by Jake Brown
That August, we held a lower-key 3PW wrestling event, ‘Babes, Belts and Blood,’ which featured a title match for Dusty Rhodes vs. Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Kevin Sullivan. For that event, I also thought it would be a smart move to sponsor a promotional wet T-Shirt ‘Miss 3PW’ contest designed to promote the forthcoming September show. I remember inviting Ron Jeremy to come in and emcee the event, and it went off beautifully with the crowd.
Ron Jeremy: I was also impressed with the fact that Jasmin had retired from the porn business and was still popular. A lot of girls will often wait and keep performing past their prime. They go on the road and feature, and do a porn film once in a while to keep themselves current on that circuit, but Jasmin loved entertainment and being in the limelight, and knew how to keep herself there by expanding beyond porn and into wrestling. I think that was very smart, and others tried it after her and weren’t nearly as successful.
Jasmin: As we went into planning our September 3PW show, I got word that Ring-of-Honor was planning to run a head-to-head show with us on the same night, so we took the gloves off. We hired who had just been released from the WWF — and I made sure he was off the market and booked for 3 shows after that. I utilized that strategy a lot when I was booking wrestlers for 3PW shows, wherein I would lock them in for 3 or 4 dates at a time, so they’d stay exclusively in our camp. Our September show, ‘This One’s For You,’ which was held on the 21st at the ECW Arena, was fucking PACKED! Our main event was Sabu vs. Syxx pac (formerly known as X-pac of the WWE,) and I booked Missy Hyatt, the ‘First Lady of Wrestling’to come down. She and I had an appearance together called the ‘Three Way Strip Off,’ where we stripped out of an evening gown into our bra and panties. It evolved into this huge catfight in the ring. It was amazing to be employing all these legends I had grew up watching — especially Missy Hyatt, who was one of my heroes in the sport. That feud between Missy and me in the ring was one of my highlights looking back at my wrestling career.
We passed fire code on the September show, and after that, the word was out, to the point where before the night was even over, we were getting requests for tickets to the next show, which we hadn’t even planned yet! We were finally in demand, and we even turned a small profit on the September show. Most importantly though, everyone got paid, largely thanks to my knowing everything there is to know about budgeting while not looking cheap in the process: for instance, with the corporate rate deals I did with hotels I put our wrestlers up at. For the first couple shows, I’d had everyone at the Holiday Inn, but I found a better deal with the Ramada for the September show, and it was a nicer hotel at that. Anyway, once word got out that 3PW paid CASH, plus expenses, it became a chorus of ‘That’s the company to work for; they’re fucking cool.’It’s funny too because by this point 3PW had an 800 number, and we had every idiot in the industry calling up to get work with us, and many of them weren’t humble about it either. Still, we put up with it because THEY were calling US, and my goal was to continue expanding our roster.
‘3PW is promoting an ECW style product. Unlike a lot of Indy shows 3PW brings in many name wrestlers such as legends Dusty Rhodes, Terry Funk and former ECW greats The Sandman and Raven. The promotion is owned by…Jasmine St. Claire’
— Wrestling101.com, November, 2003 For as much of a high as we were all on from the success of the show, that exuberance was handicapped slightly by the death of one of my wrestlers, former XWF wrestler Fly Boy Rocco, who I managed as part of an in-ring tag-team. He died at the gym working out before the show, so that sadness hung over everything. Still, we all went out to the ring that night with his spirit pushing us all to the top of our game, and by drawing wrestling talent like Abby the Butcher vs. Kevin Sullivan, and Syxxpac vs. Sabu, the audience got swept up in 3PW fever as well! After that show, it was contagious, and we had solidified ourselves as one of the East Coast’s most competitive wrestling leagues. It had taken 7 months, but considering how few shows we’d held in that time, we took the momentum as an opportunity to pay tribute to Fly Boy Rocco at our next show in October. We had a Ten-Bell Salute to him in the ring, and the show was dedicated to him. His old tag-team partner Johnny Durham was there, it was really nice. We had a ceremony in the ring, and then just put on a hell of a show in his memory. We had tag-team between the Blue Meanie and I, and Missy Hyatt and the Rockin’Rebels, and by now, we were drawing anywhere between 900-1200, which is considered a sell-out. I would go onto sell out that arena many times, but these first couple sell-out shows are still my favorites looking back.
