The Magnificent Seven: The Top 7 Three-Way Rivalries at Summerslam

While I tend to be a fan of the traditional one-on-one wrestling rivalry, and particularly so when a promotion is building to one of its biggest shows of the year, there are those times when having three separate constituents in a feud can add interesting dimensions, intersections, and opportunities for creative booking. In looking back at SummerSlams past, I was struck by the number of three-way rivalries that had taken shape in prominent storylines. While they weren’t all gems, there were a number that added special intrigue to the event and created memorable wrestling angles.

In compiling this countdown, I was most concerned with the storyline leading into a SummerSlam match—how much buzz it created, and how excited fans got for the encounter. In short, was the rivalry a draw? Secondary concerns included the degree to which the related SummerSlam match delivered and, as more of a tie-breaker, consideration as to where the rivalry led from that point forward. As always, my personal opinion weighs heavily.

On a note of clarification, the three-way rivalry did not need to lead into a three-way match (least of all actually at SummerSlam) but needed to meaningfully contribute to storyline of a match at SummerSlam, or vice-versa, even if the match itself were one-on-one.

#7. Team PCB vs. Team Bella vs. Team BAD, 2015

Leading up to the arrival of Sasha Banks, Charlotte Flair, and Becky Lynch, the women’s ranks on NXT had been tearing it up, including the most recent sensational rivalry between Banks and Bayley. The main roster women’s division was not in a great place, though. Given the talents involved, Paige vs. AJ Lee had had potential to catch fire, but between time allotted and storytelling, it never really did, and we wound up with Nikki Bella getting herself a long and uninspired reign on top.

The graduation of Banks, Flair, and Lynch from NXT to Raw, however, suggested that big things might lie ahead, and the separation of three viable women’s factions, each with its own brand of credibility was a promising enough kick start. At minimum, it promised a variety of matchups posed between different combinations of women from the three factions, not to mention the intrigue of what would happen as one or more of these factions dissolved.

No, the initial three-team angle that launched the then-called “Divas Revolution” was not consistently great, nor was this particular match brilliant. It edges out other contenders for the number seven spot on account of the potential it represented. In the long run, WWE did get it reasonably right, and this angle gave way to not only one, but two viable women’s divisions, each of which could support more than one PPV match per show, in a little over a year’s time.

#6. The Rock vs. Kurt Angle vs. Triple H, 2000

History’s a funny thing, because I remember watching this feud in real time and thinking that Angle didn’t really belong among these more sure fire main event talents. In retrospect, I’d at least call him the best in-ring performer of the three, and say he very much hangs with the other two in the conversation for top ten all-around WWE performers of all time.

When they co-won number one contendership, Angle and Triple H were each natural heel foils for The Rock, who was riding out the end of his run as the clear-cut top face before Steve Austin returned from his most-of-2000 absence. Meanwhile Angle and Triple H struck up a personal beef of their own, centered on Stephanie McMahon—Triple H’s wife whom it was increasingly clear Angle was infatuated with. While the love triangle was a little hokey for a main event Angle, Angle’s ability to sell comedy paired with Triple H’s intensity made it work about as well as it was going to.

In two of the truer tests of three-way rivalries, none of the three men involved really felt a like a third wheel, and the angle gave each man direction moving forward as Angle and Helmsely would continue to feud in the upper card, while The Rock carried forward as champion.

#5. The Dudley Boyz vs. Edge and Christian vs. The Hardy Boyz, 2000

A lot has been said of the three-way feud between these teams, and in particular their WrestleMania legacy from 2000 and 2001. Because ‘Mania is a bigger stage, and because their TLC match at WrestleMania 17 stands out as such an iconic piece of business, their original three-way TLC clash at the preceding SummerSlam tends to get lost to the sands of time. That’s unfair because it was a truly excellent match (some—though not me—would even argue it was better than its sequel).

What we had at the core of this rivalry though, was a combination of three relatively young teams all scratching and clawing for a bigger piece of the WWE pie. Better yet, they were three teams representing ideological differences, with the Hardys as dare devil faces, Edge and Christian honing their cowardly heel act, and the Dudleys as wild cards who reveled in violence destruction. Add onto that a hot build with different permutations of the three squads battling with assorted plunder and you had the logical build to a great blow off match on PPV.

While a match’s legacy isn’t a top consideration for this countdown, it’s all the better indicator of this rivalry’s success that TLC broadened to its own brand of match and eventually a whole show that are now quintessential pieces of WWE programming.

#4. John Cena vs. The Nexus vs. Edge and Chris Jericho, 2010

I have a soft spot for the early stages of The Nexus angle and their 2010 SummerSlam main event. To address the elephant in the room, yes, the finish sucked and the wrong guy went over (John Cena in no way needed that win, nor did he need to overcome crazy punishment and odds to get there). The road to the match, though, was pretty brilliant.

With The Nexus, WWE introduced a menacing new main event stable, and more importantly introduced seven new heels to the top of the card. For me, one of the key strengths of this angle was that not everybody fell in line to combat the overwhelming threat. For a time in WCW, everyone essentially turned face to try to stand up to the nWo, and the entire WWF banded together for a time as good guys against the insurgent Alliance. To combat The Nexus, John Cena recruited the best of the best, and that included Edge and Chris Jericho.

