wrestling / TV Reports
Pantoja’s NJPW Battle In The Valley 2023 Review
Image Credit: NJPW
Loading...NJPW Battle in the Valley
February 18th, 2023 | San Jose Civic Center in San Jose, California
Had some plans this weekend so I can’t cover Elimination Chamber until tomorrow and I’ll have to skip a STARDOM show. Of note, I wasn’t able to catch the pre-show but will go back to watch it later. I normally wouldn’t have ordered this show but Mercedes Moné makes a difference.
Technical difficulties caused this to start about 45 minutes late. Due to that, I put on EC and watched Sami vs. Roman, so I had to go back after this show finished and catch what I missed.
Adrian Quest, Josh Alexander, Mascara Dorada and Rocky Romero vs. The DKC, Kevin Knight, KUSHIDA and Volador Jr.
This is partially here to preview the upcoming KUSHIDA/Alexander match and they actually started against each other, doing some solid grappling. They made sure to give a lot of time to the other guys so they could shine. Knight has impressed me since the Super Jr. Tag League and he was really good here again. There were some interesting interactions between Rocky and Volador with Rocky avoiding him at points. Still, the crux of this was KUSHIDA and Alexander and as a preview for that, this did great because their exchanges were the highlight. I loved the Electric Chair Drop/dropkick combo by Knight and KUSHIDA. Knight got up there for it. The finish saw KUSHIDA trap Alexander in the Hoverboard Lock as Knight beat The DKC with a pendulum DDT in 11:22. A good opener that accomplished exactly what it needed to. [***]
Post-match, Volador challenged Rocky to a Hair vs. Hair match.
Strong Openweight Championship: Fred Rosser [c] vs. KENTA
It’s weird to see Darren Young as a guy with a singles title. These two had some decent back and forth to start though not much of interest happened in the first five minutes. KENTA took control and wore Rosser down before he made a comeback that didn’t have a lot of fire. The crowd kind of sat on their hands for it and nothing that was done felt interesting or energetic. They surpassed 10 minutes and Rosser survived Game Over, making me question why this was getting so much time, especially given the show’s late start. They did a lot of shenanigans with ref bumps and KENTA doing a visual tap out, only further dragging this out way longer than it needed to be. Juice Robinson showed up and hit Rosser with a foreign object and KENTA won in 16:31. That sucked, dragged on, and had no business going that long. Commentary really tried to sell this as “history-altering for New Japan.” Sure, Jan. [*]
Strong Openweight Tag Team Championship: The Motor City Machine Guns [c] vs. The West Coast Wrecking Crew
Save_Us.MCMG. The challengers jumped the champs to start and we got a really great spot where Isaacs walked a stalling vertical suplex all the way around the ringside area. That jump start put the champs on the defensive and Shelley got isolated. I don’t know if I’ve made it clear because I haven’t covered him a lot but Shelley is one of my all-time favorite wrestlers. Sabin got the hot tag and did his thing but then they had a rare bit of miscommunication as Sabin hit Shelley with a big boot. That swung the momentum again as the challengers reeled off some impressive offense for near falls. A lot of Nelson’s offense came off really well and he’s someone I want to see more of. I will always pop for MCMG tandem offense. They’re one of four favorite teams in history (along with Edge and Christian, the World’s Greatest Tag Team, and Bayley and Sasha Banks). The Guns went into their signature tandem stuff late and retained after a very entertaining 9:21. [***½]
Loser Leaves NJPW: Eddie Kingston vs. Jay White
If Jay loses, he’s out of New Japan. If Eddie loses, he can never compete in the company or against a NJPW wrestler without Jay’s permission, so basically never because he doesn’t beg. Jay’s stalling tactics to start made sense here since Kingston is a hothead who wanted to get his hands on him. However, once Jay thought he had the upper hand, Kingston laid him out with a chop. When Kingston was on offense, we got some hard hitting stuff but when Jay took over, he worked a more methodical style. That meant the big moments weren’t coming as often as they sometimes do in the best of matches but they kind of meant more when we did get them. This got kicked into next gear when they started throwing chops and Jay’s chest was RED from the assault. Jay used a low blow to set up Blade Runner but Eddie rolled outside, meaning this had to continue. The backfist near fall was really well done. Eddie offered up a fist bump afterward but Jay spat at the hand, meaning he took two more backfists and a flurry of moves only to still kick out. That should’ve been the finish. A second Northern Lights Driver beat Jay after 19:09. I hate the trope of matches going that extra spot or two instead of ending when they should. Still, this ruled. [****¼]
Post-match, as Jay was getting a goodbye from the crowd, his old rival David Finlay attacked him. He hit him with the shillelagh and said he’s the outsider wherever he goes. He talked about being a fourth generation wrestler and ran down White before calling himself a “savage.” I liked the connection here because he’s always played second fiddle to Jay but the promo came off poorly.
It was here that I gave up and went to bed so I turned back and finished the opener and the rest when I woke up.
