By Mat Elfring on Sep 20, 2017 11:06 pm
The trailer for Netflix's next Marvel series, The Punisher was released and it delivered two minutes of pure action, as well as a ton of gunshots. The quick-paced video delivered a lot of information about the upcoming 2017 series--which doesn't have specific release date yet--and there were a few Easter eggs for fans of the comic book series. Here's a breakdown of everything we saw, and what you can expect from The Punisher.
It opens with Frank Castle and his daughter Lisa playing the opening to "One" by Metallica. At one point in time, Castle was a family man and not a vigilante with homicidal tendencies.
After staring lovingly into the eyes of her husband, Frank Castle, Maria gets shot in the back of the head by a masked man who sneaks into the room. This flashback gives us a great insight into what pushed Castle into the deep end, making him a man fueled by vengeance.
After a few quick shots of Punisher gearing up by readying his guns and strapping on his vest, he goes on the offensive, getting into a firefight with a bunch of people.
Punisher stands over someone and says, "What do you know about my family?" The man he's talking to says he doesn't know anything, and Punisher's reply is, "Fair enough."
Very quickly, Punisher shoots the guy he was talking to. He takes no prisoners. While we've seen him in Season 2 of Daredevil he has no problem shooting people, this feels cold and robotic.
"They killed my family to get to me," explains Punisher. We get a quick shot of what is obviously one of the villains this season, Rawlins. In the comics, the character appeared in Garth Ennis' Punisher Max series as a CIA agent who has committed numerous war crimes.
Castle goes on to say he was part of a covert CIA operation. We see him tied up with masked men around him. Was this part of his training or initiation?
We know that this happens in the past because we see a video of this on a computer, which we believe is Castle's. If you're wondering, the web address for the video does not work.
Castle mentions the man in charge--Rawlins--wants him dead. He mentions Homeland Security and the FBI. This is the first time we see the character Dinah Madani, who works at Homeland Security and is tracking Punisher.
There is a very brief shot of Karen Page standing next to Castle. She and the Punisher made a connection with each other during Season 2 of Daredevil, so this crossover cameo really works for this show.
Punisher talks to David Lieberman, who is known as Micro in the series. He wants Castle to work with him because they want the same thing. Punisher says he'll do it on one condition: he'll kill them all. More than likely, this has to do with Rawlins and the team that killed Castle's family. In the comics, Microchip is a weapons engineer who is great with technology. However, Microchip betrays Punisher, which ends up getting him killed.
One of Punisher's most important villains makes an appearance in the trailer. Very briefly, we see the character Billy Russo walking away from an explosion. In the comics, he goes by the name Jigsaw. He was known for his good looks until Punisher sent him through a window, which scarred his face.
Someone is holding Castle hostage, with a gun to his head. It's hard to make out just who has Punisher looking down the barrel of a gun.
Punisher is walking through his own hideout firing his gun at someone. His gunshots go along to the beat of the music.
Apparently, Punisher's hideout has been invaded by armed officers. This results in a large explosion. Did someone give his location away or was he betrayed?
Dinah Madani tells someone that Frank Castle is back. During the tail end of Season 2 of Daredevil, the police believed him to be dead. She's working to discover what's going on with Castle, as she is one of the few people who thinks he's alive.
Madani is talking to Sam Stein, her partner, who still believes Castle is dead. Both characters are not based on anyone from the comics but seem as though they could have come from the comic series Punisher Max.
Finally, the trailer closes out with Punisher shooting someone in the back of the head. The character has gone through some changes since the last time we saw him: he colder, shows no mercy, and will kill anyone in his way. The trailer makes it seem as though this is a darker, more unforgiving character than the one we saw in Daredevil. Punisher will hit Netflix sometime before the end of the year.
By GameSpot Staff on Sep 20, 2017 08:30 pm
Battlegrounds Ready
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds can be an intense multiplayer experience, but the only way to really learn how to play it is to actually jump in. The battle royale-style game pits up to 100 players against each other, with the single goal of being the last player standing. With no tutorial, single-player mode, or other traditional ways to pick up how the game works, most players just have to spend lots of time getting killed in Battlegrounds in order to learn the ropes. But with a little information about the essentials, you can cut the learning curve significantly. Here are 12 essential tips to get you started in PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds that'll help you hit the island running.
