Review of WWE: No Mercy 2005

Introduction

Emanating from the Toyota Centre in Houston, Texas (the first time that this venue has been used for a WWE supercard) on 9th October 2005, No Mercy played host to the last pay-per-view performance of Eduardo "Eddie" Guerrero, who tragically died on November 15th. He had just turned 38.

Guerrero was a second-generation wrestler, the son of Gori Guerrero, who was tremendously popular in Mexican Lucha Libre wrestling for many years, whilst never truly making the crossover into American wrestling. Eddie travelled extensively during his career, working for the AAA promotion in Mexico, New Japan Pro Wrestling, Extreme Championship Wrestling, World Championship Wrestling, and World Wrestling Entertainment.

Although he eventually "cleaned up", and claimed to have been sober for the last four years of his life, Guerrero`s brilliance in American wrestling rings was almost overshadowed by his addictions away from it. At various points, Guerrero had abused painkillers, recreational drugs, anabolic steroids, and alcohol, all of which contributed considerably to the heart attack which killed him.

However, to ignore Guerrero`s accomplishments in the wrestling world would be a gross injustice. His final ECW match in 1995 (with friend Dean Malenko) is considered one of the greatest American matches of all time. His "Los Gringos Locos" tag team with Art Barr contested a fabulous double mask vs double hair bout with El Hijo del Santo and Octagon at the When Worlds Collide event in 1994, a match that, more than any Mexican match, has entered American wrestling folklore. There simply is not enough room here to list all of the great matches that he also had with Chris Benoit, Rey Mysterio Jr and Chris Jericho, to name but three.

At No Mercy here, Guerrero tussled with World Heavyweight Champion Batista. In the build-up to the match, Guerrero - who had found a popular niche in the WWE as the untrustworthy but loveable rogue - claimed that he had a lot of respect for the champion, and that he would like them to remain friends after the match. Batista however, well aware of Guerrero`s indiscretions, was not prepared to be duped.

Video

Video is presented in 4:3 fullscreen PAL and is very good for a DVD of this genre. Close-up camera shots are especially clear, and this appears to me to even better than what I viewed on the original digital broadcast.

Audio

Audio is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 and is also very good, and is clearly derived from the television broadcast. The only downside is having to listen to the capable Michael Cole and Tazz continually insult your intelligence. More on that later.

(Also included are Spanish, Italian, and German tracks)

Features

Only three short vignettes are present here as extras, which is admittedly not as many as we are used to. Two of these - Teddy Long confronting Eric Bischoff and The Ortons looking into The Undertaker`s coffin - are completely throwaway. However, fitness guru Simon Dean`s performance in ordering 20 cheeseburgers from a fast food drive-thru is hilarious, in a wrestling kind of way.

I am certain that there will be those who are unhappy with the small amount of extras here, but, given the quality of the video on the main feature, I feel it is not a major issue.

Conclusion

For obvious reasons, the main event featuring World Heavyweight Champion Batista against Eddie Guerrero was the subject of my introduction. But there were also other interesting bouts on this Smackdown! event.

The evening began with a six-person tag team match, as WWE Divas Christy Hemme and Melina tagged up with Road Warrior Animal and John Heidenreich, and MNM respectively. This was a well-paced opener that admirably set the crowd up for the rest of the evening.

Simon Dean appeared in the next bout, claiming that if he did not defeat Bobby Lashley, he would eat twenty cheeseburgers at one sitting. Not wise when Lashley is 6ft 3", nearly 21 st, and is sculpted like he has never even heard of a cheeseburger. This match was brief, but put Lashley over as the monster that his physique suggests.

The Intercontinental title was on the line next as champion Chris Benoit, Orlando Jordan, Booker T, and Christian fought it out in a four-way match. This improved as the match went on, but did show just how far behind Jordan is compared to the other competitors.

Ken Kennedy`s progress has recently been stunted by an injury that will keep him out for six months, which is a shame because his workrate in the next match with Hardcore Holly was very good. A similar story is true of Rey Mysterio, who had the unenviable task of facing JBL, who has a fantastic interview but in the ring is lacklustre to say the least. Still, this was a reasonable match with an entertaining final few minutes.

WWE regulars will be used to Casket matches by now, which invariably mean that The Undertaker is participating. The rules are simple: incapacitate your opponent enough to place him in the ringside coffin, and close the lid. Here, The Undertaker faced Randy and "Cowboy" Bob Orton in a handicap match. Whilst the crowd were very into the match, there was a lot of punch/kick action, which is never good. That said, there were a couple of brutal chair shots, and I suppose, what is the point in a no-disqualification match if you don`t use the available props?

Overall, the match itself was reasonable, but I despaired at the storyline angle after the match. With The Undertaker "locked" in the coffin, Randy Orton chopped it up with an axe, then "poured petrol" on it, and set it on fire. Not withstanding the fact that this exact angle has been done before with The Undertaker, Michael Cole and Tazz then tried their best (which was not good at all) to make us believe - without actually saying it - that The Undertaker had been killed. Tazz went so far as to say that "The Ortons should be in jail". I don`t know what I feel more strongly: despair that the WWE think that this was an interesting concept that would attract viewers, or embarrassment at having my intelligence so shockingly insulted.

Poor Juventud Guerrera and Nunzio - contesting the Cruiserweight championship - had absolutely no chance following the previous match/angle, so whilst they put in an excellent effort, you could have heard a pin drop in an arena which holds 19,000. In fact, such was the desperation of the participants to get a reaction from the crowd, that they went too far and really just flew around the ring, neglecting any actual wrestling holds.

Thankfully, the main event saved the day. Batista is a capable wrestler, but he often needs a good opponent to guide him through the match, and on this occasion Guerrero rose to the challenge. An extremely well-paced match which played on the story of whether Guerrero would cheat to beat his "friend", this was one of the best Smackdown matches of the year.

No Mercy 2005 will be remembered for Eddie Guerrero`s final pay-per-view match, held in the state of Texas where he was born in 1967. On a card where average was the word of the day, he led a main event which stole the show, and gave his fans something to remember him by.

RIP Eddie.