6 Questions from WWE No Mercy and RAW that most need answering

The RAW exclusive PPV No Mercy was a disappointment. Even the most ardent WWE supporter must surely acknowledge that despite being a B-show, the PPV did nothing to help any individual and ultimately left the fans feeling confused and frustrated.

Considering the amount of potential going into this one, with Reigns going up against Cena for the first time, or it looking like Lesnar's part-time reign of terror might be done, the roster had little to work with the next night on RAW and fans are already looking forward to the next show without really caring to discuss this car wreck much further.

That being said, we still need to dissect the PPV and ask ourselves some questions regarding where the company goes from here. Here are six questions from No Mercy and RAW that most need answering:

#1 Could the WWE utilise Nia Jax any worse?

Ever since her debut on NXT, Nia Jax has been carrying a lot of promise. She offers something genuinely different to the rest of the women's division and to the WWE in general, yet the writers have never quite gotten it right with her.

Despite competing for the RAW Women's Championship at Wrestlemania this year, her involvement in the title scene during 2017 has been no more than a passing footnote. What is particularly frustrating about this is that the WWE clearly see something in her, and when it comes to the matches themselves, Jax is probably booked better than any of her competitors.

Sunday night at No Mercy, we again saw another multi-women's match built around how the smaller athletes struggled to cope with the size and strength of Nia Jax, which made the whole affair more interesting, and it was able to help the match tell a better story. But now that Alexa Bliss seems to have moved on to a new feud with the returning Mickie James, where does Nia go from here?

At the moment, she is being booked more like a sympathetic babyface than a monster heel, which is an example of complete upside down booking on the writers' behalf. Nia should be the women's division's Brock Lesnar, holding the belt and challenging the others to come at her. Having her chase the title and look weaker and weaker with each attempt is just wasting a potentially golden opportunity.

#2 Can we give Titus a real push already?

As 2017 marches on, there is a growing number of superstars in the WWE that the fans would like to see in the main event scene despite what the management thinks. Guys like Cesaro, Matt Hardy and The Miz are all examples of wrestlers who push themselves each and every week yet never seem to get the opportunities that people like Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns receive.

One name that isn't mentioned as often, yet still fits into this category, is Titus O'Neil. To look at the guy, it's really a surprise that he isn't higher up the pecking order. He has the traditional WWE 'big guy look' that Vince often goes for and he can talk on the mic better than the vast majority of his peers.

Even after you discount that, Titus also helps the WWE with a lot of their behind the scenes charity work and is an ambassador for multiple charities in his home state. One would just assume that when you throw all of this into the mix, you'd have a bonafide main event star on your hands.

This week on RAW, it looked as though a potential feud between Titus and Elias might have gotten underway. The Drifter has been enjoying a fairly low-key but otherwise entertaining program with Apollo Crews recently, but Elias vs. Titus just feels like a much bigger deal at this point.

Hopefully, this is the start of something for the former Florida Gator, but judging by experience, Titus fans shouldn't be holding their breath.

#3 Could Miz be the one to help Reigns get over?

For better or for worse, John Cena vs. Roman Reigns is now in the WWE history books. Perhaps the match wasn't quite what Vince McMahon initially had in mind when he thought up the idea, but at least the Big Dog can basically say that he is now the new franchise piece, at least while Cena attempts to break into Hollywood.

Obviously, the WWE Universe has been treating this rivalry a lot different compared to the WWE management. While some of the promo segments leading up to No Mercy felt pretty raw and fresh, the match itself was a huge disappointment. The problem was that try as the bookers might, fans just didn't really care enough for Roman's victory to bring about any real change.

In fact, fans seemed to be more behind Cena than anything, leaving Roman's chances of finally getting over as a babyface pretty much in tatters. If beating John Cena clean isn't going to do it for you, what will?

Interestingly enough, fans might have gotten an answer to this question on Monday night. Reigns was Miz's guest on the Miz TV segment this week and together they managed to build quite the segment. One might even argue that Roman achieved more in this one scene with the IC champ than he did over the span of three weeks with Cena.

Roman's answers, while still a little shaky, felt more heartfelt and elicited a much bigger reaction from the fans compared to anything he has managed before. Most of this has to be put down to The Miz's extraordinary ability to get whoever he is working with over. There is just something about the way he carries himself during talking segments that helps everyone around him, and the WWE would be foolish not to capitalise on this.

Judging by the ending to the match on Monday, the program between Reigns and Miz looks to be continuing, maybe even leading to a Shield reunion at some point down the road. The Miz needs to be given enough time to see what he can do with Roman, but if he does manage to turn fans around, he deserves one hell of an Employee of the Year medal.

#4 When did it become a crime to have mic skills?

The whole Enzo Amore storyline has been thoroughly confusing and basically amounts to the fact that the WWE likes to punish stars for actually having talent. With his 'cheap' Cruiserweight Championship victory at No Mercy and his subsequent celebration on RAW, Enzo has become yet another heel that essentially tells the truth and gets hated for it.