Speed And Smarts
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds starts with up to 100 players parachuting onto a giant island. The goal is to fight and survive to be the only person left, and in practice, that means you'll need to mix stealth, combat, and situational awareness to take out other players and avoid getting dropped yourself. Right from the beginning of the match, you'll have control in the air as you descend onto the game world. During this time, you can see other players and move your character to avoid them. Part of what makes Battlegrounds so interesting is its scope. The island is huge, allowing you to explore a big chunk of it for weapons, and features varied environments from power plants to houses to forests make for a lot of surprising encounters. But to win, you'll need to be both quick and intelligent. When moving around, sometimes it's best to holster your weapon to pick up speed. Though you will be more vulnerable, sometimes it's more important to move quickly.
Pay attention to your surroundings, both indoors and out, and try to anticipate where other players might be waiting for you, especially when you check buildings--even the bathtubs, as they're a common hiding spot. Stay out of the open as much as possible and outsmart players by being patient and, to some degree, cautious. Your only goal is to stay alive, so sometimes, avoiding a fight is better than picking one. You can often get further in a match by letting other players do your dirty work for you and then picking them off when they're vulnerable. Just know that players who do more killing often end up with better gear, which can stack the deck against you as you get into Battlegrounds' later moments.
Learn (And Adjust) The Controls
The first thing you should do out of the gate is spend some time familiarizing yourself with the game's controls, and making any adjustments you desire. There are a lot of inputs to remember, and you'll need all your skills to play effectively. Among the most important is the ability to turn your head by holding down the Alt key (by default). In third-person view mode, holding Alt allows you to swivel the camera so you can see all the way around you without moving. This is essential, since the island is a huge place, and you constantly need to be on the lookout for other players. Everyone is gunning for you, and only by being more aware of your surroundings than your opponents will you emerge victorious. You'll also want to familiarize yourself with crouching and going prone, which minimize how visible you are and dictate how much sound your character makes while moving. Also, holding the ALT key can reduce the speed of your character, making them more quiet. Other handy controls include the B key, which lets you switch your weapons' firing modes, and Tab, which opens your inventory screen and quickly loot nearby bodies within a short distance. Managing your inventory quickly and efficiently is a key part of PUBG, so more on that later.
Be Aware Of The Circle
In PUBG, you can't just wander the island for as long as you want, wherever you want. Eventually, the play area constricts; if you check the in-game map with the M button, you'll see a white ring designating the new play field, with a timer in the bottom-right corner of your display. When the timer runs out, another blue ring begins to rush toward the white one. If you're caught outside the white ring when the blue one arrives, you'll start to take damage--and the longer the game goes on, the more quickly the blue forcefield will kill you. So in addition to hunting down and fighting other players (or avoiding them), you need to continually make your way into the white circle to avoid dying. And each smaller circle means there's a better and better chance you'll run into other players as the battlefield becomes ever smaller. In fact, a big part of every PUBG match is knowing where the circle is and how it'll affect you. Smart players use the circle as part of their strategy, using it to predict other players' movements and to ambush them as they flee its deadly contractions. You'll often see people waiting on bridges and at other choke points where they know other players are forced to pass to keep inside the circle. Thinking about where the circle will force players to go, and anticipating bad situations when you're forced to move, will help you survive.
What To Know About Your Gear
When you first drop onto the island in PUBG, you'll have only the clothes on your back. If you happen to encounter a player immediately, you can punch them, but every drop is a race for the nearest buildings, and with them, guns. You'll find guns and other equipment almost exclusively inside buildings, so most of the time, you'll want to move from structure to structure. Your primary concern at the outset of the game is to get armed, but you also will need more than guns. Gear in PUBG includes body armor, backpacks to lug your stuff, and health items. In every game, you immediately want to seek out a vest and helmet for protection. However, higher tiered gear can protect against the more vulnerable areas of your body, such as tier 3 helmet offering a facemask to protect against head damage. These won't make you invincible, but they allow you to take a lot more damage and use up less healing items before dying. Armor items and backpacks come in three tiers, with the third being the rarest and most effective. Most of the game is about checking buildings for better stuff, and you can expect other players to be doing the same. By the later stages of any match, expect your opponents to be pretty well decked out. Never stop looking for better gear, whether it's in the buildings you stop by or on the players you kill.
