NJPW has added four matches to the Saturday, November 13 Battle in the Valley event in San Jose, California.
Will Ospreay of The United Empire will take on Ren Narita in a singles match.
Ospreay’s United Empire stablemates Jeff Cobb and TJP will face Clark Connors and Karl Fredericks in a tag match. Cobb is coming off a 7-1 performance in the G1 Climax 31 tournament, with his lone defeat coming to tournament winner Kazuchika Okada in the B Block finals.
Also added, Fred Rosser, David Finlay, Rocky Romero, Alex Coughlin and Alex Zayne will take on Team Filthy’s Tom Lawlor, JR Kratos, Danny Limelight, Royce Isaacs and Jorel Nelson in a ten-man tag. Rosser is next in line to challenge Lawlor for the NJPW Strong Openweight Championship.
NJPW also posted an announcement of Brody King and Chris Dickinson vs. Bateman and Misterioso on the NJPW Global Twitter account, although the match is not officially listed on their website.
Already announced for the show, Jay White will defend the NEVER Openweight Championship against Tomohiro Ishii.
Battle in the Valley will air with English commentary on FITE TV, and with Japanese commentary on NJPW World.
Here is the lineup:
NJPW Battle in the Valley, Saturday, November 13, 11 p.m. Eastern time on FITE TV and NJPW World —
NEVER Openweight Championship: Jay White (c) vs. Tomohiro Ishii
Will Ospreay vs. Ren Narita
Jeff Cobb & TJP vs. Karl Fredericks & Clark Connors
Fred Rosser, David Finlay, Rocky Romero, Alex Coughlin & Alex Zayne vs. Tom Lawlor, JR Kratos, Danny Limelight, Royce Isaacs & Jorel Nelson
Brody King & Chris Dickinson vs. Bateman & Misterioso
Yuji Nagata and Yuya Uemura defeated Kevin Knight and The DKC
Uemura and Knight kicked things off. Both will be huge deals in a matter of years, that’s clear. Kevin Kelly mentioned he thought Uemura reminded him of Tatsumi Fujinami a bit, which I’d have to agree with. Something unique about these two.
The DKC and Nagata were in together next. DKC was aggressive in going after Nagata and used lots of elbows in the corner. Nagata made him pay with an arm breaker. The crowd started chanting his name as he continued working over DKC’s arm. The audience being there gives the show a totally different flavor from what we’ve been used to.
DKC caught Uemura with a flying kick of the ropes. Knight was next and caught Uemura with white possibly the highest dropkick in the wrestling business right now. This guy is explosive.
The DKC incorporates a lot of karate-type strikes. He chopped Nagata up late in the match. Knight applied a Boston crab to Nagata but Uemura made the save. Nagata caught Knight with his Exploder suplex for a close two-count. He floated over into the Nagata Lock from there and tapped Knight moments later. Nagata and Uemura take home the win at 9:27. Great stuff.
Jay White defeated Wheeler Yuta
The crowd sounded like they were super into Jay White before this started. This was a really good pure wrestling match. When I write “pure,” I mean that aside from White’s occasional fishhooks, eye gouges and other dirty tactics, what made this good was how fluid and logical the work between the two was. It felt like a throwback in ways, with more athleticism. White looked huge next to Yuta.
Yuta scored a two-count with a high cross body off the top rope. White then pulled Yuta’s nose and hair to slam him back to the mat. The crowd sounded split between White and Yuta, but Yuta won some people over by the end. He scored three really close falls in a row on White. He then connected with a big German suplex, again for two. He locked White in a modified figure four STF but he let go to pull White away from the ropes. White escaped and spiked Yuta with a sleeper suplex. White put Yuta away after a Bladerunner at 10:29. This was a great “almost-an-upset” match.
Afterwards, White taunted the fans. He accused them of really being there to see Tomohiro Ishii instead of himself. White called Ishii out next and Ishii came to the ring. White said they could fight right then, but they weren’t going to. They butted heads and then White rolled out of the ring.
Before he exited, he addressed Ishii once more and asked if he had anything to say. Ishii said “F*** you.” The crowd started chanting it next. White got in Ishii’s face again and said Ishii would never get the NEVER title from him, so Ishii threw an elbow in his face. He went for a brainbuster next but White slipped out of it and low blowed him, then laid him out with a Bladerunner. “No, Ishii. F*** you.” The crowd chanted “F*** You Jay!” after he dropped the mic.
Ren Narita defeated Fred Rosser
This feud started at Resurgence last month after a six-man tag match both were in. They were on opposite teams, and afterwards Rosser went to shake Narita’s hand but Narita refused it and insisted he didn’t need Rosser’s respect.
They went hold for hold early on. Rosser tried dropping him on the apron early with a suplex but Narita had it scouted and blocked it. They started brawling around the ring next. Rosser dropped two vertical leg drops onto Narita, the latter one after running off the apron. This was a mean brawl. Nothing fancy or flashy, just two pissed dudes beating the hell out of each other.
