How about this for a bit of a loaded surprise; not only am I writing my second blog entry in as many weeks (after being dormant for over half a year) but I'm discussing a match from 2+ years later in the chronology of my tenure in 3-2-1 Battle! that I assumed would not be discussed for quite some time. And to be honest with you, while I had batted around the idea of jumping around in the timeline to discuss some bigger and better matches from later on, that's absolutely not what I had decided I was going to do after posting last week's entry. I currently have more time and energy to put towards my various creative endeavors and I fully intended on writing about my first match as the newly crowned and defending 3-2-1 Battle! Pacific Middleweight champion from all the way back in early January 2016; but that's just going to have to wait another week. Sometimes the best laid plans of mice and men, i.e. one of the best technical wrestlers of all time whom you were lucky enough to have two matches with back in 2021-2022 and in a strange bit of happenstance has not only become a bit of a mentor to you but also a friend, makes a very specific request and you just have to answer the call...
Funny enough, this story actually does begin back in the spring of 2016 when the Seattle based promotion "Lucha Libre Volcanica" announced that they were bringing in legendary llave master Negro Navarro for a seminar to be held at Evolv Fitness i.e. "The Battle Palace," a venue that they also rented out to host their weekly training sessions and monthly shows, albeit with a very different demographic. I was absolutely floored at this announcement and had every intention of registering when it dawned on me that the date conflicted with that of my cousin's wedding here in Greater Vancouver, which in itself conflicted with a reunion show of 90s CanCon alternative rockers 'The Age of Electric' whom were playing the legendary Commodore Ballroom downtown, a venue that I subsequently wrestled in a handful of times years later. As things went that day, I was not in Seattle to learn from one of my absolute idols, my cousin's wedding went off without a hitch save for some wild behavior from her mother in law to be and I did end up dipping out of there earlier than scheduled in order to catch one of 10 year old Daniel's favourite bands play such hits as "Ugly", "I Don't Mind" and "Remote Control." This was of course while unbeknownst to me, I was parked illegally which lead to my car getting towed which I wasn't able to retrieve until the wee hours of the morning; so even without sitting under the learning tree of Profe Navarro, it was already an eventful enough day as is.
The Age of Electric "Ugly" (1993) music video which got a decent amount of airplay on Muchmusic and certainly captured my attention even if I didn't really understand what was going on during most of it; other than the fact that I thought "these guys rock."
Fast forward to a little over a year later: in the last 12+ months I've subsequently lost the 3-2-1 Pacific Middleweight Title (act surprised when I write about it in a few months time) breaking my left foot in the process and subsequently missed out on the entire summer's worth of bookings all the while having to wear a walking boot. But in the spring of 2017, things are back in full swing at 3-2-1 and I'm even starting to branch out a bit more into some other local independent companies in Washington and Oregon. Most importantly Lucha Libre Volcanica has announced another seminar with Negro Navarro to take place in June of that year, which won't conflict with any other family member's weddings this time but sadly will fall on the same weekend that my band TAXA will be driving to Calgary to play in the annual Sled Island music festival, which was a fest I had dreamed of attending for years let alone getting to actually take part in it. In addition to playing an afternoon show at Tubby Dog on SW 17th Ave (RIP), I ended up doing merch for my friends in BLACK PILLS who were playing on a bill that evening with the legendary hardcore band Converge who as always, absolutely annihilated. The other fun thing that came of that was slinging t-shirts afterwards next to their singer Jacob Bannon whom I knew was a big Pro Wrestling/MMA fan and practically having to be kicked out of the venue while our mutual bandmates patiently waited at the front door as we gabbed about all things combat sports like a couple of old buddies.
Which finally brings us to the match itself - announced on social media on 5 days notice with those following along closely to my slow rise on the indies being completely caught off guard by this seemingly inexplicable "Dream Match" somehow materializing. Although I assure you, no one was nearly as surprised as I was, doing my best to remain calm and arrive prepared on the day itself. The timing of it all in actuality wasn't great as I had suffered a mild injury in a match two weeks prior at 3-2-1 against a familiar foe in Cole Crazy when I landed awkwardly on my head and neck whilst attempting a Sunset Flip out of a Powerbomb otherwise known as the 'Manami Roll', a move made famous by legendary Joshi wrestler Manami Toyota. I did end up missing a booking in Oregon later on that same weekend but thankfully was in good enough shape that it wasn't an issue for this one a fortnight later; not that I would have missed this match for the world.
