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1/11/25 Results from New Japan’s Battle in the Valley 202 from San Jose, CA:
Kickoff match 1 - Zane Jay vs. Viento
Zane forces Viento to submit to a Boston Crab.
Zane is a young lion and needs more experience.
Kickoff match 2 - Fred Rosser and Matt Vandagriff vs. Shane Haste and Bad Dude Tito
Vandagriff bailed out on Rosser. Tito hits an F5 on Rosser and gets a pin.
The crowd fills in the lower tiers. Upper tier looks half full. Good turn out for New Japan Strong.
3 - STRONG Openweight Championship: Tomohiro Ishii vs. Gabe Kidd
Ishii gets a pop on his entrance. Kidd gets a big reaction from the San Jose crowd.
Both men fought to a time limit draw.
Gabe Kidd retains the STRONG Openweight Championship.
Kidd challenges Ishii to an Iron Man Match for Windy City Riot in April.
Good match. Kidd proved he can have two high profile matches (Kenny Omega and Ishii) in a week and looks like a star.
4 - STRONG Openweight Tag Team Championship: Royce Isaacs and Jorel Nelson vs. YOH and Rocky Romero
Isaacs hits Romero in the face with the title belt. Nelson hits a pop up powerbomb. Nelson slingshots Romero into Isaacs who hits a Death Valley Driver on Nelson’s knees.
Nelson pins Romero.
The World Class Wrecking Crew retain the STRONG Openweight Tag Team Championship.
5 - Elimination Match: Viva Van, HANAKO, Maika and Mina Shirakawa vs. Anna Jay, Trish Adora, AZM and Johnnie Robbie
Shirakawa is over in San Jose.
HANAKO eliminates Robbie by pin.
AZM eliminates HANAKO by pin.
Anna Jay eliminates Viva Van by submission.
Shirakawa and Maika eliminate Adora over the top rope.
AZM and Shirakawa eliminate each other over the top rope.
Maika eliminates Anna Jay over the top rope.
Maika’s team wins.
Good match. Mina Shirakawa is a star. HANAKO looks like she could be a beast. Anna Jay looked awesome. The one thing that New Japan STRONG and AEW does better than New Japan is having a solid women’s division.
6 - NJPW World Television Championship: El Phantasmo vs. Jeff Cobb
ELP hit Sudden Death on Cobb on the floor. ELP was about to climb in the ring but Cobb threw young lion Zane Jay over the guardrail and into ELP. Wow!
Both men were counted out. Match is a draw.
This feud is not over and will continue in Japan or Chicago.
7 - Sumie Sakai Retirement Match: Sumie Sakai, EVIL and SHO vs. Hiromu Takahashi, Mayu Iwatani and Yuka Sakazaki
They played a video of Sumie Sakai asking Hiromu to her last opponent. Sakai was instrumental in helping Hiromu, EVIL and SHO acclimate to the United States during their excursions.
EVIL did not come out with SHO or Sakai. He is selling the comments he made that he was done with New Japan.
Hiromu makes his way to the ring and is attacked by EVIL. SHO tosses Iwatani and Sakazaki to the floor. EVIL cuts a promo on Hiromu. EVIL and SHO stomp on Hiromu and they tried to get Sakai to hit him. Hiromu fought back and hit a double body press on EVIL and SHO, who roll to the floor. Iwatani and Sakazaki hit high spots on EVIL and SHO. Hiromu and Sakai face off and have a good wrestling exchange. EVIL pulls Hiromu to the floor and hits him with a chair. EVIL wants Sakai to use a chair, but she refuses.
Iwatani and Sakazaki make the save but EVIL kicks them both and chops them in the chest. Massive heat from the crowd.
EVIL goes for an abdominal stretch. Hiromu reverses. Iwatani and Sakazaki grab Hiromu’s hand to apply leverage. SHO was tied up with the referee. Sakai grabbed one of the ladies’ hand. Sakai grabs a hand of an audience member. The chain went deep into the crowd. Another massive pop from the crowd who were having fun.
SHO breaks it up. He tosses Iwatani and Sakazaki into an unprotected turnbuckle. More heat from the crowd.
Sakai and Iwatani face off and they had a good wrestling exchange.
SHO jumps in the ring and fights with Iwatani ans Sakazaki. They hit a double drop kick to SHO’s head. EVIL jumps in the ring and they hit a double suplex.