Manage Your Inventory
Even with the biggest backpacks and best gear in Battlegrounds, your ability to carry equipment is limited. You can only cram so many first aid kits, energy drinks, and ammo boxes into your pockets. A lot of PUBG is about knowing what to take and what to leave behind, and setting up your weapons with useful attachments as quickly as possible. You can open your character's Inventory screen with the Tab key, but know that you're vulnerable while you're messing with the menus. On the Inventory screen, you'll see three weapon slots for two rifles and a pistol, along with spaces for equitable armor. When you stand near gear you want to pick up, you'll see it arrayed in the top-left corner of the screen. Experienced players use the inventory screen to pick up almost all of their stuff, instead of the E key. You can drag items directly to where they go on your character, which cancels the "pick-up" animation that leaves your character vulnerable for a second or two. Once you get familiar with what gear goes where, this seemingly small consideration might save your life as you grab a gun or ammo in a clutch moment. Knowing how to prioritize stuff in your inventory is extremely important. For instance, you only want to carry ammo for the guns you've got with you. While it's tempting to pick up tons of bandages, they can only heal up to 75% health, and you may be better off keeping a few on-hand till you find a proper medkit. Grenades can be effective, but their uses are pretty limited. As for attachments for weapons you don't have, unless they're very rare and potentially useful if you find the right gun, they're just just dead weight and will clog up inventory space--especially for lower tiered backpacks that holds less space. While you want to find as much good gear as quickly as possible in PUBG, you also want to throw away anything you're not getting much use out of. Ammo for your assault rifle is much more important than ammo for your pistol, for instance. And even though your Tier 3 body armor might be damaged, it's still more effective at stopping bullets than a Tier 1 vest.
It's All About Sound
Situational awareness is essential in PUBG. The island is so big that it's possible to go for long periods without seeing any other players, but catching sight of people before they see you is essential to making it all the way to the end. Even more important than sight, though, is sound. Sound carries quite a way in PUBG. Fire a gun and you'll be heard for a huge distance around you, often drawing more players to your location. Driving the few vehicles in the game create even more sound, announcing your position to everyone in the area. But even at a local level, footsteps make a huge amount of noise. You'll often hear players before you see them, and being able to gauge the locations of noisy players and ambush them is an important skill--as is knowing where players might be waiting to do the same to you. It's highly recommended that you play Battlegrounds with a solid pair of headphones, preferably the wrap-around kind that support stereo sound. Your best assets in the game aren't your guns but your ears. Most of the times you'll encounter other players, you'll hear them long before you see them.
Loot And Scoot
In PUBG, it's important to keep moving and to constantly seek out better equipment. Hiding out in a good spot in the middle of the circle might seem like a great idea, but often you'll handicap yourself--you might make it to the Top 10 in a game where you hide out in an attic for 20 minutes, but you'll often be underpowered compared to the players who have been battling it out for the entire match. It's important to balance caution with taking risks, and to learn which situations call for which approach. In general, though, you'll want to check a building as quickly as you can, get everything you need from it, and move on. But be aware of your surroundings. For players just starting out, a good thing to watch for are open doors. All the doors in PUBG are closed by default, and doors standing open were definitely opened by players. But you can also close doors behind you, which is a great way to throw someone off your trail or set up an ambush by making a building look untouched when you're actually hiding inside. If you suspect an enemy might be nearby but the exterior doors on a building are closed, one good strategy is to check the windows. Interior doors are also closed by default, so if you can look into a building from the outside to see open doors on the inside, you might avoid walking into a trap. It's also worth noting that the biggest, most interesting buildings--apartments, the power plant, the military base, the school, and so on--often house the best gear. However, they also attract the most players who have the same idea to trek into large spaces for more valuable gear.
