goodhelmet

The back is where Brock wnet with the chair shots to set up the Final F5. It also prevented Punk from hitting the F5 early in the stretch run. I think he did fine in selling the damage for the most part.

CM Punk vs. Brock Lesnar - This was amazing and I think it may be my WWE MOTY at the moment. I'll have to look at the other great matches. Punk had two strategies... get the higher ground which worked sometimes (top, flying knee) or chop down the tree which is exactly what you want in a size mismatch. Lesnar decimated the back and Punk's comebacks were awesome. The storyline with Heyman was well played and the finish was perfect for the story being told. Fucking Awesome!

Natalya vs. Brie - I really enjoyed Natalia's selling and bumping in this. Not embarrassing at all unlike most women's matches I watch and the crowd chants were fun but harmless.

Alberto Del Rio vs. Christian - I thought this was great. I think I like watching Del Rio more than most 1. I don't watch SD every week so I am not tired of his offense 2. He has come through every single time I have seen him live. I thought the fact Del Rio worked over the arm all match and his offense seems to be about taking advantage of opportunities more than just setting up contrived spots, Christian sold the arm and the match ended with the arm work actually meaning something. Big Thumbs Up! I also prefer Christian more as a face but that's an old talking point.

I know there was some discussion about Christian being "championship material". That vignette sold me. The WWE can make ANYONE championship material anytime they want to.

Cody Rhodes vs. Damian Sandow - Really smart for Sandow to focus on the back early on inlcuding the nasty looking side Sharpshooter/Lion Tamer. By the time, Cody hits the muscle buster to change the tide, the crowd was in the match. Bonus points to Cody selling the back after the Disaster Kick. Shit, I didn't think they would let Cody win it but I enjoyed the match the short time it lasted. Nothing earth shattering but good way to get the crowd back into the show after that abortion in the opener and the shit DQ in the pre-match.

Meltzer called it maybe the Worst Match of the Year. Sounds about right.

Kane vs. Bray Wyatt - Bad debut for Wyatt. The flames hurt the match, did not add to it and Kane basically squashed Wyatt until Harper and Rowan are able to get into the ring so Wyatt can get the win. Bad start to the show. EDIT: The post match looked like it would be Kane getting his head squashed but it was apparent that Kane wouldn't even make contact with the steel steps. Lame.

Pretty sure the answer is yes.

This was the truth.

I laughed at this. I am going to hell.

Joined in Progress (for me)... RVD vs. Dean Ambrose - Caught this with RVD putting Ambrose in a sleeper and Ambrose tossing RVD to the floor to escape. Ambrose sells great for RVD's tired offense but the crowd is into it. I was hoping RVD would have better strikes but they still look shitty. After a 5-star splash, Reigns spears RVD for the DQ. Man, the crowd was really into this but RVD's offense was so bad. EDIT: Holy shit... HBK the Mountain Man!

My biggest problem with No Mercy is that tag matches and multi person garbage matches slowed to a crawl, something that isn't not a problem in the VPW2 or WM2000 game.

I think we can actually close this topic and any news stories about the topic in the future can be posted in a new thread or one of the existing catch-all threads.

The problem with them being a Horsemen like group is that they shouldn't have called themselves the nWo then. If they weren't trying to take over the company, they aren't really the nWo. It was horrible in thought and execution.

No, no group that has Jeff Jarrett leading it in that era had a chance of success.

His feud with Bruno Sammartino disagrees with you.

I'm running across a guy named "Gas House" Gilbert on 70's WWWF stuff. I think his name is Doug. Dumb question, is this guy Doug and Eddie's father? The father is the great Tommy Gilbert!

That song got me a good laugh. Let's see if this is the only song in this set I will recognize (96 began with Macarena and after that I knew almost no songs at all). Shit, I just looked at the song list for 1996. Besides some of the alternative rock songs, most of those songs are pretty common radio songs. I think you may be in trouble for 1997.

What happened to make you think it was defective? I may have fucked up in the mastering of the disc.