New Japan’s first US event of the year, Battle in the Valley, is now in the books.
Today’s event was held at San Jose Civic in San Jose, CA and can be watched on demand on New Japan World. It is also available as a PPV on Triller/FITE for $19.99.
The paid attendance has not yet been announced. I’m thinking it’ll be 1500-1700 (setup was for about 2300 and it was not a sellout). That includes me of course! (UPDATE: The announced paid attendance was 1814)
Pre-show:
Match 1: Zane Jay beat Viento.
Match 2: Bad Dude Tito & Shane Haste beat Matt Vandagriff & Fred Rosser. Tito pinned Rosser after Ride The Lightning. Vandagriff turned on/abandoned Rosser late in the match.
Main show:
Match 1: STRONG Openweight Champion Gabriel Kidd vs. Tomohiro Ishii went to a 30 minute time limit draw. As a result, Kidd retains the title. V6 for Kidd. Afterwards, Kidd demanded a rematch on 4/11 in Chicago, IL as an Iron Man match.
Match 2: STRONG Tag Team Champions Jorel Nelson & Royce Isaacs beat Rocky Romero & Yoh to retain the titles. Nelson pinned Romero. V1 for the champs.
Match 3: In an elimination match, Maika, HANAKO, Mina Shirakawa & Viva Can beat Anna Jay, Trish Adora, AZM & Johnnie Robbie. Eliminations by pinfall, submission & over the top rope. Maika was the only winner, last eliminating Jay.
Match 4: NJPW WORLD TV Champion El Phantasmo vs. Jeff Cobb went to a double countout. As a result, Phantasmo retains the title. V1 for Phantasmo.
Match 5: Sumie Sakai Retirement Match: Hiromu Takahashi, Mayu Iwatani & Yuka Sakazaki beat Sumie Sakai, Sho & EVIL. Takahashi pinned Sakai after Time Bomb. A retirement ceremony for Sakai followed.
Match 6: NEVER Openweight Champion Konosuke Takeshita beat KUSHIDA to retain the title. V2 for Takeshita. Afterwards, Takeshita challenged Hiroshi Tanahashi for 4/11, which is being billed as Tanahashi’s final US match in his career.
Match 7: Zack Sabre Jr. beat Hechicero.
Main Event: IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion El Desperado beat Taiji Ishimori to retain the title. V1 for Desperado.
It was a long event at 4 1/4 hours including the pre-show and the crowd got tired late, especially after the retirement match, but it was a great event from start to finish with a white-hot opener between Kidd & Ishii. That match alone is worth the $20 as is the Sakai retirement match & ceremony. If I have my way, my first NJPW event in the US won’t be my last. I can see myself coming back in 2026 if they do.
The next US event is Windy City Riot on 4/11 in Chicago with the final Hiroshi Tanahashi US match in his career then they return to Long Beach, CA in May for Resurgence.
The next event is BLUE JUSTICE 15, the next Yuji Nagata Produced hometown event, on 1/19 at Sakura Municipal Gym in Chiba. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin on 1/18 at 11 PM PT/2 AM ET. This will also be a Samurai! TV broadcast in Japan.
UPDATE: In post-match backstage comments, EVIL claimed he was not returning to Japan. We’ll see what happens there.
