Without much in the way of fanfare or discourse, my next match in a 3-2-1 Battle! ring would go on to be one of my favourite ever in the 6+ years and 100+ matches that will be discussed over the course of the 2 years that I've earmarked to wax nostalgia and write lengthy blog entries about myself. It was one of those nights that was likely made more special and memorable by the other parties involved or the way it made the people around us feel (ie. 'good') or how regardless of how ambitious our ideas were at points, everything managed to go according to plan. An on paper cold, 4 way dance with the winning participant scoring themself the #1 contendership for the Pacific Middleweight Championship, then held by "Romantic" Romeo Ramirez to be contested in the near future; but it almost didn't happen at all.
Friday October 30th was not particularly dissimilar to any other Friday during that time of year when it came to traffic, weather or people's temperament here in Greater Vancouver. The regular crew of myself, Big Cat, Kaden and Drew (Sarian) packed in Scott's car after fulfilling our work commitments for the day and headed south for the Peace Arch border crossing connecting Surrey, BC and Blaine, WA. Perhaps due to bad luck or coincidence or perhaps more likely due to our previously detailed issues with crossing the border (as outlined in a previous entry you've assuredly read by this point), but the four of us found ourselves with an already lengthy wait at the border extended even further by an extensive search of the vehicle and our persons. While we were eventually let go with no further hassle or fanfare, it left us in a bit of a pickle as doors had already opened for the show and we still had a good 100+ miles to traverse before our arrival at the Battle Palace.
As a result, for the first and as far as I can recall only time in my career, we decided the only conceivable way that we could have the kind of match that the fans as well as ourselves had come to expect was to put the match together in full on the car ride down with one of us jotting down bullet points with a pen and paper in the backseat. Putting together a match with your opponents during a car ride to the venue isn't all that uncommon but a multi person matchup such as a 4 way involves so many moving parts that typically it's more ideal to physically do it in a ring where you can block out where certain parties need to be during exact moments, etc. The other elephant in the room was the 4th participant in the match was Cole Crazy whom was already at the venue, patiently awaiting our arrival and thus was not present for this match to be put together. This is where the pen and paper came into play as we essentially formulated the match like a 'Mad Lib', coming up with all the various ebbs and flows, but leaving some moments open for him to be able to specifically interject whatever signature moves of his that he felt fit best or was hoping to get over on that particular evening. I can recall one of us getting on the phone and specifically relaying this message to the people in the building that evening - we needed to be pushed back further on the card than scheduled and to let Cole know that we were planning the entire match en route.
On the subject of planning, the first big set piece that really set things off on the right foot as far as this match went and helped it fit the whole 'weird wrestling' motif that 3-2-1 was continuing to build within the city of Seattle (for better or worse) was the idea of all of us wearing the same gear. Being the day before Halloween, the show was one of 3-2-1 Battle's tentpole shows "Horror Business" with fans and wrestlers alike encouraged to dress up in their best spooky digs. I couldn't tell you whose idea it was initially but amongst the 3 of us (Scott, Kaden & myself) we came up with the plan of all wearing the matching Pink "CM Punk" inspired tights that we had collectively purchased 2 years prior from eLucha for a backyard show, that I had taken upon myself to wear with some regularity for the previous few months; By the way, I just checked - it's been a decade+ and they're still selling a handful of very similar designs for any budding indie or backyard wrestlers. In addition to the ones that we owned, we borrowed a few extra pairs from Drew and Yakuza J for both Cole as well as the referee Jimmy Jameson to wear; bringing a pair of Scott's tearaway pants for him to don overtop in order to have the big reveal right before the match began.
While we tried to convince him to ref the match in just the tights themselves, he was a tad too bashful to agree to that with all of us coming to the compromise of him wearing them over his standard black referee pants instead, which in hindsight may be an even funnier visual. Nonetheless, all of the pre-match ceremony of the other 3 participants (and the referee) dressing as "Daniel Makabe" for Halloween, with me selling my displeasure for the whole situation got over big with what was potentially the largest crowd ever in that building up until that point, leading to a "This Is Awesome" chant before the match had even begun which was likely another first (and last?) for my tenure in 3-2-1.
"Which one's Daniel Makabe?!"
"Everybody!!" *clap clap, clap clap clap*
Things finally get under way with the then still cohesive unit of Fur & Loathing (Henson/Talbain) chilling out in opposite corners allowing Cole and I to briefly chain and get things going. Briefly teasing that they were apt to mirror our opening stanza, they instead showed their true colors (stripes?) by attacking us and getting things going with them playing the numbers game. It doesn't last long before I'm afforded the chance early on to shine big as some misdirection leads to the two furries colliding midair with a double clothesline with me quickly pouncing on them with multiple simultaneous submissions: a forced Triangle Choke with the Big Cat's hind legs wrapping around his own partners neck and arm as well as a complimentary Abdominal Stretch on Cole Crazy. This in itself would help set the stage for what was to come in the closing stages of the match as well as helping to establish my submission prowess in general.
