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Pro-wrestling has something for everyone; battles between good and evil, silly soap opera and of course the actual matches, which vary from technical masterclasses to stunt filled battles and in 2020 cinematic type matches as evidenced at WrestleMania 36, with the Boneyard and Firefly Funhouse matches.
Contests between two wrestlers, talented in the ring, with strong story-line support and characters that resonate with live crowds nearly always leads to magic in between the ropes inside the squared circle.
When that chemistry connects, promoters often want to repeat the magic again and again. That often leads to a series of matches between grapplers. The ideal length of a feud under these conditions is three matches. That allows both wrestlers to score at least one win apiece, which builds anticipation for a blow off, rubber match which in theory should do great numbers at the box office.
Just like in Hollywood where franchises are the backbone of any major movie studio; and trilogies like The Godfather and Star Wars live long in the memory of movie goers and critics everywhere, in wrestling, feuds that have captured audience attention and imagination and have encapsulated fans also live long in the memories of wrestling fans.
It's never done better than in classic wrestling trilogies which are as old as the sport itself. In this article, we'll be looking at several of the greatest trilogies in wrestling history.
There are many classics that haven't made the cut such as Brock Lesnar's 2013-15 series with The Undertaker, AJ Styles 2016-17 series with John Cena, Kenny Omega's jaw dropping run with Kazuchika Okada in New Japan, back in 2017 and not forgetting Mike Awesome's brutal head splitting series with Masato Tanaka in ECW in late 1999.
That alone should let you know just how stiff the competition is when it comes to this topic. Without further ado, let's begin.
Agree? Disagree? Let us know in the comments!
#7 The Rock vs Stone Cold Steve Austin - WrestleMania XV (March 28, 1999), WrestleMania X-7 (April 1, 2001), WrestleMania XIX (March 30, 2003)
The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin both belong on wrestling's Mount Rushmore. The Attitude Era is so fondly remembered in part due to the fact, that two of the biggest wrestling stars ever were at the peak of their careers at the same time.
Their most memorable collisions all occurred at WrestleMania; fitting given their statuses as super draws.
The first Rock/Stone Cold bout occurred at WrestleMania XV and saw Stone Cold defeat The Rock in an entertaining match-up to win his third World title.
One of the original plans called for the pair to main event WrestleMania 2000 with Rock as the face this time and Stone Cold as the heel. However, Austin's neck surgery meant those plans never came to fruition. The following year's WrestleMania finally played host to the super heated re-match, again for Rock's WWE Championship. Both men entered this match as faces; however, Austin left as the heel when he aligned with his long time nemesis, Vince McMahon to screw Rock out of the gold. The molten hot, Astrodome in Austin's home state of Texas didn't care though. On the night, Stone Cold's act of betrayal was widely cheered.
While the WrestleMania X-7 bout was the best of their trilogy in terms of action and both men being at the peak of their box office powers, their final match at WrestleMania XIX was a more than fitting conclusion to their epic feud.
In what was also Stone Cold's final ever match, The Rock finally defeated Austin, clean in a bout which was equal parts technical and flat out brawl. Three Rock Bottom's ended the career of the Rattlesnake and capped off one of the most entertaining wrestling trilogies of all time.
#6 Shawn Michaels vs The Undertaker - Ground Zero (September 7, 1997), Badd Blood, (October 5, 1997) and Royal Rumble (January 18, 1998)
It is surprising to think that Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker worked in WWE uninterrupted for seven years before they ever met inside the ring.
It was worth the wait. When Michaels and "The Phenom" finally locked horns, the results were spectacular.
Their first ever encounter at In Your House 17: Ground Zero was an all out war than could not be contained.
Their non stop brawling brought out Michaels's D-X buddies, Triple H and Chyna. Their interference coupled with the combatants battering a number of referees senseless, led to the bout being thrown out.
To counteract any outside interference, a re-match was signed inside Hell in a Cell.
The first ever Hell in a Cell meeting remains one of the best of all time. In an instant classic, the pair used chairs, stairs and the cage mesh to torture each other. When Michaels attacked a cameraman, the cage door was temporarily opened and Michaels made a break for it to the top of the cage. Moments later, 'Taker left a vulnerable HBK dangling on the side of the cell and stamped on his fingers so the "Showstopper" crashed through the announce desk below.
However, Michaels would prove victorious shortly afterwards when Undertaker's younger brother Kane debuted and tombstoned "The Phenom" for Michaels to score an unlikely pin.
Their feud ending collision occurred two months later with Michaels's WWE Championship at stake. In a Casket Match, Michaels suffered a severe back injury which would sideline him for four years. Despite the injury, he and 'Taker still contested an exciting, back and forth contest which would end in a similar fashion to the Hell in a Cell bout, with Kane interfering on Michaels's behalf, enabling HBK to lock "The Phenom" inside the casket for the win.
Despite losing this series to Michaels, The Undertaker would defeat HBK in back to back WrestleMania matches over a decade later at WrestleManias 25 and 26 in 2009 and 2010 respectively.
#5 Shawn Michaels vs Chris Jericho - Great American Bash (July 20, 2008), Unforgiven (September 7, 2008) and No Mercy (October 5, 2008)
Shawn Michaels and Chris Jericho had clashed at Judgment Day in May 2008. However that battle was between two babyface's and had none of the animosity or violence of their pay per view matches later that year.
It all got very personal between the pair on Raw as Jericho smashed Michaels's head through his Jeritron 2000 television screen, turning heel and setting up an intense grudge match at The Great American Bash when Y2J intentionally focused his attack on HBK's injured eye, and busted him open in the process. Jericho won by stoppage and it looked like Michaels may have to retire.
