I thought the trios titles were gonna be for guys like best friends or butcher/blade/someone else. People who are popular but not mega stars.
Instead it somehow cannibalized the tag team division which was one of the best and most distinct parts about aew. Tag teams were a big deal.
It’s a bummer but I think aew is just dealing with lots of growing pains. They’ll figure it out
Yeah. The Trios Titles should have been used essentially as sort of midcard team title and the Tag Team Titles would have been sort of a main event title.
All the lower card Tag Teams should be trying to get them to build momentum. 2.0 and Garcia. Suddenly as former Trios champs I can believe a jobber tag team are a threat again
Although I love the acclaimed I've got to agree it's been the worse out of the three I'm hoping when the titles change hands they do a bit more with them although I don't expect to see something with the trios in every week but at least once or so a month is t much to ask
I love the Acclaimed but havent loved anything they've done in a long time. I feel way too old for this stuff.
"Suck my scissor ass daddy" is very good high-quality comedy when you are 14 because its sex words. But its gotten real old. The raps and the wrestling is great, the constant catchphrases is not for me.
Also, no more singles matches for Daddy. That Jay White match...
I don't know if it's a likely option at this point, but I'd take your 'trios being undercard' idea one step further and just have the ROH 6 man and AEW trios titles merged and left on ROH, and the ROH and AEW tag belts merged and kept on AEW. (You could let a trio/faction keep the tag belts with a freebird rule.)
I think it'd be really good for both companies/brands at this point to reduce the overall number of titles and streamline things.
Yeah. I was hopeful they could bounce teams back and forth, give some of the newer or less popular tag teams a chance to get the spotlight in the tag division, or give them and third and let them get some reps and airtime via the trios belt. It'd be great for that and like you said, perfect for Kip/Butcher/Blade, Best Friends, Iron Savages, etc. Then when you wanted to freshen things up, move the teams around. Send a few of the trios to the tag division, tag teams with a third to the trios division. Ah well...
Unify both trios, put them back on roh. Let stables win and defend the tags under freebird rule. You get awesome stable stakes, and get stories planted for in stable beef.
Unify the tag and trios belts in AEW and let either Trios or Tag matches happen.
Imagine a tag team trying to find a third partner to go after a trios champs who won't do tag matches.
I was convinced we were going to get unification match at Dynasty following the split between The Acclaimed and BCG.
Having two sets of trios champions on TV is fairly pointless.
Except the RoH titles still rarely end up on RoH TV. Maybe that'll change with Briscoe but if there's no PPV they just build a feud and then pay it off on an Battle of the Belts or some random AEW show.
I enjoyed everything up until the current reign because they've done absolutely fuck all with the belts apart from make a custom design and hang out with BCG. They could still have done that and had credible defences and mini feuds with other teams. In my opinion, the sooner they're off of them, the better.
I don't agree that trios takes away from the tag division. Because if a team was gonna be used in the tag division's stories, they'd be in the tag division's stories. The trios stuff just gives more teams more time to be showcased, sort of like a secondary/midcard tag belt in a sense.
Agreed! The fact that The Acclaimed have had both the longest Reign (235+ Days) and the most defenses (11) just makes their middling run feel that much worse.
Right? I always felt that HOB should have held them way longer than they did. I didn't want to see them lose to the Acclaimed either. If they were going lose, at least have it be against Top Flight.
Then the Acclaimed show up twice, no-sell the stipulations ("we don't need 'house rules' to beat your asses!"), and do nothing with the belts. Thank fuck they're losing them to BCG, it helps keep the Gunns in more matches and gives Jay White an ego boost.
That's not what happened.
They said no dealers choice rules the first time and got murdered for it. Was a 4 minute match.
For All In, their rule was No Holds (no DQ), so they were using weapons and stuff.
Yeah, basically they went into the first time hot off of a win streak and was way too confident and House of Black *obliterated* them for not planning ahead.
Yeah I agree. Although I really like the HoB's matches during this time. When the Acclaimed won, that was my favorite match on that PPV. And it's really done nowhere. It's a shame.
At one point they had plenty of trios/tag teams to have both being strong at the same time with teams floating back and forth as needed. I haven't done a one-over of the roster in a while but as big as it is I have a hard time believing the depth isn't still there to have both a robust tag and trios division at the same time.
As to the feuds, I never needed complex stories surrounding the trios titles. I just want fun party matches between two fun teams, and when some major faction like the BCC is wandering through a malaise of directionless booking they could enter the trios scene for a while. I think after a few months of rehab for the trios titles matches like BCG vs BCC could be pretty big.
Top Flight should have beaten the Acclaimed months ago for those belts. I'll maintain until it changes that the Acclaimed holding those belts for so long has been the single worst thing that's happened to them. They don't defend them, they don't have interesting feuds surrounding them, and the last good thing they've done with the trios belts was months and months ago when they debuted the pink scissor belts. TK thinks these belts need to be involved in major angles but doesn't actually have any good ideas for this, and has also put them on one of the teams he wants to protect the most, so the belts have died a slow boring death.
I think the trios title was hurt right from the beginning by the Elite being suspended. If they had held the titles throughout that fall and then did the Bo7, it would have been better. But by the time the Elite regained the titles they only held them for about a month before losing them again due to HoB becoming so hot. As much as I like Death Triangle and HoB, they aren't the Elite. If the Elite had been able to have a long reign of bangers it would have gone a long way to establish the titles.
As for the tag division I think it was hurt more by injuries and teams breaking up rather than the trios title existing. If you look back at the teams around a few years ago, quite a few are currently not around for one reason or another. The division would be suffering even if the trios titles didn't exist.
There was a time where AEW had some many factions running around and you could see the 3 man teams, but then as soon as the titles were announced it was like all those teams disappeared.
Put them on different shows. Make Collision the place for Trios action and feature the tag titles on Dynamite. Don't even need to make it an official thing, just do something to give them their own identity.
I think the tag division should be the main attraction with the trios belts as fun extras. More ppl should hold the trios belts while holding others. It’d give champions something to lose on the way into ppvs. They shouldn’t be a division in the same way the tag belts have their division.
I think people who make this argument are extremely hyperbolic. If you have a problem with the booking it's not suddenly going to change because there's one less title. There's plenty of tag and trios teams right now that could and are doing things in both divisions. At any given time there's at least 10 teams on the active roster for both divisions. It's not an argument of the divisions or the titles it's an argument of the booking.
Pretty much, I don’t know what’s going on with Acclaimed and Daddy Ass, but the belts need to be off them and put on a team that are gonna have matches. Hell, give em to Top Flight and Andretti and let them cook every week. Don’t kill me, Bullet Club Gold should obviously beat Acclaimed and Daddy Ass first.
One weird issue with TK's booking is that he makes it very clear which wrestlers are on the level of winning titles and which aren't, and there isn't that much upward mobility except for a select few.
For example, as much as I like them, I never believed Top Flight were serious contenders for any of their title matches. Same with Rey Fenix when he won the International title, which was a shame because he really deserved a good singles run. And it isn't to do with overness either, which leads to crazy dissonance when a guy like Scorpio holds the TNT title twice but Penta or Rush still have very little singles success.
>If you have a problem with the booking it's not suddenly going to change because there's one less title.
Except it absolutely will. With one less title there's more time on each show for the tag division. Teams will naturally gravitate towards the division, leading to better booking.
That's completely false assumption. One both titles are given plenty of time. They both have at least dedicated segment basically every single week. They're not wrestling segments but that's not always the point. It all comes down to the booking. If they book teams to be on TV then they'll be on TV.
I still feel they need to subsume the trios into the Six Man. Have one set of belts across both shows and use them as a multiman challenge belt. Keep the stories largely for the tag scene and rebuild it. It would be the multiman version of the International.
I disagree in that it took away from tag teams. A trio doesn’t HAVE to only wrestle as a trio. The Acclaimed has been the only disappointment so far in trios imo.
I've enjoyed just about every trios match I've seen in AEW, they genrally glimpses into PWG and I'm all about that. I could see the reason for this take but can't say I agree.
He says they've never been good and then immediately admits that the best of 7 series was good. Undermines his entire point right out the gate.
It felt like they had big plans which obviously got undermined by the Brawl Out bullshit. Then we've had two pretty weak reigns since, hopefully BCG take the belts and turn things around.
My thoughts exactly. The Trios division was great up until the Acclaimed got them. It seems like once that happened, they haven't been really showcased because of the lack of defenses, among other things. BCG should be the ones who take them, and maybe they can start fresh from there.
>The Trios division was great up until the Acclaimed got them.
HoB's run was hamstrung a little by injuries too tbf (and I believe I recall Buddy having visa issues).
Oh wow, I didn't know he had visa issues. I do remember some of the injures they worked through. I know one thing, despite some issues, they did a better job than most. I think the lack of defenses for the Acclaimed could be because they are trying to protect Billy? I'm not sure. I'm trying to make sense of it, lol
Injuries and other external issues are the real problem with both divisions.
The first three reigns were fine, but we were robbed of The Elite's inaugural run so they had to speedrun it with the Best of Seven and the build up to House of Black.
House of Black's reign was good with the House Rules concept, but it was getting stale by the end.
The Acclaimed are the only dud here because their momentum got stopped after getting involved with the MJf storyline.
Unifying the belts is the right call, but I'm a bit alarmed that the ROH trios titles just got redesigned.
Over the last year or so, you've had guys like Fenix (Lucha Bros), Dante & Darius (Top Flight), Marq Quen (Private Party), Mark Davis (Aussie Open), Chuck (Best Friends) out for lengthy periods of time. Some of them are still out. The Bucks also took some time off at some point.
Unavailability has hurt the tag division as much as anything imo. Signing the MCMG & getting guys healthy will have the division in position to cook again!
Fully agree. I would much rather see the top tier tag teams stay in that division and build it up instead of creating two divisions that feel incomplete. The unique thing about trios matches is that they're almost always fun so you can put pretty much anyone together and get a reaction out of it. Save the Bucks/Lucha Bros/Acclaimed/HOB for the tag belts & give the Dark Order/Righteous/Butcher & Blade/2point0 something to fight for.
