[2005-10-09-WWE-No Mercy] Batista vs Eddie Guerrero

[ohtani's jacket]

This didn't get a very good rating from Meltzer, but it was Eddie's final PPV match which makes it required viewing. The parts where they wrestle are quite good. Eddie uses all sorts of tricks to try to get the big man off his feet and work on his injured back while Batista gets some decent moves in and even dabbles in a bit of defensive wrestling. What hurts the bout is the storyline of whether Eddie has reformed or not. As great as Eddie was at character work, the story elements feel forced. It doesn't help that they go to the well three times instead of having one big "will he or won't he?" moment after a hard fought championship bout. Every time Eddie thinks about cheating, the match comes to a halt and they have to reset again. It doesn't help that Taz and Cole suck at selling these types of angles, but it's something that would have played out better over a month's worth of Smackdown than in a main event. I do think they had the potential for a better match down the line, but sadly it wasn't to be.