Last weekend we went to a wrestling show! Specifically we went to see NXT, which is the division within WWE devoted to newer (up-and-coming) wrestlers. They don’t tour much at all, and the tickets were cheap!
When we arrived we joined a massive line outside the venue (Albany Armory). While it was an hour before the show, we were still about 2 blocks from the entrance and the line just grew from there. Thank god it was unseasonally warm out!
Once inside our seats didn’t even exist! However the usher set us up with fantastic seats right near the ring, just to the left of the above shot.
We didn’t what to expect, but since we (as it turned out mistakenly) thought there was another show elsewhere on the same night we thought the roster would be half ‘stars’ and half no-names. So when the first match was Asuka vs Eva Marie and the crowd exploded, it was quite thrilling!
All the stars were there: Apollo Crews, Carmella, Alex Riley. We had a perfect view (we could even hear the wrestlers talking to each other). The crowd was full of energy and enthusiasm, which went into overdrive when Enzo and Big Cass came out:
The matches were great. It turns out wrestling is much more fun than on TV, and the lack of colour commentary makes it easier to notice just how good these guys (and girls) are at performing and entertaining the crowd.
And yes the fighting is ‘fake’, but it’s still physical and athletic and impressive to watch. Here’s KLS doing just that (while eating some chips!):
The crowd was large, and the house was packed. Here’s a shot I took during intermission:
After the break they rolled out the big stars: Sami Zayne, Bayley, Samoa Joe and Finn Balor. You could barely here anything for the endless crowd cheers and chants. It was a lot of fun!
That’s Sami Zayne throwing ‘The Drifter’ Elias Samson. One day one of these guys may be headlining Raw or Smackdown. I can say “I saw them when they played the Armory in ’16” 🙂
As I said, it was a fun night.