Will AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Samoa Joe Have A Triple Threat?

AJ Styles once again retained the WWE Championship against Shinsuke Nakmaura, making it three times he’s avoided losing to The King of Strong Style. Could this mean that he, Nakamura, and Samoa Joe will put on a Triple Threat match for the ages at Money in the Bank 2018?

When Shinsuke Nakamura turned heel on AJ Styles at WrestleMania 34 after losing his “dream match” for the WWE Championship as the 2018 Royal Rumble winner, he finally settled into the right character for him. The King of Strong Style has been ruthless, inflicting serious physical pain on AJ in the form of constant low-blows, as well as playing his usual mind games with his opponents.

Nakamura was not pinned at The Greatest Royal Rumble, but he failed to capture the WWE Championship in his rematch. Both he and Styles were counted out. They had a No Disqualification match at Backlash, but it was essentially the same result. Both men low-blowed each other, and both men failed to get up.

It annoyed the fans both in the live crowd and on social media, but this deliberate move was also almost poetic. Their feud has been built around low-blows, and it was ultimately both of their undoings, specifically Nakamura’s, as it prevented him from taking the title.

Prior to Backlash, Samoa Joe stated on an episode of SmackDown Live that he will challenge whoever wins the WWE Championship match. Since neither AJ Styles nor Shinsuke Nakamura won, though Styles is still the champion, it makes sense for there to be a Triple Threat.

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Joe said this, knowing full well that he had a huge match on the horizon at Backlash against Roman Reigns, currently on the Raw roster. Of course, Joe made the move from Raw to SmackDown Live during the 2018 Superstar Shakeup, and his goal has always been to win a world title, especially after he was unsuccessful in 2017 at Great Balls of Fire against current Universal Champion Brock Lesnar.

A Triple Threat match at Money in the Bank didn’t necessarily need a double count-out finish (that, again, upset the fans), but it does set it up a little easier. There is no ambiguity regarding the winner of the match between Styles and Nakamura at Backlash, because it’s very clear that neither man won or lost. This means Nakamura can still claim to be deserving of an opportunity at the WWE Championship despite already having three title matches. He’s only lost one of them.

It’s hard to predict this match, but these three competitors have so much history with each other. Styles and Joe had all-out wars in TNA, Nakamura and Styles have been mixing it up in the WWE after their storied program in NJPW, and Nakamura and Joe traded NXT Championship victories on the WWE’s standout third brand.

This match would undoubtedly be killer, and a Triple Threat match fought among these three at Money in the Bank could threaten to be the main roster’s first five-star match since the 2011 Money in the Bank Pay Per View. And if The Miz wins the briefcase for the second time in his career, perhaps to eventually cash in on Daniel Bryan as the WWE Champion, then the night would be even sweeter.

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AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Samoa Joe are three of the best in the business, and seeing all three of them in the ring at the same time would make the wonky finishes and Nakamura’s near-misses worth it. The only question is, who wins? Because both Joe and Nakamura are equally in need of a WWE Championship victory, and both are heels who probably won’t be feuding with each other any time soon. So could Nakamura win and move on to a dream feud with Daniel Bryan? Or would that fate rest with Joe? Regardless, the prospect of this Triple Threat match at MITB is intriguing, and it’s worth hoping for in the coming weeks.

Money in the Bank 2018 takes place on June 17 in the Allstate Arena.

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