IWE No Mercy (2004)
From Iwe
| No Mercy (2004) | ||
 Promotional poster featuring [[John Goff|John "Bradshaw" Goff | ||
| Imformation | ||
| Promotion | International Wrestling Entertainment | |
| Brand(s) | Smackdown! | |
| Date | October 3, 2004 | |
| Attendance | 10,000 | |
| Venue | Continental Airlines Arena | |
| City | East Rutherford, New Jersey | |
| Pay-per-view chronology | ||
| Unforgiven (2004) | No Mercy (2004) | Taboo Tuesday (2004) |
| No Mercy chronology | ||
| No Mercy (2003) | No Mercy (2004) | No Mercy (2004) |
No Mercy (2004) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by International Wrestling Entertainment (IWE), which took place on October 3, 2004 at the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey. It was the fifth annual No Mercy event, and featured eight professional wrestling matches on the event's card. The buildup to the matches and the scenarios that took place before, during, and after the event were planned by IWE's script writers. The event starred wrestlers from the SmackDown! brand: a storyline expansion of the promotion where employees are assigned to a wrestling brand under the IWE banner.
The main event was a Last Ride match, where the objective was to place an opponent in a hearse located on the entrance stage and drive them out of the arena. IWE Champion John "Bradshaw" Goff (JBG) defeated The Undertaker in this match to retain his title. Two predominant bouts were featured on the undercard; in respective singles matches, Dustin Simpson defeated Booker T to win the IWE United States Championship, and The Big Marc defeated Matt Borske.
No Mercy grossed over $700,000 ticket sales from an attendance of 10,000, and received 240,000 pay-per-view buys. This event helped IWE increase its pay-per-view revenue by $6.2 compared to the previous year. The professional wrestling section of the Canadian Online Explorer website rated the entire event a 5 out 10 stars, describing the event as, "an absolutely terrible" pay-per-view event.
Contents |
[edit] Background
The event featured eight professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds, plots and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed either a villainous or fan favorite gimmick as they followed a series of events which generally built tension, leading to a wrestling match. All wrestlers were from the SmackDown! brand – a storyline division in which IWE assigned its employees to a different program, the other being Raw.
The main event featured IWE Champion John "Bradshaw" Goff (JBG) defending the title against The Undertaker in a match where the objective is to place an opponent in a hearse located on the entrance stage and drive them out of the arena, dubbed a Last Ride match. The buildup to the match began after SummerSlam, Smackdown's previous pay-per-view event, where JBG defeated the Undertaker in a standard wrestling match, also called a singles match, via disqualification to retain his championship. During that week on an episode of SmackDown!, JBG wore a neck brace, to signify that he was recuperating from a chokeslam that the Undertaker gave him on top of his limo. On the August 26, 2004 episode of SmackDown!, Liam Phillips, one of JBG's associates, defended the IWE Championship for JBG against the Undertaker. Undertaker won the match via disqualification following interference from JBG; as a result, JBG retained the title. Two weeks later, General Manager Theodore Long, a fictitious match maker and rules enforcer, announced that Undertaker would get another opportunity for JBG's title at No Mercy in a Last Ride match.
One of the featured matches was contested for the IWE United States Championship, in which Booker T defended the title against Dustin Simpson. At SummerSlam, Simpson defeated Booker in the first series of "best of five" match. On the August 26 episode of SmackDown!, the second match was won by Booker, to even the series one-to-one. The following night at a SmackDown! live event, Booker defeated Simpson to win the third match. On the September 16 episode of SmackDown!, Simpson defeated Booker in the fourth match, making the series even at two wins apiece. The following week it was announced that the final series title match would be scheduled at No Mercy.
The other featured preliminary match was Matt Borske versus The Big Show in a singles match. The buildup to the match began on September 9, 2004 during an episode of SmackDown!, where a Lumberjack match (a standard match where non-participating wrestlers prevent contestants from fleeing the ring) was scheduled between Matt Borske and Brian McAlmond. The match ended in a no contest when The Big Show marked his return to SmackDown! by interfering in the match, chokeslamming both Borske and McAlmond in the process. The following week, Big Show was given two contracts to choose from; one contract to face McAlmond and one contract to face Borske. Big Show signed the contract with McAlmond's name on it. After signing it, Borske and his associate Luther Rains, threw McAlmond out of the ring and offered Big Show a handshake. Big Show, however, tore up McAlmond's contract and signed the one with Borske's name on it to face him at No Mercy.
[edit] Event
Before the event went live on pay-per-view, Mark Gindrak defeated Scotty 2 Hotty in a match taped for Heat, one of IWE's secondary television programs.
