The Furious Flashbacks – 3CW A Kind Of Majik

We’re in Acklam, near Middlesbrough. It’s 7th October 2005 and Majik is in the house. I know this because he joined our road trip in Coventry. Ring announcer is “Sweet” Stevie Aaron. I’m sat in the front with SWA competitor “The Butcher”. I understand he made his debut recently. Good luck to him. William Grange Esq attacks my review pad pre-show with the following – “Grange’s match = 17 stars. Awesome stuff. Fo shizzle dizzle.” Kids these days, eh? Great road trip this time btw. Majik brought the St Louis classic wrestling. Not to mention his fantastic commentary on Monty Brown v Abissmo Negro (“not so Abissmo now am I”). On the way back we did the wrestling name game. For about three hours. I think Rage’s brain melted after 2 hours.

PROMO TIME – Stevie Lynn is 3CW’s new champ. He defeated Ice XVII in a Last Man Standing match over in Billingham that went over a storm. Speaking of Ice – there’s dry ice everywhere. If I wasn’t a smoker I’d be struggling to breath. It feels like being in a hot box. Anyway, Stevie Lynn has put out an open challenge to anyone in British wrestling. Majik has answered that challenge. He comes out here to abuse Stevie Aaron (comedy Stevie interaction btw with both Stevie’s purposefully using the name – “tell me about tonight Stevie?” “I will Stevie” etc, I liked that). Majik asserts that Aaron is a “monkey” and gives him 5 seconds to get out of the ring. Majik is planning on taking the belt back to the Midlands where it belongs. AMEN! He steals Lynn’s own title belt and bashes him in the head with it. Just to make sure he has an advantage he adds in a stump piledriver, which is a little harsh. Lynn stays down selling the neck like death.

The Kraze v Jonny Love/Jayson Mayson

The Love/Mayson team are known as Totally Sensational. The Kraze’s line up here was a little different. Kyle Kraze is off on a “family reunion” while El Ligero, who was set to replace him, injured his hand “on a particularly spicy fajita”. Heh. So The Kraze add another family member tonight with Marky B. Kraze joining the team. For the purposes of this match I’m Arnie Kraze. I considered changing that but KrazeRage.com doesn’t quite sound right. The heels jump the popular Kraze boys before getting hit with the do se do offence. Heels collide. Mayson and Marky chain a while until the bigger Cam comes in. Mayson bounces off but grabs the arm afterwards. “Oi, Mayson” sayeth Cam, Mayson looks at him and Cam just smacks him in the head. HAHAHA. Cam with a slam before he breaks out the greatest move in wrestling history – THE WEDGIE OF DEATH! Those underpants make it about halfway up Jayson’s back. I’m assuming he brought some particularly slack granny pants just for the occasion. CHOPS! Have it, Mayson! Half airplane spin and Mayson is dumped on the ropes. Cam and Marky fuck up a wheelbarrow bomb onto Mayson. The Pop Sensation bails and Marky hits him with a crossbody off the apron that wipes out one of the ringside tables. Several glasses are smashed but Marky is back up to celebrate. Mayson goes after the his knee and PJL tags in to try and further dismantle it. Double suplex gets 2. PJL hits a butterfly suplex for another near fall. Mayson drops Marky knee first onto the apron and he’s in trouble. Wheelbarrow bulldog from Marky though and Cam gets the hot tag. He cleans house. Funky elbow! PJL nails him with a sit out powerbomb. I thought that was the end but he’s focused on Marky with his bum knee. He goes for the Love Bite but Marky switches his weight and pulls Love over into a crucifix for the pin. The Kraze get the upset win! Which is great because their music is awesome. **1/4. Solid tag opener. One glaring mistake didn’t ruin the rest of the match.

POST MATCH Kraze get a kicking. Marky gets the Love Bite this time around but El Ligero runs in to superkick him. Mayson complains of a 3 on 2 situation and challenges them to a tag encounter next week.

