thatdemoguy
#ZAYNVSNAKAMURA 'NUFF SAID!!!
I know I spoke on this all over my various forms of social media last night, and I was trying to avoid further gushing....but if you didn’t see last night's NXT Takeover Show, you really did miss out on a true treat.
In particular the Zayn vs Nakamura match. Now I admit I am quite a bit of a Nakamura mark (fan), but if you simply watch what he does you would understand why. Call me gay or whatever you will, I don’t care what you think, but I absolutely love to watch that man work.
From the moment his music hits, he's on. He wasn't able to use his NJPW theme "subconscious", but reports state he was intimately involved in the production of his new theme "the rising sun", and its apparent. He brought his trademark swagger and flair to a new platform and even in the "pared down" production of NXT, he simply brought a level of entertainment that the main roster with all of its pyro and spectacle miss out on. Its about connecting with the audience through mannerisms and raw charisma, both of which he has in spades.
Mind you I haven’t even talked about the actual match, which was easily the match of the year thus far for ANYTHING WWE related, maybe even a match of the year contender PERIOD. Sami Zayn and Nakamura both showed how much they are both consummate professionals with the ballet they performed for us. Yes, we all know wrestling is "fake" or "scripted" but these two performers, these two sports entertainers, these two WRESTLERS tore the house down, in the center of the card, not the main event, and stole the show. Nakamura is known as the King of Strong Style, and Zayn is very versed in how to not only wrestle a strong style match, but also how to sell strong style. So while every one of these moves these guys used appeared brutal and beyond real, you can literally SEE how careful they were with each other. That displays a level of trust for each other and a level of respect for the audience they are entertaining. It was absolutely beautiful to watch, near perfection. And I, as a lifetime wrestling fan, feel honored and privileged to have seen this.
I know they may never ever see these words, but I have to make it a personal point to say Thank You Shinsuke. Thank you Sami Zayn. And THANK YOU HHH for having the sight to see that this magic has been missing from the overall product for quite awhile. I’ve watched this match 5 times since last night, and every time I see something new, every time I get goosebumps, and every single time I smile from beginning to end because its moments like that match that remind me why I love wrestling.
And guess what, that was ONE match, on a card that was stacked from beginning to end. Not to sell any of the other matches short because the whole event was lightning in a bottle, that NXT has become quite adept at capturing over and over. If these types of matches were to become the norm and not the exception on WWE programming, I could see a paradigm shift in the way wrestling as a whole is viewed. But you know, as is I am quite satisfied with this feeling that I, as a network subscriber, get this special thing that I pay for, that its distinctly for those like me. It’s MY smart mark product.
All I gotta say is that if THIS is what NXT brought to the table, the folks behind WrestleMania better step their games up.
Did you see the show? If not, trust me you should? How do you feel about it? Feel free to sound off in the comments here or hit me with a tweet at thatdemoguy.