Filthy Rules Match: Homicide vs. Tom Lawlor
So, the rules dictated this would be No DQ and there were no ropes. Lawlor brought a trash can to the ring because he called Homicide a garbage wrestler. That set the stage for a lot of wacky weapon usage like a hammer, a door, and even Homicide stabbing Lawlor’s boot with a fork. I thought they did a good job of using the no ropes concept and making the turnbuckle posts into legitimate seeming weapons. Some stuff looked downright brutal like using a piece of the turnbuckle hook to maim Homicide while other aspects looked a big goofy. The big spot where both men went through the door was pretty cool though. Like KENTA/Rosser though, this went on longer than it needed to. Lawlor did a dive off a ladder, a sweet straightjacket knee to the back, and then won with a rear naked choke, complete with Homicide defiantly flipping off the ref. It went 16:22 and was a mixed bag for the most part. I do appreciate that it was something different though. [**½]
NJPW Television Championship: Zack Sabre Jr. [c] vs. Clark Connors
Alright, now we’re getting to two of the three matches I was most excited for (White/Kingston was the other). This is quickly becoming my favorite title in New Japan. Gedo can’t have them go too long (though again I don’t want all of these to hit 14 minutes and tease the time limit) and ZSJ is perfect for the sprint. ZSJ did ZSJ things like toying with Connors and goading him into strikes. For example, Connors leveled him with chops but instead of immediately capitalizing, he wanted to trade them and ended up in a Cobra Twist for a bit. I liked that Sabre played a defensive match. He could chill and just wait out Connors, who had the be one to win. Connors used his power for some big offensive moves but Sabre survived them all. The closing stretch was really good and saw Connors think he had it with an ankle lock only for ZSJ to counter into an armbar for a submission victory at the 14:06 mark. A hell of a match here that again proved why this title is dope. [***¾]
Kevin Knight showed up to congratulate ZSJ and seemingly confirm himself as the next challenger.
IWGP Women’s Championship: KAIRI [c] vs. Mercedes Moné
This should’ve gone on last. It’s the match that sold out the show and would make the title feel important. I have missed Mercedes who is legitimately one of my three favorite wrestlers ever. She had dancers for her entrance and her gear was a tribute to the late Hana Kimura. The early feeling out process saw Mercedes nearly apply the Bank Statement (is that still what it’s called?) but KAIRI escaped and Mercedes did the “this close” trope taunt. A lot of what these two did during the meat of the match looked great though a few spots missed, particularly the double stomp in the corner as Mercedes fell a bit too soon. That spot did set up a segment of Mercedes being in legitimate trouble for a while only to turn it around with the apron Meteora. At one point I thought they flubbed another spot but KAIRI actually avoided Meteora and turned it into her Anchor submission which was cool. I loved Mercedes’ desperation hook of KAIRI’s leg to prevent the elbow. Then, she popped me by hitting a BAYLEY TO BELLY! With Bayley in attendance! When that wasn’t enough, Mercedes intentionally pulled the referee into harm’s way for a bump. That allowed them to fight to the stage and for KAIRI to hit a powerbomb through a table. Back inside, Mercedes blocked the elbow by getting her boots up and it looked great. KAIRI combated that by getting her knees up on the Frog Splash and put on her own version of the Bank Statement. Mercedes bit the hand to get free and delivered the Money Maker (successfully unlike in the Tokyo Dome) to win the title after 26:47. After nine months off, Mercedes barely missed a beat. Outside of a couple of moves, this was crisp and fantastic. I don’t think we needed the table spot/ref bump but outside of those things, this was tremendous. Now just book the title like it matters, Gedo. Mercedes is legitimately a one in a lifetime talent and I’m dying to see what’s next for her. KAIRI shouldn’t be overlooked here either as she was great too. [****½]
Post-match, KAIRI and Mercedes hugged out of respect.
IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Kazuchika Okada [c] vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
I won’t go over their history because it’s absurdly long. This is probably the GOAT rival in the company but their best matches were in 2013. They’ve had bangers since and some lackluster meetings (I’m looking at you WK 10) but only one other meeting in the US which was in the G1 29 (***¾). The story here was that Okada was basically taking Tanahashi lightly. He feels that he has far surpassed the legend and holds a winning record over him so he came in fully expecting to win. Tanahashi fought from beneath and made Okada take him seriously again. It’s a fine story to tell, especially at this stage in their careers where Tanahashi is nearing his end as a top guy and Okada has been on top for like a decade. Tanahashi got some near falls late, including a solid one after countering the Rainmaker into an inside cradle but you never got the sense he had a chance here. Okada eventually beat him with Rainmaker in 21:08. This was a good match that had none of the drama of their best work. [***½]
After the match, Okada did the show closing promo and teased a Tag Title run with Tanahashi. However, before he could say goodbye, Mercedes Moné arrived. PUT MERCEDES OVER OKADA FOR THE IWGP WORLD TITLE. DO IT GEDO. They posed together and Mercedes thanked the fans before saying they could be a dream team given their titles and how they like to make it rain. They posed again to end the show.
