No Mercy (2005)

The 2005 No Mercy was the eighth

The main

Before the live broadcast of the event began, William Regal and Paul Burchill defeated Paul London and Brian Kendrick in a tag team match that aired on the Sunday Night Heat pre-show.^[11]

Preliminary matches

The first match of the event was

The sixth bout on the card was a Casket match between The Ortons (Randy and "Cowboy" Bob) and The Undertaker. In order for The Undertaker to win the match, he had to put both Randy and "Cowboy" Bob in the casket, which was at ringside, and close it; for The Ortons, they had to place Undertaker in the casket and close it. Near the end of the match, Undertaker had placed "Cowboy" Bob in the casket and was attempting to place Randy in it as well. After performing a Last Ride on Randy, Undertaker went to open the casket. As he did, however, "Cowboy" Bob sprayed a fire extinguisher in his eyes. Randy then hit Undertaker with a folding chair and placed him in the casket. The Ortons closed the casket to win the bout.^[4][12] After the match, The Ortons, as part of the scripted events, locked Undertaker in the casket and hit it numerous times with an axe. They then poured gasoline on the casket and lit it on fire (just like Kane did at the 1998 Royal Rumble).^[4][12]

The next match saw

The event was released on DVD on November 8, 2005.^[15][16] The DVD reached a peak position of fourth on Billboard's DVD sales chart for recreational sports on December 3, 2005.^[17] It remained on the chart for four consecutive weeks, until December 24, when it ranked ninth.^[18]

Aftermath

The rivalry between Batista and Eddie Guerrero ended after Guerrero unexpectedly died due to heart failure on November 13, 2005.^[19] Their feud was planned to continue, as Guerrero would have gone back to his villainous character and won the World Heavyweight Championship.^[20]

The Undertaker would not be seen on-screen until Survivor Series after being burned inside a casket at the event.^[21] After being the sole survivor in his elimination match, Randy Orton, who took Guerrero’s place on the team, celebrated his victory with his father, "Cowboy" Bob Orton, and wrestlers from the SmackDown! brand. During the celebration, druids brought out a casket and set it up in an upright position.^[21] Lightning then struck the casket and set it on fire. Undertaker emerged from the flaming casket and attacked the SmackDown wrestlers.^[21] The Ortons, however, escaped the attack. This set up a Hell in a Cell match between Randy and Undertaker at Armageddon. Undertaker defeated Randy and ended their storyline that had lasted nearly one year.^[22]

After successfully retaining the WWE United States Championship at the event, Chris Benoit started a rivalry with Booker T. Booker defeated Benoit for the title on the edition of October 21 of SmackDown! to begin their feud.^[23] The following month, on the edition of November 24 of SmackDown!, a match between Benoit and Booker for the title ended in a no-contest after both men's shoulders were on the mat while pinning one another.^[24] Theodore Long then vacated the title and announced that the two would face off against one another in a "Best of Seven series" for the title, in which the winner would be the man who won four matches over the other first.^[24] Booker defeated Benoit in the first match at Survivor Series,^[21] and eventually won the vacant title after Randy Orton, Booker's replacement due to a legitimate injury to his ankle at a house show,^[25] defeated Benoit in the seventh and final match in January.^[26] Booker began his fourth reign as United States Champion.^[26]

Results

References