Wrestling Trios Gimmicks That Sounded Good on Paper (But Failed)

The popularity of trio groups has increased in recent years, with fans seeing it as another fun dynamic compared to traditional tag matches. AEW the creation of trios championships and WWE’s creation of more group acts made the need for three-person tag teams greater than most previous eras.

History has shown quite a few acts having potential as a trio without finding their full potential. The original New World Order, Evolution before Batista came along, and The Elite at its peak provided the ideal scenarios for a three-way act. Struggling trios deserve a closer look at gimmicks to sound good on paper but ultimately doom the talents involved.

LOD 2000

Three popular legends collapsed together

WWE thought it might be an easy solution to consolidate a few struggling groups that were still popular. Sunny became the new manager of the Legion of Doom after taking some time off and the team put together a reboot concept.

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LOD 2000 was the new name of Animal and Hawk sporting new outfits and changing their presentation. Unfortunately, it all backfired, as the act still seemed stale. Sunny lost a lot of her momentum while running the manager, making the return to management more difficult.

Lucha House Party

Three Talented Lucha Talents Should Have Worked

Luchadors have an underrated art form in wrestling that stands out from the average American match. WWE was hoping that bringing three talented luchadors together could help them get through this, as they have struggled to find their next lucha star since Rey Mysterio.

Kalisto, Gran Metalik and Lince Dorado formed the Lucha House Party and spent quite a bit of time together. Unfortunately, fans never supported them since WWE didn’t add any layers to their characters. Lucha House Party, handed to Lars Sullivan in handicap matches, ended any chance of success in WWE.

3Kru live

The hip hop gimmick had a short lifespan

The early years of TNA saw them pair three wrestlers with similar gimmicks. Road Dogg, R-Truth and Konnan each enjoyed hip hop and had moments performing their own songs in the past for WWE and WCW.

3 Live Kru became the new name under which they performed as musicians and an in-ring trio. Most of the matches were bad as Konnan and Road Dogg were over the hill. R-Truth’s singles push was the only major achievement for the failing group which started with strong momentum.

Riot squad

Anarchy transformed into bad comedy

WWE initially had fans excited for the trio of Liv Morgan, Ruby Riott and Sarah Logan forming the Riott Squad. All three performers showed promising talent in NXT on their own and teamed up for the first time in their main roster debut.

The Riott Squad originally felt like a group looking to cause anarchy and shake up the women’s division. WWE blew it by having them participate in silly backstage segments, intimidating others while coming off as caricatures rather than believable ones.

Eddie Kingston, Santana and Ortiz

AEW dropped the ball with a promising act

Eddie Kingston joined forces with Santana and Ortiz after the latter two were betrayed by Chris Jericho. The trio had a history in TNA, but they were on opposite sides as Kingston managed Homicide and Hernandez’s original LAX versus Santana and Ortiz’s new LAX with Konnan.

Fans were excited by the early concept of Santana and Ortiz aligning themselves with Eddie since Kingston was receiving a singles push. Poor creativity saw Ortiz and Santana feeling like lackeys and the overall feud against Jericho fell apart.

The cosmic desert

WWE tried to make them a group of supervillains

Cody Rhodes’ portrayal of Stardust had more comic book inspiration than his brother Dustin as Goldust. A pitch led to Team Ascension joining Stardust after months of struggling following their NXT call-up to the main roster.

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The Cosmic Wasteland was the name used by the trio during their short time together. Stardust collapsing in its big ideas showed the gimmick losing its legs. Fans abandoning Stardust caused the Cosmic Wasteland to miss the target and Cody wisely asked for his release to bounce back.

The Deadpool

WCW dropped the ball with a face painted threesome

Vampiro showed a lot of potential early in his WCW career. An original project to team up Raven turned on him when the latter requested his release to leave the promotion.. Vampiro and Raven having a loose association with the Insane Clown Posse later became more official.

The Deadpool continued through Vampiro by teaming up with rappers Insane Clown Posse. A feud with the Filthy Animals gave the celebrities some decent matches, but the act itself never fully continued. WCW creatives didn’t do much to help them feel special as bottom cards.

Group of 3 men

Together we could have lasted longer

WWE came up with the idea of ​​bringing together the trio of Heath Slater, Drew McIntyre and Jinder Mahal as bad musicians. 3 Man Band mirrored a few other similar gimmicks from the past, designed to make audiences hate them for playing terrible music.

A group with three talented names and one member with star potential could have worked if it had a little more credibility. 3 Man Band culminated in a comedic feud against Los Matadores before Mahal and McIntyre was released to end their respective first stints at Mahal.

The outcasts

AEW ruined a group with three talented names

The concept of a top trio of three credible female performers looking to take over the women’s division should have worked much better than it did. AEW formed the Outcasts when Saraya turned heel with Toni Storm and Ruby Soho joining her to battle local talent.

Unfortunately, inconsistent booking hurt the trio, as fans struggled to generate enthusiasm once they started cheating to win and using spray paint after matches. Storm only became a true star after she left the group to create her new persona, and the other two stayed together for too long.

The Hart dynasty

Following a legendary family should have worked

Bret Hart’s long absence from WWE has made fans miss the presence of the Hart family after several relatives spent more than a decade in the promotion. WWE came up with the idea of ​​rebooting the Hart Foundation faction with a new trio representing the younger members of the family.

Natalya, Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Tyson Kidd grew up together as childhood friends chasing their dreams in the industry. The Hart Dynasty received a strong push to win gold and be part of Bret’s comeback.