Darian Bengston is thankful for Daniel Makabe.
Before retiring in July 2024, Makabe had solidified himself as a legend in the southern independent scene, as he had a special connection with fans and would often compete in big matches for promotions like ACTION Wrestling, TWE Chattanooga, and SCI.
Makabe also took many young wrestlers under his wing during his time in the region. One of those wrestlers in the current TWE Champion, Darian Bengston.
Bengston recently sat down with Fightful Overbooked's Indied podcast to explain his relationship with Makabe and how he wasn't anything in the southeast until his first match with the 'Wrestling Genius'.
“I won’t be able to fully express how thankful and lucky I am. I was at a point in my life and career where I felt super lost and directionless, I was like, where are the people that aren’t just my coaches that are going to help me get better. I’m in rooms where everyone has wrestled longer than me and like, I still feel like I’m not getting the help I need. A lot of times, especially when you wrestle a certain style, there are waves and staples of a style. Dan took everything that he had amassed in his career and — You know, our whole thing with the idea of inheritance was real. The only place where Dan was loved more than Canada was in the southeast. I’ve lived in the southeast for three, I guess almost four years now and I wasn’t anything in the southeast until he made me someone. I don’t think people even label me as a technician until he made that happen. For him to give me the time of day to wrestle me, let alone to 100% become by mentor and teach me and basically giving me the baton to run with — When I say inheritance, like, he’s not gone. I’m keeping what he did alive and I’m just going to keep building on that. I take that very seriously, this is not me just taking someone’s moves for the pops. I am here to evolve and expand upon the work that he laid out for me and really pay respect to that and pay respect to his work. Yeah, insanely thankful for Dan, truly a wrestling genius and a one of a kind talent. I got insanely huge shoes to fill.”
Fans can check out Indied's full interview with Darian Bengston in the video linked at the top of this article.
Also, head over to Fightful's main YouTube channel to check out our recent interviews with DIY, Gunther, Ben Bishop, and more.