In what had to have been Kaden's idea because it's entirely too absurd, the next set piece began with the two of us attempting to exchange headlocks with neither garnering any success due in part to being distracted by our tights not fitting the way that we were used to. "These Are Too Big!" proclaimed Talbain with me acknowledging in return that "Mine are Too Tight!" before the two of us came to the 'logical conclusion' that the two pairs had likely been mixed up due to "Laundry Day in Canada!!" before partially disrobing in order to switch them with one another accordingly. With both parties now satisfied in their individual sets of pink starry tights, we rejoiced before mutually flipping one another the bird to express our displeasure with one another in a manner that we absolutely lifted from a Mr. Show sketch from years' prior known as "Spite Marriage" that we would constantly reference privately before immediately going into one of our patented intense and prolonged sequences of shoulder tackles, leap frogs, hip tosses and armdrags with Talbain narrowly avoiding a 3rd one in order to bail out of the ring and catch his breath.
Things pick up big time at this point with Cole Crazy briefly showing off his striking acumen on Scott leading to the Big Cat tucking his tail between his legs to join his partner on the floor. An attempted dive by Cole is broken up by Talbain leaving him prone on all fours for me to come charging out of nowhere and hit a huge Tope Con Hilo onto Fur & Loathing landing right in front of the now raucous crowd. My brief moment of glory would be fleeting as I attempted to follow up with my patented tandem diving dropkick onto the Furries who were seated next to one another in two folding chairs, akin to the biggest and best one that I had hit during our Seattle Streetfight at that year's "Battlemania," 6 months prior.
However this time it was not meant to be as a now recovered Cole stopped me dead in my tracks by holding onto my ankle whilst I was setting up for the big leap, providing the previously prone pair enough time to recover and hit successive Death Valley Drivers on me - the first of which being executed by Henson on to the apron of the ring, with me feeding directly into the second one performed by Talbain whilst on the floor through the two open folding chairs the duo had previously been sitting on. Thankfully for me this sequence was designed to take me out of the match for the next few moments as it was one of the more painful moments that I can recall during a career containing a lot of painful moments.
A particularly smug look on my face immediately after successfully hitting a wild Tope Con Hilo on Fur & Loathing. Blissfully unaware of the immeasurable amount of pain I was about to be in following two Death Valley Drivers on to increasingly hard surfaces.
At this point in the match we included a logical control segment for the Furries to serve multiple purposes: slowing the match down a bit while giving me some time to rest, establishing them as a dominant tandem with the ability to dictate the progression of the match using their numbers if they chose to do so while also garnering some sympathy for the plucky underdog babyface Cole Crazy who found himself on the receiving end of numerous cleanly executed double team maneuvers. However with each successive bit of tandem offense came the seams holding together the Furries slowly starting to unravel further with each taking turns attempting a pinfall with the other gesturing and emoting their displeasure for the other's actions. This was after all a 4 way match for the #1 contendership of a singles title and not a standard tag match where they were free to dominate and win as a tandem. This all lead to the inevitable moments where both parties had seen enough and proceeded to bark and hiss at one another before lambasting each other with increasingly firm forearms as 3-2-1's color commentator Murray Grande screamed with glee that "They're fighting like Cats & Dogs! They're fighting like Cats & Dogs!"
By now the Furries had come fully unglued, all the while executing a series of moves on another to render all remaining parties in the match stunned and prone including a still lifeless Cole Crazy whom was conveniently laying in the near corner. This allowed me to scale the top rope and hit a perfectly timed Double Dropkick with me landing with a Senton onto Cole in a sequence that I executed a handful of times over my career, having lifted it directly from SoCal Indie Wrestling Legend, Super Dragon. From here on out it was absolute mayhem with multiple cascading sequences of maneuvers hit perfectly on one another with entirely too much action to call. Sometimes when you find yourself planning these kind of matches, you'll arrange sequences like these that will inevitably cross the line into excess or even more likely find a member of the match being off with their timing or execution; with either scenario being cause for a flat reaction from a crowd, struggling to keep up with all of the action in the ring. In this case however, there must have been some magic in the air as all four of us were truly on our 'A game' with each bump, sell and feed coming off as hoped and the response from the capacity crowd at the Battle Palace growing bigger and bigger with each additional sequence that expertly built upon the one before it.
While this match would definitely fall into the category of a spotfest it doesn't necessarily mean that it lacks narrative or logic. There's a nice flow between each and every vignette with people on the receiving end of an increasing amount of damage selling things accordingly before interjecting themselves once more into the fray to inflict some of their own. I also love that every party is afforded a little chance to shine and take control of the match, further establishing themselves not just for this but additional future encounters on 3-2-1 Battle shows; especially now that they were going to be occurring bi-monthly with hopes of all four of us continuing to be featured players within them.
