In the advertised main event, AJ Styles defeated Dean Ambrose and John Cena in a triple threat match to retain the WWE World Championship; this was the opening bout.

Brand-exclusive PPVs also returned with the second brand extension and on August 15, 2016, No Mercy was reinstated to be held on October 9, 2016, at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, California.

SmackDown Commissioner Shane McMahon scheduled a triple threat match between Styles, Cena, and Ambrose for the title at No Mercy.

[15] At Backlash, Becky Lynch defeated Alexa Bliss, Carmella, Naomi, Natalya, and Nikki Bella in a six-pack elimination challenge to become the inaugural SmackDown Women's Champion.

[13] On the September 13 episode of SmackDown, Alexa won a fatal five-way match by defeating Carmella, Nikki Bella, Natalya, and Naomi to receive a title opportunity against Lynch at No Mercy.

[16] On October 8, it was revealed by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Becky Lynch would not compete at No Mercy due to an out-of-ring injury.

[13] On the September 20 episode of SmackDown, The Usos defeated American Alpha (Chad Gable and Jason Jordan) to earn a rematch against Slater and Rhyno for the titles at No Mercy.

[18] The next week on SmackDown, Miz showed a video package highlighting Ziggler's most embarrassing moments in his career, including his days as a member of the Spirit Squad.

Miz then introduced fellow Spirit Squad members, Mikey and Kenny, who first cheered and mocked Dolph before attacking him.

[19] At Backlash, Bray Wyatt attacked Randy Orton backstage, leaving him unable to compete and winning their match by forfeit.

[19] On August 16, Curt Hawkins began to appear in a series of vignettes similar to Chuck Norris facts, signaling his return to WWE on the SmackDown brand.

The referee called for the bell, believing Corbin had indicated submission, when he was in fact reaching for the rope to break the Patriot Lock applied by Swagger.

[25] After this, Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan informed Alexa Bliss that for medical reasons, SmackDown Women's Champion Becky Lynch would not be able to compete, that the scheduled title match would be postponed to the November 8 episode of SmackDown, and that Bliss would face a different opponent later in the night.

[17][25] Also during the pre-show, The Hype Bros (Mojo Rawley and Zack Ryder) and American Alpha (Chad Gable and Jason Jordan) faced The Ascension (Konnor and Viktor) and The Vaudevillains (Simon Gotch and Aiden English).

[25] The actual pay-per-view opened with the advertised main event, which was the triple threat match in which AJ Styles defended the WWE World Championship against Dean Ambrose and John Cena.

Ambrose executed "Dirty Deeds" on Cena, but Styles voided the pinfall by pulling the referee out of the ring.

Earlier in the night, SmackDown Women's Champion Becky Lynch had been declared unable to compete.

[1] On the following SmackDown, Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan challenged Raw to three traditional Survivor Series elimination matches – involving each brand's best five male wrestlers, best five female wrestlers, and best five tag teams, respectively,[26][27] to which Raw Commissioner Stephanie McMahon accepted.

Also during this time, Dean Ambrose became the number one contender against AJ Styles for the WWE World Championship at SmackDown's next pay-per-view, TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs,[30] in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match,[31] and Randy Orton joined The Wyatt Family in an "if you can't beat them, join them" scenario.

[34] On the November 15 episode of SmackDown, The Miz defeated Dolph Ziggler to win the Intercontinental Championship after interference from Maryse.

[35] During Survivor Series, Nikki Bella, who was the captain of Team SmackDown for the women's elimination match, was attacked backstage.

Nikki added that regardless of who attacked her, she would settle her differences with Carmella at TLC in a no disqualification match.