This week on Three Count, the GWF prepares for last weekend’s Battlefield show as we get a preview of the tag team title match in our main event.
We open with a recap of last week, with Georges Khoukaz getting assaulted with a coat hanger, and we bleed into this week as Icarus stops Tarkan Aslan hitting Cash Money Erkan with a wine bottle. From there we’re in the gym as Tarkan Aslan’s doing bench presses when he’s stopped by Chris Colen. They banter about not being given the rewards – in Aslan’s chance, not being chosen to do a movie – before Colen reminds him he’s got a World title match at Battlefield this weekend.
John Klinger meets with Ahmed Chaer as they look for a promo for the Battlefield match… Chaer wants Bones to speak naturally, rather than “wrestler promo style”, which led to Crazy Sexy Mike putting in his two cents.
Next… Felix Weber and Kati Libra are at school, practising forearm smashes… while Kati’s trying to get Felix on her side against Rambo and co. Elsewhere in the school, Lucky Kid is stretching as Chaer gives him the news about the commercial from last week, before Ahmed wandered over to give Pascal Spalter the same news. Pascal’s a little less than thrilled at being “one of two”…
From there, cue the opening credits and we’re inside Huxley’s Neues Welt for the in-ring portion of the show.
Murat AK vs. Senza Volto
There’s a sit-down promo from Volto before the match, as he built up to his Berlin title shot with Cem Kaplan.
There’s a big size difference between AK and Volto, forcing Senza into a “hit and run” game. He tries a handspring back elbow, only for Murat to catch him and turn it into a butterfly suplex for a near-fall, as the monstrous Murat looked to impose himself. Volto tries his luck with superkicks, eventually taking AK to a knee, but Murat’s back to his feet as he ends up blocking a sunset flip out of the corner. For some reason, Murat climbs the ropes and gets knocked down as a 619 from Senza sent him crashing to the mat… and to the outside as two guys in tabards appear as Senza goes for a dive. Well, I’ve seen less conspicuous ring crew/dive catchers!
Back inside, Volto leaps over Murat before he’s forced to wriggle out of a powerbomb. A big boot stops him, before another powerbomb’s awkwardly turned into a sunset flip as Volto scores the upset. Well, on paper it worked, but Murat was too tall and clunky for it to come across smoothly. I had flashbacks to Rey Mysterio vs. Great Khali matches from days of yore… **
Audrey Bride vs. Blue Nikita
We’ve a rare women’s match on Three Count, ahead of Bride’s Loser Leaves Town match with Melanie Gray at Battlefield. Getting anything against Blue Nikita will be a big ask for Bride…
Nikita instantly drops Bride with a clothesline as the Greek was already threatening to make light work of her Hungarian opponent. A hiptoss seemed to awaken Bride, who responds with slams that forced Nikita to powder to the outside. Back inside, there’s satellite headscissors for Nikita, who’s then taken into the corner… but she sidesteps Bride’s charge and nearly gets the win after a kick to the head.
The pair swap elbow strikes before a Northern Lights suplex drew a near-fall for Nikita, who remained in complete control of things as she threatened to finish off Bride with the Jig ‘n’ Tonic… except Audrey wriggled out into a sunset flip for a near-fall. Bride mounts a clothesline-laden comeback to take Nikita off her feet, before some headscissors were turned into an Octopus-like hold, which Nikita breaks with a backbreaker. Bride almost gets the win with a Downward Spiral, but in the end another set of headscissors is caught and turned into the Blue Wonder (Jig ‘n’ Tonic) as Nikita gets the win. A solid outing, but hardly the best way to go into that Loser Leaves Town match… **½
Arash comes out next for a match – but the gag for the Persian Wunderkind is that he never makes it to the ring. That run continued here as he was tripped in the aisle by Crazy Sexy Mike as Just Rambo headed out, walking over Arash as if he weren’t there.
Just Rambo vs. Icarus
Our main event is a tease to the GWF tag title match for Battlefield, with Icarus taking on Rambo in a singles outing. We’ve a promo piece from Icarus where he mentions having gone from winning last year’s Battlefield match to being back in the tag team picture.
We start with Rambo taking his shots at Icarus, only for the Hungarian to rebound as he trips Rambo and hauls him down with a leaping neckbreaker. Crazy Sexy Mike threatens to get involved as he leaps on the apron as Icarus climbed the ropes… and the distraction worked as Rambo’s able to charge into the corner to crotch the tag team champion. There’s a stalling suplex out of Rambo next, but he can’t get a count of one out of Icarus, so he tries to ground the champion with a chinlock. Icarus fights free but ends up taking a float-over into a DDT for a near-fall, before Rambo looked to choke away on him for some added insult.
Crazy Sexy Mike gets involved, tripping Icarus while Dover had the referee distracted… but that all means that Rambo can only get another one-count. A backdrop suplex is next for a two-count, as Rambo’s right back to the chinlock, before he dropkicks away a springboard attempt as Icarus was struggling here. A Miz-like corner clothesline takes Icarus down, with Rambo going up top for a frog splash that flattens Icarus for a near-fall. Icarus mounts a comeback with a leg lariat, after he’d skinned the cat to bring himself back into the ring… but Mike again looks to get involved, only for Dover to pull him off the apron. Rambo tries to capitalise on the distraction, but this time he runs into a forearm before he’s tripped and kicked, with a springboard enziguiri off the middle rope taking the former Presidente down.
All that’s left is the senton bomb off the top… and Icarus gets the win. A by-the-numbers outing, but a popular win for the Arrow of Hungary. ***
After the copyright bug, we’re backstage as Georges Khoukaz is in the kitchen… where Vincenzo Coccotti comes in with a pizza and some cooked meat. It’s Sicilian salami, which he gives Georges as he regaled him with a story about Sicilian pigs playing in the mud. Vincenzo quotes a little Christina Aguilera, before we’re interrupted by Ali Aslan who’s mad that he’s speaking “to his boy”. Ali slaps away the meat and orders that Georges grab Vincenzo for a beating… only for Icarus to appear in the nick of time as the Arrows of Hungary had a staredown with Aslan… who was standing behind Khoukaz as we went off air.
Yeah, there’s another credits “gag” at the end, as Virgile and Davey sit on a park bench rueing their lack of a major part. Olaf, who’s the ring announcer, isn’t happy he’s just got a sentence… I don’t get it?
As a standalone show, Three Count just about worked without the context of the Battlefield show… however, the in-ring action felt a little below par for my tastes. This episode of Three Count more than ever seemed to be a set up for the “real time” happenings at Battlefield… problem was, the show dropped so late in the week that unless you watched it when it dropped on YouTube or Amazon Prime, you’d probably have missed the Battlefield show that was being streamed live over the weekend. I know we did!