In the summer of 2020, amidst a global pandemic, I came up with an idea to kill some time as well as stimulate my creativity as I found myself unable to take part in any of my hobbies, namely the one that had come to occupy so much of my time and focus; Pro Wrestling. Earlier that spring, the promotion that I had worked most consistently for, 3-2-1 Battle!, based in the South Lake Union neighbourhood of Seattle, WA had ceased to exist for a variety of reasons centered around accusations made against members of management. With that chapter in my life (albeit a very bloated and detailed one) behind me, I thought it would be interesting to look back at my entire tenure with the promotion; spanning 6 years from 2014-2020.
How I evolved as a pro wrestler, initially driving the approx. 300 mile round trip once a month, just to have fun with my friends and get to work in front of a upbeat, energetic fanbase; to the last 5-6 years of my career where I became a somewhat in demand (albeit still under the radar) name in independent wrestling, who was named checked by my peers, fans and taste makers alike as one of the best technical wrestlers on the planet. Make no mistake; without 3-2-1 Battle!, the opportunities that the promotion presented to me and the growth I exhibited over my years with the promotion, none of the success that I enjoyed happens.
Which brings us to this blog: "The Complete + Accurate Daniel Makabe in 3-2-1 Battle!"; to borrow a phrase from the incomparable blog Segunda Caida (whom you should check out if you're unfamiliar; they've even written about many of the same matches you're going to read about here), a comprehensive re-watch and revisit of every single match that I had for the promotion. From having bloated, spotty tag matches with my friends in a dank basement in Capitol Hill, to wrestling one of the best technical wrestlers on earth in front of 750 people in a legendary Pacific Northwest concert venue and everything in between. By my count, I had 106 matches in the promotion, the most of anyone who ever worked there. Some of which definitely left something to be desired while others were among the greatest I will likely ever have.
Full disclosure: there will be entries in this blog that discuss people whom have had varying accusations, both public and otherwise made about them. I fully support and stand behind those whom have been victimized and have had the strength to come forward, however this will not be a space for me to dwell on said accusations or the accused themselves. There will obviously be times where my personal opinions and feelings about other performers will colour my writing about them or the matches I had with them but I will do my best to remain objective.
The expressed purpose of this blog is to further examine myself as a performer, my growth as well as landmark performances over the years and to seek closure as a promotion that helped define me (and to a certain extent, I in turn helped define to a larger demographic), for better or worse, has come to an end. 3-2-1 Battle!, as well as the vast amount of people I had the pleasure of sharing a locker room with there, in addition to the city of Seattle in general, have come to mean the world to me. I will never be able to properly show my gratitude but I hope this is a start.
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Full disclosure; I wrote that above statement (with some modifications) in early 2021 when I first started working on (and abandoning) this project. As I write this, it is March 2025 and not only has 3-2-1 Battle! ceased to exist for over 5 years, but as of July 2024, I had my final* professional wrestling match myself. Some of these entries were written back then, some I'm taking up the mantle and will write about now with even more hindsight than when this was originally conceived. I suppose the main reason I've decided to pick this up now is nostalgia and to help me gain some closure on my tenure as a professional wrestler, as I still to this day am doing my best to come to terms with the fact that save for one prospective (but not likely) final match against the Greatest Of All Time, I will never step foot in a pro wrestling ring again in front of a paying crowd and maybe as the old saying goes, these truly were the best days of my life.
Thank You
Daniel (Makabe)
New Westminster, BC
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