Crowd chants “this is awesome”.
Hiromu and Sakai face off. Hiromu sets up Sakai for a Time Bomb, but Sakai reverses into her finisher, Smash Mouth. They hit a referee counts and is pulled out of the ring by SHO.
EVIL chokes Sakai with his shirt. The crowd chants “F**k you Evil”. EVIL and SHO stomp on Hiromu. Sakazaki grabs SHO’s wrench and blasts him in the head. Sakazaki hits Teatime on SHO who gets dropped on his head.
EVIL chops Iwatani, but Iwatani throws him into the open turnbuckle and hits a German suplex. Hiromu hits an STO (Everything is Hiromu) on EVIL.
Sakai is alone in the ring with her opponents and she fights all three of them. Sakazaki hits a Roaring Elbow. Iwatani with a superkick. Hiromu hits a Hiromu Bomber screaming “Arigato” (Thank you). They all pin Sakai. Sakai kicks out at two.
Sakazaki hits a Magical Merry Go Round. Iwatani with a moonsault. Hiromu hits a Time Bomb.
They all pin Sakai. The referee counts to three.
Hiromu, Iwatani and Sakazaki win.
EVIL and SHO disappear from ringside.
All four raise Sakai’s hand in the ring. The crowd chants Sakai’s name.
The wrestlers from the locker come out to applaud Sakai. Sakazaki tells Sakai thank you. Iwatani shares her thanks and bows to her. Hiromu gives his jacket to Sakai and thanks her for changing his life. Massive chants for Sakai. They gathered in the ring for photos. Then tossed her in air like a trampoline. Everyone emptied out of the ring. Sakai stood alone in the ring as the bell keeper rang the bell 10 times, which ended her in-ring career. She hugged and thanked every wrestler and official at ringside.
Awesome match and an awesome tribute to a great woman. It was an unusual mix of wrestlers in the match. However, it was Sakai’s wish so it was special. This was an awesome moment for a person who was a bridge between two countries and built a bridge between Japanese and American professional wrestling.
8 - NEVER Openweight Championship: Konosuke Takeshita vs. KUSHIDA
Good match. KUSHIDA worked over the arm. Takeshita used his power to fight back. KUSHIDA went after Takeshita’s leg. The Alpha fought back. Takeshita hits Raging Fire.
Takeshita pins KUSHIDA.
Konosuke Takeshita retains the NEVER Openweight Championship.
After the match, Takeshita challenged Hiroshi Tanahashi to a match at Windy City Riot in Chicago on April 11.
Shingo Takagi. Tomohiro Ishii. Now KUSHIDA. Soon to be Tanahashi. Takeshita is having a great start to 2025.
9 - Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Hechicero
Good wrestling match. They traded grappling and near falls until ZSJ rolled him up in a cradle.
ZSJ pins Hechicero.
Zack tells Hechicero that he will offer him a shot at the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship in the future.
The announcers tried to hype that this was a rubber match as both men have a 1-1 record against each other going back to 2018. The result of the match was not in question, but it set up a future title match later in the year.
10 - IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship: El Desperado vs. Taiji Ishimori
Ishimori worked over Desperado’s arm. Desperado attacked Ishimori’s leg. Ishimori missed a 450 splash. Desperado hit a chop block and applies Numero Dos. Ishimori reverses into a Bone Lock. Rope break. They trade blows. Ishimori with a high knee strike. Desperado hits Pinche Loco. He goes for another but Ishimori reverses into a Bone Lock. Ishimori hits a Bloody Cross. Rope break. Desperado spears Ishimori into the corner and hits El Es Culero. Two count.
Desperado goes for Numero Dos. Ishimori reverses out. Desperado hits a Bastard Driver. Two count. Desperado hits a Jay Driller, holds on and hits Pinche Loco.
Desperado pins Ishimori.
El Desperado retains the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship.
El Desperado takes the mic. He thanks the fans for remembering Suzuki-Gun, but that is over. He thanks the fans and said New Japan is Number One.
The San Jose crowd was awesome. They were into every match and knew who to cheer and who to boo. As tired as the top stars in New Japan must be with the travel, there is a vocal and passionate audience in the United States. Hopefully, New Japan can keep building in the States and keep building in Japan simultaneously.
Thank you for reading.
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