History Main / ThreeMonthRule

* From April 10 to October 22 in 2017, Wrestling/RomanReigns and Wrestling/BraunStrowman had a brutal feud in which each literally tried to murder the other (Braun overturning an ambulance with [[{{Kayfabe}} injured]] Roman inside, Roman later locking Braun into an ambulance and crashing it into a production truck). The feud was never actually resolved; Braun simply redirected his attention to destroying Wrestling/{{Kane}} and Wrestling/TheMiz when they betrayed him and ''also tried to murder him'' by tossing him into the trash compactor of a garbage truck, [[[HeelFaceturn turning Braun face in the process]]]. And then on the April 30, 2018 episode of Monday Night Raw, Braun randomly runs out to save Roman from a beat-down by Wrestling/SamiZayn, [[Wrestling/KevinSteen Kevin Owens]] and Wrestling/JinderMahal, apparently solely because they're both faces now.

* Wrestling/{{Christian}} and Wrestling/{{Edge}} were initially referred to as being on-screen {{Kayfabe}} brothers when they were together as a {{tag team}}. When they semi-reunited a few years after their breakup, they were only said to be best friends.

* When [[Wrestling/VinceMcMahon Vince [=McMahon=]]] revealed himself as [[Wrestling/MinistryOfDarkness Higher Power]], his wife Linda and daughter [[Wrestling/StephanieMcMahon Stephanie]] gave their share of power in the company to Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin in revenge (the Higher Power had organized Stephanie's kidnapping by Wrestling/TheUndertaker.) At the 1999 ''King of the Ring'', Austin lost his power in a ladder match against Vince and [[Wrestling/ShaneMcMahon Shane [=McMahon=]]] who then held all the power over the company. Months later, Vince and Shane underwent a face turn and were feuding with Wrestling/TripleH. Stephanie then turned on Vince and married Wrestling/TripleH, forcing Vince and Shane into exile. Wrestling/TripleH then took over the WWF, citing Stephanie's share of the stocks in the company... which she technically didn't have anymore.

* ROH is not exempt though. Just one year after an extended, gruesomely violent feud that included a few cases of attempted murder (one incident including the use of Drano gel), Homicide and Wrestling/ColtCabana became tag team partners to take on the partnership of Adam Pearce and Brent Albright.

Japanese professional wrestling rarely uses this {{trope}} due to its usual lack of gimmicky elements and the particular star-making dynamics of the discipline; a wrestler's career is expected to be well documented from rookie status, and his alliances, enmities and changes of character are meant to fit in a realistic continuity. In contrast, Mexican lucha libre often enforces an extreme version of the rule, allowing wrestlers to re-debut with new {{masked|luchador}} identities if needed and treating every mask as if it was a different wrestler.

* In 2012 Wrestling/TheBigShow managed to secure an 'ironclad contract', which made it impossible for any authority figure to unjustly fire him. In 2014 he betrayed his allies in order to prevent an authority figure's attempt to unjustly fire him.

* Completely averted by Wrestling/{{CHIKARA}}, since they have a strong emphasis on continuity to the point that events from ''years'' earlier still play a part in whatever is happening at a given time. As an example, the debut of Die Bruderschaft des Kreuzes at the end of the 2009 SeasonFinale ''Three-Fisted Tales'', November 22, 2009, had roots going back to, ''at least'' 2007 and was connected to so many different storylines that time doesn't permit the listing of all of them here.

* Eddie Fatu started in Wrestling/{{WWE}} as a street thug named Jamal, and was a few years later revamped as Wrestling/{{Umaga}}, a WildSamoan. It apparently runs in the family, as Solofa Fatu started out as a WildSamoan (as half of The Headshrinkers), then became a reformed gang member trying to "make a difference", and eventually became Wrestling/{{Rikishi}}, the hip-hop dancing, thong-clad sumo wrestler.

* Completely averted by Wrestling/{{CHIKARA}}, since they have a strong emphasis on continuity to the point that events from ''years'' earlier still play a part in whatever is happening at a given time. As an example, the debut of the BDK at the end of the 2009 SeasonFinale ''Three-Fisted Tales'', November 22, 2009, had roots going back to, ''at least'' 2007 and was connected to so many different storylines that time doesn't permit the listing of all of them here.

* From April 10 to October 22 in 2017, Wrestling/RomanReigns and Wrestling/BraunStrowman had a brutal feud in which each literally tried to murder the other (Braun overturning an ambulance with [[{{Kayfabe}} injured]] Roman inside, Roman later locking Braun into an ambulance and crashing it into a production truck). The feud was never actually resolved; Braun simply redirected his attention to destroying Wrestling/{{Kane}} and Wrestling/TheMiz when they betrayed him and ''also tried to murder him'' by tossing him into the trash compactor of a garbage truck, [[[HeelFaceturn turning Braun face in the process]]. And then on the April 30, 2018 episode of Monday Night Raw, Braun randomly runs out to save Roman from a beat-down by Wrestling/SamiZayn, [[Wrestling/KevinSteen Kevin Owens]] and Wrestling/JinderMahal, apparently solely because they're both faces now.

Japanese professional wrestling rarely uses this {{trope}}, due to its usual lack of gimmicky elements and the particular star-making dynamics of the discipline; a wrestler's career is expected to be well documented from rookie status, and his alliances and enmities are meant to fit in a realistic continuity. In contrast, Mexican lucha libre can enforce a hard version of the rule, allowing wrestlers with little experience to re-debut with new {{masked|luchador}} identities if needed.

