No Mercy was first held by the then-World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) as a United Kingdom-exclusive pay-per-view (PPV) in May 1999. A second No Mercy was then held later that same year on October 17, but in the United States. This second event established No Mercy as the annual October PPV for the promotion that was renamed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in 2002. The 2006 event was the ninth event under the No Mercy chronology and was held on October 8 from the RBC Center in Raleigh, North Carolina. Like the previous three years, it featured wrestlers exclusively from the SmackDown! brand. This would be the final No Mercy to be brand-exclusive during the first brand-extension, as following WrestleMania 23 in April 2007, brand-exclusive PPVs were discontinued. It would also be the final No Mercy to be SmackDown-exclusive until the 2016 event during the second brand extension when brand exclusive PPVs were reintroduced.