Putting together this match is maybe my favourite story that I have from all of my years of wrestling and one that I've told plenty of my peers in locker rooms or shared car rides to shows. Navarro showed up that evening and it was immediately apparent how gracious he was for the opportunity to work in front of different crowd with a different crew. Despite his tenure or status in this industry, he went out of his way to approach every single person on the show that night and shake their hand to say hello. I approached him fairly early in this process while he found himself surrounded by a handful of the other wrestlers and let him know that we would be working together that evening which lead to him asking me if I spoke Spanish (I don't), which I returned the favour by asking him if he spoke English (he doesn't). Finding ourselves at a standstill, I made the off the cuff remark that "... but both of us speak Wrestling" which he smiled and agreed with me "Si, Si! We do!" Later that evening I had multiple people present for this moment inform me that it was one of the coolest things they had ever been witness to and I assured them that the feeling was mutual.
Thankfully for me there was exactly one wrestler on the show that evening who was fluent in both languages which was my friend Jose otherwise known as River Strife, one half of the 3-2-1 Battle tag team champions The Legion of Gloom and I would be leaning heavily on him to help me with communication. Barring the language barrier that made an interpreter necessary, I can probably count on one hand the amount of opponents I've had an easier time putting a match together with. The legend himself laid it out very simply, when it came to how he wanted things to go. First we would begin with "whatever happens, happens" which was his hyper literal way of saying we would wrestle on the fly. Then he wanted to run a mid-match sequence that was very inspired by 70s British Wrestling that I had likely seen him do in one of his recent matches I had studied on YouTube in preparation, which he was willing to practice with me *exactly* twice; once as we were planning in that moment and once again right before the match began. Then, you guessed it: more of "whatever happens, happens" before he finally asked me what I had in mind for a finish. I told him I would like to hit him with one big punch out of nowhere aka "The Big Unit", my homage to legendary Seattle Mariners' pitcher Randy Johnson and while he lay there stunned, catch him off guard with La Casita for the surprise pinfall victory. He agreed that would be suitable and we went our separate ways until the match itself began.
The match was refereed by Gearl Hebner, more widely known as AEW's Aubrey Edwards whom I still to this day consider a friend and someone I'm thankful I got to work with as much as I did and couldn't be more proud of. In hindsight it's pretty neat that she got to referee this match and would subsequently go on to referee matches with some of the best technical wrestlers on Earth including Bryan Danielson vs Zack Sabre Jr in Seattle, as well as main events at the most famous Lucha Libre venue there is, Arena Mexico. While I did my best to prepare for every trick this 60 year old man could possibly throw at me including a private training session the week beforehand with my buddy Artemis Spencer, who did his best to mimic a veteran luchador and put me through my paces, I had no idea of exactly what to expect at any given moment; even as the match began and he immediately turned the tides on me as I went to shake his hand and he manipulated it into a wrist lock variant that I was not at all familiar with.
From that point onwards - "whatever happens, happened" and I did my best to sell and feed for him appropriately while also interjecting my trademark logic and struggle. I personally love the 'catch and release' style of llave that Navarro has become famous for especially in his older days but at times it can look somewhat forced and really require a particularly strong suspension of disbelief to enjoy. I'm someone who's made his career on being a fan of various styles from all over the world and throwing them into my own "technical wrestling blender" while being sure to have it all make sense; "Wrestling Genius" wasn't just a cool sounding nickname that I gave myself for the hell of it. I re-watched this match earlier today for the first time in probably 5 years and found that the first half of it absolutely breezed by with very little break in the action; with each hold being applied with a little extra emphasis and whomever found themselves on the defensive in that moment (which ended up being me for the good majority of the match), struggling to find their way out and counter with their own hold in response.
At this point I should bring up the elephant in the room which is the 3-2-1 Battalion themselves, whom absolutely are responsible for this match going as well as it did. We were well aware how great our regular crowds who packed the Battle Palace every other Friday night were but on paper this felt like it was going to be particularly challenging; keeping them engaged in a match that would be stylistically like nothing they had ever seen before on these shows. We ended up psyching ourselves out a little too much and deciding it would be best to put this on as the semi-main event that evening, leaving a more comedic match to close out the show- a 3-Way match between 3-2-1 regular Kaden Talbain, Northeast Independent Wrestler (and fellow backyard alumni) Johnny Cockstrong and legendary Japanese Comedy Wrestler Kikutaro; whom was particular despondent over the idea of having to follow a Negro Navarro match... we probably should have listened to him. Luckily for Navarro & I the crowd were electric, showing so much appreciation for the back and forth nature of the match and loudly cheering each and every time I found myself on the receiving end of an escalating excruciating submission as the maestro himself grinned ecstatically.
Kaden Talbain vs Johnny Cockstrong vs Kikutaro which headlined the show that evening. If memory serves me right these three had a really fun match that was sadly met by an exhausted crowd whom didn't show it the kind of love that it deserved. Not only that, but one of the regular fans emailed the 3-2-1 office the next day to complain about Kikutaro being culturally insensitive/appropriation - I wish I was making any of that up.