I celebrated my birthday that year in New York with my mom, and was really happy, because we were gaining the momentum we deserved. The shit talking was already flying from rival promoters about how we were a flash in a pan, I even got word that Rob Black was trying to move in on our territory and was planning up-coming XPW shows in Philadelphia for later that fall. My attitude was — BRING IT ON, I was fearless, because of the old adage ‘I had nothing to lose,’ since I’d built this league from nothing, and Rob had been hanging around for years on the fringe, unable to rise to the level we had. They had even stooped so low as to sneak into our August show and try to give away tickets to OUR PAYING CUSTOMERS in the audience. If I hadn’t been so strict about our parking lot’s cars being flyered as well it would have been worse, but once I caught wind of Rob’s latest desperate antic, I made sure NONE of his people got into the September and October shows. Still, I
238 what the hell was i thinking?!! wasn’t intimidated by the thought of the competition. He threw a show in November, trying to go head to head with us, and fell FLAT on his face. Rob’s next move was even more laughable, and pretty under-handed at that, wherein he signed an exclusive lease with the ECW Arena owner Stein and Silverstein, which would force our move in the New Year to the Electric Factory — where we still outsold Rob 2-1!
I think Wikipedia could report the outcome of Rob’s East Coast ‘Takeover’ best: ‘Controversy arose when Xtreme Pro Wrestling (XPW) signed an exclusive lease with the venue in late 2002, preventing other promotions from using the building. XPW went out of business in 2003, and the lease was voided.’
Another insight as to why, perhaps, Rob’s lease was voided: ‘Ring of Controversy’ January 9th, 2003, by R. Jonathan Tuleya, The South Philly Review. ‘A new wrestling organization with a colorful past is drawing criticism…coming from residents…Viking Hall’s (a.k.a. the former ECW Arena) new tenants have some residents in the area ready to tap out. XPW’s (exclusive) lease on the arena began Jan. 1, 2003. Sources report the lease deal is for three years at $120,000 annually…For the last two years, an unidentified group or individual has been circulating a twopage flier, mainly via e-mail, warning people that ‘pornography is coming to your neighborhood…’ The missive makes allegations about XPW’s connections to the hard core pornography industry, problems it has had with licenses for past promotions and even claims that the promotion’s management had something to do with severing the thumb of one of its former wrestlers. Residents should be concerned, believes Bob Magee, the owner of an industry news Web site called Philadelphia Wrestling Between The Sheets (pwbts.com), where he writes a weekly column called ‘As I See It.’Last week he reprinted a copy of the flier on the site…Magee said he is not affiliated with any of the local independent organizations — the major ones being Combat Zone Wrestling, Ring of Honor Wrestling and Pro Pain Pro Wrestling (also known as 3PW) — but he does promote them through his site, all except XPW. “I don’t feel comfortable to promote people that blatantly don’t seem to give a damn about following the same regulations everyone else does,” Magee contended.’
We held our November show as planned, in spite of Rob’s XPW ‘competition,’ and again packed in a sold-out capacity crowd. That must have been what spooked Rob Black into agreeing to pay the king’s ransom he eventually did to steal the ECW Arena away from us. He couldn’t do it on the merits of the crowds he drew, so he had to buy his way in, which in my opinion highlights the one thing Rob n
ever got about promoting wrestling events. It’s not about the quick buck, like porn is. It’s about building a following the way ECW had, and now that 3PW had re-engaged that fan base and won them over through HARD WORK — something XPW had no concept of where wrestling was concerned — I knew Rob didn’t have a chance.
Our November ring roster included Dusty Rhodes, Sabu, Kevin Sullivan, Syxxpac, Kid Kash, and I managed a wrestler named Jason Knight, and the show went off fantastically. I wish I could have said the same about the December 3PW show, our final at the ECW Arena before moving to the Electric Factory. To start with, Dusty Rhodes missed his flight and the match as a result, and another of my wrestlers, Ron Killings from the WWF, no-showed me. I later found out that Rob Black had paid him not to show up, which didn’t surprise me in the slightest. In spite of the setbacks, the crowd was huge, and no one asked for their money back, which I saw as the ultimate fuck-you to Rob and XPW by the fans. Regardless of all the antics Rob had going on, I was satisfied in having a confirmation that I knew where Philadelphia wrestling fans’ loyalties lay. We had earned their respect the hard way, and believe me, it was a trying time for 3PW.
