3MB (also referred to as The Band, The International House of Hits, The Trio, Slater Group, or Encore) is a heel professional wrestling stable in WWE, consisting of Jinder Mahal, Drew McIntyre, and Heath Slater. It was formed on the September 21, 2012 episode of WWE SmackDown (taped the 18th) when McIntrye and Mahal saved Slater from a match against Brodus Clay.
It was formed on the September 21, 2012 episode of WWE SmackDown (taped the 18th) when McIntrye and Mahal saved Slater from a match against Brodus Clay.
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Background
Drew is a former Intercontinental Champion and Heath is a former former Tag Team Champion.
All three were victims of Brodus Clay's initial winning streak. They probably ganged up on him to get revenge. The reason for attacking Santino isn't clear, except they seem to want to attack Heath's opponents to make an impact.
Drew McIntyre and Jinder Mahal as a duo were a third of the six men who assaulted Kane (until his rescue by Undertaker) at Raw 1000. They did so with the aid of MidCard Mafia and Hunico & Camacho.
Etymology
The trio is what WWE.com initially referred to them as before they were given any other names. It refers to their number.
The International House of Hits is a name for the group used by Matt Striker in a backstage interview.
Encore was a name (and hashtag) thrown around on the member's three twitter accounts for one night after their debut.
Slater Group is what Aftermath (WWE's first international commentary show) referred to them as.
WWE.com credits Jim Ross for calling the trio "The Band" on their October 1 assault on Santino. It is not known if they were credited with a working name on their Sept 21 debut. The name is a play on Heath Slater's catch phrase "One Man Band", except in this case it's literally a band of three people. Also possibly a mocking reference to the NWO.
3MB (standing for Three Man Band) is the newest alias, debuted on the Oct 15 Raw.
History
On the September 21, 2012 episode of Smackdown, Heath Slater wrestled a singles match with Brodus Clay that ended in a disqualification when Drew McIntyre and Jinder Mahal interfered, preventing a pinfall. After the match officially ended Mahal, Slater, and McIntyre assaulted Clay, each utilizing their finishers. In a backstage interview with Matt Striker they joked they were considering forming a band, but they all played the same instrument, the drums, leading to Striker calling them "The International House of Hits".
The stable was called "The Band" by Raw commentators during an October 1 attack on Santino Marella. They again attacked Marella, and his tag team partner Zack Ryder, on the next two episodes of Raw. Mahal and Slater, accompanied by McIntyre, then defeated Marella and Ryder in a tag team match.
Precursor
- Raw 1000: Jinder and Drew joined in on the attack on Kane but were stopped by Undertaker
- Sept 13 Superstars: Santino defeated Jinder
- Sept 20 Superstars: Drew defeated Jinder.
Team
- Sept 21st on Smackdown, Drew and Jinder attacked Brodus Clay during his match with Heath, causing Brodus to win via DQ.
- Sept 27 on Superstars: Drew and Jinder helped Heath beat Yoshi Tatsu
- Oct 1st on Raw, Drew and Jinder attacked Santino Marella during his match with Heath, causing Santino to win via DQ.
- Oct 8th on Raw, attacked Santino again after he and Zack Ryder (see Team CoBro) lost to Team Rhodes Scholars.
- October 13: in the new Power Rankings, Heath moved up to 21st from 22nd, and Jinder took the 25th place position. Conversely, Zack and Santino, dropped from 19th place to Heath's old #22 position.
- Oct 15th Raw attacked Team Co-Bro again, debuting new black leather outfits and had their own segment where they tried to sing in a karaoke bar but where thrown out.
Quotes
Sept 21 interview with Matt Striker:
- "I guess we can just let the cat out the bag boys! We're thinking about starting a BAND, baby!" -Heath
- "We could be bigger than U2" -Drew
- "Matt, we could be bigger than..." -Jinder
In Wrestling
- Finishing moves
- Jinder Mahal
- Punjabi Clutch (Camel Clutch)
- Future Shock (Snap double underhook DDT)
- Sweetness (Jumping Russian leg sweep)
- Sweetness (Leaping reverse STO)
- Sweetness (Reverse DDT) (Current)
- Entrance themes
- "One Man Band" by Jim Johnston (September 21, 2012 – present)
See also
- Mid-Card Mafia, a similar team of embittered mid-card jobbers that Drew was a part of
- The Corre, a team of Nexus breakoffs that Heath was a part of
- The Singhs, the family that Jinder used to tag with