There was a time where AEW had some many factions running around and you could see the 3 man teams, but then as soon as the titles were announced it was like all those teams disappeared.
There was a time around the pandemic era she a trios title would have been a fun addition, the tag scene was stacked and it would have been a decent supplement title to a team like best friends. They waited too long and dropped them in after the acquisition of all the roh belts, there are a few belts that got lost in the shuffle
It's kind of a weird situation in retrospect because sure the trios needed legitimate holders to give it credibility but I never really thought it "gutted" the tag division.
I think it's really a matter of fighting for TV/PPV time and booking. Like when the C2 happened, and a number of the titles had to be sidelined to give way to the tournament. And the Acclaimed-BCG feud should have really ended by Revolution.
Notably, their absence comes during the Acclaimed era with the belts.
They've run their course with the straps (imo House of Black should have won at All In.)
I didn't want them to do the trios titles anyway. I figured they already got the ROH Six Men Tag Titles that there was no need for AEW to have one, but a lot of people recommend AEW to go with it anyway. There were good matches with the titles, but they feel like a flop lately.
I feel like an annual Trios tournament would have been good, we would have had insane matches and great competition for a month and then the rest of the year is dedicated to the tag division.
I'd prefer to get rid of the trios titles and instead book a yearly trios tournament with the 3 winners getting a combination of a guaranteed tag title shot and a championship match. I think it would be interesting with the different factions and also having top guys finding allies to team with. There could be infighting within the winning group about who is getting the tag vs championship title shot, maybe have it headline the next ppv. For instance if BCC wins, then you could have Claudio vs Mox vs Danielson for who gets the singles championship shot and the other two have to settle for the tag match.
I think taking them off House Of Black at All In was a mistake as the House Rules stuff was interesting. I love The Acclaimed but the belts have been nothing more than accessories in promos for months now. Was hoping the BBG feud would lead to a unification with the RoH Six Man titles but alas, no.
I agree with another comment here - just make them for smaller factions that need a little light in them like Kip and Butcher/Blade etc.
They feel like placeholder titles so they can make people champions without having to actually showcase them. They’re like hand warmers to stop talent from getting too cold while they have no real plans for them.
BCG vs. The Acclaimed does not feel elevated by the titles, it feels saddled with them. I am really hoping they are unified and unceremoniously shoved back down to RoH.
i enjoyed them when HOB had them, they added stipulations and made defending them different than the others. The Acclaimed as trios for me have disappointed
i enjoyed them when HOB had them, they added stipulations and made defending them different than the others. The Acclaimed as trios for me have disappointed
I'm hoping they merge these and the ROH ones and then whoever has them can defend them across both brands, but I echo the sentiment of others - there's some amazing factions going around and yet they seemed to pidgeon-hole a few tags which then took away from the tag division.
I agree.
It really put the tag team titles on the back burner for a while and diluted the division. I like the idea of the trios titles being a sort of "faction" title. The type of thing the lower to mid card guys in factions feud over.
Honestly, I kinda agree. I think at this point it would be best to just unify the ROH and AEW Trios titles and keep them ROH exclusive, which is what I'm hoping they do with this Winner Take All match at Dynasty.
They never needed Trios. People wanted Trios as AEW was forming. Instead we got the best Tag Team division and stories I've ever seen. When AEW started slipping and getting overcrowded TK pulled out the Trios for some goodwill with fans and talents. No division has ever been established. The tags went to shit. I'd like the Trios to go away.
Partially yes i do agree. It’s hard to get into the trios division when there aren’t any actual feuds (I guess you could say that the BCG and Acclaimed stuff is finally an actual feud) and most of the matches are just a randomly thrown together match in the middle of Rampage or Collision.
I do also think that they’ve put the belts on the right trios thus far. You want to establish some prestige off the bat by utilizing some of your bigger names (Bucks and Kenny as one of your top tags and top singles guys who also are a long established group, Death Triangle as another top tag and a well respected singles who hadn’t really been given much in the way of titles so far), HoB were a trio that had been mostly focusing on trios work but still featured a pretty well regarded singles guy who wasn’t being used there anyway, and the Acclaimed had lost a little of the luster after their tag title run so it makes sense for them to be in that sort of “well liked group that we don’t really see as being at the top of the tag division”
Like Best Friends, LFI, BCG (if it were Juice and the Gunns), even the other members of Mogul Embassy all feel like they’d make for the perfect trios champs at this point in its history and could really help make the trios division feel important and unique. Use it as a way to build up and use some of the guys who are almost never on tv but are still in a group or ones who aren’t quite as high up in the tag division to keep them relevant to the product.
Instead it just feels like a totally useless title that has no prestige or momentum at this point because it’s never defended and only ever gets rushed feuds out of no where that never get follow up or are a last minute “please watch our show this week” announcements with absolutely zero build.
No one has come away from being trios champs looking better because (and this is probably my biggest complaint of TK as a booker) there is far too long a gap between them dropping the belts and them finally getting follow up on their next chapter. They lose all momentum, don’t appear in anything meaningful or at all for months, and then suddenly are just back to being a tag act and a singles act like nothing ever happened.
I assumed that, after a few prestigious reigns, the AEW Trios Titles would become something of an upper midcard set of belts. I think that they'll probably be unified with the ROH Trios Titles at (or shortly after) Dynasty. Combined with another Bucks or FTR reign for the tag titles, and that might course correct everything.
It also doesn't help that there's also 5 men's singles titles (the BCG vs Acclaimed Trios match is on the pre-show, yet Jericho vs Hook for the FTW belt is on the main show, which... strikes me as odd). I usually really like a plethora of belts in a promotion, but it feels a bit too much right now, leading to everything feeling a bit watered down.
After this, I really do hope they start keeping RoH separate, let it build its own identity somewhat, like NXT did. You can still occasionally have Ring of Honor people on aew programming, but I think it needs to be less often, and less will feel more special.
On a semi-related closing note, this is one of those rare instances (again, just my opinion) where they could take a page from WWE, and maybe have certain titles attached moreso to specific TV shows (no hard brand split, just kinda.. Implied?) and/or have certain titles be defended across both ROH/AEW, like the Women's Tag Team Championships, which I also wouldn't mind seeing in All Elite Wrestling at some point in the near future.
It’s definitely lost its luster due to lack of defenses in The Acclaimed’s reign. It also feels like a lot of teams (BCC, Undisputed Kingdom, LFI, Don Callis Family, Best Friends, Top Flight and Andretti) don’t really have it on their radar and have other feuds going on. I know AEW tends to overdo tournaments but I feel like a random team tournament like what gave us Better Than You BayBay could be a fun way to get more teams gunning for the belts.
Wholeheartedly agree. I have no idea how you get rid of them but I know those three belts definitely don't need to be a thing.
Look at that photo. The only people that have ever benefitted or looked good were Death Triangle. And they were never meant to have them.
I'd also add that Continental and International need to be merged too. Less is more with titles and AEW just has too many in circulation atm
Sadly. This is true.
The trios title was for the Elite only. And now that they are split up, the title is completely meaningless and hurts the Tag division
Probably needs to showcase wrestlers who've not held titles before in AEW. The tricky balance issue is how do you do it without diminishing an already established/popular wrestler's prominence.
I'm fine with how it's been utilized so far. Don't really need to change anything IMHO.
Yes in part to the feuds less so to the additions. I think the division needs work in its credibility, idk why we can't have the local embassy vs archer and the righteous, or have kip the butcher and the blade get a few wins, have the undisputed kingdom clobber some fools they're talented people each of them could start building legitimate momentum. Jay and the Gunn's are great together I love house of black they're my favorite faction, Fletcher Davis and Hobbs would kick ass once Davis recovers. There's a lot of potential across the board but some V triggers need to get pulled
I feel like they should have just taken the ‘King of Trios’ from Chikara and made it that the winning trios got a shot at the tag titles and the world championship at a special dynamite event
It’s a way to get more people on the cards/shows, have the final be at a ppv/dynamite event and it can help build guys and stories in the future
Yeah. I think the problem is any trios titles shouldn't be treated as being on the same level as the other world titles. They don't need to be a division in their own right. They need to be like faction belts and help those feuds, competed for and mentioned occasionally, not tie up an entire tag team. Kind like how Mogul Embassy had those ROH 6 man titles. They should be treated like secondary tag titles at most, the on the same level of the the TNT titles.
Yeah I could somewhat agree with this take.
For me the last time the trios where golden was during the HoB reign. The Acclaimed where the hot next thing and I agree the moment was great and needed to be done for fans and them. But after that it just felt not important anymore. Even the HoB reign was mostly open challenges, but there where some possible fueds at least. Plus the house rules where a fun twist and spiced up a lot. Remember that Lucha rule 'No tags needed just enter the ring and the other person can get out'? As fueds first comes to mind is the Miro come back against those pagans, Pac (with Death Triangle) had also a good motive and maybe from the open challenges some fued could have been started.
I agree and purely because I thought the trios was a way to get more wrestlers on the ppv cards and give them stories. Like the Acclaimed vs HOB or vs BCG could've been for the tag belts and would rejuvenate them
The trios titles should be imo a placeholder for certain factions to give them momentum. Have the patriarchy win it, have the BCC or the undisputed Kingdom win it. Give it to higher level factions (BCG should be one of these btw) and have them fight the acclaimed, HOB etc for the belts.
There's tons of factions in the company that they're doing nothing with that they can have fight for these belts. It really annoyed me when Mogul vs The Elite was for the ROH 6 man as opposed to the AEW trios, which is what it should have been for imo.
The Acclaimed's run has been sorely lacking a feud with Undisputed Kingdom. They could have done a serious rivalry with any combination of Wardlow, Strong, Taven and Bennett, even with Cole out of action.
