No Mercy (2017)

WWE pay-per-view and livestreaming event

8 min read

The 2017 No Mercy was a professional wrestling event produced by WWE. It was the 13th No Mercy and took place on September 24, 2017, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. The event aired via pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming and exclusively featured wrestlers from the promotion's Raw brand division. No Mercy was discontinued after the 2017 event as following WrestleMania 34 in 2018, WWE discontinued brand-exclusive PPVs, resulting in the reduction of yearly PPVs produced. In 2023, however, No Mercy was revived for WWE's developmental brand, NXT.

Eight matches were contested at the event, including one on the Kickoff pre-show. In the main event, Brock Lesnar defeated Braun Strowman to retain the Universal Championship. In another marquee match, Roman Reigns defeated John Cena. In other prominent matches, Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins defeated Cesaro and Sheamus to retain the Raw Tag Team Championship and Alexa Bliss defeated Bayley, Emma, Nia Jax, and Sasha Banks in a fatal five-way match to retain the Raw Women's Championship.

Production

Background

No Mercy was first held by WWE as a United Kingdom-exclusive pay-per-view (PPV) in May 1999. A second No Mercy was then held later that same year in October, but in the United States, which established No Mercy as the annual October PPV for the promotion until 2008. No Mercy was discontinued in 2009 but it was reinstated in October 2016 following the reintroduction of the brand extension. On May 11, 2017, the 2017 event was moved up to September and held on September 24 at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. It was the 13th No Mercy and in addition to airing on traditional PPV, it was available to livestream on the WWE Network. Tickets went on sale on July 15. While the 2016 event featured wrestlers exclusively from the SmackDown brand division, the 2017 event was Raw-exclusive.

Storylines

The event comprised eight matches, including one on the Kickoff pre-show, that resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw brand, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw and the cruiserweight-exclusive 205 Live.

At SummerSlam, Brock Lesnar defeated Braun Strowman, Roman Reigns, and Samoa Joe in a fatal four-way match to retain the Universal Championship. The following night on Raw, Lesnar's victory celebration with his advocate Paul Heyman was interrupted by Strowman, who attacked Lesnar with a Chokeslam and two Running Powerslams. Later on the show, a Universal Championship title match between the two was scheduled for No Mercy. The following week, Lesnar and Heyman issued a warning to Strowman. On the September 4 episode, after Strowman defeated Big Show in a Steel Cage match, Strowman also warned Lesnar before throwing Big Show through the cage. In a confrontation the following week, Lesnar attacked Strowman with a German Suplex but Strowman quickly performed a Chokeslam and Running Powerslam on Lesnar, hoisting the title over Lesnar. In a split-screen interview on the final Raw before No Mercy, Lesnar thanked Strowman for being a "great challenge", stating that is when he is at his best.

On the August 21 episode of Raw, John Cena made his return to the Raw brand due to his status as a free agent and called out Roman Reigns, who was the reason Cena came to Raw. Reigns came out to confront Cena, but they were interrupted by The Miz and Samoa Joe, resulting in a tag team match, in which Cena and Reigns defeated Miz and Joe. On August 28, a match between Cena and Reigns was made official for No Mercy. During the contract signing for the match that night on Raw, Cena immediately signed the contract while Reigns was more reluctant. After a heated worked shoot argument about Reigns being the new "John Cena" and the two not respecting each other, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson interrupted and challenged Reigns and Cena to an impromptu tag team match which Cena and Reigns won. The following week, Reigns confronted Cena, who had just defeated Jason Jordan, and wondered why a rookie gave the sixteen-time world champion a hard time. Reigns tried to goad Cena into a fight, but Cena refused and Reigns left, claiming that Cena did not back up his own words. The following week, Reigns defeated Jordan. Cena confronted Reigns, stating that Reigns also had a hard time defeating Jordan. On the final Raw before No Mercy, Reigns insulted Cena for being absent and compared him to The Rock, whom Cena had criticized for leaving WWE for Hollywood several years ago.