However, after Jericho punched Michaels's wife, Rebecca in the face at SummerSlam, the pair would fight again in an unsanctioned brawl at Unforgiven. Michaels would pummel Jericho senseless in an intense match-up. However, Jericho would end the night as World Champion after stealing away the World title as a late replacement for defending champion, CM Punk in the World title Scramble match in the main event.
That set the stage for a classic Ladder Match with the World crown at stake at No Mercy the following month. After a keenly fought contest, Jericho managed to knock Michaels off the top of the ladder and retain his title.
The best feud of 2008 is one of the best wrestling trilogies of all time.
#4 Bret Hart vs Stone Cold Steve Austin - Survivor Series (November 17, 1996), WrestleMania 13 (March 23, 1997) and Revenge of the Taker (April 20, 1997)
Sometimes two wrestlers just have amazing chemistry. Bret "Hitman" Hart and Stone Cold Steve Austin are two of those wrestlers. In late 1996, Hart returned to WWE after an extended lay off and Stone Cold was his hand picked opponent.
The pair had immediate chemistry and put together a technical stunner at the 1996 Survivor Series. Hart won when he reversed Austin's Million Dollar Dream sleeper submission into a roll up pin.
The inevitable sequel occurred sooner than planned at WrestleMania 13, after the scheduled Hart/Michaels bout was shelved due to the latter's knee injury. The 'Mania collision was one of the finest WWE bouts of all time. Jam packed with brawling, technical wrestling, blood, violence and an intensity rarely seen in the Federation at the time, the match had everything. Hart won again, when in an iconic scene, a blood soaked Austin passed out in Hart's patented Sharp Shooter submission hold.
Their final collision occurred one month later at In Your House: Revenge of the Taker, when in the headliner, Austin finally defeated Hart via DQ when the Hart Foundation interfered. Stone Cold then battered the squad senseless to stand tall.
A fine trilogy of bouts which firmly established Stone Cold as the number one face in the company which eventually kicked off the ultra successful Attitude Era the following year.
#3 Kevin Owens vs John Cena - Elimination Chamber (May 31, 2015), Money in the Bank (June 14, 2015), Battleground (July 19, 2015)
Kevin Owens burst onto the scene in WWE in superb style.
Making the move up to the main roster from NXT, the reigning NXT Champion challenged the then-United States Champion, John Cena, who at that point had 15 World title reigns under his belt to a heavily hyped match at the 2015 Elimination Chamber event.
That bout was one of the finest matches of the year as the two traded a succession of exciting near falls before Owens scored the surprise clean pinfall. That star making performance by Owens beautifully set up the two rematches that followed.
In the first at Money in the Bank 2015, the big match aura was maintained and the pair contested yet another keenly fought and hugely satisfying encounter. The result was switched this time with Cena coming out on top, but Owen's earned so many near falls that his star was not damaged by the defeat one iota.
Their final match at Battleground the next month was superb also. This was the only match of the trilogy that had a title on the line; Cena's United States crown.
It was also the longest of the three as the pair hit each other with everything they had once more. Cena took the match and retained the belt but Owens's career on the main roster had been made.
This was a perfect example of how a young star can get over at an older star's expense, even when they don't win the feud. Three-match series don't come much better than John Cena and Kevin Owens; this was a blistering series and some of the best matches of either men's careers.
#2 Edge & Christian vs The Dudley Boyz vs The Hardy Boyz - WrestleMania 2000, SummerSlam 2000, WrestleMania X-7 (April 1, 2001)
Edge & Christian, The Hardy Boyz and The Dudley Boyz are synonymous with tables, ladders and chairs and their triangle ladder bout at WrestleMania 2000 had all three in abundance.
The three hungry teams threw caution to the wind in an expertly paced stunt fest which stole the show.
There was only one way they were ever going to top the triangle ladder match at WrestleMania 2000: by officially adding tables and chairs at SummerSlam that year.
The insanity continued in the first ever TLC match when the triumvirate of teams battered each other senseless once more.
The final instalment in the trilogy was the best match of the bunch at WrestleMania X-7. Brimming full of memorable moments such as Edge's Spear on Jeff Hardy off of a ladder and Hardy's Swanton Bomb off an insanely tall ladder onto Rhyno and Spike Dudley (who both interfered in the match-up).
The best stunt of the match came at the finish when Rhyno returned back to the fray to shove the ladder that had Matt Hardy and Bubba Ray Dudley fighting atop of it and sent the pair careering through stacked tables in the aisle.
Christian grabbed the belts to give himself and Edge the victory. In fact, Edge & Christian won all three bouts in this superb trilogy.
#1 Ric Flair vs Ricky Steamboat - Chi-Town Rumble (February 20, 1989), Clash of the Champions (April 2, 1989), WrestleWar (May 7, 1989)
The best and perhaps most famous of all the trilogies on this list is the much heralded triumvirate of matches between Ric Flair and Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat.
The face and heel alignments were in perfect harmony with Steamboat, the plucky good guy versus the arrogant and dirty tricks playing, Flair.
Flair used all the tricks of the trade, keeping the referee distracted while he beat his challenger to a pulp.
However, in classic wrestling storytelling the underdog, Steamboat kept plugging away until he caught Flair with a small package to capture his first (and only) World title, the NWA Heavyweight Championship.
Their rematch was an ever feistier encounter, wherein the pair contested a two out of three falls war which lasted an hour. The epic conclusion of the bout saw both men's shoulders counted down for what looked like a double pin. However, it was Steamboat who was announced the winner to an apoplectic reaction.
The final match of their incredible trilogy saw both men up the ante once more as Flair finally regained the NWA World strap.
Over thirty years on, this series of matches retains it's power and excitement. It is undoubtedly the greatest trilogy of matches of all time.