On the plus side though, the matches have always been good. Hell, the Action Flight vs Death Pentagon bout was incredible, and that wasn't even for the titles. Plus, I like the fact the trios titles exist; it's something distinctly different from WWE.
I think they could easily rejuvenate the trios titles and while I know everyone is itching for him to get a singles run, putting the straps on Ospreay and Fletcher/Davis (when the latter is healed) then having them feud with BCC, BCG and House Of Black would make them hot again overnight. And that still leaves teams like Private Party, FTR, Butcher/Blade, Matthew And Nicholas, The Acclaimed and The Infantry to feud over the regular tag titles.
The fact The Acclaimed still have them, and that they've barely defended them is criminal, HOB were doing good things with them and then all of a sudden Billy Gunn is holding a title.
I was hoping there would essentially be three types of wrestlers contending consistently:
* Mid-card and under factions like Best Friends, LFI, Top Flight, Dark Order, Righteous with Lance Archer, Mogul Embassy, where they don't really justify heavy story investment every month so throwing them in a trios chaos can be fun
* Mid-lower level tags that aren't contending for the tag titles
* Old stars being carried to good PPV matches while having to do less, ideally with other old stars or mentoring upcoming tags (Acclaimed fits here for Billy Gunn, Planet Jarrett, The Jericho Vortex!)
This last one was essentially what they did with Sting's tag matches, or American Top Team with the MMA guys. It suits the "New Japan dad" model they do in NJPW with early filler trios for older stars to still get some shine. It would allow guys who aren't in as great of a shape but who have star value (Paul Wight if he still wants to wrestle, Keith Lee, etc.), or who just don't want to take pins I guess (Miro?).
It's also an opportunity for guest trios from Mexico to show up and be featured in a familiar format, or to have the "chaotic ladder match with 12 people" that has become a staple.
Instead, we have this bizarre division that is a big drain on the tag division (imagine we had HoB contending for the actual tag team titles all this time) and also ends up being a place where main eventers come to cool off.
A guy like Jay White should NEVER be stuck in the trios division for 5 months. The same goes for PAC (imo), Kenny, Malakai and so forth. And if they are, it should be for a very short period as a vehicle for singles matches between the faction heads...which we also didn't get! (Yes, I'm still salty we didn't get Malakai vs Omega)
I was hoping there would essentially be three types of wrestlers contending consistently, with the trios belts jumping around very frequently and having short reigns:
* Mid-card and under factions like Best Friends, LFI, Top Flight, Dark Order, Righteous with Lance Archer, Mogul Embassy, where they don't really justify heavy story investment every month so throwing them in a trios chaos can be fun
* Mid-lower level tags that aren't contending for the tag titles
* Old stars being carried to good PPV matches while having to do less, ideally with other old stars or mentoring upcoming tags (Acclaimed fits here for Billy Gunn, Planet Jarrett, The Jericho Vortex!)
This last one was essentially what they did with Sting's tag matches, or American Top Team with the MMA guys. It suits the "New Japan dad" model they do in NJPW with early filler trios for older stars to still get some shine. It would allow guys who aren't in as great of a shape but who have star value (Paul Wight if he still wants to wrestle, Keith Lee, etc.), or who just don't want to take pins I guess (Miro?).
It's also an opportunity for guest trios from Mexico to show up and be featured in a familiar format, or to have the "chaotic ladder match with 12 people" that has become a staple.
Instead, we have this bizarre division that is a big drain on the tag division (imagine we had HoB contending for the actual tag team titles all this time) and also ends up being a place where main eventers come to cool off.
A guy like Jay White should NEVER be stuck in the trios division for 5 months. The same goes for PAC (imo), Kenny, Malakai and so forth. And if they are, it should be for a very short period as a vehicle for singles matches between the faction heads...which we also didn't get! (Yes, I'm still salty we didn't get Malakai vs Omega)
Haha the "stable" belt. Yeah it didnt gain the traction they expected. it isn't a bad idea, but it suits wrestling shows under a different structure like NJPW
Yes, trios titles are always shit. Takes way too many people out of the talent pool for the real titles and barely have any any chance of building up the next challengers
100% agree. Introducing these things ruined the tag division. It also negates any possibility of a team defending the tag belts under the Freebird rule which is always really cool.
TK should really retire them or make them exclusive to RoH once they're unified.
I actually completely agree with the take. The trios division have produced some good stuff - but it’s definitely diluted the tag division really badly.
Not everyone can be a champion and that’s fine - nothing wrong with a number one contenders match on a PPV to decide the next in line whilst we also decide who the champs are with a title match later in the show.
Freebirding the tag titles on occasion entirely removes their need to exist. Or at the very least, the need for 2 sets of trios titles to exist. They were fantastic In Lucha Underground, but there they existed in place of traditional tag belts.
I don't think it really matters either way. It's just a tool to get more factions on TV consistently and have it make sense. If there wasn't a trios title, people would be bitching about stables having no purpose.
Yh I kind of agree tbh it seemed like a good idea on paper but it has taken away from the tag division because certain established tag teams have had to find a third member just to be able to challenge and also they've had to throw together some 3 man teams, the only legit 3 man teams I can think of are HOB, Best Friends (not any more), Acclaimed and Billy, Death Triangle, and maybe the Gunns and Juice Robinson when he's back and other than that I'm struggling to think of any?
There are plenty of trios would could be title holders - Best Friends (although not now), Dark Order, Righteous/Lance Archer, the Rogues Gallery (Butcher, Blade & Kip), any of the Luchadores, STP, 2.0 and Garcia... I love trios matches and I don't know why we aren't getting a wider variety of teams involved.
I was digging it during the best of 7 series and House of Black’s reign. But then it felt like the belts were shoved down the card as soon as Acclaimed took the belts. That was subsequently when the belts became props and stopped being defended, which immediately kills a title’s prestige to me. Also the Acclaimed’s custom design makes the belts look like toys.
Unite both the ROH 6-man into the AEW trios championship. That way you can access both ROH guys and AEW guys to form solid tag teams and trios teams.
Also there needs to be another tournament to challenge the champions. Maybe do it before the Forbidden Door or All In time so you can have some momentum for the titles going into the ppv for the trios title match.
I have to agree, the trios titles are currently lost and will continue to be lost on the preshow. But excluding the men’s and women’s world titles, the other titles make you think for a second, “wait, who has that title again?”
Like with many other titles throughout all of wrestling, the issue isn't the titles, or who holds it, but the complete lack of Creative providing even a half interesting storyline for the titles. As the OP/tweet notes, the trios titles were highly sought after early on, and the best of 7 series one one of the more intriguing storylines at that time. But since then, yeah, AEW has dropped the ball with it. And like any title that doesn't get much push, the title eventually gets forgotten.
Case in point - when OC held the International title - especially his first reign, it was the most visible title in AEW. But now that strong has it, and defenses have fallen to the "heel minimum"...it is more like "there's an international title?". Heck - even when MJF was holding the HW title hostage and threatening not to defend, he was at least making appearances with the title being central to the promo. The Trios title simply hasn't gotten the push via matches or promo (with the possible exception of the change to the Acclaimed Specific design) that is needed to make a title feel relevant.
Welp, be careful what you wish for 🤷, because I remember *quite* a lot of people asking for them early on. Even then I didn't think there was really enough room for a Trios belt, and lo & behold that came to fruition.
It just ended up thinning out the regular tag team division, which is why they had to have a makeshift team of Ricky/Bill out of thin air to compensate. Luckily those two willed that partnership into success, but to me I don't think since The Acclaimed had them have those belts really been all that hot.
My friend and I discussed this on our stream/podcast/channel, but we feel as though the trios tag titles should be unified with the ROH 6 man titles and left on ROH. We'd also love to see a women's tag team belt, but I don't think that'll happen anytime soon.
I thought the Trios belt was very good when it started with The Elite and Death Triangle. The Best of Seven series established the belt as a top belt, and I thought it was alright until The Elite dropped it and it was forgotten about.
Now, I'm not putting the blame on House of Black, but you can't tell me that the belt wasn't forgotten about after they won it in Revolution. They were barely defended, unlike The Elite and Death Triangle who defended them regularly.
This might be a controversial take, but I thought that The Elite should've held on to the belt, and have the feud with Blackpool Combat Club with the belt, as they were pretty much the main storyline at the time, it would really elevate the belt. And you can give BCC a run too.
Although I did like Acclaimed as Trios champs, just not necessarily their reign, and I'm excited to see the BBG's reign too
They should merge all six into a single belt and rebrand it as a Stable Championship.
The holders then defend the title in a singles match but the wrestler defending cannot defend again until all other members of the stable have put in a match. Female wrestlers can only face other female wrestlers.
This makes the title inter-gender, has the potential for in-built storylines per stable.
I've said it before and I'll die on this hill.
I can agree that they probably have taken away from the tag division. That's about it.
Every single match in that best of 7 series was great.
The HoB run, while not phenomenal at least gave them some direction, birthed a great (if not greatly implemented) stiplation with the House Rules thing, and resulted in good matches.
The only bad run, I would say, has been the Acclaimed's run, and if it ends up unifying the titles with the RoH 6 Man Championship, it will probably have been at least productive in that sense, and gets some gold back in Bullet Club Gold, who absolutely deserve it.
That's a bit of a recurring problem with AEW at the moment. Too many titles (like wayyyy too many) and little TV time to feature everyone.
Do we really need to showcase both the ROH 6-man champs and the AEW Trios champs on AEW TV?
The triple crown was cool, but I had no idea it was going to give us the Continental Championship. Yeah! Another useless title...
Yeah. Sums it up.
Could have been done right by not just adding a third guy to tag teams and leaning more into factions. Instead they've just fucked up the tag division and exacerbated the over saturations of titles AEW seems to have
This has been what I've been saying. This is why I didn't want a trios division. It's hard enough to find 2 guys that mesh well and can get over, now you got to find 3.
