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The 411 Wrestling Top 5 7.18.12: Week 180 – Top 5 Triple Threat Matches
Hello everyone and welcome to 411 Wrestling’s Top 5 List. What we are going to is take a topic each week and all the writers here on 411 wrestling will have the ability to give us their Top 5 on said topic, plus up to three honorable mentions.
So, on to this week’s topic…
TJ Hawke
HM: Rock vs. Undertaker vs. Kurt Angle from WWE’s Vengeance 2002 – Heralded as great at the time, this match was seemingly the very definition of “WWE Main Event Style.” A lot of sizzle and very little steak. It’s mentioned here more for its significance rather than its quality.
HM: Sabu vs. Terry Funk vs. Shane Douglas from ECW’s The Night the Line Was Crossed – ECW definitely helped to mainstream the concept of the “triple threat,” and this is the match considered most significant. Much like the first HM, this is mentioned more for its significance rather than its quality.
HM: Steve Austin vs. Chris Benoit vs. Chris Jericho from King of the Ring 2001 – I’m putting this match up based on my own fondness even though I acknowledge that it has a lot of flaws (mostly as a result of WWE’s wretched booking at the time).
5. Bryan Danielson vs. Low Ki vs. Christopher Daniels from ROH’s Era of Honor Begins – Instead of putting Eddie Guerrero vs. Super Crazy in the main event, ROH set the tone for their whole promotion by making this match their main event. ROH would lead the charge in making independent wrestling the destination for frustrated WWE fans to retreat to and this match set the tone for that.
4. AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe vs. Christopher Daniels from TNA’s Unbreakable 2005 – TNA openly promotes this match as the best match in company history and it is hard to argue with that claim. Even seven years later, this is one of the most impressive athletic contests that I have ever seen.
3. The Hardy Boys vs. Edge & Christian vs. The Dudley Boys from WWE’s Wrestlemania 2001 – I probably could justify putting all three of their big ladder matches on this list, but for the sake of variety, I will only talk about my favorite one. After almost two years of pushing the limits of how much damage six men could take without suffering serious injury or instant death, I think they managed to top themselves here. They pulled out all the big stunts, while they did take some shortcuts with having Lita, Spike Dudley, and Rhyno interfering. I love all of their matches, and this is my favorite of them all.
2. Chris Benoit vs. Shawn Michaels vs. Triple H from WWE’s Wrestlemania 2004 – Obviously this moment is tainted significantly, but the near perfection of this Wrestlemania main event (in a bubble) is hard to deny. This would easily be the number 1 selection if not for the horrible events that transpired in summer of 2007.
1. KENTA vs. Bryan Danielson vs. Samoa Joe from ROH’s In Your Face 2006 – I can’t hide my bias here. This is not the most significant triple threat ever, and I would probably give several of the other triple threat matches in my top five a higher star rating. That being said, this is one of my favorite ROH matches ever, and it is my favorite triple threat match ever. In 2006, these three men were arguably the very best that wrestling had to offer and they delivered and outstanding contest. Seek this match out.
Jake St-Pierre
HM: Funk/Douglas/Sabu – This match is really bad, despite numerous attempts by ECW to make it seem amazing at the time. However, it’s the first three-way ever and it deserves a spot somewhere.
HM: Guido/Tajiri/Crazy – They had so many damn matches that you could put any of them here.
HM: Taz/Awesome/Tanaka – Perhaps most remembered for Taz’s emotional elimination and farewell, Awesome and Tanaka went on after to have one of their awesome wars.
5. Show/Lesnar/Angle – This match from Vengeance 2003 is a very underrated one. Angle and Lesnar were in the midst of an absolute classic rivalry and apparently creative decided to insert Big Show in there. However, that did not deter this match from its greatness, as all three men went out there and beat the hell out of each other. I may have to watch it again, but I remember it well and I think it’s worthy of this spot.
