No Mercy (2007)

The 2007 No Mercy was the 10th No Mercy professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw, SmackDown!, and ECW brand divisions. The event took place on October 7, 2007, at the Allstate Arena in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, Illinois.

Nine professional wrestling matches were scheduled on the event's supercard. The scheduled main event from the Raw brand was supposed to be WWE Champion John Cena defending his title against challenger Randy Orton in a Last Man Standing match; however, on the October 1 episode of Raw, Cena legitimately tore his right pectoral muscle, causing the match and the title to be canceled and vacated, respectively. As a result, the main event turned into three matches as Triple H competed in all those three matches that night for the WWE Championship, where he first defeated the newly-crowned champion Randy Orton (Orton was awarded the title by Mr. McMahon in the beginning of the show), later defeated Umaga to retain the title, and then, on the last match of the card, he lost his title back to Orton in a Last Man Standing match. The predominant match from the SmackDown! brand had World Heavyweight Champion Batista defeating challenger The Great Khali in a Punjabi Prison match. The primary match from the ECW brand was ECW Champion CM Punk defeating challenger Big Daddy V by disqualification. Also on the undercard, Finlay and Rey Mysterio fought to a no contest.

The 2007 No Mercy event had an approximate attendance of 12,500 and received approximately 271,000 pay-per-view buys. This event helped WWE obtain a pay-per-view revenue of $19.9 million. When the event was released on DVD, it reached a peak position of nineteenth on Billboard's DVD Sales Chart.

No Mercy was first held by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) as a United Kingdom-exclusive pay-per-view (PPV) in May 1999. A second No Mercy was then held later that same year in October, but in the United States, which established No Mercy as the annual October PPV for the promotion. The 2007 event was the 10th No Mercy and was held on October 7 at the Allstate Arena in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, Illinois. While the previous four years' events featured wrestlers exclusively from the SmackDown! brand, the 2007 event featured wrestlers from the Raw, SmackDown!, and ECW brands as following WrestleMania 23 in April, brand-exclusive PPVs were discontinued.

The card consisted of eight matches which resulted from scripted storylines involving wrestlers from either Raw, SmackDown, or ECW — the three brand divisions to which WWE assigned its employees.

The main storyline on the SmackDown! brand was between Batista and The Great Khali over the World Heavyweight Championship. Their rivalry began in July when Khali issued a challenge to the SmackDown roster, which Batista answered. After Khali won the World Heavyweight Championship, a match between Batista and Kane to determine his challenger at The Great American Bash resulted in a no-contest due to Khali interfering. As a result, general manager Theodore Long scheduled Khali to defend the championship against both Batista and Kane in a triple threat match at The Great American Bash. Khali retained the championship. Batista defeated Khali by disqualification at SummerSlam but, as per WWE rules, Khali retained the title. The following month at Unforgiven, Khali faced off against Batista and Rey Mysterio in another triple threat match, in which Batista pinned Khali to win the championship. The same week on SmackDown!, Khali demanded that his rematch for the World Heavyweight Championship at No Mercy would be a Punjabi Prison match.

Another rivalry was on the ECW brand between CM Punk and Big Daddy V over the ECW Championship. This rivalry began when ECW authority figure Armando Estrada scheduled an "Elimination Chase to No Mercy", involving Elijah Burke, Tommy Dreamer, Kevin Thorn, and Stevie Richards. Over a three-week period, Richards, Thorn, and Burke were eliminated, with Dreamer winning the number one contendership. Estrada, however, revealed that Big Daddy V was also a contender, and he quickly defeated Dreamer to earn the chance to fight Punk for the title.

The Women's rivalry on the Raw brand was between Candice Michelle and Beth Phoenix over the WWE Women's Championship. Shortly after returning to WWE as a villainess, Phoenix won a battle royal to become the #1 Contender for Candice's Women's Championship. Phoenix received her title opportunity at Unforgiven, but she was defeated by Candice. However, on the September 24 episode of Raw, Phoenix pinned Candice in a mixed tag team match, and as a result, she earned her another shot at the Women's Championship, which would take place at No Mercy.