In my lifetime of over 40 years, Greenville has always been a hot bed for pro wrestling. My introduction to pro wrestling was going to NWA Mid Atlantic and WCW events at the Greenville Memorial Auditorium and Greenville Braves Stadium on occasion.
National TV companies like WWE and AEW still come to Greenville, but only a couple times per year. Those couple of trips per month are a contrast to the 80's when NWA Mid-Atlantic ran weekly in Greenville for years.
3 Count Pro Wrestling is a local wrestling promotion that has been around in the Upstate for years. 3 Count's regular home is the gym at Calvary First Baptist Church in Greenville.
They also run events at Westside High in Anderson and will be there in September. They just held an event this past Saturday night at their Greenville home.
The latest event from 3 Count Pro featured The Stew Crew. Real life brothers Dylan and Zach Stewart are natives of East Tennessee and have made the trip to Greenville to appear for 3 Count. The Stew Crew has been featured on National TV on the NWA Power show. They currently hold the 3 Count Pro Tag Titles and The Tag Titles for NWA JCP Southeast. The brother duo was just in the 2024 Crockett Cup one of the most prestigious Tag Tournaments in the industry.
Dylan Stewart always impresses with his toughness and Zach Stewart's agility at his size (6ft5 300lbs) is seldom seen. They were victorious in their title defense vs Dontay Khalifa and Quan Anderson.
Dontay is based in Charlotte and was the more experienced member of that team. Quan Anderson is a rookie in the Pro Wrestling world. He wrestled at the D-1 College Level for Gardner-Webb as an amateur prior. Those guys who really good complimentary opponents for the Stew Crew. Both Dontay and Quan showed their tremendous athleticism as well. In watching Quan you can't tell he's a rookie, he has all the tools to be a star in the industry.
Western North Carolina Native, former High School State Champ and Gardner-Webb standout Chase Emery was also one of the featured talents on the card. Emery was in action against TNA Wrestling Star John Skyler, who is a Columbia native. The two have met in promotions around the Carolinas and have a running rivalry. In this chapter of that rivalry, Emery was able to get the pinfall victory after a psychical, back and forth battle.
Recently crowned 3 Count Pro Heavyweight Champ Jacob Armachain was also in action. While undersized, Armachain has tremendous in-ring ability and the ability to connect with the audience. The fans in Greenville love Armachain and have embraced him as champion. He was in the Main Event with heel (bad guy) challenger Brice Anthony. In the beginning of the show the two built "the heat" for their match when Anthony attacked Armachain and left him laying. Armachain would come back in the Main Event and even though he took a massive amount of punishment, Armachain was able to hit a tornado DDT for the win over the much larger Anthony.
One of the performers I had not seen wrestle before and I came away impressed with was Ken "Loaded Gunz" Magnum. The veteran heel was spot on in his performance. Magnum defeated Greenville native Adam Honu who was making his debut. Honu had a large contingent of fans there to see his debut and the story those two guys told was awesome.
Later in the show, Magnum interfered in the Next Level Title match between Chrisifix and the Champ Beebop. Magnum has had a running issue with Chrisifix and attacked him, advancing that feud. Speaking of Beebop he's another really good heel and turned in some great work.
Being someone who stays in tune with the pro wrestling business and watches quite a bit of indy wrestling from around Georgia and Carolinas, I have to say I was impressed. 3 Count runs a show that is family friendly but also provides fans with hard-hitting action. The fans of the promotion are in tune with what is going on in the show and are engaged in it.
I found the promotion's style to be that of old-school southern territory style wrestling. Which not only appeals to me and many fans, but you can see/feel the similarities the promotion has to the wrestling that has always been well supported in the area.
3 Count welcomed me and really rolled out the red carpet for me and I appreciate that tremendously. I was sitting at the officials table on the inside of the rail, sitting in the front row just across the rail by me was a family of four. The dad, mom and two boys were there and it was the 1st time the mom and the boys had been to a live wrestling event. It was also the first time at 3 Count for the Dad. Those people talked to me during the event and asked questions, I was able to explain the product more to them.
What I saw with that family reminded me of my childhood going to shows in Greenville with my dad and older brother. I saw that family share that experience and make memories together. They were able to do it at an affordable price as well. Seeing that family share that experience was an added caveat that made the show even better.
There were other talents that I didn't get to point out or name in the article, that also performed at a high level. There really wasn't a bad match the entire night.
All in all, it was easy for me to see that 3 Count is carrying on Greenville's pro wrestling tradition. I hope to get back to another of their events in the near future.