Plot: What’s it about?
October 8, 2006 brings us to this year’s edition of No Mercy, headlined by a four corners match for the coveted World Heavyweight Championship. The reigning champion King Booker has found ways to piss everyone off it seems, even one of his trusted knights. Booker’s bad blood with Batista and Bobby Lashley has been boiling over for a while now, but now he also faces the wrath of the brutal Finlay. While first scheduled to defend his title in a one on one match, now King Booker must face all three men and as per the rules of the match, he doesn’t even have to be pinned to lose his precious championship. A once unbreakable bond has been shattered, as Chavo Guerrero takes Rey Mysterio takes to task over his recent actions. This time, the two square off in a falls count anywhere match and that means anything and everything can happen. After weeks of tension, The Undertaker finally has his chance to settle the score with Mr. Kennedy, while heavily hyped recent signee Montel Vontavious Porter debuts to show us what all the talk is about. Also on this card is a defense of the WWE Tag Team Championships, as well as the next stage of the intense feud between Matt Hardy and former friend Gregory Helms. This is World Wrestling Entertainment after all, so you can expect some surprises, including the return of one of Smackdown’s biggest stars, Chris Benoit. Benoit made his unannounced return for No Mercy, as part of a stiff, highly physical matchup against William Regal. I have included a list of the matches found on this show below, but keep in mind the program also includes behind the scenes vignettes, locker room interviews, and other out of the ring content.
1. King Booker (C) vs. Finlay vs. Batista vs. Bobby Lashley (World Heavyweight Championship)
2. Chris Benoit vs. William Regal
3. Mr. Kennedy vs. The Undertaker
4. Rey Mysterio vs. Chavo Guerrero (Falls Count Anywhere)
5. The Debut of Montel Vontavious Porter
6. Gregory Helms vs. Matt Hardy
7. Brian Kendrick & Paul London (C) vs. KC James & Idol Stevens (WWE Tag Team Championships)
Video: How does it look?
The event is presented in full frame, as intended. As usual, this show looks quite good and even on a 65″ screen, holds up well. This is a three hour program plus bonus materials, so I wasn’t surprised to see some minor compression problems. These were minor and infrequent however, so no reason for concern. The image is clean and has solid sharpness, so detail is high in most instances. The colorful attire and pyrotechnics look vivid and pop right off the screen. I saw no issues with contrast either, as lighting is on the mark and no detail is obscured in the shadows. So while a few minor issues do surface, by and large this event looks terrific and fans should love taking in the sights here.
Audio: How does it sound?
The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is very impressive, with a good range and enough power to make you feel every impact. The entrance music and pyrotechnics sound great here, so the atmosphere is immersive when the superstars walk down the aisle. The crowd is loud, but varies in volume, as should be expected from a live audience, of course. As far as the action inside the squared circle, the stiff clotheslines sound crisp, the powerful slams are well handled, and you can hear all the smack talk you can handle. On commentary, the always entertaining John Bradshaw Layfield and the never entertaining Michael Cole sound clean and clear, as good as we could want.
Supplements: What are the extras?
This disc includes several post-match interviews, a bonus segment with William Regal, and an interview with Big Dick Johnson. I would love to see more footage from the feuds, like interviews, vignettes, and matches from Smackdown, showing us how the feuds arrived at this point. The video package recaps are decent, but I’d like to see the entire segments or matches.