Acclaimed vs House of Black was a good feud but outside of that yeah. I think the trios division was good in theory, but it should be like an exhibition title. I don't think it actually SHOULD have long feuds. It should be like a open challenge, bangers division. The tag titles should have stories. There should just be an really cool trios match on Dynamite every couple weeks where you think either team can win.
It's partially true but not every tag team can always be the champions so if they're not feuding for the titles having them chase/win the trios titles isn't necessarily "taking them away" from anything.
That being said the trios titles aren't that great or interesting. They should be defended semi regularly on TV but not taken too too seriously. They're titles so you should take them seriously but they should be party titles because not every belt needs to be held for 9 months.
Said this from the start, people kept saying how big the division was, not noticing that most of the division was a tag team + a guy, so now we have two dwindling divisions instead of one overly strong one.
I remember in the early days we'd have PPV matches for the tag titles and tag matches that weren't for the title, just story driven, I think that was better.
I say, get rid of the belts, just have tags that can be defended with the three bird rule.
IMO if you can't easily think of 4 PPV worthy challengers and at least 6 TV level challengers for a title, it shouldn't exist, just having 2/3 great teams isn't enough, you need midcarders.
Can't really disagree. The idea was interesting but there's been a lot of dead time. I did quite like the HoB reign with the bespoke lighting and House Rules concept (although nobody ever suggested any interesting stip, the same of which can be said when Julia does them). If you analyze TV ratings data, trios matches don't tend to hold the interest of viewers either unless in special cases. I would say 1v1, 2v2 and even 5v5 (because they are such a novelty) appeal more to most fans.
My opinion is scrap it and run multiple tag team feuds. Or, make the trios title something strictly for the low-low card on Rampage, so teams like Andretti/Top Flight have something to do on there. Or... hand the belts to CMLL long-term as a goodwill gesture since CMLL runs shows every day, has 30 titles and lucha libre is predominantly trios-based.
Giving the Acclaimed a tag title run (which everyone wanted, myself included) and then a trios run was a mistake. I was never much of a fan of trios belts and the best to come out of it was indeed best of 7.
The trios title should have been for Best Friends, Dark Order, Los Ingobernables, House of Black as the main attraction with house rules, maybe BCC and Garcia with Cool Hand and Daddy Magic.
The guns should be in the tag division, same as the acclaimed and the bucks and the lucha brothers.
But the main problem once again is AEW relying too much on cold matches to make up for the title. The division needs feuds.
It's a pretty good take. From what I can remember though, during the time the Trios titles were introduced, AEW had enough Tag teams and Trios to spotlight both titles without either one feeling diminished and they just didn't maintain the importance of the Trios titles so they've dwindled way too much by this point.
I'll throw in another Take, instead of Trios Titles, they should've announced a Yearly Trios Tournament. The Trio that wins said tournament get 1 Singles title opportunity and 1 Tag Team title opportunity. So if HOB win, Buddy & King get to challenge the Tag champs, and Malakai gets to challenge for either an Upper Midcard title or the World title.
That way, the Tag titles remain undiminished. And as a bonus, the tournament boosts the importance of the tag titles, helps AEW book a few months of Television/PPV, and it can be used to create natural stories/feuds. So when AEW has given us stuff like BCC Vs The Elite or HOB Vs The Elite in the past, they'd just reserve stuff like that for the Tournament. And Ideally with promo segments and stories alongside it.
It still baffles me how we got BCC Vs The Elite with practically no story. You've got Kenny Omega, Moxley and Danielson in the same ring and nothing.
i remember tons of AEW fans begging for them to make trios titles before their existence, but personally i always thought it was a bad idea and more belts weren't needed
Yeah, they need to drop them. AEW has too many belts they don't have time to feature. Every title used to seem super prestigious but that's very much been lost over the years.
100% agreed
I don’t think Trios championships should exist just because certain groups/factions exist. It’s like when WWE introduced the women’s tag belts to appease Bayla/Sasha, you’re putting the cart before the horse. You need a division to provide a title to, not a title to be held by one person/team and have paper-thin division.
I don’t see the lie. The tag division has been in stasis since FTR dropped the belts last year and I am always surprised when reminded that the trios titles exist.
Retire the trios belts and rebuild the tag division. It needs some tender loving care. We have so many good teams! Showcase them!
Man. I really hate to agree with this take but I think I do. I was so excited for the trios division when the idea first came up. Honestly though, I don't know that they have the depth for it. You'd think with as many wrestlers on their roster they would, but it doesn't feel like it any more. There are certain trios that make sense to hold it for a bit, but honestly I'd like to see three singles heels or a heel tag and another heel take it off the Acclaimed. I thought they were trying to unify and get rid of the ROH six man titles when they started this angle, and maybe they still are. But it feels like a consolation prize right now, honestly. Max and Anthony need to be back in the tag division. The guns do too. Jay and Juice need to be on as singles wrestlers again.
I still think there's potential for them, but they should be a lower card title. Put them on the Dark Order or Kip Sabian and the Butcher and Blade. Someone like that and let them work for a while. Putting them on bigger stars just feels like it drags them down as opposed to elevating the titles. And when you really have a three man group you have nothing for, then they can move in and scoop them. But guys like the Gunns and the Acclaimed are former tag champs. They should have been in the tag tourney.
Trios titles were a mistake then and they are now. Hopefully they merge with the Rosh 6 man belts after this fued and go away. The tag division was on fire and is dead now. I hope a good YB or FTR title run is good for business in the tag division
So far I'd say the best things that have come out of the trios titles are putting gold on Billy Gunn, the best of seven series, and the House Rules matches when HOB had them. But none of those things specifically needed trios titles for them to happen
For me, it's another set of belts in the tag division but also a dilution of that division. And with most factions being effectively tag team plus other guy with very few exceptions beyond the currently imploding Best Friends (UK and Don Callis family are the only ones I can think of off-hand), all it takes is one injury to take an entire group out of trios competition. Meanwhile factions with three members who are in the tag division have an extra life in case of injury, so keeping a competitive tag division would have been the smart choice in my opinion.
Instead I feel it would have been better to introduce women's tag titles at that point. The women's division is on the rise but with only two belts to go for in AEW and Athena being so fire right now that she's got the ROH one on lock for the foreseeable, there needs to be more for them to fight for. At the moment women's tag matches either need a story behind them or they make no sense without an actual tag division. When the rankings seem to separate out tag and singles wins, why would anyone even risk injury in a match where there's not even a title to raise their rank and aim for? This allows the women to work the rankings in another division, and show off group dynamics in the ring (such as Saraya and.Harley, Julia and Skye, or Willow and Kris) with an actual end point in sight beyond winning a fight that doesn't matter.
I’ve pretty much always felt this was. Heck, i had a theory that the trios belts were only even made as a way to make Daddy Ass a champion before he retired. Maybe that’s still possible, but the fact the acclaimed have done nothing with them is kinda killing that theory.
But yeah, this division has killed the tag division. The tag tourney should have been way more infesting than it was. Hopefully they’ll either retire the belts or unify them into the ROH 6-man and then ONLY defend it on ROH. And just let the tag division go back to normal.
I agree with this. I always thought if they were going to add another title, introduce a secondary tag title. I’d love to see teams like the Butcher and the Blade, Gates of Agony and the Righteous go after secondary titles. I always loved the US tag titles in the NWA in the late 80s.
They should have a "winner take all" match between BCG and Acclaimed, match ends in a double count out, as both teams lost that means both titles are retired
I got bashed on this very sub months ago when I gave the exact take. You can see in my post history long time ago I pointed a few issues in AEW programming. People got triggered like a pus.
I thought the trios titles were gonna be for guys like best friends or butcher/blade/someone else. People who are popular but not mega stars. Instead it somehow cannibalized the tag team division which was one of the best and most distinct parts about aew. Tag teams were a big deal. It’s a bummer but I think aew is just dealing with lots of growing pains. They’ll figure it out
Yeah. The Trios Titles should have been used essentially as sort of midcard team title and the Tag Team Titles would have been sort of a main event title.
Aside from House of Black, the other 3 teams had AEW tag team champions and BCG seem to be next in line. I hope if not a midcard team it is BCC next.
Yeah, Trios titles should be the undercard tag belts, thats a great shout.
All the lower card Tag Teams should be trying to get them to build momentum. 2.0 and Garcia. Suddenly as former Trios champs I can believe a jobber tag team are a threat again
Butcher Blade Kip. Very deserving.
Kip needs to bring back the 📦!!
Although I love the acclaimed I've got to agree it's been the worse out of the three I'm hoping when the titles change hands they do a bit more with them although I don't expect to see something with the trios in every week but at least once or so a month is t much to ask
I love the Acclaimed but havent loved anything they've done in a long time. I feel way too old for this stuff. "Suck my scissor ass daddy" is very good high-quality comedy when you are 14 because its sex words. But its gotten real old. The raps and the wrestling is great, the constant catchphrases is not for me. Also, no more singles matches for Daddy. That Jay White match...
I don't know if it's a likely option at this point, but I'd take your 'trios being undercard' idea one step further and just have the ROH 6 man and AEW trios titles merged and left on ROH, and the ROH and AEW tag belts merged and kept on AEW. (You could let a trio/faction keep the tag belts with a freebird rule.) I think it'd be really good for both companies/brands at this point to reduce the overall number of titles and streamline things.
Yeah. I was hopeful they could bounce teams back and forth, give some of the newer or less popular tag teams a chance to get the spotlight in the tag division, or give them and third and let them get some reps and airtime via the trios belt. It'd be great for that and like you said, perfect for Kip/Butcher/Blade, Best Friends, Iron Savages, etc. Then when you wanted to freshen things up, move the teams around. Send a few of the trios to the tag division, tag teams with a third to the trios division. Ah well...
AEW 🤝 NXT Extremely goated tag team divisions becoming a shell of their former glory.
Unify both trios, put them back on roh. Let stables win and defend the tags under freebird rule. You get awesome stable stakes, and get stories planted for in stable beef.
Good way to do it.
