No Mercy 2007: Did it really need 3 WWE title matches?

[Dagger Dias]

No Mercy 2007 was the infamous PPV where Cena was scheduled to have a rematch with Randy Orton that got cancelled at the last minute when Cena vacated the WWE Championship following a legit injury on the Raw before the PPV. What we ended up seeing instead was not one but THREE matches with the WWE Championship on the line. There are a few things I would change about the show that would have made it better.

In the opening segment I would have Vince come out to talk about how Cena got hurt and that the show will still go on with a title match for Randy Orton. On the real show Orton got awarded a title reign here that he immediately lost to Trips in the opening match, but I don't think that should have happened. Orton would still get to compete in the main event Last Man Standing match, but he would need a new number one contender with Cena out of the picture. I would change Triple H's match against Umaga from a title match to a #1 contendership match. Trips would win it and move on to face Orton in the Last Man Standing match. This way the two pointless title reigns that happened at this show are eliminated, it no longer has three WWE Championship matches, and still has the epic Last Man Standing match to close the show with Orton's reign beginning.

What do you think about these changes, would this show have been better if booked the way I just rebooked it? Why or why not?

The way this show was booked has always bugged me and I feel that only the main event title match was necessary. The opening match could have been scrapped completely and the Umaga match should have been a contendership because then it would make the main event match feel that much more important.

 

[S.J. Maximus]

I agree entirely. All the 3 matches did was pad Orton and HHH's stats, and actually make Orton look weak by losing clean to Triple H and only being able to win when Triple H is fatigued from having wrestled 2 matches prior. As I'm typing this I realize that my first sentence is probably why they booked it like that. To give HHH another reign (just for stats) and to keeep him looking strong so that he looks better than everybody else. Throughout the entire feud of HHH and Orton, Hunter has never lost to Orton clean, I don't know if it's backstage tension or whatever but that fact is true and the only times Orton does win is when Triple H is weakened in some way. Call it ego or whatever but I think this should have been one of the many times that Orton beat Triple H clean. The way you booked it, they still could've played the "Triple H wrestled earlier card" since in your scenario Orton would've only had one match that night.

 

[Mr. HD]

I didn't watch much WWE in 2007, but if the WWE Title was VACATED, I would just put Triple H, Orton, and Umaga in a Triple Threat Match for the WWE Championship in the Main Event.

I think it sounds better than somebody being awarded the title.

 

[SickJames]

If you feel that way I understand why. But at the same time, that was fucking awesome! I'd love to get that live, unexpected, different.

We ask for this for PPVs, why not do this?

When the night kicked off with the WWE title it was like "wtf?" and I loved it. Different is good.

It was a one time thing

 

[King Patrick Star]

I, too, would have rather seen a Triple Threat match between Randy Orton, Triple H, and Umaga. I’m the type of fan that doesn’t think a Superstar should have to wrestle one more match than his opponent in one night. That advantage seems ridiculously unfair to me. If anything, a number one contenders match between Triple H and Umaga could have been the way to go with the winner facing Orton afterwards, but Orton would still have a one match advantage as far as fatigue goes. I also felt this way when Rey Mysterio had face Cena at a Raw recently after defeating the Miz earlier in the evening for the WWE Championship. So, Dagger Dias' scenario is good, but Mr. HD’s and I share the same opinion on this matter.

 

[RkoMachine]

If you feel that way I understand why. But at the same time, that was fucking awesome! I'd love to get that live, unexpected, different.

We ask for this for PPVs, why not do this?

When the night kicked off with the WWE title it was like "wtf?" and I loved it. Different is good.

It was a one time thing

Totally agree here! Though i do understand completely where the OP is coming from, i loved the 3 matches for the title! Hell they were the only good matches on that card (Khali vs Batista in a Punjabi prison match?! REALLY REALLY?!) without those 3 matches this pay per view would have been utter shit except for a good main event

 

[WWEIsLife2]

Im sorry but No Mercy 2007 is one of my Favorite PPVs and having 3 WWE Title Matches in one night was so unexpected. The LMS Match was so freaking epic with HHH & Randy Orton just beating the hell out of each other. They had to do something since John Cena was injured the week before on RAW and this is what we got. So I loved it,it was an unpredictable night and im sure im not the only one.

