Triple Threat

[BillThompson]

Watching NXT from last week and the main event of Sami Zayn vs. Tyler Breeze vs. Tyson Kidd got me thinking about the concept of the Triple Threat match. It's become possibly the most popular gimmick match in pro wrestling, or at least in North America it seems to be most widely used gimmick match. It's a match that can, and often does, offer up neat and interesting spots, but all the same I find it to be a very problematic match. I'm not a fan of the gimmick, and while I know it's not going anywhere, I really wish it would go away, or at the least be used way less than it is.

 

I find that the Triple Threat match doesn't connect with me on a basic structural level. In general a lot of the elements I favor, such as limb work, are eschewed in a Triple Threat match. There's no point in working over someone's arm when the goal of the match is a flash victory, or a victory earned through hard fought attrition. When a Triple Threat match tries for a submission nearfall or finish, it rings hollow to me because 99% of the time there's been nothing done in the match to indicate working towards the submission.

 

There's the issue of one competitor having to lay around for a while. This is probably what gets me the most about Triple Threat matches. The idea of guys hitting big moves on one another and then having one person lay around so that two of the wrestlers can go at it only to have one of those guys get taken out by a big move and then that person lays around while the person previously laying around jumps into the fray is tiresome to me. It really takes me out of the match as it's not something I can buy into or believe.

 

The previously mentioned cool spots are indeed cool, but too often they evoke cool at the sake of believability. In the Breeze/Zayn/Kidd match there was a spot where Zayn locked up Breeze for an Exploder Suplex while at the same time Kidd locked up Zayn for a German Suplex. Of course the spot ends up being that Zayn and Kidd go for their moves at the same time and the end result is all three guys being out of it for a while. It's a cool spot in principle, but when it played out I found I didn't find myself invested in the spot. It's too fake to state my point more bluntly, as I'm not willing to accept that Zayn would hold onto the Exploder Suplex when he knows that Kidd has hold of him. There's also the timing aspect of Zayn and Kidd having to lift at the same exact time which comes across as far too choreographed. The visual popped the crowd huge, so I'm clearly in the minority on this.

 

There are examples of Triple Threat matches that do work. I remember being quite fond of the initial Hardys/Dudleys/E&C Triple Threat matches as those were geared to be big bomb spotfests worked at a rather breakneck speed. I also remember quite liking some of the initial RoH Triple Threat matches, but I haven't seen those matches in years. In the end though, I think the Triple Threat does more harm to a feud/angle than it does good and it's not a match that I look forward to seeing 99% of the time.

[Matt D]

I thought the Rush vs Negro Casas vs Shocker triple threat was pretty effective. Guys dropping out of matches is sort of an expected thing in lucha and part of the usual narrative of trios, so it didn't feel so out of place here.

 

I wrote it up not that long ago.

 

I'll have to see more lucha triple threats at some point.

[BillThompson]

Lucha Triple Threats are, for me, an exception to the rule. The non-tag nature of Lucha tag matches, as well as the tendency of Luchadores to retreat to the outside on a regular basis in singles matches makes them baling during a Triple Threat the norm, as you pointed out. I think though, that there's still a focus issue in Lucha Triple Threat's, as the stip takes away from the stringent one guy/team versus another guy/team that I vastly prefer.

[Matt D]

Yeah, to be fair, in the match I mentioned there was definitely a throughstory of all three guys bringing the hate and both Shocker and Casas especially hating Rush. If it was spottier and flashier and without the grudge feel, it probably wouldn't have been nearly as focused or good.

[Petey]

I see where you're coming from. 16 year old me loved watching that first ROH triple threat match back in 2004. I also loved the Benoit/HHH/HBK WM 20 triple threat (never saw the rematch which I heard was also good). Rock/Undertaker/Angle from 2002 was also great. But yeah, it seems like more often than not, triple threat matches are either bad or stupid at the very least.

 

I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy the hell out of the ECW three way dances involving any of Tajiri/Little Guido/Super Crazy/Jerry Lynn

[Sidebottom]

The first one I ever saw was Sabu / Douglas / Funk from TNTLWC, which I thought was a great match. I didn't think it was the flawless classic many at the time painted it out to be though. Even Douglas said he hated it. When they went to repeat it at Hardcore heaven 1997, it resulted in one of the worst matches of that year, IMO.

 

The Richards / Funk / Sandman 3 way from Barely Legal was a fun, wild match for its time.

 

I loved this years Mania triple threat, as I did at Mania 10 years earlier.

[jpchicago23]

One three way match that I remember liking quite a bit even though most people don't was the DDP/Raven/Benoit match from 98. I felt each guy brought something different and it was a pretty fun brawl.