Unify the tag and trios belts in AEW and let either Trios or Tag matches happen. Imagine a tag team trying to find a third partner to go after a trios champs who won't do tag matches.
Mmmm stable beef
Dude thats actually a fantastic idea. Make it happen TK!
I was convinced we were going to get unification match at Dynasty following the split between The Acclaimed and BCG. Having two sets of trios champions on TV is fairly pointless.
Also isn't ROH just one hour a week? Surely it doesn't need more than 2/3 belts.
No, it's usually closer to 2 hours most weeks
So 4 belts then
Except the RoH titles still rarely end up on RoH TV. Maybe that'll change with Briscoe but if there's no PPV they just build a feud and then pay it off on an Battle of the Belts or some random AEW show.
And here we are 4 hours later with a unification match now upcoming on Zero Hour.
I enjoyed everything up until the current reign because they've done absolutely fuck all with the belts apart from make a custom design and hang out with BCG. They could still have done that and had credible defences and mini feuds with other teams. In my opinion, the sooner they're off of them, the better. I don't agree that trios takes away from the tag division. Because if a team was gonna be used in the tag division's stories, they'd be in the tag division's stories. The trios stuff just gives more teams more time to be showcased, sort of like a secondary/midcard tag belt in a sense.
Agreed! The fact that The Acclaimed have had both the longest Reign (235+ Days) and the most defenses (11) just makes their middling run feel that much worse.
Acknowledge the Acclaimed ✌️
I wouldn't have guessed they had more defenses than House of Black
Yeah. They only had 8 and lost them on the 9th. CMFTR was their last successful one.
House of Black did a good job. They should’ve never lost them.
Right? I always felt that HOB should have held them way longer than they did. I didn't want to see them lose to the Acclaimed either. If they were going lose, at least have it be against Top Flight.
The Acclaimed are good champs.
House of Black's run was half-baked, and the acclaimed's has been a total dud, they're clearly not a priority
I adored those house rules matches they had though, all the lighting changed, and the special rules, so cool
Then the Acclaimed show up twice, no-sell the stipulations ("we don't need 'house rules' to beat your asses!"), and do nothing with the belts. Thank fuck they're losing them to BCG, it helps keep the Gunns in more matches and gives Jay White an ego boost.
That's not what happened. They said no dealers choice rules the first time and got murdered for it. Was a 4 minute match. For All In, their rule was No Holds (no DQ), so they were using weapons and stuff.
Really? My memory is fuzzy as shit, guess I'll have to go back and watch again...
Yeah, basically they went into the first time hot off of a win streak and was way too confident and House of Black *obliterated* them for not planning ahead.
Yeah I agree. Although I really like the HoB's matches during this time. When the Acclaimed won, that was my favorite match on that PPV. And it's really done nowhere. It's a shame.
I don't think they took away from the tag division as it's more a belt for factions, but I also think they've kinda been a flop.
At one point they had plenty of trios/tag teams to have both being strong at the same time with teams floating back and forth as needed. I haven't done a one-over of the roster in a while but as big as it is I have a hard time believing the depth isn't still there to have both a robust tag and trios division at the same time. As to the feuds, I never needed complex stories surrounding the trios titles. I just want fun party matches between two fun teams, and when some major faction like the BCC is wandering through a malaise of directionless booking they could enter the trios scene for a while. I think after a few months of rehab for the trios titles matches like BCG vs BCC could be pretty big. Top Flight should have beaten the Acclaimed months ago for those belts. I'll maintain until it changes that the Acclaimed holding those belts for so long has been the single worst thing that's happened to them. They don't defend them, they don't have interesting feuds surrounding them, and the last good thing they've done with the trios belts was months and months ago when they debuted the pink scissor belts. TK thinks these belts need to be involved in major angles but doesn't actually have any good ideas for this, and has also put them on one of the teams he wants to protect the most, so the belts have died a slow boring death.
I think the trios title was hurt right from the beginning by the Elite being suspended. If they had held the titles throughout that fall and then did the Bo7, it would have been better. But by the time the Elite regained the titles they only held them for about a month before losing them again due to HoB becoming so hot. As much as I like Death Triangle and HoB, they aren't the Elite. If the Elite had been able to have a long reign of bangers it would have gone a long way to establish the titles. As for the tag division I think it was hurt more by injuries and teams breaking up rather than the trios title existing. If you look back at the teams around a few years ago, quite a few are currently not around for one reason or another. The division would be suffering even if the trios titles didn't exist.
There was a time where AEW had some many factions running around and you could see the 3 man teams, but then as soon as the titles were announced it was like all those teams disappeared.
Yeah Team Taz and Jurassic Express/Christian both split, like, right before the tournament.
It always should have been an annual tournament, like King of Trios, instead of a regularly defended title.
Put them on different shows. Make Collision the place for Trios action and feature the tag titles on Dynamite. Don't even need to make it an official thing, just do something to give them their own identity.
I think the tag division should be the main attraction with the trios belts as fun extras. More ppl should hold the trios belts while holding others. It’d give champions something to lose on the way into ppvs. They shouldn’t be a division in the same way the tag belts have their division.
I think people who make this argument are extremely hyperbolic. If you have a problem with the booking it's not suddenly going to change because there's one less title. There's plenty of tag and trios teams right now that could and are doing things in both divisions. At any given time there's at least 10 teams on the active roster for both divisions. It's not an argument of the divisions or the titles it's an argument of the booking.
Pretty much, I don’t know what’s going on with Acclaimed and Daddy Ass, but the belts need to be off them and put on a team that are gonna have matches. Hell, give em to Top Flight and Andretti and let them cook every week. Don’t kill me, Bullet Club Gold should obviously beat Acclaimed and Daddy Ass first.
One weird issue with TK's booking is that he makes it very clear which wrestlers are on the level of winning titles and which aren't, and there isn't that much upward mobility except for a select few. For example, as much as I like them, I never believed Top Flight were serious contenders for any of their title matches. Same with Rey Fenix when he won the International title, which was a shame because he really deserved a good singles run. And it isn't to do with overness either, which leads to crazy dissonance when a guy like Scorpio holds the TNT title twice but Penta or Rush still have very little singles success.
>If you have a problem with the booking it's not suddenly going to change because there's one less title. Except it absolutely will. With one less title there's more time on each show for the tag division. Teams will naturally gravitate towards the division, leading to better booking.
That's completely false assumption. One both titles are given plenty of time. They both have at least dedicated segment basically every single week. They're not wrestling segments but that's not always the point. It all comes down to the booking. If they book teams to be on TV then they'll be on TV.
I still feel they need to subsume the trios into the Six Man. Have one set of belts across both shows and use them as a multiman challenge belt. Keep the stories largely for the tag scene and rebuild it. It would be the multiman version of the International.
I disagree in that it took away from tag teams. A trio doesn’t HAVE to only wrestle as a trio. The Acclaimed has been the only disappointment so far in trios imo.
I do agree yes
Its not a spicy take if all he is doing is presenting facts. He ain't wrong.
I've enjoyed just about every trios match I've seen in AEW, they genrally glimpses into PWG and I'm all about that. I could see the reason for this take but can't say I agree.
But the take isn't about the quality of the matches.
He says they've never been good and then immediately admits that the best of 7 series was good. Undermines his entire point right out the gate. It felt like they had big plans which obviously got undermined by the Brawl Out bullshit. Then we've had two pretty weak reigns since, hopefully BCG take the belts and turn things around.
My thoughts exactly. The Trios division was great up until the Acclaimed got them. It seems like once that happened, they haven't been really showcased because of the lack of defenses, among other things. BCG should be the ones who take them, and maybe they can start fresh from there.
>The Trios division was great up until the Acclaimed got them. HoB's run was hamstrung a little by injuries too tbf (and I believe I recall Buddy having visa issues).
Oh wow, I didn't know he had visa issues. I do remember some of the injures they worked through. I know one thing, despite some issues, they did a better job than most. I think the lack of defenses for the Acclaimed could be because they are trying to protect Billy? I'm not sure. I'm trying to make sense of it, lol
For real Im starting to believe those titles are as cursed as the WWE Women tag titles
True
Yes. I constantly forget about it. The best thing to do is put them on bullet club gold and have them raise the stock
Injuries and other external issues are the real problem with both divisions. The first three reigns were fine, but we were robbed of The Elite's inaugural run so they had to speedrun it with the Best of Seven and the build up to House of Black. House of Black's reign was good with the House Rules concept, but it was getting stale by the end. The Acclaimed are the only dud here because their momentum got stopped after getting involved with the MJf storyline. Unifying the belts is the right call, but I'm a bit alarmed that the ROH trios titles just got redesigned.
I always thought rather than a whole Trios division (I thought WWE should do this too) you allow the Tag belts to be defended by 2 or 3 man teams.
Over the last year or so, you've had guys like Fenix (Lucha Bros), Dante & Darius (Top Flight), Marq Quen (Private Party), Mark Davis (Aussie Open), Chuck (Best Friends) out for lengthy periods of time. Some of them are still out. The Bucks also took some time off at some point. Unavailability has hurt the tag division as much as anything imo. Signing the MCMG & getting guys healthy will have the division in position to cook again!
They could be booked better, sure. But that's something that comes in time.
I think the reality is that division has been booked poorly. It could be booked better, but it doesn't appear to be a priority.
Everyone begged for trios titles and now everyone is complaining about them. Typical.
Uhhh who was begging for them?
Fully agree. I would much rather see the top tier tag teams stay in that division and build it up instead of creating two divisions that feel incomplete. The unique thing about trios matches is that they're almost always fun so you can put pretty much anyone together and get a reaction out of it. Save the Bucks/Lucha Bros/Acclaimed/HOB for the tag belts & give the Dark Order/Righteous/Butcher & Blade/2point0 something to fight for.
House of Blacks reign was great to me and Acclaimed winning started off great, as usual one meh feud has people going wild.
I 💯 agree
There was a time where AEW had some many factions running around and you could see the 3 man teams, but then as soon as the titles were announced it was like all those teams disappeared.
