The path to Legacy continued as Three Count main evented with Bad Bones and Lucky Kid this week.
We’ve a shorter runtime this week – just the 34 minutes on Three Count. We open with recaps of Cash Money Erkan accusing Chris Colen… Tarkan Aslan getting annoyed with being in a Loserweight title match… and then we cut to the locker room where Ahmed Chaer in a nWo rip-off tee has trouble separating New Wave and Grup Anarşi. Chaer suggests a 5-on-5 match, but Crazy Sexy Mike shoots it down because Chaer isn’t the match-maker. Instead, he just repeats what Chaer said word-for-word. We then fade out and back into Ahmed Chaer in his office. Cash Money Erkan’s there with Chris Colen, accusing Colen of spiking his water a few weeks ago… but Erkan has no evidence save for Colen’s prior threats towards him.
Ahmed suggests that they bother Vincenzo Coccotti with their issues… so they leave disgusted. As they should.
Next, we’re in the kitchen with Grup Anarşi… Kris Jokic walks in, backed up by his New Wave teammates who save him from any attacks. We’re taken to Crazy Sexy Mike’s office, where he’s stopped by John Klinger, who is trying to help Mike overthrow Ahmed Chaer from his position of power. His plan – a match with the position on the line… and he’ll go after Chaer’s always-dislocating shoulder. Mike has a better plan… but we fade out to the titles. A very sparse opening spot…
We start with Arash being introduced to the ring. Let’s see if he makes it, given that his “bit” is that he’s always attacked. He’s extra cagey, but he’s interrupted on the other side of the stage by Cash Money Erkan, who superkicks him. Ah well. Shouldn’t have hung around on the stage as long, Arash!
Cash Money Erkan vs. Orlando Silver
Erkan’s got a former GWF champion to get through as his warm-up for his title shot this weekend at GWF Legacy.
Erkan jumps Silver at the bell, clubbing him with forearms as those high-vis wearing dive catchers loom on to collect Silver’s gear. He’s quickly cornered as Erkan catches Orlando with uppercuts, before a running big boot misses with Erkan tumbling to the outside for his troubles. Silver tries to capitalise with a tope, one that caught the catcher unaware, before he rolls back into the ring to get a two-count on Erkan. Heading up top, Silver’s caught by Erkan’s slap, and then a superplex for a near-fall, as commentary reminded us of his “out of sorts” performance last time out… without telling us why. For God’s sake Dave, watch the product!
Silver misses an enziguiri, but manages to avoid a pumphandle driver, as he looked to put away Erkan with Code Red… which isn’t enough to get the three count. Erkan comes back instantly with a pumphandle powerbomb – the Cash Money Slam – but Silver kicks out at two, and returns fire with an uppercut of his own. Erkan lifts Silver onto the apron, before he rolled through a sunset flip and caught Silver with a pair of superkicks… and that’s enough. This was okay for a TV match; one that really highlighted Erkan, rather than Orlando Silver, given it’s Erkan in the title match it’s to be expected. **½
John Klinger vs. Lucky Kid
It’s already main event time, as we’ve quarter of an hour left in the show. Commentary tells us that these two will be in a triple threat with Pascal Spalter at Legacy… which tells me that this perhaps won’t have a clean finish.
We start with Lucky Kid prowling around the ring (hey, whatever happened to his commercial?), which irritated Klinger a little. He should be used to it, given their form in the past… Klinger tries to stomp on Lucky Kid, but instead makes do with some forearms before he’s taken into the corner with a shotgun dropkick. Lucky’s launched with a back body drop, then an overhead belly-to-belly as the bigger of the two men looked to be prevailing here. Lucky puts on the brakes, literally, as he clung onto Klinger’s leg ahead of a leg spreader that trips Bones… but he does nothing with it apart from prance around.
A low dropkick from Lucky trips Klinger again, with another sending him outside… but Lucky doesn’t give after him as instead he BLAAAHs. Lucky’s own distraction allows Klinger to slingshot back into the ring with a spear as he began another fightback, but Lucky has some fire left in him too… only for Bones to baseball slide his legs away ahead of a missile dropkick off the top rope.
Klinger keeps up the offence on Lucky, but another low dropkick surprises Bad Bones for a near-fall, but a German suplex quickly stops Lucky’s flurry of offence, as Bones was back in control, landing some kicks to knock him down for a near-fall. Kicks and chops follow from both men, before a handspring back elbow from Lucky led to an Asai DDT… but it’s not enough to put away Klinger. Lucky tries for a full nelson, but Bones escapes… then counters another handspring with a German suplex. After landing on his feet, Lucky Kid’s caught with a clothesline, then a Falcon arrow for a near-fall, before catching Lucky with a running lungblower. Out of nowhere, a man in a hoodie runs in… and he looks like he’s a German AND a heavyweight. Sure enough, masked man charges down Klinger… and the cameraman quickly shows us it’s Pascal Spalter.
Curiously, the referee’s not thrown the match out yet… but HE gets thrown out by Spalter, before going after Lucky Kid. The ring announcer tells us this is a no contest, which was exactly the kind of finish I was expecting. At least the action leading up to it was okay, but if you weren’t sold on the feud, this probably wouldn’t have tempted you into buying the show. ***
The “in ring” portion of the show ends with Pascal Spalter walking up the ramp… and then it’s backstage as Tarkan Aslan sits down with Crazy Sexy Mike. Mike’s annoyed with what happened last week with Benji… but more the injury part than the match itself. After asking Tarkan what’s his problem, and it seems the pair have a bit more in common than they thought, both annoyed with others taking the success they feel ought to be theirs.
In the end, Aslan’s told to bug Ahmed Chaer if he has a problem with his contract… that prompted Tarkan to talk about his brother Ben as someone who helped him pull through his recent bad patch, only for Mike to tell him that Ben’s been dead for ten years. Huh. That’s some real soap opera stuff right there. All of a sudden, Ben goes from being there in person to someone who’s in Tarkan’s head, with “alternative” footage that makes Tarkan look a lot more problematic than before.
We close on that bombshell, and the Vincenzo Coccotti comedy spot with a guy called Davey who’s apparently easily hypnotised by a watch beeping. Vincenzo has fun with that, but leaves Davey a grinning mess, munching on some gummie bears – called Daveybo. I guess Killer Kelly took the Haribo deal? Or perhaps it’s because Daveybo grow when they’re added to water?
In ring, this was a hit and miss show, but at least the storylines that are in play continued – be it the three-way battle between Pascal Spalter, Lucky Kid and Bad Bones… the Tarkan Aslan weirdness… or Dave Bradshaw’s battle to keep up with the product he’s commentating on (I kid!)