It's not like this is even a kayfabe matter either. Amore is receiving more and more criticism from the fans for the way he doesn't seem to take the business seriously enough. What worked for him and Cass down on NXT has alienated Enzo from many of his former fans, and like many other examples on today's WWE product, the fault lies with the writers.

In one sense you can kind of appreciate where the dissenters are coming from. If you're a fan of the Cruiserweight division and 205 Live, in particular, Enzo suddenly being parachuted into the show and becoming to new champion feels like a slap in the face to all those who have been working hard each week.

The problem with this argument is that all Enzo said on Monday night was true. He has made the division relevant for the first time since the Cruiserweight Classic tournament. Not only was the championship defended on the main card at No Mercy, but the championship celebration segment actually main evented RAW. Who on that roster could have had any chance of achieving this?

Yes, Enzo might not have the in-ring talent as most of the 205 Live roster, but what good is mesmerising high-flying action if nobody is watching? Enzo should be delivering his comments as an all-out babyface, challenging the rest of the group to do better and help the division main event RAW. Instead, we have this strange dynamic between Neville and Enzo where we are supposed to be backing the former champ but basically agreeing with the new one.

#5 Is an F5 more damaging than an Ambulance crash?

No Mercy was a night of incredibly bad wrestling, even by the WWE's current standards. The main event left most of us feeling frustrated and the big money match between Reigns and Cena also left a lot to be desired.

One particularly annoying feature about No Mercy was how the WWE chose to use finishers. On the surface, there is nothing wrong with a superstar kicking out of the odd finishing move, after all, if a finisher always brought the match to a close at the first time of asking, everything would soon get very predictable.It's also a good way of building drama and showing how tough these main event stars really are.

However, there is such a thing as overusing this tactic to the point where finishers become too undermined. No Mercy was a perfect example of this.

First, we had the tag-team match which saw some pretty decent action but far too many near falls. Then we moved onto Cena vs. Reigns which was yet another example of the WWE thinking it can just awkwardly move from kick out to kick out and call it a historic match. If part of the reason why fans dislike Roman is that they fear having to deal with another John Cena for the next 10 years, then having him kick out of so many AA's is not going to alleviate those concerns.

However, nothing could compare to the ill-thought out ending to the main event. While the rest of the night was guilty of having too many kick outs, Lesnar vs. Strowman failed based on the fact that Braun didn't kick out enough. After weeks and weeks of convincing us all that Strowman was too much of a challenge for the Beast, all it took was one F5 for Lesnar to retain.

This is a man, in Strowman, who can walk away from exploding the ring with Big Show and being driven into a wall in the back of an ambulance by Roman Reigns. Even in the build-up to his title challenge, Braun was seen practically jumping right back up after a German Suplex by the Beast himself.

The fact that Lesnar retained his belt shouldn't be the reason why people are unhappy. But they could have found a way to do this by still making Strowman look strong, i.e. a double count out or a DQ finish. Now the WWE has their work cut out trying to reestablish the dominance of Strowman, that is if they even care about his push anymore.

#6 Did Cena even have a torch to pass?

As previously mentioned, John Cena vs. Roman Reigns was surely a much bigger deal in the head of Vince McMahon than in reality. Given the years and years of Cena fatigue that we've all grown accustomed to, and the fact that the Reigns experiment has been a failure since its inception, this match never really stood a chance of getting over.

One thing that most people do agree on is that John Cena vs. Roman Reigns was a kind of passing of the torch moment, something Cena even alluded to himself in the post-match interview. The main star of the PG Era is finally cutting his wrestling workload down to pursue other ventures, and the Big Dog of the New Era looks like his own reign has just begun.

That being said, if Cena did pass the torch to Reigns at No Mercy, what kind of a torch was it, and does Roman even need to accept it? When you look back through history, other inter-generational matches have typically occurred on a much bigger stage and meant a lot more to fans.

Whether it was Andre doing the job for Hogan and allowing Hulkamania to run wild, or Bret Hart turning heel to help launch the career of Stone Cold Steve Austin, fans were able to buy into the narrative and get behind a new star whilst leaving the old one behind them.

Passing of the torch moments are only really effective if the guy receiving it is made to look good. Remember how great Kurt Angle and The Rock made Brock Lesnar look in 2002/2003? This worked because fans respected the legacy that these men had built and were ready to get behind somebody new and see where he could take things.

Cena is basically leaving behind a tarnished legacy, one fraught with low PPV buys, half-empty arenas and unhealthy balance sheets. The worst thing Roman could do right now is be seen as a continuation of that. Reigns needs to help the WWE have a true break from the past and move into a completely new direction. And if he is not the guy to deliver this change, then maybe the writers need to look elsewhere.

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Edited by anirudh.b