Hirooki f-ing Goto did it!
It will be hard for me to separate the match from the moment for a long, long time and thus I don't think I will be able to talk about the action objectively before a while.
The vestige of the New Japan I deeply loved finally gets his due in a gripping, emotional and oh-so cathartic roller coaster. During my wrestling fandom, I can count on two hands the number of matches that made me feel what this one did and still does, a couple of days after the facts. To prolong the experience, I am listening the prologue version of Hadou again and again. What strikes me the most is how much and how many things this one means to a lot of people. The type of large-scale event well received almost universally the art has been sorely missing in the 20s.
I love the modesty and decency this historic title switch is conducted with:
– In arguably a career performance, a nuanced ZSJ brings enough balance in his interpretation to elevate himself as a quality obstacle to overcome while never making it about him, walking a thin line between antagonist and heel. I was afraid when he started to work the right arm but they deal with it wonderfully.
– They don't force the epic and go the appropriate length. As a result, it always flows naturally, they have the perfect amount of close calls and go home at the right time, at the peak of the fervor.
– Nothing betrays the outcome in Goto's demeanor. He carries himself with dignity from start to finish, no cinematic BS or dramatism down the stretch. It helps to keep the suspense intact.
As soon as Osaka erupts during his entrance, I could feel it in the air. As the match progresses, builds organically and reveals itself as the best one from NJPW since Tana vs. Okada XIV (9/19/2021) in my opinion, they turned me into a believer. And boy, there is nothing like the moment where you can almost touch it, you can see it, you can sense it, but there is still this voice somewhere in your head tempering your ardor, before the liberation.
Even if he has never been one of my guys, I have always liked Goto. He is a key player of the Golden Age. I have followed his career almost from the beginning; I was there when Tana (2011), Okada (2016) and Kenny (2016) eviscerated him in kayfabe. I have always felt cheated by his repeated failures. They robbed me with Kenta's attack of Naito in the Tokyo Dome; this Goto victory is like the universe righting so many wrongs in the company. And the industry. He needed it, I needed it, we needed it! After eight years of a steady decline, it is like I finally and temporarily got my NJPW back; it is like they finally gave me back an important part of my life. A unique feeling I never thought wrestling could make me experience.
As someone who lost his father at 14, I don't even talk about this aspect of Goto's arc recently.
If not one of the greatest matches ever, an all-time great feel good win anyway. More powerful as an entire package, so post-match included, than Naito over Okada (1/5/2020), more powerful than Harashima over Takeshita (11/3/2019), more powerful than Bryan at WM XXX (4/6/2014), more powerful than virtually any other match of its kind I can think of right now and in that category, trailing maybe only Tana over Ibushi (8/12/2018), the only triumph in wrestling that ever made me cry.
Pro-wrestling is the strongest!
by Joshi_Fan