It's rare that Brock Lesnar feels like the underdog in a match, but that seemed to be the case coming into tonight's WWE No Mercy pay-per-view event. Fast-rising star Braun Strowman has been routinely dominating "The Beast" since putting him through two announcer's tables at SummerSlam, and it appeared very possible that No Mercy would be Lesnar's final night as WWE Universal Champion. However, expectations don't always match reality, and that would turn out to be the case for Strowman at No Mercy.
While the "Monster Among Men" controlled the majority of the match-up, Lesnar kept surviving, and eventually managed to make a dent in Strowman's armor with an extended series of massive German suplexes. Strowman looked like he might still pull out the victory, though, hitting Lesnar with a pair of vicious running powerslams.
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Ultimately, not even that onslaught would be enough to keep Lesnar down for the three count, as a thunderous F-5 proved enough to vanquish Strowman. Not putting over Strowman here feels like a big missed opportunity, but it's not hard to see why WWE would prefer an established mainstream name like Brock hold their top title. As for Strowman, although this match ultimately wasn't his, it seems clear that he's destined to return and to be a Monster for the rest of the WWE to deal with in the future. Whether that mean's he'll be the next big star remains to be seen, however.
Other Key WWE No Mercy Moments
Elsewhere on the night, No Mercy kicked off proper with a spirited match for the Intercontinental Championship between champion The Miz and challenger Jason Jordan. In usual Miz fashion, the self-proclaimed Hollywood A-lister cheated to win, emerging victorious with the help of his Miztourage.
In what was oddly touted as a "man vs. man" match - as if most of the other ones aren't? - the Finn Bálor vs. Bray Wyatt seemed to reach its conclusion, with Bálor picking up his second straight pay-per-view victory over Wyatt. This came even after Wyatt jumped Bálor before the bell, and beat him down on the outside.
Raw Tag Team Champions Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins once again went to war with former champs Cesaro and Sheamus, and once again the match was pretty damn great. The former Shield members retained their gold, with Cesaro getting his mouth majorly busted up along the way.
After a relatively listless last few weeks on Raw, the Women's Division brought it tonight, leading to a quite fun 5-way contest for Alexa Bliss' title. One scary spot saw Nia Jax get dropped straight down on her head on the outside, but she thankfully recovered. Despite the fanfare around her big return on Raw, Bayley once again got beat by Alexa, falling to a DDT.
In perhaps the most shocking result of the evening, the slippery Enzo Amore used heel tactics to dethrone Neville from the Cruiserweight throne. Amore distracted the ref, then proceeded to kick Neville in the groin, and roll the champion over into a pinning combination. Enzo may have gotten humiliated on Raw, but the brash New Jerseyan got the last laugh tonight.
And so ends Screen Rant's coverage of WWE No Mercy. Be sure to come back tomorrow night for a look at what happened on Raw, which is set to kickoff with a special Miz TV interview segment that features guest Roman Reigns.