Darkside v Eden

Darkside smells like coconut. He denies this but there’s a really strong smell of coconut whenever he’s near. Eden is returning after an extremely long absence from a 3CW ring. No one in Acklam seems to remember who he is so I lend my support. DS is quicker that the somewhat ring rusty Eden and takes advantage with a quick roll up for 2. Eden monkey flips for a 2 count with DS doing a great bridge to escape. DS works at the arm leading to strikes both ways. Eden wins that with a spinning heel kick for 2. Legdrop gets 2. DS comes off the top with a swinging diving DDT for 2. Eden got PLANTED on that. Vertical suplex from DS and a stomp senton gets 2. Eden fires back with a quick X-Factor and both men are down. They run some near misses and Eden clocks DS with an Enzuigiri to the chest for 2. With DS down Eden hooks on the Colt Cabana Presents; The Full Nelson Mandela. He rolls DS up out of that but only gets 1 thanks to the ropes. DS jacks Eden up into a fireman’s carry before dropping Eden across his knee. Knee lift on the apron and a stomp to the back of the head off the ropes. DS looking for a knock out it seems. He adds another high knee in the corner and as Eden slumps into the buckles he gets a good run up and adds a RUNNING KNEE! DS hits so hard he flies out to the floor and so does Eden! Back inside a roll up gets 2. Eden goes to the well and hits an Exploder. Both men down again. DS is up first and hits a TIGER SUPLEX. He looks for the Kudo Driver but Eden has him scouted and reverses it into the HELLEVATOR! Game over, man, game over. Eden takes the comeback win but Darkside remains extremely popular. **3/4. Eden was a little rusty but you’d expect that. He’s been out for a long time. It’s nice to have him back. Darkside meanwhile is going to be huge sooner or later. Probably sooner. He’s fast and slick and gets the crowd on his side seemingly at will.

Chris Whitton v Ice XVII

Ice dropping down the card to take care of business here. Whitton meanwhile is the Lord of the Ring. He points out that 3CW were too cheap to buy him a trophy so he’s brought his own royal fineries. He puts on a royal robe and crown before proclaiming himself Lord Christopher of Whitton. He claims the manky looking robe is made of silk while the blatantly plastic crown is “solid gold”.

On with the match then. Waistlock switches at speed. Strikes! CHOPS! Kicks! Ice takes an advantage with a flipover neckbreaker. The avalanche misses in the corner and Whitton starts throwing kicks like they’re going out of fashion. Suplex and the old Jericho cocky cover gets Whitton kicked in the spine! Ice runs right into a belly to belly though. Russian legsweep into the buckles gets him back on an even keel. Rolling neck snap and the running STO gets 2. Whitton escapes the Canadian Destroyer and hits a bulldog followed by an elbow drop for 2. Tornado DDT is avoided by Ice as he kicks Whitton off and Enzuigiri’s him in the chest. We hit a forearm duel, which Ice wins into a belly to belly. Whitton swings at him again, which gets him a capture suplex for 2. Ice goes for the Kobashi but Whitton elbows out and lariats Ice in the back of the head. Whitton goes for the tornado DDT again but again Ice gets out hits an Enzuigiri. This time he grabs Whitton’s ankle and tries to tap him. Whitton rolls out into the crossface. Someone’s been watching Angle v Benoit. Ice reverses it. Whitton gets it back to the feet and tries for the Kobashi but Ice blocks that only for Whitton to be ready for the block and plant him with the Downward Spiral for 2. Ice gets tied in the ropes but Whitton can’t capitalise and gets laid out BIG TIME with the CANADIAN DESTROYER! That should be a finisher every time out. This time it’s a double KO to give Ice some breathing time. Ice stalks Whitton as he’s getting back up and goes for the Kobashi again. Whitton blocks it and lands on top. Both men’s shoulders are down but I can only see Ice’s. He’s definitely down and apparently Whitton got a shoulder up so he wins. ***1/4. Great stuff. A real barnburner. They went flat out for 10 minutes. I love that shit. Fast-paced matches don’t always have to be spotfests and this one wasn’t.