The "Big Cat" hits multiple big lariats, a move he used to refer to as the CRITICAL in our backyard days, a reference to the Fire Pro Wrestling series of video games; with all 3 of us selling and bumping for each one in our own unique manner. Kaden shows off his exceptional bumping and selling, as well as some of his comedic chops before taking control himself with some big suplexes and a dominant series of Axe Kicks and Forearms on Scott and myself. Cole Crazy goes wild with a seemingly never ending amount of running European Uppercuts into all 3 corners that contain his foes as well as breaking up a German Suplex that lead to a bridging pinfall with an expertly timed Sprial Tap just before the referee's hand slapped the mat for a 3rd time. And then I took control by subduing all 3 opponents into their own individual corners with hard chops before bringing them crashing back down to the ring with 3 successive Superplexes; this moment having been inspired by then indie stalwart Roderick Strong, albeit not executed nearly as quick or intense as he would have done so - but successful nonetheless.
"Suplex City!" *clap clap, clap clap clap*
"Suplex City? More like Suplex County!"
Another big four person set piece followed, one that we had directly lifted from a 4 way match from a backyard show that all 4 of us had been on (it was actually the show were we first met Cole in the Spring of 2007) with none of us actually having been participants of the match itself. Cole's whip into the corner on Scott is met with a big boot/paw to the side of the face leading to a Sunset Flip by Scott, a diving Harashima inspired Double Knees by Myself, a deadlift Half Hatch Suplex by Talbain and a Standing Moonsault by Crazy; 4 moves hit in short order for 4 individual nearfalls, leading to a huge "This Is Wrestling" chant from the increasingly appreciative crowd.
At this point we continue to lay some ground work for the inevitable finish with multiple attempts by myself at capitalizing on a stunned opponent with a rear waist lock takedown directly into a Jim Breaks Armbar with each individual attempt broken up by another party in the match. Thing break down again with the Furries taking charge of the match using their strength in numbers with a cheap shot on myself and a massive double spinebuster on Crazy to fully take him out of the match altogether. However Kaden's attempt to steal the victory for himself by school boying his feline partner is the final chink in their armour needed to seal their fates.
Another shoving match ensued between Scott & Kaden before eventually attempting to make amends by hugging it out, leaving them susceptible to my interjection by awkwardly forcing them to the mat in that position with their legs laced together. Turning them over onto their stomaches while still intertwined by their tangled tibias with no other parties able to rudely interrupt me as they had done so previously, I was finally able to successfully lock in the Jim Breaks Armbar on the Big Cat for the huge submission victory. This was an instance in my career (and believe me, there have been a few that played out exactly like this one) where advancing further in the progression of the submission, which in this case involved sliding the sole of my right foot further up the body and applying pressure on the back of the head and neck of my opponent, directly lead to the person on the receiving end of the hold finding themself in so much discomfort that they wanted out of it more than anything and giving up almost immediately.
Met by deafening "Daniel! Daniel!" chants, I found myself as the new #1 contender for the Pacific Middleweight Title with hopes of continuing to build momentum from this victory. If I recall this match was originally slated to open the show but was instead moved to right before intermission, which happens to be probably my favourite position on a wrestling card that you will sometimes hear referred to as the "First Half Main Event." I can distinctly remember 3-2-1's play by play announcer Cody Von Whistler coming through the curtain immediately afterwards during the ensuing interval to let all of us know that in his eyes it was the best match in the history of the promotion and that all of our peers had their work cut out for them for the rest of the evening. The show as a whole was one that overstayed its welcome as our near 18 minutes of non-stop action turned out to be only the 3rd longest match that evening with the two immediately followed afterwards going 21 and 31 minutes respectively, doing their part in draining the energy from the crowd leaving the main event for the 3-2-1 Solid Steel Championship the unenviable task of taking place well after Midnight in front of a dead crowd. This definitely created some further tension in the locker room and if I recall may have in turn lead to shows being agented moreso than the had been to this point with match times and more direction being given to wrestlers up and down the card.
I would go on to have many better matches in 3-2-1 Battle! but up until this point, this one was easily one of my best in my first full year of working for the promotion. Regardless of how many bigger names and more seasoned veterans that I got to ply my craft against as the promotion and my standing within it grew, this match will forever have a cemented place in my heart due to the history involved with all of the participants, the unique scenario of how it all came together and maybe most importantly how it did such an amazing job of merging an insane spectacle of moves with story telling and irreverent humor. Certainly at this point of my tenure with the promotion but in all honesty maybe more than any other of the hundred or so matches that I would have there; this match defined what was so special to myself and a whole host of others about that weird and wonderful time in our lives.
Watch:
Daniel Makabe vs Scott Henson vs Kaden Talbain vs Cole Crazy [10/30/15]
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