4. Styles/Joe/Daniels I – This is a match. A very good one. A great one. It shows how awesome the X-Division was, what with the poster boy (AJ Styles), the veteran (Daniels) and the unstoppable, badass Samoan dude (Joe). I truly think this one is the best match in TNA history and it was the first match I ever reviewed to boot. These guys went out there and provided some insane spots that TNA hasn’t had them bust out very often. Hell, that Fosbury Flop AJ does is in this match is one of the most replayed spots in TNA history. You want this match.
3. Strong/Aries/Black – Ah, The Big Bang. ROH put on one hell of an iPPV in April 2010, with this being (basically) the main event. Three guys who are top-notch workers got to go out there and do what they do for 30 minutes. How is this match not going to be great? It had great spots, fun clashes, and all you could want out of a balls-out indy match.
2. Hardyz/Dudleyz/Edge & Christian…WM X7 – How could you mention any triple threat concept without thinking of these teams? They absolutely KILLED each other and we got some of the best matches ever out of it. In my not-so-humble opinion, I believe the TLC match at Wrestlemania 17 is the cream of the crop. Of course, it didn’t have the novelty of the Summerslam ’00 match, but it had more memorable spots and a couple of run-ins that made the match better in my mind. If you have ever wondered, this is where Jeff Hardy gets speared 15 feet off of the belts. That spot makes it better than the first match in my eyes.
1. HHH/Benoit/HBK: WM XX – It’s tainted now, yes, but even with that it’s still just a phenomenal match. All three of these guys were great wrestlers (yes, even Hunter you stubborn dicks) and put on a clinic in one of the most tricky match types possible. Benoit’s title win is one of the most emotional of all time and even if you’re like me and don’t feel jack anymore, the finish is still one of the best of all time. Triple H just tapping clean in the middle of the ring. Everything about this match is so great that it’s hard not to pick this as number 1.
James Wright
HM: Edge & Christian vs The Dudley Boyz vs The Hardy Boyz (WM 2000) – I’m putting this in the ‘HM’ section because the dynamic of the match contained more than three men, still as technically a triple threat match it was ground-breaking and simply awesome and so deserves a mention.
HM: Angle vs Jericho vs Benoit (WM XVI) – This again had a slightly different dynamic but was great and was contested between three of my all time favorites.
HM: HHH vs Rock vs Angle (SummerSlam 2000) – Due to the unforeseen table mishap Angle actually ended up missing most of this match but it was a great storyline and the pay off of the two men vying for Stephanie losing because of her still took place.
5. Morrison vs Miz vs Bryan at Hell in the Cell 2010 – My most modern pick and the only main pick to have a stipulation other than ‘triple threat’. Adding the ‘submissions count anywhere’ stipulation made this match have a unique dynamic and I would certainly like to see more of the same. Sometimes an extra gimmick can hinder a match, which could be part of the reason you won’t see Cena-Del Rio-Punk in HiaC or Miz-Del Rio-Punk TLC on the list, or it could be another factor, but either way this extra stipulation actually helped this match and the three men made this mid-card match really worth watching.
4. Austin vs Angle vs RVD at No Mercy 2001 – One of several great title matches to come out of the Invasion storyline despite its overall disappointment. This was a pretty interesting match considering you had the leaders of both teams who had been feuding for months and then the wild card RVD thrown into the mix. No one was really sure which side RVD was on or if he was just out for himself and it took the usual ‘all Alliance members are heels’ and did away with that, as well as playing with the idea that the two Alliance members would gang up on the Team WWE guy as RVD had frog-splashed both men before the match and Austin was so paranoid in general that he couldn’t really be expected to work with anyone anyway. What’s more with all the run-ins and potential for treachery there really was no way of knowing which way this one would go until the bell.
3. Angle vs. Orton vs. Mysterio at Mania 22 – There was a lot of build to this one and a hell of a lot of personal animosity between Orton and Mysterio. To be fair it really could have been a much longer match but for the time they had these guys put on a great show where in the end the emotional favorite one and the WWE’s littlest underdog finally won the world title.
2. AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe vs. Christopher Daniels from TNA’s Unbreakable 2005 – Despite TNA trying to recapture the atmosphere of this match they haven’t really been able to get it right. This was three men at the top of their game and with something to prove and they came through in spades. It is considered to be one of TNA’s best matches and really captured the nature of TNA at the time of fast-paced action from up and coming talent, that is when they aren’t being distracted by giving title matches to aging fossils who can’t really take a bump any more let alone wrestle a PPV quality match anymore.
1. HBK vs HHH vs Benoit at Mania 20 – To me this match had everything. You had the deeply personal rivalry between Triple H and Shawn Michaels. Then you had Benoit as the complete underdog going up against the man who had basically run Raw in Triple H. What’s more there was some heat between the faces Benoit and Michaels as Michaels had tried to rob Benoit of the title match he had worked so hard for to pursue his own personal vendetta, not to mention that both are the only men to go from 1 to 30 in the Royal Rumble so there was a little bit of a ‘who is better’ thing going on. All three men gave it their all and the near falls and reversals were breath-taking, all in all it was easily one of the most entertaining Wrestlemania title matches ever and was the first of its kind, and it paid off big time.
Alex Rella
HM: HHH vs Rock vs Kurt Angle (SummerSlam 2000
HM: HHH vs HBK vs Benoit (Backlash 2004) – Happened only a month later, told a different story, and was almost as good.
HM: AJ Styles vs Christopher Daniels vs Samoa Joe (Turning point 2009 – The rematch happened 4 years later and was for the heavyweight title. They slowed down a bit but it was still great.
5. Rock vs Undertaker vs Kurt Angle (Vengeance 2002) – This was the last time the Rock won the WWE championship and it was a good one. All three guys worked hard and really got the crowd into almost all of the false finishes. I usually don’t care for the typical Angle spot where guys steal each other’s finishing moves but it was still kinda cool in this match as they made them all fast paced and believable.
4. Big Show vs Kurt Angle vs Brock Lesnar (Vengeance 2003) – This was the first single brand ppv and this match closed out a great ppv. Lesnar and Angle were in the middle of their feud and the Big Show was thrown into the match. It had a lot of great spots and a bit of typical triple threat formula but it all came together great. The high spot of this match was Lesnar’s running power bomb to Big Show.
3. Petey Williams vs Chris Sabin vs AJ Styles (Final Resolution 2005) – This was the best Ultimate X match TNA has done so far. TNA has had a couple different gimmick matches and the Ultimate X has been its best, even though the past couple haven’t been so great. This was the sixth one, so the kinks were worked out but it wasn’t stale enough that the wrestlers had to put themselves in danger with risky spots. Petey Williams sold the psychology of the match very well and the finish was perfect. Sabin and Williams pulled the title down and AJ spring boarded and grabbed it out of their hands.
2. AJ Styles vs Christopher Daniels vs Samoa Joe (Unbreakable 2005) – This match defined what was great about TNA at the time. TNA had just got their TV deal with Spike and this was their last ppv before the show would start. They needed this X-division title match to highlight how they were different from the WWE and it worked. It had Christopher Daniels who was the longest reigning champ at the time, Samoa Joe was undefeated, and AJ Styles was the face of the company. It’s unfortunate that TNA hasn’t put the X-division in the main event more often as this was beyond awesome and is TNA’s only 5 star match.
1. Shawn Michaels vs Triple H vs Chris Benoit (WM 20) – Everything about this match was perfect and I have no idea how it didn’t get a 5 star rating. This was the highpoint of the HHH and HBK feud that was going on for months and it had the Chris Benoit underdog story. HHH and Benoit shined the most during this match with HBK being that extra piece that made it awesome. Some people have a hard time watching Benoit’s matches but this is still amazing today.
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