3 Count was a

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

stable in

World Championship Wrestling World Championship Wrestling, Inc. (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of Natio ...

(WCW) which formed in 1999. The group consisted of Shane Helms, Shannon Moore and

Evan Karagias Evan Karagias (born November 27, 1973) is an American professional wrestler and actor. Acting career Evan moved to New York City to pursue an acting and modeling career. He also became the spokesmodel for the 1996 Calvin Klein and US Olympic Comm ...

and they were given a

boy band A boy band is loosely defined as a vocal group consisting of young male singers, usually in their teenage years or in their twenties at the time of formation. Generally, boy bands perform love songs marketed towards girls and young women. Ma ...

gimmick A gimmick is a novel device or idea designed primarily to attract attention or increase appeal, often with little intrinsic value. When applied to retail marketing, it is a unique or quirky feature designed to make a product or service "stand ou ...

. For a brief time,

Tank Abbott David Lee "Tank" Abbott (born April 26, 1965) is an American retired mixed martial arts fighter, professional wrestler, and author. He currently hosts his own podcast series titled "The Proving Ground with Tank Abbott." Abbott is perhaps best kno ...

was added to the group as a

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

and enforcer.

History

Creation

Shane Helms and Shannon Moore both signed contracts in May 1999. In December 1999,

Jimmy Hart James Ray Hart (born January 1, 1944) is an American professional wrestling manager, executive, composer, and musician currently signed with WWE in a Legends deal. He is best known for his work in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and Worl ...

put them together with

as a group to both capitalize on and make fun of the success of boy bands at the time. Their

was first introduced to the public with vignettes disguised as

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devi ...

s for their (Hart penned) pop song ''Can't Get You Outta My Heart''. From there they progressed to performing live on ''

WCW Monday Nitro ''WCW Monday Nitro'', also known as ''WCW Nitro'' or simply ''Nitro'', is an American professional wrestling television program that was produced by World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and broadcast weekly every Monday night on TNT (American TV ...

'', dancing on green circles in the ring and lip syncing their song before their matches. Later on they recorded a new song, ''Dance With 3 Count'', which replaced ''Can't Get You Outta My Heart'' as their theme music. They had a long-standing feud with another cruiserweight trio known as The Jung Dragons. Helms and Moore squared off in the first round of the WCW Cruiserweight title tournament, with Moore advancing at the expense of his partner. The group were received as

heels The heel is the prominence at the posterior end of the foot. It is based on the projection of one bone, the calcaneus or heel bone, behind the articulation of the bones of the lower leg. Structure To distribute the compressive forces exerte ...

, and after three months captured (together) the WCW Hardcore Championship by pinning Brian Knobbs on February 28, 2000. They re-lost the title to Knobbs a month later, when he pinned all three members consecutively. In the process, however, Moore became the youngest champion in WCW history.

Tank Abbott

After losing the Hardcore championship Helms was legitimately taken out of action with a broken nose. Upon his return 3 Count was joined by

, a storyline huge fan. Abbott hung around ringside when 3 Count performed and began protecting them from other wrestlers, and eventually started inserting himself as an (uninvited) back-up dancer during performances. 3 Count's feud with the Jung Dragons continued as the Dragons tried to steal 3 Count's Gold album and recording contract. This led to a

ladder match A ladder match is a type of match in professional wrestling, most commonly one in which an item (usually a title belt) is hung above the ring, and the winner is the contestant who climbs a ladder and retrieves the item. The ladder itself becom ...

at New Blood Rising. Abbott helped 3 Count to win, and afterwards left with both the album and the contract. Abbott claimed that he should be the lead singer of 3 Count, with which Helms, Moore and Karagias disagreed, leading to a feud between 3 Count and Abbott. It ended when Abbott left WCW soon after.

