WWE No Mercy 2016 results: Luke Harper returns, helps Bray Wyatt pin Randy Orton in main event

No one was quite sure what was going on in the Bray Wyatt/Randy Orton program that finally lead to match in the main event of No Mercy tonight (Oct. 9).

And that was part of the plan, I think. The idea was that the Viper is just as capable of sideways thinking as the Eater of World. All the traps they laid for one another, distorted visions they saw, rips in the time-space continuum they caused by wearing sheep masks... the two legacy Superstars had everyone in the audience - and each other - wondering what’s really going on.

This was the second time these two were scheduled to face off on pay-per-view (PPV). Their Backlash match was called off due to Orton not being cleared after his run-in with Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam, although it was explained away in story as an attack from Bray. That lead to more mind games, as interference by Randy during an impromptu match with Kane resulted in a Wyatt loss.

Mind games were a factor in their match in Sacramento, but this was a straight-forward wrestling match.

Wyatt certainly showboated. Despite controlling the action for long stretches, there was no urgency to pin Orton for much of that time.

A missed senton changed the momentum, because Bray had set Orton up for the move on the steel steps. The Viper immediately capitalized, dropping Wyatt backfirst on the barricade and sliding him in for the draping DDT.

But when he went for the dreaded RKO, the lights went out. Not an uncommon occurrence in Wyatt matches, but when they came back up, there weren’t singing children. It was none other than Luke Harper!

Harper’s return has been rumored for a while, but he was on tour with Raw and reportedly headed to Monday nights. That will be determined moving forward. For tonight, he was back with his pater familias.

And after a Sister Abigail, Bray Wyatt was in the win column.

For complete No Mercy results and coverage of every match on the card click here.