Learn The Good Weapons
There are a ton of guns in PUBG, and they're not all equal. Some are good for different situations--a shotgun can be devastating in close-quarters interior combat but next to useless out in the field. Most guns can also support a number of attachments, from suppressors to better stocks, that change how they handle and can make middling weapons into powerhouses. Your general approach should be to try to find assault rifles like the M16A and the AK-47. These guns are reliable in a variety of situations and are great up close or at range, especially when you find scopes for them. Sniper rifles are rare and also worth snagging when you can find them, especially if scopes are plentiful. As you get better at PUBG, you'll find getting the right guns and the optics to go with them is a big part of outfitting yourself to make it to the late stages of the game. But if you can spend time messing with each gun, preferably in combat, figuring out what weapons you personally like and do well with is better than any generalized advice. Learning the weapons of the game and getting comfortable with them will also make you more adaptive. Know where your strengths lie and play to them, while increasing your skills in areas they don't. A big part of the Battlegrounds experience is learning the ins and outs of the guns so that you can do well, whether you have your favorite weapons or something you found in an emergency.
Healing And Boosting Are Essential
Other key items you'll find in Battlegrounds are first-aid kits, medkits, bandages, painkillers, and energy drinks. These all constitute healing items, but they don't all work in the same way. Bandages, for instance, will restore 10 percent of your health, but only up to 75 percent of your maximum. First aid kits are the same way: They'll heal you any amount up to the 75 percent threshold. Only rarer Medkits and boosting items--painkillers and energy drinks--can fully restore you to 100 percent healthy. Boosters work differently from straight-up health items. Using an energy drink or a painkiller fills a small bar located above your health bar, which indicates your boost level. At the first level, your character will gradually heal, which means you can use boosters to restore yourself to 100 percent from 75 percent health, but gradually, over several seconds. Using more boosters will give you other benefits, like a slightly increased run speed and quicker gun handling, that can be essential in the late game. But it's important to note that all healing items don't work immediately. You'll have to stay still for several seconds as you deploy them. That means in order to use a first-aid kit or drink an energy drink, you'll be vulnerable. Plan accordingly.
Watch Out For The Red Circle
Occasionally, you'll see a bright red circle appear on your minimap. This is a warning to get to cover if you're in the affected area. After a few seconds, bombs will start to explode randomly across the area covered by the red circle for a short period, adding another way you can meet your death in PUBG. Red circles are by no means an instant death sentence, however. If you're running through a red circle and you've got no shelter, you should keep running and hope for the best. If you're in a car, you can often successfully drive through, However, houses can be difficult to survive in during a Red Circle, as the event can damage windows and doors, blowing them out and harming any players nearby. But of course, the red circles should be avoided, as they're potentially deadly at worst, and noisy and distracting at best.
Use Cover
When you do eventually get into a fight with another player, knowing where to stand and how to protect yourself is extremely helpful. Bullets never penetrate through trees, making them great cover, but bushes only make you hard to see, not hard to kill. Doors won't stop incoming fire, but walls will. You can also use the Q and E keys to lean left and right, allowing you to peek out from behind cover or around a corner to take shots without exposing your entire body. When you get killed in a fight, try to pay attention to where you were and what you did wrong. Were you standing right in front of a door when an enemy decided to blow it out with their shotgun? Did you strafe the wrong way around a tree? Learn where you're safe and where you aren't, and then use that knowledge to limit the situations in which you're less safe than the enemy.