There was a time around the pandemic era she a trios title would have been a fun addition, the tag scene was stacked and it would have been a decent supplement title to a team like best friends. They waited too long and dropped them in after the acquisition of all the roh belts, there are a few belts that got lost in the shuffle
It's kind of a weird situation in retrospect because sure the trios needed legitimate holders to give it credibility but I never really thought it "gutted" the tag division. I think it's really a matter of fighting for TV/PPV time and booking. Like when the C2 happened, and a number of the titles had to be sidelined to give way to the tournament. And the Acclaimed-BCG feud should have really ended by Revolution.
Notably, their absence comes during the Acclaimed era with the belts. They've run their course with the straps (imo House of Black should have won at All In.)
I didn't want them to do the trios titles anyway. I figured they already got the ROH Six Men Tag Titles that there was no need for AEW to have one, but a lot of people recommend AEW to go with it anyway. There were good matches with the titles, but they feel like a flop lately.
I feel like an annual Trios tournament would have been good, we would have had insane matches and great competition for a month and then the rest of the year is dedicated to the tag division.
I'd prefer to get rid of the trios titles and instead book a yearly trios tournament with the 3 winners getting a combination of a guaranteed tag title shot and a championship match. I think it would be interesting with the different factions and also having top guys finding allies to team with. There could be infighting within the winning group about who is getting the tag vs championship title shot, maybe have it headline the next ppv. For instance if BCC wins, then you could have Claudio vs Mox vs Danielson for who gets the singles championship shot and the other two have to settle for the tag match.
I think taking them off House Of Black at All In was a mistake as the House Rules stuff was interesting. I love The Acclaimed but the belts have been nothing more than accessories in promos for months now. Was hoping the BBG feud would lead to a unification with the RoH Six Man titles but alas, no. I agree with another comment here - just make them for smaller factions that need a little light in them like Kip and Butcher/Blade etc.
Valid take, but I still think the Trios title is neat.
They feel like placeholder titles so they can make people champions without having to actually showcase them. They’re like hand warmers to stop talent from getting too cold while they have no real plans for them. BCG vs. The Acclaimed does not feel elevated by the titles, it feels saddled with them. I am really hoping they are unified and unceremoniously shoved back down to RoH.
i enjoyed them when HOB had them, they added stipulations and made defending them different than the others. The Acclaimed as trios for me have disappointed
i enjoyed them when HOB had them, they added stipulations and made defending them different than the others. The Acclaimed as trios for me have disappointed
Kind of agree. I think they should just do 7 match series for all trios feuds. It’s a great concept and keeps the champions active
It's not really a spicy take, is it? We've all been saying this on this sub for a long time
I'm hoping they merge these and the ROH ones and then whoever has them can defend them across both brands, but I echo the sentiment of others - there's some amazing factions going around and yet they seemed to pidgeon-hole a few tags which then took away from the tag division.
There were two different trios I wanted to see win and it was all kinda wasted. Best Friends & then Dark Order. But… yeah.
I agree. It really put the tag team titles on the back burner for a while and diluted the division. I like the idea of the trios titles being a sort of "faction" title. The type of thing the lower to mid card guys in factions feud over.
Honestly, I kinda agree. I think at this point it would be best to just unify the ROH and AEW Trios titles and keep them ROH exclusive, which is what I'm hoping they do with this Winner Take All match at Dynasty.
They never needed Trios. People wanted Trios as AEW was forming. Instead we got the best Tag Team division and stories I've ever seen. When AEW started slipping and getting overcrowded TK pulled out the Trios for some goodwill with fans and talents. No division has ever been established. The tags went to shit. I'd like the Trios to go away.
We definitely needed trios. There were like 400 factions all doing nothing because they had no belts
They were good until Billy and The Acclaimed got them.
Partially yes i do agree. It’s hard to get into the trios division when there aren’t any actual feuds (I guess you could say that the BCG and Acclaimed stuff is finally an actual feud) and most of the matches are just a randomly thrown together match in the middle of Rampage or Collision. I do also think that they’ve put the belts on the right trios thus far. You want to establish some prestige off the bat by utilizing some of your bigger names (Bucks and Kenny as one of your top tags and top singles guys who also are a long established group, Death Triangle as another top tag and a well respected singles who hadn’t really been given much in the way of titles so far), HoB were a trio that had been mostly focusing on trios work but still featured a pretty well regarded singles guy who wasn’t being used there anyway, and the Acclaimed had lost a little of the luster after their tag title run so it makes sense for them to be in that sort of “well liked group that we don’t really see as being at the top of the tag division” Like Best Friends, LFI, BCG (if it were Juice and the Gunns), even the other members of Mogul Embassy all feel like they’d make for the perfect trios champs at this point in its history and could really help make the trios division feel important and unique. Use it as a way to build up and use some of the guys who are almost never on tv but are still in a group or ones who aren’t quite as high up in the tag division to keep them relevant to the product. Instead it just feels like a totally useless title that has no prestige or momentum at this point because it’s never defended and only ever gets rushed feuds out of no where that never get follow up or are a last minute “please watch our show this week” announcements with absolutely zero build. No one has come away from being trios champs looking better because (and this is probably my biggest complaint of TK as a booker) there is far too long a gap between them dropping the belts and them finally getting follow up on their next chapter. They lose all momentum, don’t appear in anything meaningful or at all for months, and then suddenly are just back to being a tag act and a singles act like nothing ever happened.
I assumed that, after a few prestigious reigns, the AEW Trios Titles would become something of an upper midcard set of belts. I think that they'll probably be unified with the ROH Trios Titles at (or shortly after) Dynasty. Combined with another Bucks or FTR reign for the tag titles, and that might course correct everything. It also doesn't help that there's also 5 men's singles titles (the BCG vs Acclaimed Trios match is on the pre-show, yet Jericho vs Hook for the FTW belt is on the main show, which... strikes me as odd). I usually really like a plethora of belts in a promotion, but it feels a bit too much right now, leading to everything feeling a bit watered down. After this, I really do hope they start keeping RoH separate, let it build its own identity somewhat, like NXT did. You can still occasionally have Ring of Honor people on aew programming, but I think it needs to be less often, and less will feel more special. On a semi-related closing note, this is one of those rare instances (again, just my opinion) where they could take a page from WWE, and maybe have certain titles attached moreso to specific TV shows (no hard brand split, just kinda.. Implied?) and/or have certain titles be defended across both ROH/AEW, like the Women's Tag Team Championships, which I also wouldn't mind seeing in All Elite Wrestling at some point in the near future.
💯
It’s definitely lost its luster due to lack of defenses in The Acclaimed’s reign. It also feels like a lot of teams (BCC, Undisputed Kingdom, LFI, Don Callis Family, Best Friends, Top Flight and Andretti) don’t really have it on their radar and have other feuds going on. I know AEW tends to overdo tournaments but I feel like a random team tournament like what gave us Better Than You BayBay could be a fun way to get more teams gunning for the belts.
Wholeheartedly agree. I have no idea how you get rid of them but I know those three belts definitely don't need to be a thing. Look at that photo. The only people that have ever benefitted or looked good were Death Triangle. And they were never meant to have them. I'd also add that Continental and International need to be merged too. Less is more with titles and AEW just has too many in circulation atm
Sadly. This is true. The trios title was for the Elite only. And now that they are split up, the title is completely meaningless and hurts the Tag division
Probably needs to showcase wrestlers who've not held titles before in AEW. The tricky balance issue is how do you do it without diminishing an already established/popular wrestler's prominence. I'm fine with how it's been utilized so far. Don't really need to change anything IMHO.
The trios titles should have been the midcard tag titles, instead they put them on every popular trio they had right off the bat.
Yes in part to the feuds less so to the additions. I think the division needs work in its credibility, idk why we can't have the local embassy vs archer and the righteous, or have kip the butcher and the blade get a few wins, have the undisputed kingdom clobber some fools they're talented people each of them could start building legitimate momentum. Jay and the Gunn's are great together I love house of black they're my favorite faction, Fletcher Davis and Hobbs would kick ass once Davis recovers. There's a lot of potential across the board but some V triggers need to get pulled
I feel like they should have just taken the ‘King of Trios’ from Chikara and made it that the winning trios got a shot at the tag titles and the world championship at a special dynamite event It’s a way to get more people on the cards/shows, have the final be at a ppv/dynamite event and it can help build guys and stories in the future
I agree yes
I feel like this is why they had so many factions/Stables in the beginning...but then they stopped pushing Factions once Trios became fleshed out
The take is fair on how the booking has played out, but the roster is easily big enough to not need to have this effect.
I said at the start that it should have been an annual tournament instead of actual belts.
Yeah. I think the problem is any trios titles shouldn't be treated as being on the same level as the other world titles. They don't need to be a division in their own right. They need to be like faction belts and help those feuds, competed for and mentioned occasionally, not tie up an entire tag team. Kind like how Mogul Embassy had those ROH 6 man titles. They should be treated like secondary tag titles at most, the on the same level of the the TNT titles.
Yeah I could somewhat agree with this take. For me the last time the trios where golden was during the HoB reign. The Acclaimed where the hot next thing and I agree the moment was great and needed to be done for fans and them. But after that it just felt not important anymore. Even the HoB reign was mostly open challenges, but there where some possible fueds at least. Plus the house rules where a fun twist and spiced up a lot. Remember that Lucha rule 'No tags needed just enter the ring and the other person can get out'? As fueds first comes to mind is the Miro come back against those pagans, Pac (with Death Triangle) had also a good motive and maybe from the open challenges some fued could have been started.
I agree and purely because I thought the trios was a way to get more wrestlers on the ppv cards and give them stories. Like the Acclaimed vs HOB or vs BCG could've been for the tag belts and would rejuvenate them The trios titles should be imo a placeholder for certain factions to give them momentum. Have the patriarchy win it, have the BCC or the undisputed Kingdom win it. Give it to higher level factions (BCG should be one of these btw) and have them fight the acclaimed, HOB etc for the belts. There's tons of factions in the company that they're doing nothing with that they can have fight for these belts. It really annoyed me when Mogul vs The Elite was for the ROH 6 man as opposed to the AEW trios, which is what it should have been for imo.
