Love the show name – it’s time to drop in on a favourite as we check out the finals of 3-2-1 BATTLE!’s G0! Tournament…
That’s G Zero, not “go”. The G0! Tournament started in 2019 on 3-2-1’s fortnightly shows, and ended with Judas Icarus winning his block, while Daniel Makabe won his on tie-breakers, beating Liiza Hall just after Christmas.
3-2-1 BATTLE! G0 Tournament 2019 Final: Daniel Makabe vs. Judas Icarus
The match starts on the Twitch stream at around 2h 33m… Winner gets a shot at the Solid Steel (solid steel!) title… Icky dives into Makabe at the bell with a flying knee, then squished him with a back senton as he looked to shut down the main event in quick time. A PK follows too, but it’s not enough as Icarus continued his breathless start by landing a gamengiri before he kicked out Makabe’s knee… only to get pulled down into a triangle choke.
Icarus brutally headbutts his way free and chops Makabe by the ropes, before he cartwheeled his way in for a nice hiptoss. Makabe replies by kicking out Icarus’ knees, but a choke’s countered as Icarus rolled back to try and pin Makabe in the hold, before he went back to the strikes with almost a springboard Torpedo Moscau… which is caught and turned into a choke.
They’re right by the ropes, so they’re back up as Makabe stomps in Icarus’ bare feet, but that doesn’t hinder the Judas in the ring as he was able to sidestep a corner dropkick from Makabe, then springboard in… only to get pulled inbetween the ropes and kicked in the back of the head. We finally have something resembling a breather as Makabe began to ground Judas with a chinbar, but they’re in the ropes as Judas got free. A snapmare lets Makabe ground Icarus with an inverted cravat in the middle of the ring, a la Kassius Ohno for the few people who watch NXT UK, before Makabe blocks a back body drop and hits a butterfly backbreaker instead. A butterfly suplex is next, with Makabe floating over into a two-count before he went to the armbar, instead opting to use Judas’ arm to choke himself with.
Icarus fought free and threw some uppercuts, but gets caught in the ropes as Makabe pulls a WALTER by choking on Icarus across the middle turnbuckle with his boots. A STF follows, with Makabe clinging on before Icarus got to the rope, dragging himself outside for respite. Respite that was short-lived it seemed, but he’s able to sweep the leg to trip Makabe knee-first onto the ring before he windmilled at him with right hands. Makabe counters a suplex by dragging Icarus into a front facelock, before some knees were caught as Icarus swung some more on the way to a Fisherman suplex. Another uppercut from Icarus drops Makabe, who pops up and is met with a pair of springboard uppercuts that almost ended the match. A small package gets Icarus close, as does a twisting suplex as it seemed that kicking at Makabe’s knee was like dishing out a dose of kryptonite… On the mat, Icarus pins an arm behind Makabe’s back with a hammerlock, but the short-range clothesline is ducked as Makabe smashes back in with a baseball punch and a bridging German suplex for a near-fall, before a Makabe lock was broken… so he could turn Icarus into a Tim Thatcher-esque seatbelt cradle for a near-fall. Now THAT’S learning from your rivals!
Icarus keeps throwing shots though, so Makabe goes for the leg and hits a leg-trapped German suplex before floating into another Makabe lock… trapping Icarus in the middle of the ring, nowhere near the ropes before the pair somehow rolled their way into the bottom strand. That looked like it did more damage to Icarus’ taped-up shoulder than first thought, but it’s a ruse as Icarus is back up to trap Makabe in the ropes… and if you’re watching along, you’ll know I popped for this: HE KICKED HIS LEG OUT OF HIS LEG!
Judas mixes up PKs and stomps to the knee as he tried to ground Makabe ahead of a springboard Torpedo Moscau. Makabe’s back up, but his baseball punch is kicked away as Icarus came agonisingly close from a butterfly driver… which forces Icarus into extreme measures as he headed to the top rope, only for Makabe to log roll to the outside and out of reach. A tope from Icarus follows, but he’s caught as Makabe took him into the entrance way for a tombstone… which hurt Makabe’s bad wheel just as much as it did Icarus’ head. It led to a count-out tease, but rather than take the count-out Makabe pulls Icarus back in in a show of sportsmanship…
Except Makabe instantly pulls Icarus into an Octopus stretch, which is broken up as Icarus powered up… but he throws some shots rather than Makabe, and almost got was made to pay before he finally hit an ushigoroshi for the nearest of near-falls. Icarus keeps going with a hammerlock clothesline, but he takes too long to follow up and can only get another two-count! Another hammerlock follows as Icarus tries to lift up Makabe for another clothesline, but there’s no power in it, and Makabe pulls him down in an armbar before a stomp to the ankle led to a GODDAMN SITTING CATTLE MUTILATION. The Makabe Lock π! Makabe lifts a foot to increase the pressure, and it works as Icarus taps out to end a fantastically frenetic final. My God.
Judas Icarus more than held his own here, setting the early pace and he damn well hung for the entire match – but in the end, perhaps going barefoot wasn’t the best for his game plan, nor was having a bad shoulder. I want to see more of this, and judging by the fact that fans threw money in the ring afterwards, I’d guess the 3-2-1 Battalion do too! ****½
Hey!
Last Night at @321battle @thejudasicarus and I had a hell of a match if I can say so myself.
Afterwards the fine people of Seattle threw $$ at us; which was a first.
Also; my favourite ref @RefAubrey was there.
You should probably watch it: https://t.co/nahUV97nhx pic.twitter.com/IxKsY1cItG
— Daniel Makabe (@danielmakabe) January 11, 2020
I’ll be honest, 3-2-1 Battle is the kind of promotion that doesn’t cross my eyes often – only if I hear good things about matches… that being said, matches like this are probably going to make sure that 3-2-1 Battle begin to move away from being JUST the Pacific North West’s secret. Their shows stream live fortnightly on Twitch, and their VODs stay up there too – so there’s no excuse to not even dip in. That main event probably is the best place to start in terms of recent bangers…
- At time of writing you can catch this match, and the entire show, on 3-2-1 Battle’s Twitch channel: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/534181000