FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 25, 2025

DANIEL “WRESTLING GENIUS” MAKABE RETURNS FROM RETIREMENT TO FACE BRYAN “THE AMERICAN DRAGON” DANIELSON IN A DREAM MATCH MAIN EVENTING DEAN~!!! 3

PHILADELPHIA, PA – Its happening. In what promises to be one of the most emotional and technically brilliant matches in professional wrestling history, AEW and Ring of Honor are proud to announce the main event of DEAN~!!! 3: the long-awaited dream match between Daniel Makabe and Bryan Danielson.

Set for Thursday, September 4, 2025, at the historic 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, formerly the legendary ECW Arena. 

A match that has been living in the hearts and minds of sickos for years. This extraordinary bout marks Makabe’s return to the ring after stepping away from in-ring competition in 2024. An impressive technical grappler revered by fans and wrestlers alike, Daniel always admitted he was retiring with an asterisk, one match could always bring him back. Makabe cited Danielson as his number one dream opponent, the one that never quite came together. Now, that dream becomes reality.

This once-in-a-lifetime encounter will headline DEAN~! 3, the second of two 2025 tribute shows dedicated to the late Dean Rasmussen, legendary co-founder of the Death Valley Driver Video Review (DVDVR) and beloved voice in the wrestling community. The event is co-produced by All Elite Wrestling and Ring of Honor, continuing the legacy of ACTION DEAN~!!! and DEAN~!!! 2. As with DEAN~!!! 2, this show will stream live and free on the Ring of Honor YouTube channel, ensuring accessibility for fans around the world.

“There aren’t many people more violent than these two wrestlers. I knew ViolentPeople.co was the only appropriate place to announce this main event” said ‘Way of the Blade” author, podcast host, former Ringer contributor, current Yahoo Sports writer, and DVDVR alum Phil Schneider.

Additional matches and talent announcements for DEAN~!!! 3 will be revealed in the coming months.

For more information, interviews, or press inquiries, please contact:

press@aew.com or DanRiceVP@gmail.com

#DEAN3 #AEW #WrestlingGeniusVsAmericanDragon #MakabeVsDanielson

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Unfortunately this press release is not 100% official(yet.) Nevertheless, this match was the first thought of every ball knower in this bubble when Dean~!!! shows with AEW participation were announced. 

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“I have loved this in a way that I have never loved anything else”

• Bryan Danielson, 02/08/2016

Bryan Danielson is my favorite wrestler of all time. He has meant more to my wrestling fandom than anyone else. In 2016 he retired. He had been dealing with injuries for quite some time. Despite me holding out hope, he was gone. It didn’t just feel like an end to his career. It felt like the end of something bigger. The independent scene that he shaped and build up was splintering and shifting into something unfamiliar to me. 

There were no heirs apparent. Or at least no obvious one. There was a hole in the soul of wrestling that is hard to understand if you weren’t there for Danielson’s rise.

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“Then said they unto him, Say now Shibboleth: and he said Sibboleth: for he could not frame to pronounce it right. Then they took him, and slew him at the passages of Jordan.”

• Judges 12:6

Danielson had always been a shibboleth.

If you loved wrestling, really loved it, you loved Bryan Danielson. He wasn’t the biggest, the loudest, or the flashiest. It was something more than that. Despite having technical wrestling awards named after him, it wasn’t just his chain wrestling. Heck that part of his wrestling is almost certainly overrated. It was the entire package. He moved through the ring with an intensity and a deep honesty that only revealed itself if you knew what you were looking for. No matter what company he wrestled for, and this is going to sound gatekeepy, he separated the tourists from the true believers.

You didn’t have to explain it. If someone told you their favorite wrestler was Bryan Danielson, you understood each other instantly. You both spoke the same language. You both said “shibboleth.”

Without him, it felt like the conversation had ended. Or at least gone silent. No new stories would be told.

Until I saw Daniel Makabe.

Makabe doesn’t look like Danielson. He doesn’t wrestle exactly like Danielson. He doesn’t carry himself the same way. Just like Bryan though, he didn’t shout, didn’t beg to be noticed. Makabe wrestled with the patience and confidence of a man who knew exactly where the match was going and had no interest in holding the audience’s hand. So for the first time since Danielson, I leaned in. I looked at every paintbrush stroke Makabe painted. Listened to every note he played. I paid attention to every detail of every Makabe match. Because he made it worthwhile. He made every layer of his matches worth watching.

There was no passing of the torch, because they weren’t ever in the same promotion, heck maybe not even ever in the same room. It’s more like echoes of the same conversation. Or a relighting of the same fire. 

You’re on this site which seems to honor Danielson with a new accolade or award once a month, you don’t need me to tell you 2016 wasn’t the end of Danielson’s career. You know he came back and extended his legacy over and over. You know Daniel Makabe after a long career in the shadows burst on to the scene and never seemed to let go of it. 

Never have two wrestlers so obviously needed to wrestle each other. 

After several starts and stops of these two men’s career, they’re both functionally retired…yet somehow there’s still hope. 

I thought after Danielson’s full time retirement and Makabe’s storybook ending against Kevin Ku the dream was dead. Then Tony Khan and Phil Schneider announced two more Dean~!!! shows.

There’s still hope. The dream of the dream match is still alive.

If the match doesn’t happen I will be unfairly calling all involved cowards. 

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Please stay tuned to Violent People for all future fake press releases on this matter.