It's been said many times before but it bears repeating, you know a match is good when it gets its own nickname.
The TNA X-Division Championship match between AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, and Christopher Daniels at TNA Unbreakable 2005 is now commonly known as "The Unbreakable Three-Way" amongst fans, and whenever you say the word unbreakable around any wrestling fan, shots of this match will immediately pop into their minds. We've already touched on this match when counting down the best matches of Styles' career, his best matches before he got to WWE, and the most historic TNA matches, but there is a very good reason for that, it's just that good.
To put it simply, this isn't just one of the best matches in TNA history, the careers of the three men involved, or even wrestling history, it's one of the most influential wrestling matches that has every happened. There are certain matches or events that are so far ahead of their time that it's only years later that you understand how important they truly are. Things like the original Super J-Cup tournament in 1994, the Dragon Gate showcase in Ring of Honor in 2006, Randy Savage vs. Ricky Steamboat at WWE WrestleMania 3, virtually all of what ECW did in the 1990s, all of these things stick out like a sore thumb in the time they happened, but are so influential later down the line.
The story going into the match is also very simple. Daniels stole the title from Styles back at Destination X in March 2005 and "The Phenomenal One" has come back to claim what he feels is his after a brief stint as the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion in the late spring. His easiest route would be winning the Super X Cup in August, which would grant him a shot at Daniels' title at Unbreakable, but there was a problem, Styles' opponent in the final was Samoa Joe, and not just any Samoa Joe, this is 2005 Samoa Joe. The undefeated "Samoan Submission Machine" who had the best match in IWA-Mid South history earlier that year against Necro Butcher, was about to have arguably the best ROH match ever against Kenta Kobashi that October, and bulldozed everyone in the TNA X-Division out of the way with ease.
Daniels cost Styles the Super X Cup final against Joe, but as a result of that interference, Styles was added to the match anyway and the "Unbreakable Three-Way" was set for September 11, 2005, the final TNA monthly pay-per-view before the company's debut on Spike TV on October 1. With all of that out of the way, let's shine a spotlight on one of the best TNA matches of all time to see how it holds up over 20 years later.
Despite the X-Division being arguably the most unique selling point of TNA outside of the six-sided ring, the stars of the X-Division were only ever trusted with the main event of a TNA pay-per-view once during its peak in the 2000s. However, if there was ever a match that needed to be the main event of a pay-per-view, it's this one.
We've already touched on Samoa Joe being the best version of himself in this match, but Christopher Daniels definitely deserves his flowers. At his best, he was a Rolls Royce of a wrestler who could genuinely get a good match out of most people, and when he shared the ring with guys he knew well, those good matches became great, and those great matches became classics. He walked into this bout as the heel champion who was slimy enough to work the match in his favor at all times, constantly trying to keep the match as a one-on-one contest, mainly with Styles, to nullify the threat of a second challenger throughout.
Then there's AJ Styles. Personally, "The Phenomenal One" didn't reach his final form until he got to New Japan Pro Wrestling several years later, but matches like this earned him the "Phenomenal" nickname because that's what he is. He's a human highlight reel of a babyface, pulling off moves that still amaze anyone who watches this match today, like that Shooting Star Press to the outside is as good now as it was in 2005. While Daniels plots and schemes his way through the match, Styles just throws caution to the wind and dives into every move with 100% dedication, like the guy is breaking up submission attempts with Spiral Taps for the sheer love of the game.
Thankfully, the match doesn't fall into the classic trap that many multi-person bouts do, that being that it's just a short series of singles matches as someone waits on the outside for their spot before they jump in and break up a pinfall attempt. Yes, Daniels does try and limit the numbers disadvantage he has, but this makes leans in and takes advantage of the fact that there's an extra man in the match, and it leads to some truly innovative spots.
That's probably the best way to describe this match, innovative. For some people, the closing stretch doesn't exactly hit home the way it was supposed to (we'll get on to that in a second), and even I think the Styles/Joe match from Turning Point in December 2005 is a more complete match. However, every three-way/Triple Threat match you have seen since September 2005 is in debt to this match. Every company has tried to do its own version but never quite lived up to it, with the closest being a rematch between these four men for the TNA World Championship four years later.
One of the most entertaining matches of all time, and infinitely rewatchable.
Hear me out, I know what you're thinking. If you say that the "Unbreakable Three-Way" could have been better is just something people say to make themselves sound cool and interesting, and how they watch all sorts of wrestling that is superior to what you enjoy as a fan. However, when the three men in the Unbreakable 2005 main event say that the match genuinely could have been better, then you have to listen.
In 2025, Chris Van Vliet interviewed AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, and Christopher Daniels at separate times, bringing up how much he loves their match from Unbreakable 2005 in each interview. The two common threads throughout each interview were that none of the three men thought the match would be celebrated in the way that has been, and that it could have been better for the simple fact that the closing stretch of the match didn't go to plan.
Styles was the first man to reveal that at some point in the final stretch, there was some miscommunication that caused them to cut out around 10 minutes worth of action, forcing them to think on the spot and completely improvise the final portion of the match. Joe would confirm this in his interview, admitting that from what he remembers, he was the one who went to a sequence that wasn't meant to happen until later on in the bout, causing the original plan to be thrown out the window and a new finish be made instead.
Daniels went the most in depth about the miscommunication, stating that they had designed two sequences that were very similar to each other, and instead of going to the first sequence, Joe went to the second. Because he was already too far gone in the sequence, Daniels just went along with it but realized that the three men still needed to fill their allotted time, meaning that everything that happens after Daniels kicks the TNA X-Division Championship into Joe's face is completely improvised and thought of in the moment. All three men were having conversations with each other to try and save the finish, with the idea being that they needed a natural way to get Joe out of the ring for Styles to pin Daniels as planned.
Fortunately, all three men had known each other for so long that they were able to come up with a new finish without any noticing, but if you watch the match and think that the last 10% of it looks a little sloppy, there is a reason for it. With all that said, Styles, Joe, and Daniels are very proud that the match has stood the test of time, and even though they didn't know it would become as adored as it has, they are always happy to talk about that famous night at the Impact Zone on September 11, 2005.
