Strong Openweight Title Match & More Confirmed For NJPW Battle In The Valley

NJPW has confirmed a Strong Openweight Championship match and more for Battle In The Valley next month. The company announced on Monday that Gabe Kidd will defend his title against Tomohiro Ishii after calling Ishii out at Strong Style Evolved.

In addition, Sumie Sakai’s retirement match will be a six-person match as she teams with a male and female partner against Hiromu Takahashi and two female partners to be announced.

The matches are the first two confirmed for the show, which takes place on January 11th. NJPW’s announcement reads:

First matches official for Battle in the Valley!
STRONG title, Sumie Sakai’s retirement set
The first matches have been made official for Battle in the Valley on January 11, where NJPW’s 2025 US campaign will kick off in style.

The first NJPW STRONG Openweight Championship defence of the year will see Gabe Kidd defending against Tomohiro Ishii. After defeating Ryohei Oiwa to end 2024 as STRONG Champion, Kidd called out Ishii on the microphone for January 11 2025. It’s going to be a tough week for Kidd, who will go from wrestling Kenny Omega January 5 at Wrestle Dynasty to Ishii six days later. meanwhile, opportunity knocks for the Stone Pitbull, who could see himself a triple NJPW STRONG, NEVER and AEW International Champion before 2025 is two weeks old.

Plus, a legendary mainstay in women’s wrestling retires in San Jose as Sumie Sakai wrestles her final match. Starting her career back in 1997 in the JD’ Star promotion, Sakai would become a staple of Ring of Honor’s women’s division as a former Women of Honor Champion, and a significant bridge between the worlds of Japanese and American pro-wrestling. Hiromu Takahashi has accepted Sakai’s request to be her last opponent, but in a six person mixed tag match that will see Hiromu and two women face a one malem, two female Sakai led side. Who else will be a part of this special match?