WWE's No Mercy Will Start With WWE Championship Triple Threat Match
10/09/2016 05:53 pm EDT
For the first time in WWE history, a pay per view will open with its "main event". The WWE announced that No Mercy, a Smackdown brand pay per view event, will open with a triple threat match between John Cena, AJ Styles, and Dean Ambrose for the WWE Championship.
The WWE Championship is Smackdown's biggest championship title and features three of Smackdown's biggest stars. Under normal circumstances, the WWE would schedule a match of that caliber to go on last in order to keep fans watching through the entire show.
However, tonight is also the second presidential debate and millions are expected to watch Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump square off in a town hall setting. It's pretty clear that the WWE doesn't want to compete with the presidential debate and is getting their most important match out of the way first before the debate starts at 9.
This isn't the first time the WWE has changed a show's schedule to work around another major televised event. WWE pushed this year's Money in the Bank main event past 11 PM in order to avoid competing with the final game of the NBA Championship. The WWE also had a non-traditional schedule for the Monday Night Raw that aired before and during the first US presidential debate.
No Mercy's last match will likely feature the Miz vs. Dolph Ziggler, in a match for the Intercontinental Championship. The match has an extra stipulation that Ziggler will retire if he loses, which adds plenty of extra drama.
Moving the triple threat isn't the only shakeup to No Mercy's card. ComicBook.com previously reported that Smackdown Women's Champion Becky Lynch will not wrestle tonight due to a health issue. Reports are unclear whether Lynch is injured or has other sort of health-related problem, such as an illness or food poisoning.
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