The match slowed after it moved back into the middle of the ring. They tried tapping each other out with submission holds. Narita focused on Rosser’s knees and turned up the heat when he locked in a figure four leg lock. Rosser and Narita traded slaps to the face until Narita let go.
Rosser laid in tons of forearms, then scored a two-count with a BT bomb. Narita locked on a sleeper, then turned that into a cobra twist, or Antonio Inoki’s finisher. He almost tapped Rosser with his version of the Texas cloverleaf, a mix of that hold plus a Boston crab. Rosser barely escaped with a rope break.
Rosser powered up and earned a couple of near-falls but at the 15:00 mark, Narita tied Rosser up in a cradle and scored the pinfall. This is a big upset win for Narita, who is still technically a Young Lion. They were ambiguous selling Narita’s win afterwards and spun it like maybe, possibly Rosser got his shoulder up. The ref’s decision was final, though. Narita won. The two finally shook hands to close out the show.
Final thoughts:
This was an excellent episode of Strong. With the crowd in attendance and the bigger feel in general, plus the new presentation, it really emphasizes the “professional” aspect of “professional wrestling.” The main event was fantastic and if you haven’t seen it, go out of your way to. Fred Rosser has to be in the discussion for Most Improved, and Narita is confirming he’ll also be a big deal in the next few years with NJPW.
Following Friday’s NJPW Strong, the semifinals are set for the Tag Team Turbulence tournament.
Brody King and Chris Dickinson were victorious over Team Filthy’s JR Kratos and Danny Limelight in the main event of Strong to secure their place in the semifinals.
King and Dickinson will face the West Coast Wrecking Crew duo of Jorel Nelson and Royce Isaacs, who advanced to the next round with their victory over the LA Dojo unit of Kevin Knight and The DKC.
On the other side of the bracket, Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows beat Clark Connors and TJP in a first round match after Anderson and Gallows hit a Magic Killer on TJP.
The Good Brothers advance and will face Yuji Nagata and Ren Narita. Nagata and Narita advanced with a victory over Fred Yehi and Wheeler Yuta.
The semifinals will take place on the Friday, July 23 Strong. Next week’s show will also feature an NJPW Strong Openweight Championship match between Tom Lawlor and Satoshi Kojima.
The Tag Team Turbulence finals will be held on the July 30 episode.
Strong airs Fridays at 10 p.m. Eastern time on NJPW World and is available on demand shortly after airing.
Here are the upcoming Strong lineups:
NJPW Strong Tag Team Turbulence, Friday, July 23 —
NJPW Strong Openweight Championship: Tom Lawlor (c) vs. Satoshi Kojima
Tag Team Turbulence semifinal: Yuji Nagata & Ren Narita vs. The Good Brothers
Tag Team Turbulence semifinal: Jorel Nelson & Royce Isaacs vs. Brody King & Chris Dickinson
NJPW Strong Tag Team Turbulence, Friday, July 30 —
It’s Monday and you know what that means: time for AEW Dark: Elevation featuring the promotional debuts of NJPW’s Rocky Romero and young lion Ren Narita.
QT Marshall (w/ The Factory) defeated Robo
This was a strong showing for Robo on this week’s episode of Elevation, but Marshall still won clean with a diamond cutter. Not much else can be said.
Abadon defeated Leila Grey
Abadon extended her seven-match win streak by defeating Grey in a dominant performance, picking up the victory after Cemetery Drive. Abadon’s finisher is one of AEW’s most protected in the women’s division.
Thunder Rosa defeated Ashley D’Amboise
D’Amboise really worked well with Rosa. As Tony Schiavone pointed out on commentary, Rosa brings something new to the ring every time we see her. She won by submission with the Peruvian calavera choke — her third submission win in a row on Elevation. She is now 13-2 in 2021. Rosa is clearly going to be the next challenger for the Women’s title once Hikaru Shida and Britt Baker settle their score.
Lee Johnson defeated Daniel Garcia
This match was a battle of two great young prospects featuring great work from both. There’s no doubt this could one day main event a big show for AEW. This was Garcia’s best showing on AEW thus far, but Johnson won with the Brain Dog. After a long losing streak last year, Johnson now has an 8-1 record this year.
Nyla Rose (w/ Vickie Guerrero) defeated Robyn Renegade
Before the match started, Guerrero buried Justin Roberts once again before introducing Rose to the ring. Rose completely dominated this match and destroyed Renegade, winning after the Beast Bomb.
Ethan Page (w/ Scorpio Sky) defeated Alex Reynolds
On last week’s Dynamite, Dark Order prevented Page and Sky from leaving the ring after they were attacked by Darby Allin and Sting. That’s how we got both this match and Scorpio Sky vs. Alan Angels. This was a good match and I feel like they could have a great TV match if they were booked to have one. Page won with the Ego’s Edge and remains undefeated in both singles and tag team competition in AEW so far.
Tay Conti defeated Queen Aminata
This was another solid performance by Conti as her rapid improvement has been amazing to watch. She won this match with the DDTay, but a missed opportunity not winning it with the Queen Slayer (Anna Jay’s finisher) given her opponent. Aminata looked great and her offense looked solid in the loss.