At SummerSlam, Sasha Banks defeated Alexa Bliss to win the Raw Women's Championship for a record tying fourth time. The following night on Raw, Bliss interrupted Banks' victory celebration to demand a rematch for the following week and teased Banks by pointing out that Banks had lost all her previous three championships in her first title defense. In the rematch, Bliss recaptured the championship. After the match, Nia Jax congratulated Bliss, but then attacked her, indicating her desire for a title match. The following week, Banks invoked her rematch clause for No Mercy. Jax and Emma, however, both confronted and demanded from General Manager Kurt Angle a championship match. Angle scheduled Jax and Emma to face Bliss and Banks in a tag team match where if they won, they would be added to the title match at No Mercy. Jax and Emma subsequently defeated Bliss and Banks to make the Raw Women's Championship match at No Mercy a fatal four-way match. The following week, Banks defeated Emma with Bliss and Jax on commentary. On the final Raw before No Mercy, Jax faced Bliss in a non-title match. Bliss tried to leave the ring, but was stopped by Banks and Jax defeated Bliss. After the match, Banks, Bliss, and the returning Bayley attacked Jax. Later that night, Bayley was added to the championship match, making it a fatal five-way match at No Mercy.

At SummerSlam, Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins captured the Raw Tag Team Championship from 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 that Ambrose and Rollins won. The following week, Cesaro defeated Rollins after being distracted by Sheamus, and Ambrose defeated Sheamus after Rollins got involved. Cesaro and Sheamus then invoked their rematch clause for No Mercy.

At SummerSlam, Finn Bálor, wrestling in his "Demon King" persona, defeated Bray Wyatt. A couple of weeks later on Raw, Wyatt, who was not involved in the match, caused Bálor's elimination from a battle royal to determine the number one contender for the Intercontinental Championship. The following week, Bálor addressed Wyatt's interference before he was confronted by Wyatt, who said that it was not Bálor, but the Demon King who defeated him at SummerSlam, and challenged "the real Finn Bálor" to a match at No Mercy, which Bálor accepted. On the September 11 episode, after Wyatt defeated Goldust, he attempted to wipe off Goldust's face paint, but Bálor came to the rescue and Wyatt retreated. The following week, Goldust, as Dustin Rhodes, was granted a rematch with Wyatt, but was unsuccessful. Afterwards, Bálor appeared on the TitanTron. He said that man had created demons, and asked Wyatt which one was more dangerous, and said Wyatt would find out at No Mercy.

On the SummerSlam Kickoff pre-show, Neville defeated Akira Tozawa to recapture the WWE Cruiserweight Championship. On the following episode of 205 Live, Tozawa was unsuccessful in a championship rematch. After the match, Enzo Amore, who was moved to the cruiserweight division, debuted on 205 Live and confronted Neville. After Amore, Cedric Alexander, and Gran Metalik won a six-man tag team match against Noam Dar, Drew Gulak, and Tony Nese, Neville informed the winners that they had qualified for a fatal five-way elimination match, which also included Nese and The Brian Kendrick, the following night on 205 Live. Amore won the match after last eliminating Alexander, and earned a title opportunity at No Mercy. The following week on Raw, after Braun Strowman attacked Amore, Neville came out and performed the Red Arrow on Amore. The following night on 205 Live, a confrontation between Amore and Neville ended with Amore attacking Neville with a low blow.

On the September 18 episode of Raw, Intercontinental Champion The Miz interrupted General Manager Kurt Angle, who was advertising No Mercy's two headlining matches. Miz complained that he was without a title defense for the second straight pay-per-view. Angle then scheduled a fatal four-way match involving Jeff Hardy, Matt Hardy, Elias, and Angle's (storyline) son Jason Jordan to determine Miz's challenger for No Mercy. Miz criticized Jordan's entry into the match, calling Angle a poor father and demanded for The Miztourage (Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel) to be added as well. After Jordan also insisted on this, Angle agreed, making it a six-pack challenge that Jordan ultimately won. After the match, The Miztourage and Miz attacked Jordan.

On September 22, a match between Apollo Crews and Elias was scheduled for the No Mercy Kickoff pre-show.