From the WWE Rumor Mill: Vince McMahon's backstage reaction to No Mercy
What's the story?
No Mercy consisted of several high-profile matches including two which were "WrestleMania worthy" encounters.
Brock Lesnar vs Braun Strowman and John Cena vs Roman Reigns eclipsed all of the other matches in importance and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter revealed Vince McMahon's attitude towards how everything turned out in Los Angeles.
In case you didn't know...
No Mercy is usually a B-Level pay-per-view which usually sits midway through two of the big four PPVs. But this year, the No Mercy show seemed all that much more important as two huge matches highlighted the show.
The heart of the matter
Braun Strowman's push and popularity has been surprising for some. But even though he looked poised to pull down the Universal Title at No Mercy, Brock Lesnar took him out with one F5. It was a puzzling booking decision for a few fans but nobody can argue it made Brock Lesnar's finishing move look even more devastating.
The other huge match on the card saw Roman Reigns take an outstanding amount of punishment while enduring four AA's from John Cena but he kicked out every time. In the end, Reigns would come out victorious over John Cena thanks to a Spear.
Dave Meltzer reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Vince McMahon was very happy about how these two high-profile matches turned out. The idea was to provide the No Mercy show with some WrestleMania calibre action and the general opinion is they pulled that off quite well.
What's next?
WWE is a neverending story with no offseason so it's just a matter of time before the next big event rolls around. But for No Mercy, the story was everything is building toward WrestleMania.
The two guys scheduled to be in the main event at the Show Of Shows are still riding high and looking very strong. This is what matters to Vince McMahon as he continues to build toward Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns' headlining match at WrestleMania 34 in New Orleans.
Author's take
No Mercy was highlighted by Cena vs Reigns and Strowman vs Lesnar but neither of those matches really stole the show for me. The Raw Tag Team Title match was the real winner in my book (although the same can't be said for Cesaro's teeth).
But as we inch closer to the off-ramp which will lead us toward The Road To WrestleMania things are going to get even more evident Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar need to look as strong as they can while preparing for The Grandaddy Of Them All.