Pantoja’s NJPW Battle in the Valley 2024 Review

NJPW Battle in the Valley

January 13^th, 2024 | San Jose Civic Center in San Jose, California | Attendance: 2,147

I didn’t think this was available on NJPW World. I assumed it was like those PPVs that don’t stream for a few months unless you pay for it. So, let’s get to it. Last year’s show was good and I paid for it for Mercedes Moné, while this year’s has a pretty notable main event.

I skipped over the pre-show for time purposes.

Fred Rosser, Jacob Fatu & Shota Umino vs. Team Filthy

For those unaware, Team Filthy is Tom Lawlor, Jorel Nelson, and Royce Isaacs. Rosser gets a LOT of time on these US shows. He was the guy taking the heat early as Team Filthy showed off their offensive moves. Things got interesting when Team Filthy started having problems, arguing between tags and giving Rosser an opening to make his tag. That went to Fatu, who killed. The crowd was way into  him and his dives outside were fun. He moves well for a dude his size. Shooter came in next and did his thing, mostly against Isaacs. He finished him off with a running uppercut in 8:59. A perfectly acceptable tag match to kick things off. [**½]

Of course, the post-match stuff is what actually mattered here. After shaking hands with fans, Shota Umino was attacked by one in a mask. The attacker revealed himself to be Jack Perry with a homeless man looking beard. After finishing his assault, he took out his AEW contract and ripped it up. Intrigue.

Mascara Dorada and Volador Jr. vs. Rocky Romero and Soberano Jr.

Rocky has a title from MLW. I’ve been watching him since 2006 and I swear he’s been some kind of champion every year since. This was your basic lucha style tag with lots of fast paced action, dives, and an injection of personality from Rocky being Rocky. However, it defined the “undercard tag” as while everything was solid, none of it really stuck or felt like it mattered. As soon as the bell rang, I kind of forgot everything that happened and couldn’t really recall any specific spots. The finish saw Volador beat Rocky with a running Destroyer in 11:11 which looked cool but it’s hard to that take seriously as a match ender in 2024 when everyone has been spamming them for years. [**¾]

David Finlay vs. TJP

This match has the alignments wrong for me in terms of enjoyment. I think TJP is better as a heel you want to slap and Finlay is better as a face but here, TJP was the scrappy face and Finlay was the “I’m serious” heel. TJP attacked before the bell despite being the face but Finlay turned it around rather quickly and took control. That’s where the problems really started. Finlay hasn’t clicked for me in this role and a big reason for that is that watching him when he’s in control isn’t great. His heat segments are rather dull and unengaging and TJP isn’t exactly a babyface to get behind. Finlay was stopped from using the shillelagh and TJP spit the red mist in his face. However, he survived that and the Mamba Splash before winning with Overkill in 13:07. That was kind of lifeless at points and felt closer to 33 minutes than 13. [**]

NJPW STRONG Openweight Tag Team Championship: El Phantasmo & Hikuleo [c] vs. Alex Coughlin & Clark Connors

The rest of this card is either a relatively important match or something with stakes. This has stakes though the level of importance isn’t too high. I like the idea of Connors and Coughlin as a team. Mix things up more often, especially if they do what they should and make the tag division Openweight for good. Like most things in New Japan’s tag division, this struggled. They centered a lot of the match around the Bullet Club boys working Hikuleo’s leg which is a logical call but the work done was rather bland and Hikuleo still isn’t great at that part of a match. ELP’s hot tag was an improvement as he provided some much needed energy to the action. They had some late back and forth before ELP won with a springboard splash over Hikuleo in 12:06. Hikuleo being there doesn’t add much since he doesn’t really help with the spot. This was about on par with 90% of the tag matches in this company. [**¼]

 

NJPW STRONG Women’s Championship: Giulia [c] vs. Trish Adora

Time for a true star to appear and defend her title. Adora isn’t someone I’ve seen much of before so this will be interesting. Like a lot of Giulia’s longer matches, this got off to something of a slow start. I did like Giulia kind of not taking her seriously, as if she was waiting for Adora to prove she belonged in there with her. When they got going, this picked up in a big way, complete with Adora using her size in a good way. She also wasn’t afraid to trade blows with Giulia, throwing bombs, big right hands, and busting out submissions. Her highlight was a running British Bulldog powerslam on the outside that earned a pop from the crowd. They teased a superplex to the outside but obviously didn’t do it and went with the safer in-ring bump. Adora kicked out at one, so Giulia kicked her in the face and beat her with the Northern Lights Driver in 13:02. A good, hard hitting match that was easily the best thing on the show to this point. [***½]