While Edge and Jericho had their moments of gallantry in this angle, they were still by and large the obnoxious heels we knew and loved. They second-guessed Cena’s leadership and threatened to abandon the team right up until the go-home Raw. While Cena was out recruiting Daniel Bryan to complete the seven-man unit, they were all about trying to coax rising heel The Miz to join the fold. Rather than requiring an awkward reset period when faces turned heel again after facing a unified threat, this story thrived on intrigue, and the great philosophical question of whether a cohesive team of rookies could really beat a roster of top stars working at cross purposes.

The match was what it was, and The Nexus surely hung around long after we could really take them seriously as a threat. Just the same the three-way rivalry between face, heels, and the heel-er Nexus was awesome heading into this SummerSlam.

#3. John Cena vs. CM Punk vs. Triple H, 2011

The summer of 2011 was an intriguing, underrated time for Triple H’s character. While CM Punk was the talk of the wrestling world for his Pipebomb promo and virtuosic performance at Money in the Bank, and John Cena held down the fort as the establishment face, Triple H added extra intrigue as a face authority figure under siege, overseeing a tumultuous period during which his legacy earned him respect from the fans, but his inexperience as an executive left him facing all sorts of distrust and controversy opposite the active roster.

The build to SummerSlam 2011 marked the crux of all of these opposing forces. Punk was back after a brief absence and he had a match with Cena booked for SummerSlam to decide who was the true world champion. Triple H was the guest referee and representative of management, who had an added smidge of intrigue for the question of whether either guy could really trust him.

The resulting match was good but didn’t quite live up to Punk and Cena’s match at Money in the Bank the month before. Worse, Kevin Nash got inserted into the proceedings for a wacky storyline that looked to see him feud with Punk (until Nash purportedly couldn’t get cleared medically in time for a match) which derailed a lot of Punk’s momentum and tipped the story at hand from nicely complex to convoluted and unfocused heading out of SummerSlam.

#2. Daniel Bryan vs. John Cena vs. The McMahons, 2013

It’s funny that, while I was vaguely conscious of it, I don’t think that I realized the degree of similarities between WWE’s Summer of Punk in 2011, and Daniel Bryan’s big push two summers later. The parallels are there, though, in an indie-bred guy getting over organically with the fans and then getting the commensurate big push, with Triple H and the McMahons adding a meta sub-layer of the authority characters representing what fans think of as managements perceptions of smaller and non-home-grown talent.

I’d call Punk and Bryan’s runs more or less equal in their respective builds. Punk was better on the mic, Bryan was better in the ring. Both guys earned unbelievable groundswells of support behind them. I’m giving Bryan the edge here because his build was more organically wrestling based without getting too mixed up in worked shoot angles, and didn’t feel rushed or clipped the way Punk’s did with the guy coming back to TV too soon after his supposed departure from the company, and John Cena winning his way back to the world title via contrived circumstances (why was Rey Mysterio expected to defend the title against Cena the same night he won it, besides to keep the story moving?).

Then, if we’re going to get into secondary considerations and tie breakers, the Bryan-Cena SummerSlam match was hands down better than Punk-Cena the year before (there’s more of a debate to be had about Punk-Cena at MITB vs. Bryan-Cena at SummerSlam) and benefited from a clean finish. While Bryan’s autumn of chasing the title before falling out of the main event picture was frustrating, I’ll still give it the nod over Punk’s unfinished feud with Kevin Nash and dropping a match to Triple H. Finally, while Punk got a nice, long title run coming out of that three-way feud, Bryan got the better moment in finally recapturing the title at WrestleMania 30, not to mention that the Triple H heel turn marked some good, clear character movement and also set up the groundwork for The Shield’s face turn.

#1. Bret Hart vs. The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels, 1997

It’s a real shame that Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels had such intense personal issues, because they had that exceptionally rare rivalry that stayed entertaining and delivered in the ring across over five years of working together. Just the same, their real-life tension, especially toward the end, probably facilitated how well the late stages of their kayfabe rivalry came across. Their issue had reached a fever pitch at SummerSlam 1997 when newly heel Hart challenged WWF Champion The Undertaker, with Michaels as the guest referee. Sub-plots included that Hart vowed never to wrestle in the US again if he lost, and Michaels promised the same if he didn’t call the match down the middle.

The Hart-Undertaker match was, in and of itself, a very, very good one. The Undertaker was beginning to show signs of the great worker he’d evolve into and Hart was more or less at his peak as a ring general, besides getting red hot reactions for his tweaked character. Michaels added the extra bit of sizzle and intrigue in what promised to be an electric finish.

In one of the greatest moments ever at SummerSlam, tensions finally reached their boiling point. Hart spit on Michaels. Michaels swung at him with a steel chair, only to accidentally KO The Undertaker. With his career ostensibly on the line, Michaels had no choice but to revert to objective referee and count the fall.

The build for this match was white hot, the execution was near perfect, and on top of all of that, the repercussions were monumental. Michaels would transition to formalizing the DX stable to have his back against a righteously pissed off Undertaker, which would set up the first ever Hell in a Cell Match, which would set up the debut of Kane. Oh, and Michaels and Hart would lock up in the ring again, too, that fall for a little-known title match in Montreal.

Which rivalries would you add to the list? Let us know what you think in the comments.

Read more from Mike Chin at his website and follow him on Twitter @miketchin.