I'm somehow back after taking the last few weeks off from writing in this blog and I have to admit that it's been harder than I'd like it to be for me to get back on the horse and carry on with this project for a variety of reasons. First and foremost was getting derailed from my usual schedule by the 1 year anniversary of my longtime friend "Big Cat" Scott Henson's death, which I wrote a few words about how I was feeling on the day of. Secondly, the last few weeks I've been incredibly busy with other commitments in my everyday life between work, getting ready to play the Sled Island music festival in Calgary (4 practices in just as many days) and then actually having a really nice week away in Calgary seeing friends, some truly amazing bands, etc. Finally, the last big deterrent that's kept me away from this is the perceived lack of interest from the greater viewing public which I know shouldn't affect me as this is something I truly want to accomplish for myself but it certainly helps knowing that there's actually an audience for ones' creative output and I'm not just typing these words into a void. But alas...
This is the first instance that I could find of a graphic being made
for a bi-weekly 3-2-1 Battle! Show itself.
The other thing that probably hasn't helped matters is that this is probably (definitely) the worst match that I've had up until this point in 3-2-1 Battle! and I really don't have a whole heck of a lot to write about it. A match that was initially advertised as a 3 Way Match that on the spur of the moment becomes a 4 Way Match with no real stakes or history between myself or any of the other competitors; in fact it's the only time that I ever interacted with 2 of the 3 opponents in the match in all of my years wrestling in the Battle Palace. With that all said, I don't think this is actually a bad match per se; it's just not very interesting or dynamic or polished, although it does have somewhat of a complex finish for the level of "indie wrestling" going on in ring that we managed to execute fairly flawlessly, albeit to a somewhat tepid reaction.
This is the first appearance in this blog of another one of 3-2-1's signature referees, Rohn Cena whom didn't have as long of a tenure as some of the other ones that I've already discussed (or some of the more famous ones still to come), but he plays an important role in this match itself. By the point you're familiar with James Diesel, whom I had a fun 3 way match with a few months back and would interact with some more in the near future. This is technically the first mention of "Mighty Mac" Josh McFarlane in this blog although it's technically not his "first appearance" as he was one of many folks in that era of 3-2-1 who donned a mask to play an alternative character elsewhere on the show, with him taking on the charge as the Butler for one "Romantic" Romeo Ramirez, responsible for supplying the bouquet of roses that I had found myself on the receiving end of a handful of times already by this point.
The other new character not only in this match but in a 3-2-1 ring in general, with this serving as his debut match for the promotion was the Weekend Warrior; someone whom I had known for a few years dating back to our backyard wrestling days in Western WA. Ironically enough, he cut a pre-match promo complaining about people begging and pleading for things they hadn't necessarily earned, and then just interjected himself into the match itself in a bit of a non-sequitur. He's someone who was over with the 3-2-1 crowd pretty much from the get go as he had a very funny and relatable gimmick, catchy theme music in the form of Vancouver's own Loverboy with their 1981 hit "Working For the Weekend" as well as some eye catching aerobatic maneuvers performer in a variety of throwback jerseys; in this instance a classic Seattle Supersonics' Detlef Schrempf jersey.
Things progress in this 4 way through a handful of set pieces that aren't too original in this kind of setting; beginning with a series of individual tie ups that amount to nothing before segueing into a 4 person knuckle lock spot that ends up in a sequence of 4 back to back to back to back bridges with Weekend Warrior's easily being the nicest, showing off his crazy flexibility for a man his size. Avoiding a repeat of the initial convergence of small joints being manipulated, a 3 person knuckle lock (with yours truly being the odd man out) convenes, where I instead found myself chain wrestling my way from body to body in a counter clockwise direction around the circle before the Warrior lifts me off the mat with a waist lock takedown attempt allowing me to kick both Diesel and Josh in their chests and send them to the mat. It's the kind of thing that's cute in principle but doesn't necessarily age well with nearly 10 years of hindsight.
After a quick albeit aimless exchange of holds between Weekend Warrior and myself, we found ourselves brawling out to the floor where we find ourselves in another familiar trope of these sort of matches in the form of a dive sequence. Mighty Mac is the first to join us with a tope suicida although he definitely does not get enough speed or momentum and find himself barely squeezing through the adjacent top and middle ropes with us thankfully catching the majority of his body with the less forgiving ring apron catching his shins on the way down. James Diesel follows up with a fairly pedestrian top rope cross body, something I would likely not point out in such condescending terms if not for the fact that he's immediately followed by Weekend Warrior hitting an even crazier version of the same move from the same corner post with major ups and full horizontal extension.