Once we got confirmed word that Rob Black had signed the exclusive, lockout lease for the ECW Arena, our promoter Todd Gordon had already been out looking for a replacement. We’d accepted that it was a business decision on the owner’s part, and decided to fight Rob on that level, rather than making it personal. We had a superior roster of talent, a superior reputation as showmen (and women J) and we outdrew them 2 and 3-1 once they started showing their faces on our turf. We had a show at the end of that December on the 28th, ‘Year End Mayhem!’ It was our final show at the ECW Arena, which was a little sad, but I was proud of what we’d accomplished there and ready to embrace the future of 3PW.
Over the holidays, I stayed in Los Angeles, having been back in the East for so much of the fall. It was a nice quite holiday at home. Brian and I spent New Year’s Eve club-hopping, celebrating how far we’d come in such a short time. In TWELVE MONTHS we’d built the hottest wrestling
24 0 what the hell was i thinking?!! league on the East Coast, with a popularity that was rising by the match. We were attracting all the top-shelf talent, and serving rabid wrestling fans the best matches in town. For Brian and me, it was an even more special celebration on a personal level because this had been our resolution a year ago to that night, and we’d achieved it. I was re-energized again about the life that lay ahead of me, and with my adult film past so far in my rear-view, I felt like I’d finally really started on the path to making something of myself professionally. I knew adult film had been an irreplaceable stepping stone, but wrestling was my love, and something I’d dreamt of doing since I was a child. People can chuckle at that if they want, but it really was — I was a metal-head wrestling fan who was now as a grown-up getting to live one of those dreams. Looking towards the New Year, my resolve to defeat Rob Black and drive him straight out of Philadelphia was my new resolution. It’s one I don’t mind giving the ending away to way ahead of time: I ACHIEVED IT, and in even less time than I thought it would take!
Part XV ii
3PW Lives On!!!
By the New Year, we were busy moving our operations into our new home, the LEGENDARY Electric Factory, which held twice the capacity as ECW Arena! Todd Gordon had been friends with the booker who was a really big wrestling fan and specifically a 3PW fan.That allowed us to score a really good price on our lease (a third of what Rob was paying, which says something about the real cost to XPW of being our competitor at that time.) Taking a cue from Rob, I also made sure we’d secured exclusive wrestling show rights as part of the deal with the club. We were going to be bigger than ever: within that February, Rob Black would be kicked out of his lease in the ECW Arena, and out of Philadelphia altogether as a result of what went down — but I’m jumping ahead.
‘The Electric Factory is a well-known venue for concerts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The first ‘Electric Factory’ venue was actually a converted tire warehouse that was located at 22nd and Arch Streets. This first Electric Factory had opened in 1968, and it closed in 1973. The first performers at this venue were the Chambers brothers, on February 2, 1968. The ‘Electric Factory’ was resurrected around the latter 1994 or early 1995. It presently stands at 421 N. 7th Street between Willow and Spring Garden Streets.This place is more symbolic because it is an actual converted electric factory. The standing-room-only capacity in the Electric Factory is approximately 2500 to 3000 people. This includes the second-floor area. Since this portion of the area overlooks the stage from the left, people up here have a good view of the backstage.The Electric Factory is known to host major musical acts on a regular basis. These musical acts usually consist of heavy metal, rock and grunge genres.The Electric Factory has a rich history just like rock
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and roll does…The Electric Factory is described as a legend in live music that has survived for more than 30 years.’
— www.ticketnest.com ‘3PW was born out of the idea to see what running a show would be like. I had been in the business for 8 years and started to think of what to do for my post in ring career.Truthfully my body won’t hold up to the punishment much longer so I figured I’d give promotion a try. Our first show was the blotter test to see if we wanted to go on. Things went smooth and we decided to go forward. So we enlisted the help of a good friend in Todd Gordon. Todd is very intelligent in the world of business and wrestling. So who better to come up with idea, Todd, Jasmin and I think of ideas for the shows. So far, so good. Our 2nd year anniversary show is coming up on February 21st at the ECW arena in south Philly.’