Play Smarter Than The Competition
All the best guns and gear in PUBG don't hold a candle to your most important weapon: Your brain. Battlegrounds is a game about assessing situations quickly and dealing with them accordingly. That means that just because you hear gunfire in the distance doesn't mean you go charging toward it, and just because you see an enemy 100 yards off doesn't mean you start unloading in their direction in the meager hopes you might rack up a kill. Discretion is the name of the game in Battlegrounds. Knowing when you are an effective fighter and when you're not, and turning the situation to your advantage, is what the game is really about. In practice, that means you should almost never fire your gun. Unless you're confident you can take out the other player, opening fire is like unfurling a giant "Come kill me" sign above your head. Shooting at someone and failing to kill them risks providing them with the knowledge of your location, giving them a better chance to kill you. And that's to say nothing of the other curious players who might come to investigate the noise. Being smart doesn't necessarily mean being meek, though. For a lot of new players, it's easy to give into the tension of Battlegrounds and to find a place to hole up to wait for the end of the match. Not only is that boring, but it won't teach you anything. It can be useful to drop into some of the busiest locations in PUBG, like the centers of towns or the military bases, and get into some fights. The game currently doesn't include a killcam or any other way of seeing who kills you and from where--so if you hide in an attic all game before being forced to make a run for the circle as it contracts, only to get sniped by some player you never see, you won't learn anything. And learning is how you become better. So don't be afraid to try, and fail. The odds are 99 to one that you'll die in a PUBG match. Don't fear death or get frustrated by it; embrace it and let those experiences make you better. Battlegrounds is a game about outsmarting other players, and it takes a lot of losing to learn how best to do that.
By Kallie Plagge on Sep 20, 2017 07:02 am
Fight Forever, Guardian
Destiny 2 has arrived on PS4 and Xbox One, and nearly two weeks after launch, it's now complete with the Raid, Trials of the Nine, and everyone's favorite merchant, Xur. While much of Destiny 2 is cooperative, you can enter the Crucible to go head-to-head against your fellow Guardians. A lot of the time, this means flexing FPS muscles you don't use in PvE. If you're new to the Crucible and a little bit intimidated, click forward for our best tips to start strong. For more Destiny 2 guides, including breakdowns of the three classes and skill and ability galleries for the various subclasses, be sure to check out our Destiny 2 guides and walkthroughs roundup. You can also read our full review.
The Basics
PvP in Destiny 2 comes in three main forms: Quickplay, Competitive, and Trials of the Nine. If you're a complete beginner, Quickplay is where you want to start. And don't worry--level advantages are disabled in the Crucible, so your Power level doesn't matter. There are three modes in Quickplay: Clash, Supremacy, and Control. Clash is a team deathmatch mode, Supremacy tasks you with picking up and "claiming" kills in the form of gems that drop from defeated opponents, and Control involves capturing and holding three zones. Competitive includes a survival mode where your team has a limited stock of lives and a plant-the-bomb mode. Trials of the Nine is the most competitive and runs on weekends--see our Trials overview for more on how it works.
What's In It For Me?
Like everything else in Destiny 2, the Crucible grants a number of daily and weekly rewards that can make even a few games worth your time. You'll earn Crucible Tokens and basic loot drops when completing matches; bring the tokens to Lord Shaxx, the Crucible Handler, in the social space to increase your reputation and get Crucible engrams. You can also strive to complete the daily challenges, like getting a specific number of kills with power weapons, to get smaller rewards. On a weekly basis, there are three main Crucible objectives for better loot: Call to Arms, the weekly clan engram for the Crucible, and the clan engram for Trials of the Nine. Beginners should focus on the first two rewards before worrying about Trials. Call to Arms is Shaxx's weekly Crucible Milestone. Play in a handful of matches to earn powerful gear from him once per weekly reset. For the Crucible clan engram, you simply have to win one match in the Crucible with a Fireteam consisting of at least half clan members. (For Trials, you need seven wins.)
Best Weapon Types For Beginners
There aren't necessarily specific weapons that are must-haves for PvP, but there is one main trait you can look for: stability. You want to hit hard and accurately, so weapons with a lot of recoil or low stability aren't ideal, especially for beginners. For Crucible newcomers, auto rifles are your best best for medium-to-close range, and pulse rifles work well at longer ranges. The legendary auto rifle Origin Story is a great option, since it has a perk that grants increased damage with each kill. The energy auto rifle Uriel's Gift is also a popular choice. Nightshade, a legendary pulse rifle, is also excellent for PvP, and its damage increases when you reload after a kill. Your power weapon can be tailored to your playstyle. Tracking rockets are great, and a lot of players opt for swords to give themselves a strong close-range option. For the circular maps, weapons with ricochet rounds can kill enemies around corners--we've tried auto rifle The Number to great success. Note that you don't need legendaries or exotics to do well in the Crucible. Level advantages are disregarded in PvP, so you can kill with green weapons just as well as legendary ones.