What follows is a pattern that I would typically follow in these multi man matches when needing to insert a moment of control for myself; a series of submissions on all of my opponents which each successive opponent breaking it up only for me to reverse their attempts into a submission on them, repeated until I've made my rounds through everyone. Beginning with a Butterfly Suplex into a Romero Special on Mighty Mac which I was unable to get full extension on; with whomever is filming (I'm pretty sure it's Drew) chuckling audibly on camera at my gaff. James Diesel breaks it up however with his attempt at capitalizing with a Superkick being blocked initially into a Standing STF that I subsequently transitioned into a Gory Special. The Standing STF was definitely an unique move and I don't recall whom I lifted it from (I sincerely doubt I came up with it myself; it may have been a Chris Hero original) but I had mixed feelings about how it looked so I don't think I ever used it again beyond this match.
Mike Reno's favourite wrestler is there to interject himself back into the match with some wonky looking punches that I sell in a fashion befitting them but also demonstrating that I still had some growing to do when it came to selling strikes properly. They're all for not regardless as in typical Daniel Makabe circa 2015 fashion, I bring him down to the mat with another one of my consistently nice looking top wrist lock stomps to the exposed triceps. However my attempts to follow up with the other en vogue and oft discussed in this blog finger break spot is narrowly avoided with Weekend Warrior pushing me forcefully off of his chest into the unsuspecting Rohn Cena and we officially have our first (and maybe only?) ref bump in my 3-2-1 Battle! tenure.
With the ref out of the way, all four of us take turns missing consecutive moves from the corner; Mighty Mac's Vader Bomb, James Diesel's Second Rope Elbow Drop, My own Top Rope Senton and Weekend Warrior's Corkscrew Moonsault. It's a pretty common spot in this kind of match, one that I recall first seeing in a pretty decent Ultimo Dragon/Rey Misterio Jr vs Psichosis/Heavy Metal tag match from the Wrestling Peace Festival in 1996 but definitely isn't executed with the kind of speed or precision required for it to be particularly effective. A new ref joins the fray just in time to begin a quadruple 10 count on all 4 of us although don't ask me to explain the logic behind it or what exactly would have happened if none of us had been able to answer his count.
A quick series of false finishes follows, serving as the climax for the match itself; A Pump Handle Sit Out Facebuster by Weekend Warrior, my Enzi Lariat followed by a Saito Suplex which is quickly dismissed by Mighty Mac hitting a somewhat awkward combination of an STO onto his knee into a good old fashioned god damn it pal, Stone Cold Stunner which I attempted to sell in an as over the top as I possibly could fashion. James is there to break it up with a grounded Superkick from an awkward angle that doesn't really land as well as one would like. His follow up by setting up Mac for a TKOis thwarted by myself, with me attempting to recreate a familiar set piece from the Horror Business 4 Way Match from just a few short weeks prior as I set up all 3 opponents on opposite turnbuckles with the goal of Superplexing all of them, one after the other.
The Weekend Warrior however had other ideas, stopping me dead in my tracks and attempting to hit another one of his Pump Handle Sit Out Facebusters that I narrowly avoided by landing on my feet (sort of) before transitioning him onto his stomach and locking in the Jim Breaks Armbreaker in the middle of the ring. Within these moments, Diesel is also able to free himself from the turnbuckle and finally hit Mighty Mac with the TKO as he had initially intended. Conveniently regaining consciousness at this very moment, original referee Rohn Cena finds himself attending to and eventually signaling to the time keeper for my submission on the Warrior, right at the same moment that secondary referee Chris Samuels found himself hitting the mat for a 3rd time as Diesel had pinned Mac's shoulders to the mat.
Probably the most shocking revelation to me upon rewatching this match was how well we executed this sort of finish with so many moving parts, utilizing a bunch of green performers no less. That being said, the crowd was definitely confused initially and then outright upset when it's revealed that James and I were co-winners of the match. This one never had any real resolution and I don't specifically recall what the initial plan between James and I going forward even was as there was no follow up besides an unrelated 3 Way Match involving both of us in the relatively near future; but we're a few weeks away from writing about that one or I suppose at the rate that I'm going, a few months. This one is truly for the diehards who were kind enough to inquire when the blog was making its return as I don't really have a ton of nostalgia for this match or my performance in it.
Watch:
Daniel Makabe vs James Diesel vs Weekend Warrior vs Mighty Mac [11/27/15
Just wanted to leave a comment to say you aren't writing these for no one or typing words into a void! I've been reading and enjoying them. Really interesting perspective to get, hoping you stick with it through at least when I started going to 321 battle (late 2017ish I think) but obviously that's a lot of matches to cover!
ReplyDelete