 

[dansaun77]

Simply put, this was the WWE's way of not short changing their ppv audience. Cena was huge in 2007, and people paid good money to see Cena vs Orton, as at the time it hadnt happened that often. With their number one draw being canned withoput notice, WWE obviously wanted to give the fans something different. And this is certainly what they did. Its not something I would want to see in future, but at the time on a moments notice it was fun, fresh, original that the product most often lacks in this day and age.

 

[dynamitedux]

I’m the type of fan that doesn’t think a Superstar should have to wrestle one more match than his opponent in one night. That advantage seems ridiculously unfair to me. If anything, a number one contenders match between Triple H and Umaga could have been the way to go with the winner facing Orton afterwards, but Orton would still have a one match advantage as far as fatigue goes.

If the only problem is that Trips had 3 matches to Orton's two, that's easily solved. There can still be 3 matches...
First match - Orton vs anybody who isn't Triple H
Second match - Triple H vs Umaga
Third match- Orton vs Triple H for the title.

The first match could be explained in one of two different ways. Either Orton was #1 contender to Cena's belt, but because Cena isn't champ anymore, Orton has to earn his spot again. Or just call it like it is: An opponent for Orton needs to be found, but to keep things fair, Orton needs to have an extra match as well.

Triple H still gets the slight disadvantage here, because his two matches are closer together, but it's not as big a deal as a whole extra match.

The only problem is finding Orton's opponent. I can't recall the rest of the card, so I don't know who could fill the spot that wasn't already on the ppv.

 

[sWo]

I was actually at that show. Cena not being there wasn't so bad, however, people paid expecting to see him there. So.when you can't deliver what's promised, you try to give something just as good. And it really was. The first match between Orton and HHH was pretty darn good. The Umaga/HHH match wasn't bad either. But the last man standing was brilliantly brutal. All the more so because of the previous 2 title defenses on the show. You knew both men were going to be tired, but they gave it their all anyways, and it showed.

It ended up being far more special because of those matches. At least, from a being there point of view.

 

[Defekt]

I think the title changes were necessary. The WWE had advertised Cena, and weren't able to deliver him due to injury. They wanted to do something special to make up for it, and send everyone home happy.

 

[Slowdude]

I hated No Mercy 2007. Back when the event happened I thought "Couldn't we have gotten some kind of four man tournament instead of seeing Triple H wrestle three times in a single night". Since HBK returned the next night I always thought why not bring in HBK as a surprise to face Orton. Have a mini tournament with HBk vs Orton (with Orton winning by cheating) and HHH vs Umaga leading to Orton vs HHH in the main event. The main event would then feature interference from Umaga and HBK during the main event but overall having Orton win the match. That would set up Cyber Sunday with HHH vs Umaga and Orton vs HBK happening at the next event anyway.

Orton's win is more credible as he beat HBK and HHH in the same night (through cheating of course) and the overall story leading into Cyber Sunday remains the same.

 

[Gunnar]

I think that there should have been an Elimination Triple Threat Last Man Standing Match between Orton, Triple H, and Umaga for the WWE Title, that way, those people who paid for Cena vs Orton would have gotten something (that in 2007) would have been amazing, the match could have easily lasted for an hour and a half, half an hour of all three just trading blows and hitting finishers, only to get up at 8 or 9, then thirty minutes of more blows until Umaga goes down, then in the final thirty minutes, the epic blow for blow Orton vs Triple H that we were waiting for since the Evolution days.

 

[JWGunslinger]

You know a Triple Threat between HHH, Umaga and Orton would have been cool, but I must say the way it played out with the 3 WWE Championship matches was good in it's own way. If the main event was just that Triple Threat, would you remember No Mercy 2007, or would it have just been another one of those PPVs. I think that No Mercy was special because it was memorable, everyone who watched back then remembers it as the night Orton was awarded the title, lost it to Trips who defended against Umaga and then lost it in Orton's rematch. I look back on that one fondly as it's when my boy Randy won his first title so perhaps I'm a little biased but I thought the way it went down was unique and I think I'd still look back on it with good memories if it wasn't Randy who won it, it was a historical night that's hard to forget.