How To Pick Your Weapons, Armor, And Subclass
You have three weapon slots: kinetic, energy, and power. Within those, you'll want a mix of close- and long-range weapons to fit most situations. Auto rifles and submachine guns work better at closer ranges, and pulse and scout rifles fare better at longer ranges. Higher-level players might go for hand cannons for a ranged option as well. You can tweak your weapons' stats (through scopes, magazines, and so on) on the details screen. If you have one, switch to a Ghost with the appropriate abilities, like gaining more XP while in the Crucible, as opposed to one that reveals resource locations on a planet. It's a small thing, but you'll get rewards more quickly this way. When choosing a subclass, consider whether your skills will be effective against human opponents. For example, some subclasses, like Titan's Striker, have perks (in this case, Magnitude) that allow for an extra grenade. Armor can have three stats: mobility, resilience, and recovery. Choosing armor with high mobility will help you run away from opponents, resilience will help you take more damage, and recovery will decrease the time it takes for your health and shield to recover. You can tweak these stats by selecting one of two perk options on certain gear, so experiment a bit; if you consistently find yourself losing 1v1 firefights, try upping your resilience so you can take more bullets before you go down.
Don't Ignore Armor And Weapon Mods
Once you have a rough idea of the gear and subclass you want to use, it's time to take mods into account. Armor mods can make a huge difference; some reduce recoil on one of your equipped weapons, while others decrease the recharge time for abilities in one of your subclasses. If you're using your Arc subclass, for example, pick gear with mods that improve your Arc abilities. Some daily challenges require kills with a specific energy type. You can change most weapons' energy type using a mod, but the easiest way is to just switch to the appropriate weapon and save the mods. For more details, see our guide to using mods in Destiny 2.
Step One: Don't Die
Now that you're all suited up, it's time to fight! Step one is to...not die. This is the most basic tip of all, but it encompasses a few things. Don't overextend, don't start a fight you can't win, and don't engage multiple enemies by yourself. If someone is gaining the upper hand, run away and wait for your health to regenerate. It's better to avoid giving the other team a point than to get a single kill before dying--or worse, dying before you can get any kills at all.
Pay Attention To Power Ammo
In the Crucible, you don't just pick up power ammo randomly; you have to collect it from specific points around the map, marked with a purple ammo icon. On top of that, power ammo is only available at certain intervals, and you'll be able to see the countdown if you approach a loading spot before the ammo is available. The ticker in the bottom left of the screen will show you who loaded power ammo and where. Since there's a limited amount, always pick up the power ammo if possible--it will keep it away from someone on the other team. If you die, you lose any power ammo you had, but it's better to have it and lose it than give it up to the opponent. The Titan's shield wall is super handy when trying to secure power ammo, especially in modes like the competitive survival mode where power ammo is in very short supply and highly contested. When faced with an enemy shield wall, explosive rounds and grenades will both help take it down. (For more on the shield wall, check out our Titan class guide.)
Stick Together
You'd be surprised how many people run around solo in the Crucible and lose to pairs of Guardians. Simply put, if you try to fight when you're outnumbered, you're going to lose, particularly in the competitive modes. Staying with someone else will not only help you stay alive, it'll help you get kills, which is a good formula for a winning score.
Save Your Super
Don't pop your super the second you get it. Some supers are great at shutting down others, while some are best used on your opponents when they're grouped together. Take time to read the situation and use your super when the time calls for it.
By Mat Elfring on Sep 20, 2017 02:55 am
Thankfully, it's been a month since the last WWE PPV, since the two-a-month schedule has been a bit too much for most fans. Now that PPV fatigue has worn off, Raw is presenting its brand-exclusive event No Mercy. Coming to the Staples Center in Los Angeles, the PPV will start at 8 PM ET/5 PM PT on Sunday, September 24 and boasts two big main event matches. The Kickoff show will start one hour prior and will feature an unannounced match. Here's who is on the card and our predictions for the evening.