— Brian ‘Blue Meanie’ Heffron, www.Wrestling101.com Our first scheduled head-to-head show with Rob in our new home in the Electric Factory outdrew him 2-1 from what his previous shows had been drawing. Held on February 15th, 2003, our one-year anniversary as a league, we went ALL OUT in celebrating it — beginning with a wet T-Shirt contest we held with Nicole Bass, of whom I was one of the judges. We had top shelf wrestling talent at that show. Prince Nana vs. Jeff Rocker, RAVEN vs. The Blue Meanie; Jason Knight w/ Jasmin St. Claire vs. Rockin Rebel; Kid Kash vs. Kid Kruel; Da Hit Squad (Mafia & Monsta Mack) vs. Balls Mahoney & Nosawa; a tag-team match between Josh Daniels & Damian Adams vs. Matt Striker & Rob Eckos. Low Ki vs. Homicide; RAVEN vs. Xavier vs. ‘Pitbull’ Gary Wolfe, and finally Terry Funk vs. Sabu in a title match.
Even with a snow storm, we packed the Electric Factory that night, and the kicker was Rob Black — once he found out what our draw was going to be — cancelled his own show! He’d lost his own game of chicken, and I felt validated that I was the BEST at what I did. It didn’t stop with Rob either, every other male indie promoter in the region took a shot at us, and no one could rival our operation. I ran a tight ship for that very reason, and that’s why it may have earned me the reputation of an allbusiness bitch over the years, it was worth every insult that kept my name in the press. In that same article, they had to write about why my league was getting so much attention — good and bad. Word was apparently
3Pw liVes on!!! 24 5 spreading beyond Philadelphia that we were the league to beat because shortly after our February smack down, a major DVD distribution company — DGD Distribution — who wanted to offer us a contract, so I snapped that deal right up. On top of that, a company in England who syndicated a weekly wrestling show on the BBC’s Wrestling Channel, wanted to run our taped shows.
For the first time in my life, I can honestly say I felt like I was exactly where I wanted to be, at the top of my game. I had wrestlers calling me for work — including guys who had no-showed me before to take what at the time were bigger gigs with Vince McMahon’s league — and I told them no. I didn’t do it to be spiteful, but to remind them they were dealing with a real wrestling league that didn’t need them. That’s not to sound arrogant either because those wrestlers who were loyal to us, we treated like royalty — they were ALWAYS paid on time, with full trave
l expenses covered since we had many wrestlers who flew in from all over the U.S. to work for 3PW. We were definitely becoming a force to reckon with. People were calling me for work and I didn’t have to reach out. Even those little fucking skanks who’d talked shit about me over the past year to the porn and wrestling press were calling trying to get work from me, and it actually took me aback: the audacity of it. Naturally, I put my foot down and said: ‘NO FUCKING WAY!’That autonomy extended to anyone — male or female — that I felt wouldn’t bring us money in the form of butts in the seats. I knew from my dancing days that the bottom-line job of the talent is to bring in the customers, which sounds obvious, but in the wrestling business there were MANY times where I saw money thrown down the drain on ‘talent’ that were really just favors. In my league, if it didn’t make dollars, it didn’t make sense, and I ran my company accordingly. If Todd booked someone I didn’t think made sense for the show, I had no problem dismissing them from the bill, it was always my call at the end of the day — and the talent can back that up.
Ron Jeremy: ‘A few years later, when she was retired from porn and was working the wrestling circuit, running her company 3PW, she hired me to come out and emcee a match they were having. And I actually saw her in the ring wrestling, and remember being thinking it was great. Because when she first walked out to the ring, I remember initially thinking to myself,‘This is going to be cheesy and corny,’but she was authentic in the ring. She did a good job, and I remember thinking ‘Wow, Jasmin actually learned some moves. She’s got some moves.’I never really knew any other girl not to insult anyone else who tried to follow in her footsteps that succeeded the way she did. The crowds loved her, and she always went over very well with everybody because she had the looks, and the moves. It also helped her transitioning into promotion, because she really knew the business inside out. It was impressive.’
