3 Count

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3 Count was a professional wrestling stable in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) formed in 1999. The group consisted of Shane Helms, Shannon Moore & Evan Karagias and was given a boy band gimmick. For a brief time, Tank Abbott was added to the group as a manager and enforcer.

1 History
2 Aftermath
3 Finishing and signature moves
4 Championships
5 References
6 External links

Shane Helms and Shannon Moore were brought to World Championship Wrestling at the behest of Hulk Hogan, who was granted the authority to bring in a number of young cruiserweights to the roster.^{[citation needed]} Almost immediately, Jimmy Hart put them together with Evan Karagias as a group to both capitalize on and make fun of the success of boy bands at the time.

Their gimmick was first introduced to the public with vignettes disguised as music videos for their (Hart penned) pop song Can't Get You Outta My Heart. From there they progressed to performing live on WCW Monday Nitro, dancing on green circles in the ring and lip syncing their song before their matches. Later on they recorded a new song, Sing Along With 3 Count, which replaced Can't Get You Outta My Heart as their theme music.

The group were received as heels, and after three months captured (together) the WCW Hardcore Championship by pinning Brian Knobbs on February 28, 2000. They lost the title back to Knobbs a month later -- when he pinned all three members consecutively -- but in the process Moore became the youngest Hardcore champion in WCW history, a record he held until WCW folded in 2001.

After losing the Hardcore championship Moore was (legitimately) taken out of action with a broken nose. Upon his return 3 Count was joined by David "Tank" Abbot, a (kayfabe) huge fan. Abbot 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.

In late 2000, 3 Count began to fall apart, with Karagias leaving the group and joining forces with Jamie Noble of the also falling apart Jung Dragons. Moore and Helms continued together to feud with the remaining Dragons (Kaz Hayashi and James Yun) and the start up team of Karagias and Noble.

As WCW was slowly dying, Moore and Karagias put aside their differences and formed a tag team which vied for the short lived WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team Championship, but never got their hands on them before the company closed. Shane Helms did, however, win the WCW Cruiserweight Championship. Moore and Helms would go on to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), but Karagias decided not to wrestle.`