i felt required to review no mercy 2008 as it was a fantastic grap supercard, second only to the superlative wrestlemania 24 in 2008 it featured a host of cracking match ups, for anyone who missed the show, you need to bag yourself a copy on dvd.
im going to dedicate a small section to matt hardy here as its richly deserved, between august and october 2008 matt hardy managed to do what the likes of the undertaker and the mighty kurt angle couldnt do, have a good match with mark henry, hell, ill even go as far as saying the opening match at no mercy 2008 was the most exciting match of mark henrys career, so think about this, hardy proves here that he can work his socks and wwe has attempted to bury him on more than one occasion since 2005 (the lowest point was a pinfall loss to the miz, who was a joke at the time) yet hes continued to be cheered from the masses, even during his most recent stint in the dog house he recieved one of the loudest ovasions in the 2010 royal rumble match, with this in mind, why is matt hardy not playing a more promonent role in the company.
up next is beth pheonix v candice michelle for the womens title, though candice clearly put the effort in to better herself as a performer, she never really looked like a wrestler, nor does she here, though this is a reasonable match by wwe diva standards, most, if not all of candices offense looks terrible. on a brighter note, santino marella, as always, is a riot on the outside and his input is a highlight of the match, the match ends when pheonix counters michelles "candy wrapper" finisher into her double chickenwing face buster,ouch!
though the storyline behind kane and rey mysterios fued was nonsense, thier matches were enjoyable, mysterio has always looked good against big men and his skills were again on display here, using his speed,agility and vast array of ariels to evade the monsterous "big red machine", mysterio managers to elevate a usually mediocre performer to a watchable match.
in yet another pleasent suprise, batista and jbl manage to have a good, solid match, lightyears ahead of thier disastorous matches in 2005, aiding them was wwes smart booking, keping the match short (roughly 5 minutes) avoided the weaknesses of both batista and jbl who have have limited skills and are far from cardio machines, if only wwe had done this in 2005. overshodowing the match however is jbls post match promo, after putting batists over clean (jbl did alot of jobs to be fair) he goes on to thank the hard working people for keeping him a rich man during the recession, delivered with all the swaager and arrogance you would expect from a jbl promo, this absoloutely priceless.
the big show next defeats the undertaker by kockout in respectable brawl, as with the previous match, these two manage to eclipse their poor showings against each other from years past.
now the ppv really gets going, the penultimate match of the evening is the scorching collision between triple h and and jeff hardy for the wwe championship, now alot of people will disagree with this next statement, but for me this is jeffs best ever match, if you can forgive a slighty sloppy side headlock takeover in the early minutes, jeff hardy has never looked sharper and in a twist of fate from armageddon 2007 (pun intended) he manages to catch triple h in a giving mood. this ultra competitive and thrilling encounter is stuffed with near falls which makes hardy appear just one second away form beating the game for the gold, but in the end it was triple h who came out on top in a finishing sequence that was a great piece of story telling, triple h had worked over hardys back throughout the match and when jeff hits the swanton, he cant capitalise (due to the back, which takes the brunt of the impact, being worked over) giving triple h a chance to sneak in a quick crucifix for the pin. this match was near perfect, sublime action and though triple h scored the win, BOTH men went over because of the layout of the match, when someones reputation is enhanced by a loss, you can call it a job well done.
the main event was a excellent ladder war between shawn michaels and chris jericho for the world heavyweight crown. during the early moments of the the match michael cole refers to michaels and jericho as "sports entertainers", michael cole shut you supid fat mouth! you may have gathered i fount this statemant insulting, which i did given what these two men go through during the match, the term pro wrestler would better fit these spectacular performances. onto the action, jericho and michaels display the same smooth exchanges in the early going that they did in thier fabulous matches at wrestlemania x1x and judgment day 2008, as you expect, the match eventually breaks down as the ladders come into play and the two men from here provide many highlights including a classic ladder match "see-saw" spot which knocks out jerichos teeth, an insane cross body counter of a ladder through the announces table and jerichos very risky swan dive from the top of a really large ladder, to the floor, amongst many others. the closing moments are as equally compelling and demand you attention, when both men are at the top of the ladder, the crowd go wild as jerichos legs are caught in the rungs of the ladder after michaels bashes his head into the frame, but thier hopes of an hbk victory are soon dashed as lance cade runs in to stop michaels in his pursuit of the title belt, once cade is removed with a swift sweet chin music both men climb the the ladder once again and manage to grab one side of the belt each which creates a tug of war situation, unfortunately for michaels, as he pulls jericho towards him to smack him one, jericho accidentally headbuts him causing hbk to drop to the floor, jericho then had a free passage to the belt and win ending a brilliant battle.
no mercy was a splendid wwe ppv, producing several pleasent suprises on the undercard and two stunning main event matches, if you havent seen this, buy it now.

MATT HARDY VS MARK HENRY
this match was a great start to no mercy! there were some great counters from matt hardy. and it was great that even that he was the under dog matt still pulled out a victory!
3/5

KANE VS REY
this match up saw a great preformance from Rey including some brilliant highflying moves. it was so funny when rey brought kane to his knees and they were the same hieght! there was a dissapointing end by kane but overall a good matchup!

4/5
BATISTA VS JBL
this match was absolute rubbish it was over before it began batista won WHAT A SUPRISE!
1/5

UNDERTAKER VS BIG SHOW
This was an avarage match a great counter from big show when he turned oold school in a choke slam but a cheating big show brought the match to an end when he knocked taker out with the uncoverd turn buckle!
3/5

TRIPLE H VS JEFF HARDY
both competeters put on a great show it was a great match with a suprise at the end
4/5
SHAWN MICHALES VS CHRIS JERICO LADDER MATCH
ok match but considering shawn made this match famous it was a bit dissapointing but an of your seat ending!

The fact this card had a 'seen-it-all-before' vibe hadn't really peaked my interest going in. However, thanks to sterling efforts by the talent and a largely lively crowd, this turned out to be my second favourite PPV of the year (behind WrestleMania 24). Of course Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels stole the show with their hard-hitting Ladder match, but major props go to Triple H for allowing Jeff Hardy to look competitive enough (unlike their Armageddon 2007 encounter) to produce one of the best WWE Title matches in recent memory. Credit to the Undertaker as well for putting the Big Show over in a very heated and dramatic contest that had a unique ending.