Are there too many multi-man matches nowadays?

[JRH]

Now, I dont really mean tag matches, but all of these matches with 3,4, or more wrestlers at once. It was a good novelty when it started, and there have been matches where that format works, but it's gotten way too overused now, plus it seems like a way to protect certain guys (while also making the guy who gets pinned essentially a third wheel). If anything, they should at least save them for PPV/PLE and leave them off weekly tv.

[sek69]

There are certainly a lot, but my main issue is when they do a multi person match and one of the folks are clearly in there to eat the pin. It just telegraphs the whole thing and you're just counting down the time until they do the job. 

[El-P]

No. It gives more people the opportunity to work in these days where there is no house-show anymore (which is absolutely an issue for the reps people need to improve), it's usually fun, and it allows to feature names without them having to kill themselves doing long single matches every-week. And I mean, it basically comes from Japan. This is what they do all the time on their undercards.

[The Thread Killer]

I guess as with most things, it comes down to a matter of personal preference. Some people like multi-person matches, and that's certainly their prerogative. 

Personally, as a Pro Wrestling fan...I don't like multi-person matches, and in some cases, I have come to hate them.  I probably wouldn't feel this way if not for the fact that I think they are terribly overdone.  You can basically go back to the mid-nineties when the Triple Threat/"Three Way Dance" was first popularized and chart from then until now, and the number of multi-person matches in every promotion, year to year, just starts increasing at a ridiculous rate. When they happened once in a while, these kinds of matches were a novelty, but now you'd be hard pressed to find a Pro Wrestling TV show or PPV that doesn't feature multi-person matches. It's too much, in my opinion.

My main argument with them is twofold. Firstly, quite honestly I think multi-person matches quite frequently indicate a lack of imaginative booking.  Like it basically boils down to: "We've got a bunch of people with nothing to do on this show, so I'll throw them into this big clusterfuck match."  It's great that these kind of matches ensure that everybody on the card gets some sort of match and a payday and nobody gets left out...but just like modern "hardcore" matches, these matches tend to be very "samey" and forgettable.

My second and biggest complaint with multi-person matches is that they inevitably end up turning into a stunt show and any form of Pro Wrestling psychology ends up going out the window. If I never ever saw another match where a big crowd of competitors ended up standing around outside the ring, waiting for somebody to crisscross the ring and jump over the top rope so they could be caught, I could die a happy man. I freely admit, I am much more of an old school traditional Pro Wrestling fan. I much prefer a slower, more deliberate pace that gives the match time to breathe. Traditional selling usually goes out the window during these matches because everybody has to "get their shit in."

I find the aspect of Pro Wrestling which has suffered the most because of multi-person matches is traditional Tag Team wrestling, so-called "Southern Style." I hate multi-team matches.  As soon as you introduce a third team, you can pretty much forget about the traditional "face in peril/hot tag" aspect of the tag match, because it just becomes another example of everybody running around, trying to get their moves in.

Of course, multi-person matches sometimes try and portray some semblance of psychology, but that inevitably leads to the same thing, every damn time.  One of the odd numbered participants or teams ends up taking a maneuver or bump that in a normal match would be just a simple spot...but because it's a multi-person match, they basically need to get out of the way...so the competitor takes the bump, rolls out of the ring, and disappears from sight for five minutes, so the match can return to a traditional structure for a while.

And none of that is even getting into the political aspect of those matches, like @sek69 mentioned...when you pretty much know going into the match who is going to take the fall.  

Having said all that, I'm not saying that all multi-person matches are inherently bad, or anything like that.  Hell, Drew McIntyre vs. Sheamus vs. Gunther at Wrestlemania 39 is one of the best matches in Wrestlemania history, in my opinion. Similarly, the Rhea vs. Iyo vs. Bianca match from this past year was probably the best match from this year's Wrestlemania...either night. And I get that in places like Mexico, Trios matches are just as traditional and important as singles matches, if not more so.  I'm not saying multi-person matches don't have their place, I just think they are grossly overdone and have had an overall detrimental effect on booking patterns and Pro Wrestling psychology in general.

But time marches on, I guess. There's probably no putting that genie back in the bottle at this point.

[Kadaveri]

On 7/10/2025 at 9:30 AM, El-P said:

No. It gives more people the opportunity to work in these days where there is no house-show anymore (which is absolutely an issue for the reps people need to improve), it's usually fun, and it allows to feature names without them having to kill themselves doing long single matches every-week. And I mean, it basically comes from Japan. This is what they do all the time on their undercards.

They do a lot of 6/8/10 man tags, not many multi-mans. 

[TheDuke]

I tend to skim through multiman matches unless I see something interesting like run ins or weapons or something then I will watch a few minutes and if it doesn't interest me I fast forward. They feel like placeholders, like nobody is really beating anybody since everyone is ganging up on everyone so anyone who is pinned has an excuse and the person who does win you could say somebody else did most the work. I just don't find them satisfying.

Similarily I am not a fan of six man or more tag matches unless its a bunch of babyfaces teaming together against a heel faction because they usually feel like such meaningless matches.

I do love during a shine or comeback when you have a bunch of heels bumping for a fired up babyface. For a while those Judgment Day tag and 6 man matches were the highlight of the show for me seeing them bump all over the ring for the face teams.

[El-P]

On 7/14/2025 at 3:52 AM, Kadaveri said:

They do a lot of 6/8/10 man tags, not many multi-mans. 

Oh yeah, my brain totally read the entire thing as it was about multi-men tags. Dunno why.

The Triple Threat talk is funny though. These things have been a regular feature on US pro-wrestling in THIRTY YEARS now. How aren't they considered old-school and traditional ? Well, they actually are. Something watching wrestling starting in 2015 will learn they've been around since the mid 95, so really old-school shit and all. 

[JRH]

As someone who started watching in 1990, 1995 being "old school" makes me feel kind of older than I already am.

[EnviousStupid]

I assume this is referring to AEW and/or WWE, but the multi-man tag method seems to have worked fine for CMLL.