No Mercy 2006

Gregory Helms vs Matt Hardy
Both guys fail to get an advantage early on, which backs up JBL's claim that they are like carbon copies of each other. Thus Helms has to use aggressive tactics to take over, with a vicious kick to back. Hardy fires back, and nails a pescado to the outside. Helms comes backwith a 2nd rope legsweep. I really like the palpable send of hate here, as inbetween moves both guys are happy to lay in a nasty blow, like Helms punching Hardy in the back following a failed pin attempt. A nice meaty mid-ring slugfest even has JBL going "Wow" as Hardy floors Helms with a big right. Hardy gots for the Twist of Fate, but Helms reverses to hit a neckbreaker. He nails the same moves two more times, but is caught going up top with a Side Effect. Hardy then copies Helms by hitting 2 more Side Effects, but also like Helms makes the mistake of going up top and meets knees on a moonsault. Carbon copies, see? I really like the way this is so back and forth, rather than one man maintaining an advantage, as it again backs up how even they are. Helms nails a top rope Shining Wizard, but Hardy gets a foot on rope. The ending is pretty choice too as it plays back to the Smackdown matches that had lead here. In those, both had picked up wins via low blows when the ref was distracted. Here, the referee moves out of the way as Hardy is pushed towards him, but Matt blocks the low blow attempt from Helms, and nails the Twist of Fate to win. Really hot opener.

Brian Kendrick & Paul London vs KC James & Idol Stevens
Both teams have females management: Ashley with Kendrick and London, and Michelle McCool with James & Stevens. Interesting that Stevens is the only one of the 6 still on WWE TV. Londrick dominate proceedings early, whilst JBL heavily puts them over on commentary. Stereo dives pop the crowd. However, London takes a nasty bump getting pushed off the top by James to give the heels advantage. Stevens and James take it in turns to lock holds on London on the mat, building up some crowd sympathy. They also work a proper heat section on London, holding him by the leg in their corner to stop him getting the tag to Kendrick then, when London looks like getting the tag, knocking Kendrick off the apron. I love it, and so does JBL. Kendrick gets the hot tag eventually, but his Sliced Bread attempt is blocked by Stevens shaking the rope as he tries it. London takes Stevens out in turn with an insane suicide dive. These two teams just have terrific chemistry together, and you wonder why Stevens and James didn't last on the main roster. Londrick get the win after a frantic final few minutes, hitting Sliced Bread on James, followed by a London shooting star from Kendrick's back for the win. Great match.

MVP vs Marty Garner
This is MVP's debut. JBL is apoplectic. MVP's arrogant strutting is quite enjoyable, but this is obviously a squash. Garner doesn't really get any offence in before MVP nails him with a vicious lariat and the Play of the Day to win. The ranting from JBL is the most entertaining thing about this match.

The Undertaker vs Mr Kennedy
Slightly hard to find the Undertaker as intimidating as usual as his fake tan starts running down his head at the start of the match. Taker starts working over the arm of Kennedy early, with him hoisting Kennedy up in the air by the arm being particularly impressive. Kennedy manages to block Old School by armdragging Taker off the top. Kennedy's selling of the arm is remarkably consistent, though he does try punching Taker with the bad arm which leads to Taker Flatlining him. In the midst of all the arm-offence, Kennedy does manage to take a turnbuckle pad off. When he does get on offence, Kennedy is nicely vicious, but makes the mistake of trying to get his breath back, giving Taker time to regain control. You get the impression Kennedy is putting in some real effort here, knowing what an opportunity this match is. Certainly, he seems a lot less half-arsed as he has done in recent years. Problem is that when Kennedy is on offense, it's a bit dull. His offence here is mainly based around kicks and hammering Taker in the corner. It's done with intent, but doesn't exactly enthrall the audience or myself. Piledriver from Kennedy (daftly called a Tombstone by Michael Cole) gets 2, and Kennedy reacts by pounding Taker in the face in frustration. It's like he's really selling the story of the match well (cocky upstart desperate to beat legend), but his offence isn't good enough to match up. In the middle of his hottest spell of offence, he puts on a resthold and the match cools down again. Taker hits a chokeslam, but Kennedy is able to reverse the Last Ride and ram Taker's head into that exposed turnbuckle. I'd forgotten all about that, which made for a nice little surprise. Swanton Bomb gets two for Kennedy. Kennedy tries to nail Taker with the US title, but Taker blocks it and uses it on Kennedy instead, giving Kennedy the DQ win. All that for such a shitty finish. Really out of nowhere considering Taker had just done the zombie situp and looked ready to win. Story of the match was better than the work within.

Rey Mysterio vs Chavo Guerrero
This is a falls count any match. We get some brawling to start, though it really isn't either mans forte. After a nasty dual bump to the floor from the top rope, Chavo takes over on the outside, which works because he's a bit better at looking aggressive. Rey hits a rana from the ring entrance, but it's really stifling to both guys to work this kind of match. A lot of the offence on the outside involves finding different ways to hurt the opponent on the guardrails, which these two are better than. At least Chavo catching Rey in a wheelbarrow and swinging him into the barricades and chairs is fun. After some mediocre brawling in the crowd, Rey hits a 619 from a staircase and pins Chavo following a crossbody the same stairs. Not the best match from these two.

William Regal vs Chris Benoit
Regal has been involved in some backstage hijinks trying to find Finlay and getting himself in trouble, leading to Teddy Long booking him against a mystery opponent. This is Benoit's return match following an extended break. Some of the opening matwork is superb, as both guys make it look like they're really working for the holds. They exchange blows and Christ, Benoit's chops sound like gunshots. You can hear the connection when Benoit headbutts Regal, which is unnerving in hindsight. Regal is busted open from this. They continue in much the same manner as you'd expect, with battles over matwork and some nasty stiff shots. Benoit even chops Regal directly on the head wound. Benoit hits a Dragon Suplex on Regal and locks in the crossface to win. Typically good match from these two as you'd expect, but with some of the stiffness involved, quite hard to watch with the knowledge we have now.

King Booker vs Finlay vs Batista vs Bobby Lashley
This is a fatal-fourway match for the World Heavyweight title. Finlay wisely bails early to let the faces dominate Booker, though he swiftly returns to help the King isolate Batista. Predictably we soon get segments when two guys are down, from moves which normally wouldn't stun them, leaving two men to go at it. Booker vs Lashley actually works well thanks to Booker selling and making Lashley look decent. Finlay soon turns on King Booker and then takes out Batista leaving him 1-on-1 against Booker. Finlay starts to dismantle Booker, then takes over on Batista when he returns. Got to love Batista trying to break an armbar by Samoan dropping Finlay, only for Finlay to hold on to the arm and retain the hold. Even better is Lashley trying to make the save, only for Finlay to start working on his leg. Lashley still moves around the ring really awkwardly, which makes his offence look a bit weaker than it should, so it's quite funny when Hornswoggle appears from nowhere to punch him in the nuts as he prepares to hit a Spear. We get to a point where we've got Batista vs Lashley left in the ring, which gets almost no reaction until Dave spears Lashley. Clearly they don't care about Lashley. That said, their segment is quite fun, as two massive men throw bombs at each other, including a nice overhead suplex by Lashley. Big Dave soon takes everyone down with spinebusters, then Batistabomb's Finlay, but Lashley comes out of nowhere with a huge spear on Batista and Booker steals the pin. Seems like a bit of a dick move by Lashley really. None of this was dull, and some of it was even good, but none of it was memorable. Really, there was no match structure, just decent segments bolted together.