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WWE News: ‘No Mercy’ To Start Show With World Championship Match

By Shawn Lealos
Published on: 09:11 PST, Oct 9, 2016

The lowest rating for WWE Monday Night Raw in years came when it went up against the first Presidential Debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. That must have spooked the WWE because tonight their SmackDown Live WWE Network event No Mercy is going head-to-head with the second Presidential Debate between Clinton and Trump.

Former WWE announcer and current ESPN Sportscenter anchor Jonathan Coachman tweeted that the WWE will open No Mercy with the main event, what he calls the first time the main event will ever open a PPV event. That match will see AJ Styles defend his world title in a three-way against Dean Ambrose and John Cena.

That is huge for No Mercy but it also makes a lot of sense. The WWE wants to pull in as many viewers as they can for this huge match, which might end up as the record-tying 16th world title reign for John Cena. WWE No Mercy starts at 8 p.m. EST and the Presidential Debate kicks off at 9 p.m. EST.

Of course, the Presidential Debate will bring in monster views against No Mercy, especially with the leaked video of Donald Trump making horribly sexist comments about women last week. The world will want to see the fallout from this in the debate and it will be a huge circus. If the WWE gives out the No Mercy main event before the Presidential Debate starts, people might be more willing to tune back in after the Presidential Debate ends to see what might happen later in the PPV.

One thought is that the WWE could give Cena his 16th title reign at No Mercy, tying him with Ric Flair for the most ever. If Cena pins Dean Ambrose, then AJ Styles could demand his title rematch and get it in the main event of No Mercy at the end of the show, making fans switch back over after the Presidential Debate ends to see if Styles can win it back.

No Mercy might be one of John Cena’s final WWE matches before he leaves to film more television shows outside of the WWE. If that is true, either Cena will not get his 16th title tonight at No Mercy or he will get it and then lose the title either later tonight at No Mercy or on an upcoming SmackDown episode.

Forbes reported that the WWE Monday Night Raw hit its lowest rating ever with an estimated 2.478 million average viewership against the Presidential Debate. They were also up against Monday Night Football, which saw the Atlanta Falcons and New Orleans Saints draw a total rating of 5.7, which was 31-percent down from the previous week.

Tonight, WWE No Mercy not only has the Presidential Debate to compete with but they also have Sunday Night Football with the New York Giants taking on the Green Bay Packers. That game is much bigger than the Monday Night Football game.

The WWE might see record low WWE Network views for No Mercy tonight for its first run. However, the WWE World Championship match between AJ Styles, John Cena, and Dean Ambrose on No Mercy will start before the Presidential Debate and 30 minutes before Sunday Night Football starts. That is a nice option for WWE fans who don’t want to miss the other events but want to see the biggest match on No Mercy.

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The one advantage that WWE fans have with No Mercy is that the WWE Network allows fans to watch the show anytime after it originally airs. No Mercy views for its live showing will be down but that doesn’t mean that fans can’t tune in after the Presidential Debate to watch what happens on the WWE Network.

[Featured Image by WWE]

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