3Live Kru

From Freepedia

3Live Kru (3LK) is the name of a stable in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. The 3Live Kru debuted in July 2003, and was initially a trio of wrestlers, consisting of Ron Killings, Konnan and B.G. James. The gimmick of the 3Live Kru was that each member of the group exemplified a racial caricature of their particular ethnicity. In addition, the Kru would rap as they approached the ring, and each member of the group wore camouflage clothing.

The Southern White James was dubbed "The Trailer Park Gangsta" or "B-Jizzle". The Black Killings, already known as "The Truth", was dubbed "The Suntan Superman". The Hispanic Konnan was dubbed "The Magic Stick", his nWo nickname "K-Dogg", or sometimes "K-Dizzle".

3LK began as an on-screen entity on June 18, 2003. In the preceeding weeks, Konnan, James and Killings appeared together on the pay-per-views in varying combinations, but June 18 was the first time all three appeared together. At first, they did spots where the three of them were making fun of other TNA wrestlers and, at times, each other. They also began wrestling together as a three-man tandem in dark matches and on TNA Xplosion. Starting on July 16 of that year, they began with a series of vignettes where they all went to the settings of their individual stereotypes. In the first one, the three went to the ghetto, where B.G. ended up dressed like a pimp. In the second one, they all went to a Mexican restaurant, where The Truth ordered orange juice and instead got tequila, proceeding to get drunk. In the third one, they all went to B.G.'s "home" in a trailer park, where The Truth was lusted over by a Deliverance-inspired redneck. It was during these vignettes that the term "3Live Kru" was born.

3LK is one of the most recognized stables in TNA, and at some points has been its most powerful. On November 26, 2003, all three as a whole won the NWA World Tag Team Championship, the second three-man group to win the titles (Triple X did it beforehand) and the first to win it in a six-man tag team match. B.G. and Konnan would also win it together in November 2004. Killings won one of his two NWA World Heavyweight Championships on May 19, 2004, as part of 3LK.

As part of the rap persona, they recorded two songs together. On September 24, 2003, they performed Doing That Damn Thang on a TNA pay-per-view. They performed a new song, Beware (The Remix), on December 7, 2003. Both have since been used at different times as their entrance music.

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The group suffered some turmoil during 2005. Soon after Billy Gunn joined TNA initially as "The Outlaw", he started targeting B.G., his former tag-team partner in the WWF, and began a campaign of sabotage against the 3LK. At one point, B.G. James stopped appearing alongside Konnan and The Truth. He also refused The Outlaw's advances, despite Outlaw's changing his name to Kip James in brotherhood with B.G. At No Surrender on July 17, B.G. was given an opportunity to join with Kip by hitting The Truth with a chair, but he refused to do it. Konnan and The Truth went as far as calling themselves the "2Live Kru" at times, but James's exact status remained ambiguous.

At Sacrifice on August 14, 2005, Killings and Konnan faced Kip James and "The Alpha Male" Monty Brown for the second consecutive pay-per-view. On the July 29, 2005, episode of TNA iMPACT!, TNA Director of Authority Larry Zbyszko, citing fear from the referee team in the face of Kip and Monty's intentional targeting of them, named B.G. James the special guest referee for the match. B.G. proved his allegiance to 3LK after two months of silence, making his decision loud and clear when he stopped Kip from using a steel chair, then attacked Kip himself. Konnan got the pin, and 3Live Kru celebrated together after the match, proving that they were still together.

An interesting epilogue to the story, in the 2005 Chris Candido Memorial Tag Team Tournament where tag team partners are picked at random, a quarterfinal match pitted B.G. James with Cassidy Riley against Ron Killings and Sonjay Dutt on the August 19, 2005, episode of TNA iMPACT! Eventually B.G and The Truth ended up facing each other in the ring, but they refused to fight, drawing the ire of their respective partners. Ultimately B.G. hit Cassidy with the Pumphandle Drop after Cassidy, an admirer of Raven, used one of Raven's moves on The Truth. This allowed Sonjay to hit the Hindu Press and get the pin for the victory, advancing with The Truth to the semifinals. B.G. did not seem too upset to lose the match, and celebrated with Ron and Sonjay. Konnan also participated in the tournament, teamed with Lance Hoyt, but both remaining 3LK teams were eliminated in the semifinals.

The full tandem won a match against the Diamonds in the Rough at Unbreakable on September 11.

In the weeks before Bound For Glory, Kip James again came to the rescue of B.G. James in situations with Team Canada, suffering the ire of Konnan in the process. He offered his protection (to neutralize D'Amore in particular, in his own words) to the group at BFG, but Konnan thought it a bad idea. 3LK lost their match with Team Canada, but Kip James made the save when Team Canada beat down 3LK after the match. Team Canada held Konnan, expecting Kip to hit him with a steel chair. Instead, Kip proceeded to lay out members of Team Canada, saving Konnan instead. Later that night, after being eliminated from the 10-man Gauntlet Match to determine Jeff Jarrett's opponent for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, Kip would save The Truth from elimination twice before being restrained by the referees.

3LK came to the rescue of Rhino after he beat Jarrett for the title at the end of Bound For Glory.