WHAT IS THE GREATEST TRIPLE THREAT MATCH?

[hitmanhart]

Hey all,

It's simple. What, in your opinion, is the best triple threat match for the heavyweight title?

What comes to mind for me is Vengeance 2002- ROCK, ANGLE, TAKER.

Thoughts?

 

[Sexcellence of Sexecution]

The greatest triple threat match is Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels vs. some guy at WrestleMania 20. It started the unfortunate trend of relying on triple threat title matches at WrestleMania (20, 22, 24, 25), which they thankfully later chilled out on, but still it was the best of them. It's just a little awkward to watch now because of the "heart warming" ending.

Another contender would be Cena vs. Rollins vs. Lesnar from this year's Royal Rumble. This was a crazy, action-packed match that still told an excellent story and put over Lesnar as an absolute beast. These are the three best in the WWE today (no one else is remotely close), so it's not surprising they delivered a classic. It also has the added bonus of not featuring any child murderers.

 

[CrunKSinatrA]

It's hard to choose, so I'll go with two recent ones...

Daniel Bryan vs Batista vs Randy Orton
It was a great match and Daniel Bryan's Wrestlemania moment with the entire stadium doing the YES chant. AWESOME.

John Cena vs Brock Lesnar vs Seth Rollins
Seth Rollins went next level when he went for the phoenix splash. Then Lesnar went beast mode and took home the title.

But triple threat as a concept and necessarily not a "singles"match...

Any of the TLCs with Edge & Christian vs The Hardyz vs The Dudley Boyz
They set the bar too high and professional wrestling can't ethically nor morally top these matches. Any promoter that puts on a match that tops the TLCs should be tried in a court of law then hung for war crimes against humanity.

 

[Aquaman6686]

The greatest triple threat match is Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels vs. some guy at WrestleMania 20. It started the unfortunate trend of relying on triple threat title matches at WrestleMania (20, 22, 24, 25), which they thankfully later chilled out on, but still it was the best of them. It's just a little awkward to watch now because of the "heart warming" ending.

The UNfortunate trend? With the exception of WrestleMania 16, every single World title match at WrestleMania had been one-on-one. They desperately needed multi-man matches once in a while.

Anyway, my two choices have already been taken (Undertaker/Rock/Angle from Vengeance 2002 and HHH/HBK/Benoit from WrestleMania 20), so I'll just go with a personal favorite, Brock Lesnar vs. Kurt Angle vs. The Big Show from Vengeance 2003. Great match that COULD have been amazing, but for some reason they rushed the finish. Maybe someone suffered a minor injury, I don't know, but the finish felt very rushed.

 

[RkoMachine]

I have to agree with the many of you going with Wrestlemania 20 HHH/HBK/Benoit. But obviously that match can't have the same feel to it after what transpired just a few short years after. So I am gonna go with Taker/Rock/Angle. Such an incredibly fun match that was action packed from bell to bell and still to this day never gets old.

 

[the_peoples_adam]

1) Kurt Angle vs The Rock vs The Undertaker- Vengeance 2002

2) Chris Benoit vs Shawn Micheals vs HHH - Wm20

3)The Rock vs HHH vs Kurt Angle - Summerslam 2000

 

[Darkshadow1234]

1) Rock vs angle vs taker - wwe vengeance
2) Chris vs shawn vs hhh - WWE wrestlemania 20
3) angle vs lesnar vs show- wwe vengeance 2003
4) Stone cold vs rvd vs angle- no mercy 2001

 

[Prince Vee]

This same question was asked a few months back and everyone anonymously voted for a same answer. It's the Triple Threat Match at the Royal Rumble 2015 Event.

Seth Rollins vs John Cena vs The WWE World Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar.

Everything was great in that match, not just the match itself but also the feud which accumulated from the aftermath of Seth Rollins crashing John Cena's match against Lesnar in the PPV that preceded. For the first time in that Match Seth looked dominant and strong and the match itself had great spots. Seth Rollins' Elbow Drop on Brock through the announce table, the Phoenix Splash, Suplex City. It was the match that Seth brags that he staggered the beast and stabbed in his heart. Great match in all context of a pro-wrestling. Anyhow it's just my verdict.

Cheers!!

 

[Darkshadow1234]

Stone cold vs benoit vs angle at KOTR 2001 was a great and underrated match.

So many injuries happened in the Main event.
Benoit injured
Austin got injured.

Great match and ppv

 

[S.J. Maximus]

There have been many great triple threat matches but my favorite one is the main event from WrestleMania 20. A lot of people on here seem to agree, it was just the perfect blend of talent, execution, and story-telling. IMO there are other triple threat matches that rival that match in one of those 3 aspects, but there is no match that rivals WM20 in all 3 aspects.