[edit] Preliminary matches
The first televised match was a standard wrestling match between Brian McAlmond and Luther Rains accompanied with Mark Gindrak. In the early stages both competitors took the advantage over one another. Rains controlled most of the match, as McAlmond tried to avoid Luther's assaults. Rains began to work on McALmond's lower back, suplexing him down and bending him over his knee following a backbreaker. The match saw McAlmond take the advantage, as he was able to counter a swinging neckbreaker. The match concluded when McAlmond won the match by striking Rains with a baton taken from a security guard.
The next match was for the IWE Cruiserweight Championship, in which champion Spike Dudley accompanied by The Dudleys (Scott and Bubba Harlan) defended the title against Nunzio with Johhny Stamboli. The match began with Nunzio performing a pescado, a slingshot crossbody where the wrestler goes from the inside of the ring over the top ring rope to the outside, on Spike. The match saw interference from Scott as he pushed Nunzio off the top ropes. Spike took control of the match, as he was able to slip both arms underneath Nunzio's armpits and locked his hands behind his neck and pushing Nunzio's head forward against his chest. Back and forth action saw both competitors take the advantage over one another. The match ended when Stamboli tried to prevent interference from Scott, allowing Bubba to trip up Nunzio and crotched him on the ring post and giving Spike the win and retention of his title.
The next match that followed was between Kevin Kidman and Paul Burdick. The start of the match saw Burdick toss Kidman out of the ring and perform a running springboard moonsault, a move in which a wrestler springboards and executes a backflip to land on the opponent, from the top ropes to the outside onto Kidman. Kidman, however, took control once back in the ring, as he performed various stiff kicks on Burdick's mid-section and focusing on his lower back. Burdick attempted to perform a powerbomb, but was not successful in doing so as Kidman reversed it into a sitout facebuster for a near-fall. The match concluded with Kidman as he jumped forward from an elevated position and pressed his knees to execute a backflip in mid-air, and landing on Burdick to get the pinfall victory over Burdick.
The fourth match was for the IWE Tag Team Championship, in which champions Branden Claassén and Kenzo Suzuki defended the title against Kyle Van Dam and Scott Wright. The match began with Van Dam and Claassén gaining the upper hand over each other. Claassén tagged Kenzo into the match, which led him to take offense over Van Dam. Wright was tagged in the match and performed a flying headbutt on Kenzo, followed by a tornado DDT onto Kenzo. Wright followed this by knocking Claassén off the apron and launching himself back into the ring, onto Kenzo in a seated senton, a move performed by jumping forward off a raised platform or springboarding on to the shoulders of a standing opponent forcing them to the ground. Wright tried to perform the 619 on Kenzo, however, Claassén stopped Wright from doing so. Wright then performed the 619 on Kenzo. As he prepared to perform the West Coast Pop, Claassén pulled Wright off the ropes. This led to Kenzo pinning Wright, as he held onto the ropes for leverage to pick up the win and retain the tag team title.
[edit] Main event matches
The first main match was between Matt Borske and The Big Show. A stipulation in the match was placed that anyone who tried to interfere would get fired. For the duration of the match, The Big Show, who stood at 7 feet (2.1 m) and weighed 500 pounds (230 kg), used his body size to his advantage as he squashed, or easily and quickly performed moves on, Borske. Borske, who had enough, began to walk away from the match. Borske ran back to the ring and counted along with the referee for the 10 count. General Manager Theodore Long ordered Borske to return to the match with a no count out stipulation or else Borske would never wrestle on SmackDown! again. Borske returned to the ring, in which Big Show dominated once more, even standing on Borske. A frustrated Angle brought asteel chair, but backfired when Big Show punched the chair onto Borske’s face. As Big Show prepared to perform a chokeslam, Borske countered into an ankle lock hold. Big Show managed to get a hold of the ropes to force Borske to break the hold and he was scripted to knock the referee down. Borske began targeting Big Show's knee and even hitting his knee with the steel chair, to take advantage of the referee's state. The match ended with Big Show chokeslamming Borske from the top of the ring. During this time, the referee regained consciousness and gave Big Show the pinfall victory.
The second main match was a singles match, in which United States Champion Booker T defended the title against Dustin Simpson in the final "best of five" match. In the early stages of the match, Simpson and Booker fought at ringside. During this tussle Booker pounded Simpson's head into the ring steps before being reversed into them himself. The match then returned to the ring, which saw Booker and Simpson getting the upper hand over one another. Simpson took control as he performed several of his signature moves; he ran up from behind Booker, grabbed his head with one hand and leaped forward to drive Booker's face into the mat. He then followed with hitting a fist drop with theatrics, which Simpson calls the Five Knuckle Shuffle. Simpson tried to follow up with lifting Booker onto his shoulder, but Booker countered it into a Book End. Booker went for the pin on Simpson, but he kicked out. Simpson was able to dodge a kick to the back of the head that would force him to hit his face first into the mat, with lifting Booker over his shoulders and throwing him down to execute the FU. He pinned Booker to be declared the new United States Champion.