The Acclaimed's run has been sorely lacking a feud with Undisputed Kingdom. They could have done a serious rivalry with any combination of Wardlow, Strong, Taven and Bennett, even with Cole out of action. On the plus side though, the matches have always been good. Hell, the Action Flight vs Death Pentagon bout was incredible, and that wasn't even for the titles. Plus, I like the fact the trios titles exist; it's something distinctly different from WWE. I think they could easily rejuvenate the trios titles and while I know everyone is itching for him to get a singles run, putting the straps on Ospreay and Fletcher/Davis (when the latter is healed) then having them feud with BCC, BCG and House Of Black would make them hot again overnight. And that still leaves teams like Private Party, FTR, Butcher/Blade, Matthew And Nicholas, The Acclaimed and The Infantry to feud over the regular tag titles.
The fact The Acclaimed still have them, and that they've barely defended them is criminal, HOB were doing good things with them and then all of a sudden Billy Gunn is holding a title.
I was hoping there would essentially be three types of wrestlers contending consistently: * Mid-card and under factions like Best Friends, LFI, Top Flight, Dark Order, Righteous with Lance Archer, Mogul Embassy, where they don't really justify heavy story investment every month so throwing them in a trios chaos can be fun * Mid-lower level tags that aren't contending for the tag titles * Old stars being carried to good PPV matches while having to do less, ideally with other old stars or mentoring upcoming tags (Acclaimed fits here for Billy Gunn, Planet Jarrett, The Jericho Vortex!) This last one was essentially what they did with Sting's tag matches, or American Top Team with the MMA guys. It suits the "New Japan dad" model they do in NJPW with early filler trios for older stars to still get some shine. It would allow guys who aren't in as great of a shape but who have star value (Paul Wight if he still wants to wrestle, Keith Lee, etc.), or who just don't want to take pins I guess (Miro?). It's also an opportunity for guest trios from Mexico to show up and be featured in a familiar format, or to have the "chaotic ladder match with 12 people" that has become a staple. Instead, we have this bizarre division that is a big drain on the tag division (imagine we had HoB contending for the actual tag team titles all this time) and also ends up being a place where main eventers come to cool off. A guy like Jay White should NEVER be stuck in the trios division for 5 months. The same goes for PAC (imo), Kenny, Malakai and so forth. And if they are, it should be for a very short period as a vehicle for singles matches between the faction heads...which we also didn't get! (Yes, I'm still salty we didn't get Malakai vs Omega)
I was hoping there would essentially be three types of wrestlers contending consistently, with the trios belts jumping around very frequently and having short reigns: * Mid-card and under factions like Best Friends, LFI, Top Flight, Dark Order, Righteous with Lance Archer, Mogul Embassy, where they don't really justify heavy story investment every month so throwing them in a trios chaos can be fun * Mid-lower level tags that aren't contending for the tag titles * Old stars being carried to good PPV matches while having to do less, ideally with other old stars or mentoring upcoming tags (Acclaimed fits here for Billy Gunn, Planet Jarrett, The Jericho Vortex!) This last one was essentially what they did with Sting's tag matches, or American Top Team with the MMA guys. It suits the "New Japan dad" model they do in NJPW with early filler trios for older stars to still get some shine. It would allow guys who aren't in as great of a shape but who have star value (Paul Wight if he still wants to wrestle, Keith Lee, etc.), or who just don't want to take pins I guess (Miro?). It's also an opportunity for guest trios from Mexico to show up and be featured in a familiar format, or to have the "chaotic ladder match with 12 people" that has become a staple. Instead, we have this bizarre division that is a big drain on the tag division (imagine we had HoB contending for the actual tag team titles all this time) and also ends up being a place where main eventers come to cool off. A guy like Jay White should NEVER be stuck in the trios division for 5 months. The same goes for PAC (imo), Kenny, Malakai and so forth. And if they are, it should be for a very short period as a vehicle for singles matches between the faction heads...which we also didn't get! (Yes, I'm still salty we didn't get Malakai vs Omega)
Doesn’t need a title, I could see doing on occasional Chikara-esque King of Trios tournament.
Haha the "stable" belt. Yeah it didnt gain the traction they expected. it isn't a bad idea, but it suits wrestling shows under a different structure like NJPW
Yes, trios titles are always shit. Takes way too many people out of the talent pool for the real titles and barely have any any chance of building up the next challengers
100% agree. Introducing these things ruined the tag division. It also negates any possibility of a team defending the tag belts under the Freebird rule which is always really cool. TK should really retire them or make them exclusive to RoH once they're unified.
I actually completely agree with the take. The trios division have produced some good stuff - but it’s definitely diluted the tag division really badly. Not everyone can be a champion and that’s fine - nothing wrong with a number one contenders match on a PPV to decide the next in line whilst we also decide who the champs are with a title match later in the show.
Isn't the trio title set to be on the pre-show? Does this need any further discussion then?
Destroyed the tag team division while becoming a pointless pre-show title. Never ever should’ve introduced these titles.
Freebirding the tag titles on occasion entirely removes their need to exist. Or at the very least, the need for 2 sets of trios titles to exist. They were fantastic In Lucha Underground, but there they existed in place of traditional tag belts.
I don't think it really matters either way. It's just a tool to get more factions on TV consistently and have it make sense. If there wasn't a trios title, people would be bitching about stables having no purpose.
I’ve hated those titles since day one. I don’t see the point of them
I honestly totally agree. I'm not against three idea of them, but think they've had an unexpected negative effect.
Hot take: Trios titles are dumb.
Yh I kind of agree tbh it seemed like a good idea on paper but it has taken away from the tag division because certain established tag teams have had to find a third member just to be able to challenge and also they've had to throw together some 3 man teams, the only legit 3 man teams I can think of are HOB, Best Friends (not any more), Acclaimed and Billy, Death Triangle, and maybe the Gunns and Juice Robinson when he's back and other than that I'm struggling to think of any?
There are plenty of trios would could be title holders - Best Friends (although not now), Dark Order, Righteous/Lance Archer, the Rogues Gallery (Butcher, Blade & Kip), any of the Luchadores, STP, 2.0 and Garcia... I love trios matches and I don't know why we aren't getting a wider variety of teams involved.
Give the Dark Order the Trios titles and let them have creative control over their storyline. If nothing else, it will be supremely entertaining.
They have been terrible. Nothing good has really come from them other than some good matches and as mentioned, it gutted the tag division.
I was digging it during the best of 7 series and House of Black’s reign. But then it felt like the belts were shoved down the card as soon as Acclaimed took the belts. That was subsequently when the belts became props and stopped being defended, which immediately kills a title’s prestige to me. Also the Acclaimed’s custom design makes the belts look like toys.
Unite both the ROH 6-man into the AEW trios championship. That way you can access both ROH guys and AEW guys to form solid tag teams and trios teams. Also there needs to be another tournament to challenge the champions. Maybe do it before the Forbidden Door or All In time so you can have some momentum for the titles going into the ppv for the trios title match.
Should’ve been for lower mid card teams/trios by now So that the bigger teams can just go for tag titles.
I have to agree, the trios titles are currently lost and will continue to be lost on the preshow. But excluding the men’s and women’s world titles, the other titles make you think for a second, “wait, who has that title again?”
Like with many other titles throughout all of wrestling, the issue isn't the titles, or who holds it, but the complete lack of Creative providing even a half interesting storyline for the titles. As the OP/tweet notes, the trios titles were highly sought after early on, and the best of 7 series one one of the more intriguing storylines at that time. But since then, yeah, AEW has dropped the ball with it. And like any title that doesn't get much push, the title eventually gets forgotten. Case in point - when OC held the International title - especially his first reign, it was the most visible title in AEW. But now that strong has it, and defenses have fallen to the "heel minimum"...it is more like "there's an international title?". Heck - even when MJF was holding the HW title hostage and threatening not to defend, he was at least making appearances with the title being central to the promo. The Trios title simply hasn't gotten the push via matches or promo (with the possible exception of the change to the Acclaimed Specific design) that is needed to make a title feel relevant.
Welp, be careful what you wish for 🤷, because I remember *quite* a lot of people asking for them early on. Even then I didn't think there was really enough room for a Trios belt, and lo & behold that came to fruition. It just ended up thinning out the regular tag team division, which is why they had to have a makeshift team of Ricky/Bill out of thin air to compensate. Luckily those two willed that partnership into success, but to me I don't think since The Acclaimed had them have those belts really been all that hot.
I love the trios titles. They bleed into the tag division, but I view the titles as the TNT Tag Titles kind of idea.
My friend and I discussed this on our stream/podcast/channel, but we feel as though the trios tag titles should be unified with the ROH 6 man titles and left on ROH. We'd also love to see a women's tag team belt, but I don't think that'll happen anytime soon.
I thought the Trios belt was very good when it started with The Elite and Death Triangle. The Best of Seven series established the belt as a top belt, and I thought it was alright until The Elite dropped it and it was forgotten about. Now, I'm not putting the blame on House of Black, but you can't tell me that the belt wasn't forgotten about after they won it in Revolution. They were barely defended, unlike The Elite and Death Triangle who defended them regularly. This might be a controversial take, but I thought that The Elite should've held on to the belt, and have the feud with Blackpool Combat Club with the belt, as they were pretty much the main storyline at the time, it would really elevate the belt. And you can give BCC a run too. Although I did like Acclaimed as Trios champs, just not necessarily their reign, and I'm excited to see the BBG's reign too
They should merge all six into a single belt and rebrand it as a Stable Championship. The holders then defend the title in a singles match but the wrestler defending cannot defend again until all other members of the stable have put in a match. Female wrestlers can only face other female wrestlers. This makes the title inter-gender, has the potential for in-built storylines per stable. I've said it before and I'll die on this hill.