The exhibition of submissions continued to escalate with Navarro using the legendary Sugar Hold otherwise known as a stockade for any catch wrestling nerds out there, before I was finally able to transition to the Cattle Mutilation aka the Makabe Lock which I don't know if the man had ever been on the received end of as I struggled to get him to sell all the way down to his belly appropriately. He did however manage to escape it and in turn lock on an armbar which lead to the first and only rope break of the match which is a lesson I still impart to young wrestlers today in regards to structure and how to make seemingly inconsequential moments carry more meaning and act as story telling devices. This nicely segued to the aforementioned mid-match sequence which begins with me awkwardly applying a right handed headlock at Navarro's insistence, something I likely never did before or afterwards in my entire wrestling career. Despite it not being executed as cleanly or quickly as I would have liked, the fans came alive after this moment which I think was more a byproduct of what they had seen in the prior 7 or 8 minutes that lead us there rather than the highspot itself.
While I think the first half of this match really shines with us working together incredibly well, things do start to unravel a little bit in the second half with some of the transitions being a little too loose and lacking the same logic and struggle of what we had done prior. Despite this, we still managed to execute the biggest moment of the entire match with Navarro methodically and systematically locking me into a hanging scorpion hold which I had major trepidations about how good it could possibly look on someone as big as I am. This is just another example of the overarching theme of this match though; a series of unexpected events unfolding just about as well as they possibly could in a struggle between an aging lucha legend and a 30 something year old white kid from Western Canada with no formal training in the niche art form he was attempting to excel in.
Which brings us to the conclusion of the match which was definitely slightly awkward. I recall pitching that he should be more in control to help escalate my sense of frustration of not being able to compete in a pure battle of holds with him which would lead to me creating some separation and throwing the aforementioned lone punch to stun him. Unfortunately for me, it was far from the best one that I've ever thrown (it looked fine, didn't sound great) although 3-2-1's resident play by play man Cody Von Whistler did point out for everyone that it was the first strike of the match which I would wager was a specific plot point that I brought to his attention to emphasize beforehand as I was certainly known to do. Laying prone on all fours immediately afterwards, I snatched his arm and grapevined it, turning him over onto his shoulders with Negro Casas' famed pinning hold La Casita... sort of.
At the time I was gunning to hopefully get a match with another incredibly talented technical wrestler who was tearing up the independents and ROH, Jonathan Gresham. It was at that point he had recently started finishing off opponents with his own version of La Casita (aka La Magistral Cradle) with the added flourish of floating his far leg over, ending up in a standing position and finishing off the hold with a bridge to put added pressure onto his opponents' shoulders. While I told Navarro that I was going to finish him with *the* most legendary pinning combination in all of Lucha Libre, I was secretly planning on incorporating that same signature addition to the hold as "The Octopus" in hopes of further setting the table for a big match up with him down the line. I'm very lucky in that the eventual match with Gresham did finally occur the following April in one of the biggest of my career; however I'm incredibly unlucky that as I was attempting to float over Navarro to execute the variation on the classic maneuver, our legs collided and completely shifted our positions altogether. I did the best I could to adapt on the fly, hooking his leg and keeping his shoulders down for Gearl's 3 count but it looked decidedly clunky.
That unfortunate circumstance aside, realistically I don't know that this match could have gone any better. I essentially broke my character of the smug, over-confident and appropriately hated Solid Steel Champion to let everyone in the room know just how much of a dream match what had preceded before them was and how much I appreciated the opportunity; letting the man himself know in my less than stellar Spanish, how much of a legend he is. I left the room to allow him the opportunity to soak in the adulation from the room, only for him to cut a promo of his own through an interpreter, He thanked everyone there for being so passionate about Lucha Libre and as I would soon come to realize was a classic Lucha trope, grandstanded (grandstood?) for a rematch with me in the future; which sadly never materialized. I can vividly remember standing backstage during his promo and having someone encourage me to go back out to the ring to be in Navarro's presence for it all; together as peers. Watching it now with 7+ years of hindsight as well as nearly 2 years since I've officially retired from pro wrestling itself, I can clearly see myself fighting back tears on the screen as I sat on my couch fighting back tears in the present moment.
After the show itself was over, I found myself at my merch table talking to fans about what had unfolded that evening as well as pushing whatever my latest limited release shirt was when I was approached by a middle aged Mexican woman who asked me if she could take a photo of me and her brother together. I of course was happy to oblige and followed her over to another table set up adjacent to mine where she lead me next to a smiling Negro Navarro (as much as he's seemingly capable of smiling at least) and the two of us posed for a photo that I still to this day have never seen. Suddenly all of these annual trips to Seattle that Negro Navarro was making to teach seminars made sense; he was actually going to visit his family, only sharing his wisdom on the side. It's certainly not the best match that I ever had in a 3-2-1 Battle! ring (or any ring for that matter) but I don't know if another match or moment in my life, meant half as much to me as this one did.
Watch:
Daniel Makabe vs Negro Navarro [8/24/18]