3CW Young Lions title – Kid Richie (c) v Anthony Idol

Idol goes the cheap heat route by using Northern Ireland’s 1-0 win over England in the football recently. Not that he’s even from Northern Ireland. They chain to start and legsweep for 1 counts. Armdrags and Richie busts out a whirl headscissors. Idol replies with one of his own. They switch at speed before Richie hits the ropes for a diving rana. That gets 2. Back suplex gets 2. Sunset flip gets 2. DOUBLE whirl headscissors from Richie scores. Idol bails to the apron but Richie 619’s him off and follows out with a TOPE SUICIDA! Back inside he tries for a slingshot hilo but gets knees. Double arm neckbreaker from Idol gets 2. Belly to belly gets 2. Vertical suplex gets 2. Sideslam also comes close so Idol hooks a Boston crab. Richie gets out with his leg strength and he hooks a triangle hold to give himself some recovery time from that burst of offence. Slugfest develops and Richie ends up walking into a suplex for 2. Satellite DDT gets 2. Richie dropkicks his ankle. Shining Wizard is ducked into the step over Enzuigiri. Richie is in front but the ref gets bumped. I hate ref bumps. Idol goes low taking advantage of the lack of supervision. Blue Thunder and Idol bails for the belt. He throws it to Richie and spin kicks the belt into his face for the 3 count. Van Dam that shit down! ***. Great little match from these guys. Idol looked a little rough around the edges but he’s still very much a junior.

Brother Shame w/Brother War/Gabriel Grey v Blake Norton

Strikes to start and Blake wins out with a spin kick to the back of Shame’s head. Missile dropkick scores but Grey trips him up preventing his continued aggression. Blake has words for Gabe – “stay out of my business”. Shame sees the opening and clubs him. Grey adds in a choke on the ropes as if to say ‘hey, I’ll get all up in your business if I want to’. Shame hits a fallaway slam and starts to work the back. Then he tosses Blake outside for Peej to work him over. Shame suplexes Blake back inside but he misses off the top. Blake connects with a diving headbutt. Shame teeters off a dropkick and a chop sends him over. 10 count punches and a low dropkick gets 2. Standing crucifix from Blake and he gradually takes Shame over into the STU-LOCK. You’d better believe that’s it and Shame taps out. Well, his arm flails about a bit and that’s the end. *1/2. Kind of a filler match between the Lord of the Ring antics and the forthcoming tag match. Not bad my any means but too short to be anything meaningful in the long run.

POST MATCH Grey lays in with the pimp stick until Darkside makes the save. Grey demands Darkside and Blake in a tag match and it’s on for later. Although Blake wants it now.

Imperial Dragon v ?

ID is strangely more popular when he’s wearing a mask. Now, I’m not saying that Dragon is ugly…but this might lend support to anyone who was gunning for that kind of abuse. Anyway, there is no match. Ben Harland comes out here to bitch about Chris Cannon and claims he’s taken out Dragon’s opponent in the back. Harland goes low and hits a Stunner. Then a Piggyback Stunner just for good measure. He tags on Cannon and wants him in a no holds barred match next week. So much for that tag team tandem!

3CW tag titles – Vegas Connection (c) v Cutting Edgeucation

I make my kayfabed peace with Evans pre-match (he spat beer in my face at the last show) with a babyface hug. The challengers name this match “schoolyard rules”. Billy has a list of the rules that he hands over to Stevie Aaron. “If there are any violations, we’ll let you know” – Grange. Oh, you bastard. Vince slaps CJ around and generally kicks his ass before slapping him in an armbar. Grange is enraged. There’s no armbars in the schoolyard.

RULE 41 – “NO ARMBARS”

Well it’s about damn time. There’s another ruling about the tag partners. They have to hold the tag ropes “and their breath”, which leads to some comedy selling from CJ Hunter and he tries desperately to tag in while turning purple. Billy and Evans chain while Vince and CJ try to remain conscious on the apron. CJ gets a tag, takes in a deep breath of air then face bumps into unconsciousness. HAHAHAHA. Grange decides to eliminate that rule. Vince loudly exhales on the other side of the ring. Oh, the comedy. CJ manages to recover, “he’s alive” – Grange. Evans gives him a kicking. Grange tags in blind and Evans gets a kicking. GERMAN SUPLEX/SUPERKICK! Evans is looking very isolated and he takes an Enzuigiri. CJ is a little too cocky though and gets caught in the DOUBLE OR NOTHING. Evans tags out but as Vince is in the process of cleaning house Grange is in the process of pointing out a rule infringement.

RULE 7 – “NO LEFT HAND TAGS”.

It’s obvious when you think about it. So Evans is still legal. Grange gives him the THREE AMIGOS TAKE A TRIP TO MEXICO while CJ adds in stomps after every suplex. CJ with a surfboard stomp for 2. Dropkick gets 2. Evans capture suplexes him Tazz style. Sorry, Taz style. Hot tag! With the right hand obviously. CJ Hunter eats the VC while shouting “shit”. That gets the 3 count and the Vegas Connection retain. Oh, but Billy has the mic.