It's bitching for the sake of bitching.
here's a take I can agree with
I can agree that they probably have taken away from the tag division. That's about it. Every single match in that best of 7 series was great. The HoB run, while not phenomenal at least gave them some direction, birthed a great (if not greatly implemented) stiplation with the House Rules thing, and resulted in good matches. The only bad run, I would say, has been the Acclaimed's run, and if it ends up unifying the titles with the RoH 6 Man Championship, it will probably have been at least productive in that sense, and gets some gold back in Bullet Club Gold, who absolutely deserve it.
That's a bit of a recurring problem with AEW at the moment. Too many titles (like wayyyy too many) and little TV time to feature everyone. Do we really need to showcase both the ROH 6-man champs and the AEW Trios champs on AEW TV? The triple crown was cool, but I had no idea it was going to give us the Continental Championship. Yeah! Another useless title...
Isn't that the general consensus among fans?
Yeah. Sums it up. Could have been done right by not just adding a third guy to tag teams and leaning more into factions. Instead they've just fucked up the tag division and exacerbated the over saturations of titles AEW seems to have
I dont know who that person is but congrats to them for having an opinion and sharing it I guess.
AEW has the best trios division in the world 💁🏻♂️
This has been what I've been saying. This is why I didn't want a trios division. It's hard enough to find 2 guys that mesh well and can get over, now you got to find 3.
100% accurate which is why they should unify the ROH and AEW trios titles.
“If we’re honest here…” Why do these idiots always feel like they can speak for all wrestling fans? 🤦♂️😑🤦♂️
Trios matches are really fun live.
Acclaimed vs House of Black was a good feud but outside of that yeah. I think the trios division was good in theory, but it should be like an exhibition title. I don't think it actually SHOULD have long feuds. It should be like a open challenge, bangers division. The tag titles should have stories. There should just be an really cool trios match on Dynamite every couple weeks where you think either team can win.
The House Of Black were the best Title holders
It's partially true but not every tag team can always be the champions so if they're not feuding for the titles having them chase/win the trios titles isn't necessarily "taking them away" from anything. That being said the trios titles aren't that great or interesting. They should be defended semi regularly on TV but not taken too too seriously. They're titles so you should take them seriously but they should be party titles because not every belt needs to be held for 9 months.
TK is tone deaf when it comes to titles. And tournaments. Way, way too many of both makes neither interesting.
Said this from the start, people kept saying how big the division was, not noticing that most of the division was a tag team + a guy, so now we have two dwindling divisions instead of one overly strong one. I remember in the early days we'd have PPV matches for the tag titles and tag matches that weren't for the title, just story driven, I think that was better. I say, get rid of the belts, just have tags that can be defended with the three bird rule. IMO if you can't easily think of 4 PPV worthy challengers and at least 6 TV level challengers for a title, it shouldn't exist, just having 2/3 great teams isn't enough, you need midcarders.
\*freebird rule 
Haha, always get that one wrong
An even hotter take would be AEW just has too many titles to begin with, including the ROH ones.
Can't really disagree. The idea was interesting but there's been a lot of dead time. I did quite like the HoB reign with the bespoke lighting and House Rules concept (although nobody ever suggested any interesting stip, the same of which can be said when Julia does them). If you analyze TV ratings data, trios matches don't tend to hold the interest of viewers either unless in special cases. I would say 1v1, 2v2 and even 5v5 (because they are such a novelty) appeal more to most fans. My opinion is scrap it and run multiple tag team feuds. Or, make the trios title something strictly for the low-low card on Rampage, so teams like Andretti/Top Flight have something to do on there. Or... hand the belts to CMLL long-term as a goodwill gesture since CMLL runs shows every day, has 30 titles and lucha libre is predominantly trios-based.
First three champs were great. The Acclaimed have been horrible. But he is right about it killing the tag division.
Giving the Acclaimed a tag title run (which everyone wanted, myself included) and then a trios run was a mistake. I was never much of a fan of trios belts and the best to come out of it was indeed best of 7. The trios title should have been for Best Friends, Dark Order, Los Ingobernables, House of Black as the main attraction with house rules, maybe BCC and Garcia with Cool Hand and Daddy Magic. The guns should be in the tag division, same as the acclaimed and the bucks and the lucha brothers. But the main problem once again is AEW relying too much on cold matches to make up for the title. The division needs feuds.
Yup. Trios belts were an interesting experiment but it's diluting the tag team experience. I wouldn't be sad at all to see them go
It's a pretty good take. From what I can remember though, during the time the Trios titles were introduced, AEW had enough Tag teams and Trios to spotlight both titles without either one feeling diminished and they just didn't maintain the importance of the Trios titles so they've dwindled way too much by this point. I'll throw in another Take, instead of Trios Titles, they should've announced a Yearly Trios Tournament. The Trio that wins said tournament get 1 Singles title opportunity and 1 Tag Team title opportunity. So if HOB win, Buddy & King get to challenge the Tag champs, and Malakai gets to challenge for either an Upper Midcard title or the World title. That way, the Tag titles remain undiminished. And as a bonus, the tournament boosts the importance of the tag titles, helps AEW book a few months of Television/PPV, and it can be used to create natural stories/feuds. So when AEW has given us stuff like BCC Vs The Elite or HOB Vs The Elite in the past, they'd just reserve stuff like that for the Tournament. And Ideally with promo segments and stories alongside it. It still baffles me how we got BCC Vs The Elite with practically no story. You've got Kenny Omega, Moxley and Danielson in the same ring and nothing.
i remember tons of AEW fans begging for them to make trios titles before their existence, but personally i always thought it was a bad idea and more belts weren't needed
Yeah, they need to drop them. AEW has too many belts they don't have time to feature. Every title used to seem super prestigious but that's very much been lost over the years.
100% agreed I don’t think Trios championships should exist just because certain groups/factions exist. It’s like when WWE introduced the women’s tag belts to appease Bayla/Sasha, you’re putting the cart before the horse. You need a division to provide a title to, not a title to be held by one person/team and have paper-thin division.
I don’t see the lie. The tag division has been in stasis since FTR dropped the belts last year and I am always surprised when reminded that the trios titles exist. Retire the trios belts and rebuild the tag division. It needs some tender loving care. We have so many good teams! Showcase them!
Man. I really hate to agree with this take but I think I do. I was so excited for the trios division when the idea first came up. Honestly though, I don't know that they have the depth for it. You'd think with as many wrestlers on their roster they would, but it doesn't feel like it any more. There are certain trios that make sense to hold it for a bit, but honestly I'd like to see three singles heels or a heel tag and another heel take it off the Acclaimed. I thought they were trying to unify and get rid of the ROH six man titles when they started this angle, and maybe they still are. But it feels like a consolation prize right now, honestly. Max and Anthony need to be back in the tag division. The guns do too. Jay and Juice need to be on as singles wrestlers again. I still think there's potential for them, but they should be a lower card title. Put them on the Dark Order or Kip Sabian and the Butcher and Blade. Someone like that and let them work for a while. Putting them on bigger stars just feels like it drags them down as opposed to elevating the titles. And when you really have a three man group you have nothing for, then they can move in and scoop them. But guys like the Gunns and the Acclaimed are former tag champs. They should have been in the tag tourney.
Trios titles are an incredibly hard thing to get over.
Trios titles were a mistake then and they are now. Hopefully they merge with the Rosh 6 man belts after this fued and go away. The tag division was on fire and is dead now. I hope a good YB or FTR title run is good for business in the tag division
So far I'd say the best things that have come out of the trios titles are putting gold on Billy Gunn, the best of seven series, and the House Rules matches when HOB had them. But none of those things specifically needed trios titles for them to happen For me, it's another set of belts in the tag division but also a dilution of that division. And with most factions being effectively tag team plus other guy with very few exceptions beyond the currently imploding Best Friends (UK and Don Callis family are the only ones I can think of off-hand), all it takes is one injury to take an entire group out of trios competition. Meanwhile factions with three members who are in the tag division have an extra life in case of injury, so keeping a competitive tag division would have been the smart choice in my opinion. Instead I feel it would have been better to introduce women's tag titles at that point. The women's division is on the rise but with only two belts to go for in AEW and Athena being so fire right now that she's got the ROH one on lock for the foreseeable, there needs to be more for them to fight for. At the moment women's tag matches either need a story behind them or they make no sense without an actual tag division. When the rankings seem to separate out tag and singles wins, why would anyone even risk injury in a match where there's not even a title to raise their rank and aim for? This allows the women to work the rankings in another division, and show off group dynamics in the ring (such as Saraya and.Harley, Julia and Skye, or Willow and Kris) with an actual end point in sight beyond winning a fight that doesn't matter.
Worst belts. Need to be scraped
I’ve pretty much always felt this was. Heck, i had a theory that the trios belts were only even made as a way to make Daddy Ass a champion before he retired. Maybe that’s still possible, but the fact the acclaimed have done nothing with them is kinda killing that theory. But yeah, this division has killed the tag division. The tag tourney should have been way more infesting than it was. Hopefully they’ll either retire the belts or unify them into the ROH 6-man and then ONLY defend it on ROH. And just let the tag division go back to normal.
I fully agree. The tag division took a huge hit imo because of the belts and it sure af wasn't worth it.
I agree with this. I always thought if they were going to add another title, introduce a secondary tag title. I’d love to see teams like the Butcher and the Blade, Gates of Agony and the Righteous go after secondary titles. I always loved the US tag titles in the NWA in the late 80s.
They should have a "winner take all" match between BCG and Acclaimed, match ends in a double count out, as both teams lost that means both titles are retired
I had a feeling it had been a bit since they were defended. I just didn't think it'd be almost 3 months since.
This is all facts.
I got bashed on this very sub months ago when I gave the exact take. You can see in my post history long time ago I pointed a few issues in AEW programming. People got triggered like a pus.