Dan Macchio
Posted: January 31, 2021
Author: Jeff Docherty
The Rise From Humble Beginnings
The road to becoming a professional wrestler can often be a long and difficult one. It can be even more difficult when you're under 5 feet tall. It takes a lot of heart, hard work and determination to make it in a business that's dominated by six foot plus giants, however, Dan Macchio certainly does not lack heart, determination, nor hard work...yet his journey has not always been one without its difficulties.
Consider the fact that when he decided to begin training to become a professional wrestler in 2010, he showed up for his first day of wrestling school and he looked around and saw nothing but piles of empty beer bottles and he walked right back out the door. He didn't want to train in that type of environment. He found another wrestling school and began his training but, shortly after he started, the wrestling school closed its doors.
His trainer at the second school decided to purchase the ring from that school and Dan began training with him. Luckily, the third time was the charm and things worked out well with that training endeavor.
The journey was long and challenging but, on December 2, 2017, Dan Macchio made his professional wrestling debut with Nickel City Wrestling in Buffalo, New York.
The first match of his career on that December night was in a battle royale. Things went well during the match and Dan continued to work for Nickel City Wrestling and continued to gain experience.
In 2020, Dan decided to branch out and gain further experience. His tag team partner had been travelling to other areas and getting bookings so he decided to follow suit and started to take bookings in new towns. With the pandemic in full swing, he couldn't travel north to Canada and long distance travel was becoming increasingly difficult within the United States. Dan continued to work in parts of Pennsylvania and New York State.
When asked what the highlights of his career have been so far, Dan said that he considers it a highlight to have gotten booked with the Midget Wrestling Warriors on his own. He also considers his first match with Eclipse Wrestling of Altoona, PA as a career highlight as he and his tag team partner were booked in a tag team title match. One of their opponents that night, Ron Hunt of Ring of Honor, had specifically requested he and his tag partner to work with. Dan considered it a huge honor for the star to request to work with him and both tag teams had a great match which allowed Dan to showcase his skills for the appreciative and enthusiastic crowd on hand.
What's In A Name?
A wrestler's name is an important part of his/her in-ring personna so choosing the right name isn't an easy thing to do for some wrestlers.
Dan's name was chosen by his trainer. It's a hybrid name. The "Macchio" name is from Ralph Macchio of "The Karate Kid", however, "Dan" is not from Macchio's character "Daniel LaRusso" from the movie. It's actually from the video game Street Fighter from the character Dan Hibiki. The Hibiki character was created to parody Ryo Sakazaki and Robert Garcia, the two lead characters of SNK's Art of Fighting series, as Capcom saw Ryo as a ripoff of Street Fighter characters Ryu and Ken. Since Macchio's character was a direct take on "The Karate Kid" the name Dan Macchio made perfect sense!
When one of the promoters he was working for had nothing for him as a singles wrestler, he decided to team up with another singles wrestler who was without anything creatively, as well. The two decided to form a tag team and since they were into video games and pop culture, they called themselves "Arcade Heroes".
This plays directly into Dan's love of video games. He gets to wrestler as some of his favorite video game characters which provides endless possibilities for him to keep coming up with new ways to entertain the fans at each show.
Outside of the ring, Dan is a Service Writer for Pep Boys mechanic service. He says that the job can be challenging as he often gets to be the one to speak with clients who may not always be at their happiest but he tackles every issue with a smile on his face...plus he gets to take any of his frustrations out on his opponents in the ring! Sounds like great therapy!
Dan has some very clear goals for 2022 as pertains to his wrestling career.
His primary goal is to wrestle 50 matches this year. He's come close in previous years but he wants to eclipse the 50 match mark this year. He'd also like to be a part of more filmed and pay per view content this year. With the pandemic placing a big emphasis on televised and online viewing, that may not be such a difficult goal to achieve.
Dan would like to establish himself as a singles wrestler this year. He's spent a lot of time wrestling as part of a tag team and he feels that 2022 is a perfect time for him to show what he can do in one-on-one competition against the best that the Midget Wrestling Warriors has to offer. He's got plenty of competition so there's no time like the present to start on achieving that goal! He also wants to be taken seriously as a professional wrestler. He understands his role in his tag team matches but he wants to be taken seriously in the ring and making his mark as a singles competitor is a perfect way to attain that goal.
Another of his goals is to hold at least two belts at the same time. Currently, Midget Wrestling Warriors has sanctioned only two titles...the Midget Wrestling Warriors World Championship and the Midget Wrestling Warriors Women's Championship...so that goal may prove to be a difficult one...unless he can convince the powers that be to sanction a tag-team championship. Time will tell is he attains this goal in 2022 but if anyone can do it, Dan Macchio can! After all "Height Ain't An Issue!"
Dan also has a goal to make a profit in the wrestling business this year. If he can accomplish some of the above goals, turning a profit shouldn't be an issue.
Last, but certainly not least, I asked Dan if he has any plans on how he might capture the Midget Wrestling Warriors World Championship on the "Evolution" tour in 2022. Without missing a beat, he replied with a chuckle.....
"I need to get a win, first!"
Be sure to come out and see Dan Macchio and the rest of the Midget Wrestling Warriors when they embark on their "Evolution" world tour 2022.