Break up

After feuding with the Misfits in Action, 3 Count began to have problems, as Moore and Helms accused Karagias of attempting to hog the limelight. Eventually, Moore and Helms kicked Karagias out of the group, and he joined forces with Jamie Knoble of the Jung Dragons, on whom the other Jung Dragons members had turned. Moore and Helms continued together to

feud A feud , referred to in more extreme cases as a blood feud, vendetta, faida, clan war, gang war, or private war, is a long-running argument or fight, often between social groups of people, especially families or clans. Feuds begin because one pa ...

with the remaining Dragons (

Kaz Hayashi is a Japanese professional wrestler known simply as . He is best known for his work in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), where in addition to being a wrestler for the promotion, he also served as the head booker for the company's junior heavyweigh ...

and

Yang Yang may refer to: * Yang, in yin and yang, one half of the two symbolic polarities in Chinese philosophy * Korean yang, former unit of currency of Korea from 1892 to 1902 * YANG, a data modeling language for the NETCONF network configuration p ...

) and the new team of Karagias and Knoble. The three teams met in a Triangle match at Mayhem in November 2000, which 3 Count won. They also met in a ladder match to decide the number one contender for the

WCW Cruiserweight Championship World Championship Wrestling, Inc. (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of Nationa ...

at Starrcade, in which both Moore and Helms grabbed the contract at the same moment. As a result, Moore and Helms had match to determine who would challenge for the title, which Helms won. He lost the subsequent Cruiserweight Championship match, however, against Chavo Guerrero Jr. at

Sin In a religious context, sin is a transgression against divine law. Each culture has its own interpretation of what it means to commit a sin. While sins are generally considered actions, any thought, word, or act considered immoral, selfish, ...

in January 2001. Helms and Moore split when, during a number one contenders match for the Cruiserweight title at SuperBrawl Revenge, Moore attacked Helms instead of Hayashi of the Jung Dragons. Helms, however, later eliminated Moore, and went on to win the match.

Aftermath

As WCW was slowly dying, Moore and Karagias put aside their differences and formed a

tag team Tag team wrestling is a type of professional wrestling in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. Tag teams may be made up of wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of establish ...

which vied for the short lived WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team Championship, but never got their hands on them before the company closed. Helms, however, won the

. Moore, Helms, and Karagias would go on to the then

World Wrestling Federation World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and va ...

. The 3 Count trademark is still owned by Turner Broadcasting System Inc.

Reunion

As announced by Shane Helms on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

, 3 Count would be reuniting in November 2014. The trio appeared at WrestleCade in Winston-Salem, North Carolina on November 29 at the Benton Convention Center. Helms, along with his proteges

Trevor Lee :not to be confused with actress Camryn Grimes who voices Mrs. Claus in Mickey Saves Christmas Trevor Lee Caddell (born September 30, 1993) is an American professional wrestler currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the NXT brand under ...

& Andrew Everett performed a 3 Count song during

TNA TNA may refer to: Organisations * Tamil National Alliance, a political coalition in Sri Lanka * The National Alliance, a political party in Kenya * The National Archives (United Kingdom), a UK public body * Tonga Nurses' Association, a trade union ...

's Total Nonstop Deletion.

Championships and accomplishments

NWA Wildside NWA Wildside was an American independent professional wrestling promotion based in Cornelia, Georgia, with an office in Atlanta, Georgia, operating between September 1999 and April 2005. It was originally formed when National Championship Wrestli ...

** NWA Wildside Tag Team Championship ( 1 time) – Helms and Moore *

** WCW Hardcore Championship¹ ( 1 time) ¹The WCW Hardcore Championship was held jointly among Helms, Moore, and Karagias using the

Freebird Rule The Fabulous Freebirds were a professional wrestling tag team who attained fame in the 1980s, performing into the 1990s. The team usually consisted of three wrestlers, although in different situations and points in its history, just two performed ...

References

External links

3 Count at Online World of Wrestling

EvanKaragias.com (Official Website of Evan Karagias)ShaneHelms.com (Official Website of Shane Helms)Official Myspace of Shannon MooreOfficial Myspace of Gregory Shane Helms
{{WCW Hardcore Championship World Championship Wrestling teams and stables