Welcome to the AEW All In 2024 PPVPreview presented by GrapPro.com
We will be previewing all matches from the pay per view this week. On the day of the show I will do an all encompassing predictions as I have done in the past.
This preview will feature spoilers from AEW Collision on Saturday night.
AEW Trios Championship
Four Way Ladder Match
House of Black vs Bang Bang Gang vs Mystery Team vs The Patriarchy (c)
When I wrote about the AEW World Tag Championship three way match I talked about how much of a mess the tag division had become and said that I would touch on the Trios when I got to it.
Now that I can? I really don’t want to. But I guess that’s the job.
The entire reason we wanted a Trios division in AEW was because we thought AEW could bring the excitement of lucha and indies trios matches. More specifically, not just indies, but the PWG six man tag. There’s a match where the Young Bucks and Adam Cole faced Matt Sydal, Will Ospreay, and Ricochet in a ladder match. It’s from PWG Battle of Los Angeles 2016.
It’s probably the quintessential “indie spotfest” match of the 2010s. Given five stars by Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, it’s 20 minutes of organized chaos that is designed to take your breath away and make you wonder how this is ever going to end. That was the hope for the AEW Trios Championship.
It’s why the division was first designed around The Elite (Young Bucks and Kenny Omega) and Death Triangle (PAC, Penta, and Fenix) having a best of seven series. The division is also a great way to take tag teams not in the running for the Tag Championship and singles talents not really going after a championship to move to the Trios Division and get steady work with a championship title to still work towards.
The Death Triangle are by far the most exemplary champions of the Trios division. Their matches with Dark Order, Top Flight, Best Friends, and the best of seven series with The Elite is exactly what the titles should be. The Elite had a few good matches but not the same energy as Death Triangle or variety of opponents. And then… House of Black had it.
Four of the House of Black’s Trios defences came under 10 minutes. Some of the matches were essentially squashes. But even worse? They dropped it to The Acclaimed with Billy Gunn.
The Acclaimed with Billy Gunn would hold it for 238 days and essentially strangled all of the energy of the division out. It did serve the purpose of giving a tag team something new to do but I don’t know if they ever had a single memorable match, or a match that comes even close to the energy the division should have. How could it when they have to carry the lumbering husk of Billy Gunn to pretend it’s 1999 again?
They finally got it off The Acclaimed and onto Bullet Club Gold, better known as Bang Bang Gang. I had hope for Bang Bang Gang with the Trios Championship. They soon had them vacate the titles because Jay White was injured and apparently AEW doesn’t support Freebird rule? Dumb booking.
Now The Patriarchy hold the AEW Trios Championship, and while I like everyone involved in the crew, it still isn’t the proper energy for the Trios Championship. There’s a reason Tony Khan books Top Flight essentially against every Trios Championship team for the past two years. That’s the energy you want.
House of Black are in this match because what else are they going to do? It also includes a ladder not so people can do crazy spots but so Malakai Black doesn’t have to have his shoulders potentially pinned to a mat. Great. Cool. Good fun. Whatever.
Next the Bang Bang Gang, with a healthy Juice Robinson and the Gunn’s. I love all three of these guys and think they could at least capture the spirit of the Trios Division but it’s still not the right energy. I also think maybe AEW needs the Gunn’s more in the proper tag division going forward, and would love to see Juice Robinson chase some singles gold.
SPOILERS
On AEW Collision tomorrow, the team of PAC, Claudio Castagnoli, and Wheeler Yuta will beat Top Flight for the mystery spot in the match. This should tell you that Death Triangle is indeed over with Penta and Fenix sadly leaving the promotion. It also means Claudio will be on a crazy schedule flying from Mexico today to London, England for Sunday.
I don’t know if I love this team to win, and feels more like getting them into a match without having them in the Casino Gauntlet.
Then you have The Patriarchy, who haven’t held the Trios Championship for very long. I know his career is known for it, but I hope they keep Christian Cage from having to do too many ladder spots. Let Nick Wayne kill himself for the team instead.
Essentially, as you can tell from my tone? I don’t have much energy for this match. I don’t care for these car crash ladder matches. I’ve seen them a hundred times and they rarely innovate. It’s just watching pro wrestlers do 8 to 10 feet falling spots over and over while someone tries to create some silly ladder contraption for a cool spot. It was cool when I was a teenager and it doesn’t really boost my spirit for this.
Honestly? None of these teams should win. I don’t want this to be the Trios Divison. The Trios Division should be about the most exciting wrestlers in AEW having exciting, fast paced sprints to charge the crowds up. Add all the ladders you want but this is my least anticipated match on the show. Whoever wins won’t matter. The division will still feel like a purgatory for wrestlers with no plans instead of the most exciting wrestling on earth.
AEW may not have all six participants from the PWG Battle of Los Angeles Six Man Tag. That doesn’t mean they book a Trios Division like it.
