Original Plans For WWE's No Mercy PPV, Orton, More

WWE chose not to bring Chris Jericho back at WWE No Mercy last night because they felt it was too soon. His return will likely be held off until the Cyber Sunday PPV in 3 weeks. RAW writer Brian Gewirtz was in favor of Jericho returning at No Mercy, but Vince was against the idea and obviously has the final say.

Last week Vince McMahon appeared on ECW's TV show and declared that history would be made at WWE No Mercy. As we saw last night, Vince awarded Randy Orton the WWE Championship at the start of the PPV. The WWE title awarded to Orton was a new championship belt. It's essentially the same title Cena had without the spinning "WWE" logo.

Orton would lose the title within 20 minutes in a match with Triple H. By the end of the night, Randy Orton was once again the WWE Champion, defeating Triple H in a Last Man Standing match. The WWE Championship changing hands 3 times in 1 night and Triple H's 11th WWE Title win were both "historic" events.

Before John Cena got injured last week, the original plan was to have Randy Orton win the WWE Title in their scheduled Last Man Standing match.