I actually think the WrestleMania 30 main event was very similar to the WM20 match in structure and storytelling but there was just something about the execution that prevented it from becoming as classic as it could've been.

Royal Rumble 2015 was one of the best main events WWE has given us at a non-WrestleMania show in years so I think people tend to overrate it (and it was also the last great triple threat match so it's still fresh in people's minds) but it was definitely entertaining and brilliantly executed.

 

[the_peoples_adam]

Every single Triple threat match that KURT ANGLE was part of..

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

This same question was asked a few months back and everyone anonymously voted for a same answer. It's the Triple Threat Match at the Royal Rumble 2015 Event.

Seth Rollins vs John Cena vs The WWE World Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar.

Everything was great in that match, not just the match itself but also the feud which accumulated from the aftermath of Seth Rollins crashing John Cena's match against Lesnar in the PPV that preceded. For the first time in that Match Seth looked dominant and strong and the match itself had great spots. Seth Rollins' Elbow Drop on Brock through the announce table, the Phoenix Splash, Suplex City. It was the match that Seth brags that he staggered the beast and stabbed in his heart. Great match in all context of a pro-wrestling. Anyhow it's just my verdict.

Cheers!!

I'd probably go for the Lesnar v Cena v Rollins title match from this year's Royal Rumble too. For me, it was the match that Seth Rollins took the next step and became a true main-event level player for me. He looked like he belonged in there alongside bona-fide superstars like Cena and Lesnar. Plus, the moments like the elbow drop through the table, his missed Phoenix Splash attempt and Lesnar suplexing the hell out of everyone made it a near perfect match for me, and the only good match of the whole Rumble PPV.

 

[Alex]

AJ Styles vs Samoa Joa vs Christopher Daniels at Unbreakable 2005.

This is seen as the definitive TNA match. It had three of TNA's best wrestler's competing for the X-Division championship and showcased what TNA could do. The other triple threat matches mentioned are all very good in their own right but how many triple threat matches can define a company, not many and the Unbreakable match shows just how good TNA and their roster was at the time.

 

[OYDK]

I don't want to sound like a broken record so I'll leave out explaining my first two choices (Mania 20 and Rumble 15) and go with a couple other triple threats I found memorable. But to answer the OP, I would go with Lesnar/Cena/Rollins over Benoit/HHH/Shawn simply for match quality alone. Mania 20 may have had more emotional investment and been on a bigger stage, but RR 2015 saw one hell of a match period... arguably the match of the year. I'm sure 10 years from now people will look back on this with a sense of nostalgia and call it the greatest of all time.

Anyway, one match that's criminally underrated is the Austin/Jericho/Benoit match from KOTR 2001. This was one of the first triple threat matches I'd ever seen that had not only, not bored me to tears, but actually left me on the edge of my seat. I was a huge Austin fan at this time and I was legitimately worried that Benoit or Jericho would take the title from him that night. This match changed my whole perception of multi-man matches.

Second, the Rock/Angle/HHH match at Summerslam 2000 was a great match as well as all three guys were at their hottest at this time. The fans were so invested in Rock and HHH but the inclusion of the HHH/Angle/Steph storyline into this match really put it over the edge. Drama, technicality, brutality, and a raucous crowd made this a must-see match.

 

[SmattyG]

I'd go with Angle V Jericho V Benoit at Wrestlemania 2000. Angle held the IC and European titles and left with nothing despite not being pinned. All three were at the top of their game, and it really stole the show.

 

[HBKperfect23]

Top 3 are:
DB vs Orton vs Batista WM30
Benoit vs Michaels vs HHH WM20
Austin vs Angle vs RVD NoMercy01

Usually hate when Mania closes with a triple threat but these two matches made it work

 

[The Fabulous Rougeau's]

A lot of good matches have been mentioned. I want to give some attention to a match that has not been brought up yet.

Stone Cold (c) vs Undertaker vs Kane

This match happened at the PPV after SummerSlam 98 (I think it was Unforgiven). The story was probably better then the match but this was Vince's final way of getting the title off of Austin who minus one day held the title from Mania XIV up to this point. I loved the ending with both Taker and Kane getting the pin which ended up holding the title vacant and lead to Deadly Game at Survivor Series which was just awesome.

 

[Wrestlingaholic]

The triple threat at Wrestlemania XX was brilliant, but I actually preferred the rematch a month later at Backlash. Perhaps it is because Backlash was a far superior card overall that it stands out more to me, but I thought it was awesome.

 

[enviousdominous]

Back in 2011 I was all "You know what? I think I'm going to watch some TNA!"

I honestly don't know what inspired me to watch TNA; nothing against TNA, but it's really not my cup of tea. The wrestling is awesome, but the drama and mic work of the status quo is beyond cringe worthy.

