Goto vs. Elgin was good, but not to the quality of their G1 match. Goto did that cool move off the top rope where he sat on his opponent's back and then flipped them, which I remember
@Jack Evans 187 liking in the match with Anderson, I think. Thought of you.
I could tell for the ones who had never seen the matchup before, they were super impressed by it. Lots of "oooohs" for the moves.
Good news is that Goto didn't have his back wrap on any more.
Cutest thing was as he was leaving, this Japanese woman who looked like she was transported straight out of a Tokyo Dome audience (complete with having a fan on a stick like they always have there), was soooo thrilled to get his attention. She ran up to the side, and when he acknowledged her, she ran back to her seat so excited & giddy, as if she just won a million dollars. Everyone was like "awwwww." It was good that he saw her, because he's the only one I saw her do that for.
Stood out especially, because it seems like he doesn't usually get that type of passion that others get from the Japanese audience.
Isn't it amusing how Goto was cheered over Elgin here, yet in Japan it's the opposite? Audiences are so weird.
The main thing I took away from the whole night was what a freakin' star
Okada is. In a way that can't be put into words, and has to just be felt.
It was more star quality than I've ever witnessed or felt before.
I've seen many of the biggest stars in person. Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Undertaker, John Cena, Randy Orton, The Shield dudes, Brock Lesnar, etc.
Never have I felt a "room" shift so much as it did when Okada walked in. I wish to God I got the whole thing on video, although I don't think that it would translate. But there was such a palpable buzz before he walked out. It was the first time the audience stood up in advance of an entrance, & you could just feel the anticipation as if it were an object.
It was surreal. Especially because it's not like it took a ton of time for his music to start or anything, but you could tell everyone was like "oh shit, this is it. It's going down."
I was honestly shocked by the way it felt, because it's the type of feeling I thought that the audience would have with someone like Brock or something.
Never have I so clearly experienced that "this guy is a
star feeling" before.
So glad I got to see him before he becomes a legend, and I think that contributed to why everyone reacted the way that they did.
It's not even about popping, because there are definitely some guys who have outpopped him (including Nakamura that night, probably), but it's more of a respect thing. Like an awe thing, like "we're witnessing a star right now."
I also love the way that he walked to the ring. Fast, intense, and like he was on a mission, yet still turning back at the crowd while walking, like he knew he was the shit. Just had a swagger that you could feel, even when you weren't right close up.
I wonder how it's going to come off on tv, but now I understand when people say things like "you had to be there." TV doesn't really capture a moment or a vibe. Especially not the electric buzz.
The crowd was throwing money & streamers in during his entrance, so it looked really cool, lol.
The match was MOTN for me.
Okada got dropped into the guardrails a lot, which came across more vicious to me live than it would on tv. Mainly because you could hear the impact, but not see it. You'd just see Okada get dropped and disappear into an abyss, surrounded by a sea of people, and then hear a nasty crash.
You could tell both guys wanted the match to be good, and weren't just phoning it in (I was concerned the latter would happen, especially with the Japanese guys coming in after the G1 tournament). Okada's selling was great, and as usual, the ending sequence was terrific.
Since he's always the constant in these fab endings, I've got to give him credit for probably being the biggest creative mind behind them.
He got Strong with a second piledriver in a row, and was able to do his pose on the ground with both arms. When I tell you that it seemed like every single person in front of me did the pose right along with him, that's not an exaggeration. That tells you how many people knew exactly who he was, and weren't just watching from a casual perspective.
Nakamura is so beloved. I don't know how else to describe it, but people just love him like a brother or something. He's another one who had HUGE anticipation, but it was more like "yeah, that's our guy!" They feel apart of him or something, because he's so personable. It's such a great trait & quality to have, because people are automatically engaged in his matches due to this.
Match was fun. At a certain point, Lethal pretended like he was gonna tag Nakamura, but then slid his hand on his head, like too cool for school.
So when Lethal goes to tag Nakamura for real later on, Nakamura does the same thing and then starts dancing. Then he immediately and abruptly dismisses Lethal, by pointing his finger up like "get the fuck out of here." lmao. You had to just see it.
So later Lethal is pissed at Nakamura when Nakamura wants in. So Nakamura hugs him and does some shit with him, like "we good? We good now? Ok..."
The whole thing was amusing.
I find O'Reilly impressive every time I watch him wrestle, and I feel like he should be far more over due to how good he is. There is something about his personality that seems to not click for people, because his partner was getting cheered way more than he was. He'd try to play to the crowd and everything, and...I don't know. I expected him to get way more reaction & be more loved.
I think that part of it is that you can tell that when he plays to the crowd, it's not his natural personality. Maybe I'm wrong, but I get the sense that he's a quiet, serious, dude, so maybe people sense the discomfort?
They should just let him be him, and build his persona around being a serious wrestler, because I've never seen a dude wrestle in a complicated manner as slickly as he does. He's really good.
Overall, the night was fun as hell. Pretty much every match had something I liked about it, and the crowd was lively, engaged, and pitch perfect. Great atmosphere, which I'm thankful for, because everyone says that last year's audience was really terrible, in an obnoxious way.
There was some guy chanting "USA" when Elgin went against Goto, btw, lmao. Everyone was like "eyeroll." I know that he was just being intentionally stupid, though. I think so, anyway.
My seats were amazing too. You can't really tell by the pics or videos, but you could see everything & every wrestler soooo clearly. The backdrop of Coney Island at night, with the amusement park rides going on in the background, was magical.
One more video:
Lethal refusing to shake Nakamura's hand, and Nakamura doing the "YeOOOH" thing anyway. Plus exiting the stadium while dancing, lol (the video flips the right way at the 0:11 mark):
Sorry if there are any mistakes in my posts. Don't have time to check right now.