RULE 427 – “ONLY THE SECOND FALL COUNTS”.

Yeah, no lucky first falls here! Grange nut shots Vince. I can only presume that’s legal in the schoolyard. LEARNING CURVE (spinebuster/lungblower combo) gets 2. CJ tries for a belt shot but gets clattered with it by Vince. That draws the DQ and it’s over. Hold up, one more rule change…

RULE 10,912 – “THE BELTS CHANGE HANDS ON A DQ”.

So the winners and NEW tag team champions are the crafty Cutting Edgeucation. **. I’ve seen the gimmick before but it didn’t stop me laughing all the way through. Grange’s comedy is fantastic and CJ is a hidden gem in that department too. His comedy face bump was probably the biggest laugh of the night.

POST MATCH CE try to go for a bigger laugh as they instigate a sing along to “We Are The Champions”. Vegas Connection are less than thrilled and chase them off.

3CW title – Stevie Lynn (c) v Majik

Lynn is troubled by the bad neck. Majik asks for the belt right now because Lynn isn’t fit to wrestle. That’s not happening. Lynn sells his neck on the tie up. Majik goes right after it, being the dickish heel he is. Lynn escapes a neck crank by armdragging out. Maj bails but he’s dragged back in and dropkicked in the spine. Double stomp from Stevie gets 2. Headlock takeover and he holds Majik down. He continues to work the headlock but Majik gets out into his own headlock but Lynn is able to headscissors out to protect his neck. He hits a short piledriver to remind Majik who’s boss. Majik escapes into a headlock. I heart headlocks. Majik takes it into the corner and refuses to break clean. Lynn retorts with a SLICK slingshot Oklahoma roll for 2. Dropkick misses though and Lynn is back troubled by his neck. Majik throws a European forearm in there, followed by a knee. Back suplex gets 2. Neckbreaker is reversed into a rolling fisherman suplex for 2. Lynn can’t hold a bridge with his bad neck. Majik goes right after it – neckbreaker for 2, suplex for 2 and into the Steiner Recliner. Lynn powers up into a fallaway slam showing his still has that superior leg strength. Lynn runs into an elbow, then a boot but still clocks Majik with a Blue Thunder for 2. Majik lays him straight back out with a Nodowa and we’re into a double KO. Majik is up first with a jawbreaker. Sideslam gets 2. Another is reversed into a headscissors. Lynn hits a great jumping rana for 2. Majik blocks an attempted Kobashi and hits a German suplex for 2. Majik keeps on the neck, which has been the main focus of this match. He hits a rope ride for 2. Leg jam to the back of the neck gets 2. Majik misses off the ropes looking for another and gets clocked with a leg lariat. Lynn goes for the Enzuigiri but it’s ducked into the Downward Spiral. Majik goes all Chris Daniels with the leg across the neck submission hold. Stevie has to fight his way into the ropes. Off comes Majik’s shirt. OH, IT’S ON NOW! Lynn ducks the big boot and clocks Majik with the Enzuigiri for 2. Majik gets the bottom rope with his boot to survive. Majik blocks the brainbuster and hits a FISHERMAN BUSTER…for 2. They switch standing and Lynn escapes the Spellbinder. Kobashi is blocked. Majik goes for that stump piledriver again to truly finish it off but Lynn switches out into a sit out GOURDBUSTER for 2. Majik is staggered and the BRAINBUSTER finishes for the valiant Mr Lynn. ***3/4. Blinding main event action and one of the best Majik matches I’ve seen in a while (although I hear he tore the house down in Scotland while I wasn’t there).

POST MATCH Majik tries to get revenge with a chair but Ice saves. Whitton runs in to attack him but Kid Richie makes the save and we’re all set for the 4-way Ironman match (Lynn v Ice v Whitton v Richie).

Overall Show Thoughts –

Awesome fun. A clear cut thumbs up show. Every match was different and I love that mixed bag feeling that you get from seeing lots of different things on one show. As ever 3CW has turned out a great live experience. Go and see them if you live anywhere near Middlesbrough. If you don’t then get some DVD action from www.3CW.co.uk. Do it!