Bad Dude Tito and Zack Sabre Jr. vs. The Chosen Bros

Yes, Matt Riddle’s mystery partner was the United Empire’s Jeff Cobb. They previously teamed in places like PWG and PROGRESS. Hilariously, the nameplate graphic for Riddle said Cobb’s name, giving away the surprise. The ZSJ/Riddle exchanges were as you’d expect, bringing a good combination of strikes and submission work. Of course, that meant that Cobb and Tito brought the BIG MEATY MEN portion of the match. It was less interesting but still worked well enough. Watching ZSJ twist at Riddle’s bare feet was a memorable, albeit hard to watch, spot. It was against Tito that Riddle got to show off his offense more. He and Cobb also hit a few solid double team moves, showcasing their history as a duo. Riddle put down Tito with a Tombstone in 11:45. That’s two good matches in a row, so the show is starting to look up. They kept it simple which was for the best to be honest. [***¼]

AEW Triple Crown Championship: Eddie Kingston [c] vs. Gabe Kidd

I think this is what the title is being called. Kidd attacked during Kingston’s entrance because that’s just what Bullet Club boys do these days. Since they’re all “edgy” and “aggressive.” That sparked a lengthy brawl on the outside so it took a while for them to get in the ring and actually have the bell ring. Once there, they traded loud chops and threw bombs at each other befitting a NEVER Title match. Eddie is known for hitting hard but Gabe was there to give it right back to him. The backfist near fall is one I legitimately bit on, though the same couldn’t be said for any of Kidd’s pin attempts. I get that defenses like this are needed and they’re still good but when you know the challenger isn’t going to win, it lacks drama. The crowd chanting “you fucked up” at Gabe when he spit at Eddie was the perfect reaction and it led to Eddie knocking Gabe out but he fell to the outside, preventing a pin attempt. The finish was lame as Kidd called Eddie a bitch on the mic, causing Eddie to beat him up out there resulting in a double countout in 11:22. Really? Gabe Kidd needed to be protected here? I guess you could do a rematch but is this a match that needs that? Anyway, outside of the finish, this was very good. [***½]

No Disqualifications Match: Jon Moxley vs. Shingo Takagi

Yes, now we’re fucking talking. My most anticipated match on the card. Shingo came out ready for a fight, wearing a shirt and jeans. They brought weapons into play early and Shingo was bleeding in just the opening minutes. It helped that this felt a lot different to what I’m used to for Shingo. It wasn’t long before Mox was also bleeding, because of course he was. My biggest problem with this match came from the fact that it dragged at points. There was a lot of walking around to set up the next spot and it lacked a sense of urgency. But when they were going at it, they were delivering with headbutt battles, trading suplexes, and the kind of stuff you want in a war like this. A big sequence of moves was capped by a modified Death Rider that saw Shingo pop up immediately with one more shot before he went down. Things got taken up a notch around the 15 minute mark when a chain was brought into play. Moxley took Shingo out with an elbow through a table outside before setting up another table inside. The coolest spot of the match came when Shingo spit green mist at Moxley because it’s cool and not something I see often from Shingo. They did the usual big match thing of some big late kickouts, which included Shingo surviving a Curb Stomp and Death Rider. That should’ve just been the Curb Stomp and not Moxley’s actual finisher. Moxley did add a Death Rider on a chair to actually win in 26:16. That could’ve been an all-timer if it wasn’t for so much standing around to set up the next spot. Still, what we got was pretty damn great. [****]

Post-match, Moxley said he has just one name in all of wrestling on his mind in 2024 and that’s Tetsuya Naito. Looks like we’re getting Moxley/Naito for the IWGP Title.

Kazuchika Okada vs. Will Ospreay

There’s a notable history here with matches in RevPro in 2015 (***½), at the Anniversary Show in 2018 (***), 2019 New Japan Cup Finals (***¼), G1 29 (***½), G1 30 (***¼), Wrestle Kingdom 15 (***¾), Wrestle Kingdom 16 (***½), the G1 32 Finals (****), and the G1 33 last year (****¼). So I haven’t loved their matches like most people but I also think they’ve gotten better. I’m pressed for time a bit now with an NFL Playoff game about to start so this won’t be super detailed. What I will say is that this was something of a greatest hits match for them. Without the stakes of the G1 or a title on the line and with the knowledge of Will’s departure (actually both of theirs), it made sense to do that. The problem is that doesn’t always make for the most interesting of matches because you know certain beats have to be hit before it can actually end. It also followed classic Okada formula with a slow, deliberate first half before exploding with a second half filled of big spots, close calls, and counters. As is always the case between these two, Okada pulled out the win with the Rainmaker in 28:34. Ultimately a very good match that fans of the two wrestlers will likely enjoy more than me but not their best work. [***¾]

After the match, Okada and Ospreay embraced before Bullet Club attacked to ruin it. The United Empire and Eddie Kingston made the save, causing Ospreay to tell Eddie that he owes him one. Ospreay then laid down the challenge for a Steel Cage match against the Bullet Cub, which is a big deal since New Japan hasn’t done that stipulation in a long time.

7.0

The final score: review Good

The 411

That show got off to a rocky start with none of the first four matches hitting ***. Thankfully, it picked up in the back half with five very good to great matches, making for a strong show overall.