Don’t expect a great buyrate from tonight’s show. No Mercy is coming off of the heavily hyped debut of Smackdown on MyNetworkTV this past Friday night, which carried enough “champion versus champion” matches to head up a pay-per-view of its own. In fact, one could argue that TNA did a better job hyping No Mercy on its Impact show this past Thursday night than WWE has on its five hours of first run shows.

Here in the States, No Mercy will air against a baseball playoff between the Boston Red Sox and the Los Angeles Angels, the Pittsburgh Steelers in NFL action and “The Amazing Race”. WWE will have plenty of excuses ready.

Rey Mysterio vs. Kane: Vince McMahon is reportedly telling people that the current WWE ratings malaise is due to the poor acting by his sports entertainers on the weekly shows. You can tell McMahon is getting confused as he ages. “Poor acting” is why WWE Films isn’t doing well, not why WWE Raw isn’t doing well. Projection? Mysterio wins with a flash pin off of an inside cradle. Rey Rey is at the point in his career where he actually can’t afford the loss to the Big Red Machine.

Beth Phoenix vs. Candice Michelle (WWE Women’s Title): Over the past few weeks, I’ve have seen and heard more about Candice Michelle Beckman’s adult modeling and video work prior to entering World Wrestling Entertainment. Let’s just say she probably won’t have a problem putting over Beth Phoenix. Projection? Beth retains after a Glam Slam, possibly with an assist from Intercontinental Champion Santino Marella.

Undertaker vs. The Big Show: WWE has done a fine job of keeping Undertaker and The Show from touching before their big pay-per-view battle. Undertaker has been working through injuries and will probably go into this match at less than a hundred percent. Projection? Undertaker can probably afford the loss, and Big Show really needs the win. Show stays on the defensive, but finally is able to knock out the Dead Man with a right hand and escape with the victory.

Dave Batista vs. John B. Layfield: You’d think that a power wrestler like Batsista and a big physical guy like Layfield would mesh well, but in several previous meetings between the two, we haven’t seen any evidence of the two men putting together a great match. Time for Plan B. Projection? Batista has JBL in trouble, but Bradshaw clotheslines the ref and knocks him out. More referees try to keep the peace, but they get to take bumps for Batista and JBL until the match is declared a no contest.