I caught a random, underhyped triple threat match between Anthony Nese, Jesse Sorensen and Jack Evans. I think they were competing to qualify for a later match that would award the winner with a TNA contract, and if I'm not mistaken Austin Aries ended up winning the final match.

The triple threat match involving Jack, Anthony and Jesse was five star all the way. These guys were hitting some insanely complex spots flawlessly, and were making some pretty stiff contact every time. I felt like I was watching Great Sasuke vs Owen Hart vs Eddie Guerrero. It was the greatest triple threat match I've ever seen.

 

[sikkbones]

A lot of good matches have been mentioned. I want to give some attention to a match that has not been brought up yet.

Stone Cold (c) vs Undertaker vs Kane

This match happened at the PPV after SummerSlam 98 (I think it was Unforgiven). The story was probably better then the match but this was Vince's final way of getting the title off of Austin who minus one day held the title from Mania XIV up to this point. I loved the ending with both Taker and Kane getting the pin which ended up holding the title vacant and lead to Deadly Game at Survivor Series which was just awesome.

breakdown 98 hamilton ontario i was there.

 

[Cena Is A Punk Rocker]

If you count tag teams then I have to go with the E&C/Dudleys/Hardys TLC matches.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

From a historical perspective, the first two TLC matches featuring Edge & Christian, the Hardy Boys and the Dudley Boyz are definitely in the running as is HBK vs. Triple H vs. Chris Benoit. The TLC matches were just chaotic spotfests, but they were highly entertaining spotfests with some crazy, jaw dropping spots that while highly entertaining at the time are also moments along with Mankind going off the top of the Cell at KOTR '98 in which you ask yourself "what the hell were they thinking?" that my teenage mind didn't consider back in the day. As for the WM XX main event, it was a great match but it'll never make any sort of real countdown in WWE because of Chris Benoit's involvement; considering the Benoit tragedy of a few years down the road, WWE makes sure that they don't do or say anything that even gives the impression of glorifying Chris Benoit.

From more recent years, Bryan vs. Orton vs. Batista at WrestleMania XXX definitely has its strengths as it delivered great action, great storytelling and what may well be the most satisfying payoff WWE has delivered in quite a few years.

Cena vs. Rollins vs. Lesnar is also a standout in recent years as it was just a great physical outing with a lot of action. Rollins is someone that we've always thought had the ability, but he really seemed to step it up here and cement the fact that he's going to be one of THE top guys for the next decade.

 

[agentmichaelscarn]

Since I was in attendance for it I'm a little biased but my personal favorite was from Vengeance 02 with Taker/Angle/The Rock but from an unbiased point of view it would probably be WMXX with HBK/HHH/Stevie Richards.

The Vengeance match I loved so much was because of all the false finishes. This was before kicking out of finishers was done to death, so you didn't see it that often. So seeing all the false finishes was so good and kept you on the edge of your seat.

 

[Slash-LN]

I'd go with Angle V Jericho V Benoit at Wrestlemania 2000. Angle held the IC and European titles and left with nothing despite not being pinned. All three were at the top of their game, and it really stole the show.

This was my first thought. Anytime any combination of these guys got together you were pretty much guaranteed a good match and putting all three of them together showed they could make a triple threat work as well.

An underrated triple threat match I think was CM Punk vs. John Morrison vs. The Miz in the WWECW days.

CM Punk was showing his ability on the brand, John Morrison was already entertaining to me and it actually made me somewhat interested in The Miz.

They had one at Survivor Series 2007 and they had one on Raw one year as a Money in the Bank qualifier.

I'd go with the Survivor Series one though.

 

[Sexcellence of Sexecution]

The UNfortunate trend? With the exception of WrestleMania 16, every single World title match at WrestleMania had been one-on-one. They desperately needed multi-man matches once in a while.

They desperately needed multi-man matches because they didn't have strong enough stars to deliver big time main event matches on par with Rock/Austin, or Hogan/anybody. Multi-man matches are a gimmick, you rely on gimmicks when you can't sell the show any other way.

From Mania 20 to 25 they were doing triple threats every other year, partially because they couldn't build strong one-on-one feuds and partially because they had two World Titles. Then the trend started changing. WrestleMania 26 they had HBK/Taker in HBK's last match, plus Cena/Batista in a match between the two top guys of the era. Then Mania 27 relied on the gimmick of the Rock as guest host, so the matches didn't even really matter. Mania 28 and 29 were sold entirely by Rock vs. Cena, and Mania 30 relied on a gimmick (Daniel Bryan having two amtches in one night, triple threat main event) because they didn't have any marquee matchups. Mania 31 was sold buy Brock Lesnar as the World Champion, the man that ended the Streak, they didn't have a huge feud or matchup, but at least they had a legit star so it didn't really matter who he faced.