** Years later, in 2016, Kofi and PromotedFanboy and wrestling CoolNerd {{Wrestling/Bayley}} referenced it as being part of a character, as opposed to his actual identity. Earlier in that same year, Wrestling/TheNewDay tag team also referenced it via a time travel promo making an unintended stop in 2009, resulting in the return of his old theme, accent, and catchphrases.

* Wrestling/KofiKingston originally debuted with a Jamaican gimmick, speaking with an accent, but eventually dropped the accent and started wearing hairstyles similar in tribal African communities. He was even being called from his hometown - Ghana, West Africa. This wasn't acknowledged until his partners in a team-against-team feud started to argue. He tried to calm them down in an American accent. Triple H interrupts him and asks, "Aren't you supposed to be Jamaican? What happened to your accent?"

Japanese professional wrestling rarely uses this trope, due to its usual lack of gimmicky elements and the particular star-making dynamics of the discipline; a wrestler's career is expected to be well documented from rookie status, and his alliances and enmities are meant to fit in a realistic continuity. In contrast, Mexican lucha libre can enforce a hard version of the rule, allowing wrestlers with little experience to re-debut with new masked identities if needed.

Note that this is different from the [[FleetingDemographicRule Seven Year Rule]]; after three months, the aftereffects of a storyline can be forgotten, but after seven years, the storyline itself can be recycled wholesale.

** Not to mention that WWE went entirely out of its way not to acknowledge that Undertaker had already fought TripleH at Wrestlemania before (at Wrestlemania 17). In fact they made it seem like Undertaker and Wrestling/TripleH had never wrestled each other at all period.

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* Completely averted by Wrestling/{{CHIKARA}}, since they have a strong emphasis on continuity to the point that events from ''years'' earlier still play a part in whatever is happening at a given time. As an example, the debut of the BDK at the end of the 2009 SeasonFinale ''Three-Fisted Tales'', November 22, 2009, had roots going back to, ''at least'' 2007 and was connected to so many different storylines that time doesn't permit the listing of all of them here.

* Wrestling/{{Christian}} and Wrestling/{{Edge}} were initially referred to as being on-screen {{Kayfabe}} brothers when they were together as a tag team. When they semi-reunited a few years after their breakup, they were only said to be best friends.

** ROH is not exempt though. Just one year after an extended, gruesomely violent feud that included a few cases of attempted murder (one incident including the use of Drano gel), Homicide and Wrestling/ColtCabana became tag team partners to take on the partnership of Adam Pearce and Brent Albright.

The unwritten rule states that any events that took place more than three months ago do not need to be considered {{Canon}}. This creates interesting situations where two wrestlers who were recently at each other's throats are now the best of friends. It also provides a means for the writers to not have to explain radical changes in a character's gimmick (went from a millionaire playboy to a voodoo priest and back again? No problem!).

* One of the major positives of small independent Wrestling/RingOfHonor is that it does ''not'' use this rule. A lot of fans were pleased when Kevin Steen & Wrestling/ElGenerico continued to despise the Briscoe Brothers a year after their rivalry, even though both teams were now {{Face}}s.

* This rule did lead to a [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments Crowning Moment of Funny]] when Wrestling/TripleH (then a good guy) got [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZ4D1KhzbfU confronted by all the crap that he pulled on his team-mates when he was a bad guy]].

* Eddie Fatu started in Wrestling/{{WWE}} as a street thug named Jamal, and was a few years later revamped as Wrestling/{Umaga}}, a WildSamoan. It apparently runs in the family, as Solofa Fatu started out as a WildSamoan (as half of The Headshrinkers), then became a reformed gang member trying to "make a difference", and eventually became Wrestling/{{Rikishi}}, the hip-hop dancing, thong-clad sumo wrestler.

* Eddie Fatu started in Wrestling/{{WWE}} as a street thug named Jamal, and was a few years later revamped as Wrestling/{Umaga}}, a WildSamoan. It apparently runs in the family, as Solofa Fatu started out as a WildSamoan (as half of The Headshrinkers), then became a reformed gang member trying to "make a difference", and eventually became Rikishi, the hip-hop dancing, thong-clad sumo wrestler.

* Eddie Fatu started in Wrestling/{{WWE}} as a street thug named Jamal, and was a few years later revamped as Umaga, a WildSamoan. It apparently runs in the family, as Solofa Fatu started out as a WildSamoan (as half of The Headshrinkers), then became a reformed gang member trying to "make a difference", and eventually became Rikishi, the hip-hop dancing, thong-clad sumo wrestler.

* One of the major positives of small independent Wrestling/RingOfHonor is that it does ''not'' use this rule. A lot of fans were pleased when Kevin Steen & El Generico continued to despise the Briscoe Brothers a year after their rivalry, even though both teams were now {{Face}}s.

* Kane's 2010 rivalry with Wrestling/TheUndertaker, which ended with Undertaker being buried alive (itself a good example of the FleetingDemographicRule) was brushed under the rug and forgotten when Undertaker returned around four months later. ''Maybe'' he was going to try and avenge himself, but before Undertaker could say anything Wrestling/TripleH waltzed in from out of nowhere and challenged him at Wrestlemania, so the whole storyline was forgotten. Though Undertaker's new theme song [[Music/JohnnyCash "There Ain't No Grave Can Hold My Body Down"]] seemed to refer to it.