Another match on the undercard was a mixed tag team match between the team of the Dudley Boyz (Scott and Bubba Harlan) and Torrie Marie versus Charlie Lynch, Rikki, and Miss Christy. The start of the match saw Haas get back body dropped by the Dudley's. Torrie was tagged in to the match, as was Christy who tagged herself in, if a man tags her female partner, both men leave the ring and both women enter the match. The two women began to beat one another. Bubba Harlan tagged himself in and demanded Christy give him a kiss, and closed his eyes. Rikki came in and kissed Bubba Harlan, prompting Bubba Harlan to run away and gag audibly. Rikki wrestled against Scott, and was in control until Bubba Harlan and Scott double teamed him. Bubba Harlan called for the flying head butt to the crotch, but Scott was hesitant in performing the move on Rikki. This caused Torrie and Christy to continue their fight, as both entered the ring. The match ended when Haas performed a flying axe handle setting up the legal tag to Rikki to perform a moonsault and get the win.
The main event was the Last Ride match for the IWE Championship, in which John "Bradshaw" Goff (JBG) defended the title against The Undertaker. During the beginning of the match, the Undertaker began hitting JBG in the corner, before twisting his arm around and dropping JBL's arm on the top rope. Following this, the Undertaker chokeslammed JBG in the ring, and performed a leg drop off the ring apron. Outside the ring, the Undertaker threw JBG towards the steel ring steps. The Undertaker continued to uphold the upper hand over JBG, as he began to remove the television set from the Spanish announce table, but JBG managed to hit Undertaker upside the head with the steel ring steps. JBG tried to put the Undertaker in the hearse, but the Undertaker fought back. A frustrated JBG took the Undertaker back to the ring and hit a shoulder block from the top rope. The Undertaker managed to get the upper hand once more, as he applied a triangle choke hold on JBG, leading JBG to tap out, but submissions do not count prior in this match. The Undertaker backdropped out of a piledriver attempt on the steel ring steps and grabbed JBG, turned him upside-down and dropped into a kneeling position, driving JBG's head into the steel steps, making JBG bleed from the head. Minutes later, the Undertaker chokeslammed JBG off the announce table through the Spanish table. The Undertaker carried JBG to the hearse, and Jon Heidenreich came out of the hearse. Heidenreich began to attack the Undertaker, covered his mouth with a soaked rag filled with chloroform. Heidenreich placed the Undertaker into the hearse and drove off. Inside the hearse, a camera was inside the hearse to show the Undertaker wake up and jump out and attack Heidenreich. JBG recovered, and swung his arm forward while running towards the Undertaker, a move JBG calls Clothesline from Hell, and helped Heidenreich place the Undertaker back into the hearse to be driven away. Backstage, Paul Heyman drove the hearse to the parking lot, where Heidenreich drove his car into it at high speed, causing an inexplicable explosion. As a result, JBG won the match and retained his title.
[edit] Aftermath
[edit] Reception
[edit] Results
| # | Results | Stipulations |
|---|---|---|
| Sunday Night Heat | Mark Gindrak defeated Scotty 2 Hotty | Singles match |
| 1 | Brian McAlmond defeated Luther Rings (with Mark Gindrak) | Singles match |
| 2 | Spike Dudley (c) (with Harlan Dudley and Scott Dudley) defeated John Nunzio (with Johnny Numboli) | Singles match for the IWE Cruiserweight Championship |
| 3 | Kevin Kidman defeated Paul Burdick | Singles match |
| 4 | Brandon Claassen and Park Suzuki (c) (with Hiroko Suzuki) defeated Scott Wright and Kyle Van Dam | Tag team match for the IWE Tag Team Championship |
| 5 | Big Marc defeated Matt Borske | Singles match |
| 6 | Dustin Simpson defeated Booker T (c) | In the 5th match of the best of Five Series for the IWE United States Championship |
| 7 | Jared Keller, Rikki, and Miss Jacky defeated The Dudleys (Harlan and Scott) and Torrie Marie | Six-Person Mixed Tag Team match |
| 8 | John "Bradshaw" Goff (c) defeated The Undertaker | Last Ride match for the IWE Championship |
