to ringside. Vince doesn't interact with Van Dam at all, instead helping Angle get back in the match. McMahon nails Austin with a chair shot, and RVD capitalizes by hitting the Frog Splash, but he can't make the cover. By the time he does hook the leg, Kurt makes the save. Angle, once again looking like an absolute monster, hits Van Dam with four straight German suplexes, before nailing an Angle Slam, but Shane O'Mac interferes. Shane takes out Angle before a charging Vince initiates a brawl, as Austin strikes at the opportune moment, dropping Rob with a Stunner to retain. Not a bad way to close the show but a tad underwhelming.
8/10
There's plenty to recommend from this show, as other than the Lingerie match, nothing was particularly awful and everything else was actually quite good. The best match was probably Jericho-Rock, though I think many fans might enjoy the Ladder match even more, and the main event could probably have it's supporters. Normally, when a card consists of at least two or three matches I enjoyed is one I can rate fairly highly, and No Mercy definitely qualifies.
Next time on Henry's Pay-Per-View Reviews: Survivor Series 2001, the end of the Invasion storyline as teams of WWF and Alliance wrestlers battle it out for ultimate control. See you soon.
- Henry
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