The Miz (c) vs. Jason Jordan
(For the Intercontinental Championship) After Jason Jordan was revealed to be Kurt Angle's secret lovechild (ooh la la!), the son of the Raw GM got himself a title run. This led him to a rivalry with current Intercontinental Champion The Miz and his delightful Miztourage. This is Jordan's first big push, and while it's seemingly going well for him, I don't think he's going to come out on top here. The rivalry is still new and Miz just got the IC title back, so more than likely, Bo Dallas or Curtis Axel will make sure Miz retains it. Our prediction: The Miz wins
Neville (c) vs. Enzo Amore
(For the Cruiserweight Championship) Enzo Amore is now on 205 Live, and he has quickly earned himself a chance to win the title. He'll be taking on the "King of the Cruiserweights," Neville, who has been extremely dominant this year. Enzo is great on the mic but doesn't feel in the same league as everyone else on 205 Live when it comes to in-ring ability. That being said, I cannot see him as champion without a dirty win, and I also don't see that happening either. I'm giving Neville the win here. Our prediction: Neville wins
Emma vs. Bayley vs. Alexa Bliss (c) vs. Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax
(For the Raw Women's Championship) Half of the women on Raw are involved in this five-way match at No Mercy--has anyone seen Mickie James lately? Current champion Alexa Bliss has lost her friendship with Nia Jax, and everyone is gunning after her title. Can the champ retain her title when everyone is looking to hurt her? Bliss has had a phenomenal run as champion thus far, but looking to the future, she's going to lose the title at No Mercy to Nia Jax or when Asuka--the wrestler who has a longer winning streak than Goldberg--comes to Raw and takes it from her, by the end of the year. Because of that, I'm giving the win to Jax, just so we can watch her and Asuka reignite their rivalry from NXT. Our prediction: Nia Jax wins
Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins (c) vs. The Bar
(For the Raw Tag Team Championship) Raw's tag team division has had quite a few shakeups in the past year. The title is getting passed around quite a bit, and now, current champions Ambrose and Rollins are taking on Cesaro and Sheamus--can we all just start calling them "The Bar" now, please? While that title does keep bouncing around, it seemed much more at home with The Bar. The team seems stronger in every way when it comes to working as a team. It may not be in favor of what most fans want, but I'm giving the win to The Bar, in hopes the rivalry continues. Our prediction: The Bar wins
Finn Balor vs. Bray Wyatt
Finn Balor went into demon mode at Summerslam against his opponent Bray Wyatt in a relatively short match, coming in at just over 10 minutes. He got the win, but the tension between the two stars hasn't let up, and they'll be facing each other again at No Mercy. Hopefully, these two get more time in the ring, since Summerslam's match had the potential to be amazing if they had more time. We won't be seeing the demon from Balor this time, but I'm sure this will be the moment he proves himself without the help of his dark side, beating Wyatt. Our prediction: Finn Balor wins
John Cena vs. Roman Reigns
No Mercy features John Cena taking on Roman Reigns, the two of which have had a brutal verbal battle against each other the past month. Reigns calls Cena a part timer and Cena laughs in his opponent's face. They are two of the biggest stars in the company right now, so this should be a huge fight. Regardless if you boo Roman Reigns or sing "John Cena sucks" during his entrance--which is a ton of fun--this is going to be an entertaining match. The only problem is figuring out who is going to win. Will Cena pass the torch or bury Reigns? With Cena's busy schedule, I'm thinking Reigns will take the win--to end the rivalry--and get even cockier on television afterwards. Our prediction: Roman Reigns wins
Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Braun Strowman
(For the Universal Championship) The real main event for No Mercy is the match between Brock Lesnar and Braun Strowman, and the lead up to it has been nuts. Strowman has been man-handling the champ, which we've never seen to this extent. Strowman even took a German suplex and got right back up. Yes, Goldberg made it seem like he was going to dominate Lesnar, but in the end, Lesnar came out on top, and Samoa Joe also looked like he was going to beat the champ, but the end result was another win for Lesnar. However, this story has truly made me a believer that Strowman will win this match, and for that reason, I'm predicting a new champ. Our prediction: Braun Strowman wins
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