Side note: check out the AEW Unrestricted episode with Conti as it has a lot of information about how she joined the wrestling business and why she signed with AEW.
Penta El Zero Miedo (w/ Alex Abrahantes) defeated Mike Sydal (w/ Matt Sydal)
This was one of the best matches of the night and one you should go out of your way to see. Sydal is one of the most underrated wrestlers in the AEW roster. Penta picked up a win with the Fear Factor.
Scorpio Sky (w/ Ethan Page) defeated Alan “5” Angels
Earlier on the show, Sky and Page cut another good heel promo segment. Sky and Angels worked really well together with one of the better matches of the night. Sky submitted Angels with a heel hook for his tenth straight win as a singles or tag team wrestler.
Matt Hardy (w/ H.F.O.) defeated Fuego del Sol
We got this match because Del Sol made the mistake of comparing himself to Hardy on Sammy Guevara’s vlog or, as Nick Jackson likes to call it, BTE Dark. Before the match, Hardy cut a promo about making money and why he formed the Hardy Family Office. Unfortunately for Alabama’s top luchador and Guevara vlog star, this was another unsuccessful night as he submitted to the Leech.
Ren Narita defeated Royce Isaacs
This was the AEW debut of Isaacs as a singles wrestler and for Narita overall in AEW. Ren Narita is the first young lion to debut in AEW. Narita is one of NJPW’s young lions with the most potential to be a star one day and this was a perfect example of why that’s the case. Narita won with a bridging suplex. Schiavone hinted on commentary this might not be the end of Narita’s excursion. More of Narita on both Elevation and Dark would be awesome.
Rocky Romero defeated JD Drake (w/ The Wingmen)
There’s no better way to make your AEW debut than having the match of the night in a show packed with solid matches up and down the card. In a hard hitting and competitive match, Romero was able to defeat the man with the most drip in AEW with a cradle after Drake came off the third rope. After the match, The Wingmen were about to attack Romero, but their Best Friends made the save. The Roppongi Vice theme played to close the show.
This was match of the night.
Final Thoughts:
Along the same lines as other episodes of Elevation, this was another solid show with some interesting matches to check out.
One thing to also mention was a video package about the Gunn Club. It was really well produced and showed the other side from these charismatic brothers and their dad. More people need to watch this as well as the other videos produced by Elevation.
New Japan Pro Wrestling talent will be seen on this Monday’s AEW Dark: Elevation
Rocky Romero will be in action, taking on JD Drake. Ren Narita, meanwhile, will face Royce Issacs. It had originally been reported that Narita would be on Dark this week, but that was not the case.
Narita accompanied Yuji Nagata in his match against IWGP United States Champion Jon Moxley back on the May 12 edition of Dynamite. Romero was also seen on that show in the crowd.
Both Narita and Romero appear regularly on NJPW Strong.
New Japan’s Ren Narita will make his AEW debut on Tuesday’s Dark, competing against Royce Isaacs.
After spending nearly all of 2020 on the sidelines due to the pandemic, the 23-year-old has been a fixture on New Japan Strong since the start of the year. This will be Isaacs’ first singles match in AEW after running up an 0-4 mark in tag team action.
In another featured match, Kris Statlander will look to win her seventh straight singles match dating back to May 2020 when she faces Diamante. Statlander is 2-0 against her historically with one AEW clash on Dark last February.
Forner NXT roster member Kal Jak (formerly Cal Bishop) will make his debut against Dark regular Danny Limelight. Jak has been relatively inactive during the pandemic and has only competed on three Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport shows since October 2020.
Here’s the full announced card for Tuesday:
Angelico vs. Vary Morales
Ren Narita vs. Royce Isaacs
Kris Statlander vs. Diamante
Nick Comoroto vs. Adrian Alanis
Chuck Taylor vs. Aaron Rourke
Powerhouse Hobbs vs. Dean Alexander
Sonny Kiss vs. Serpentico
Matt Sydal vs. Marty Casaus
Dante Martin vs. Falco
Luther vs. Brian Pillman Jr.
Griff Garrison vs. Deonn Rusman
Danny Limelight vs. Kal Jak
Big Swole and Red Velvet vs. Vertvixen and Jazmin Allure
10 vs. RYZIN
Cezar Bononi vs. Marko Stunt
Lee Johnson (w/ Cody Rhodes) vs. Fuego Del Sol
Nyla Rose vs. Reka Tenaka
Evil Uno and Colt Cabana vs. Tamilian Vineesh and Duncan Mitchell
A KENTA appearance, along with three other matches, have been announced for NJPW Strong.
The promotion announced today that KENTA will be on the show to speak ahead of this IWGP United States title match against Jon Moxley on February 27. Moxley said last week that KENTA would have to kick a hole in his chest in order to win the title.
KENTA made a surprise appearance on last week’s episode of AEW Dynamite, attacking Moxley and laying him out with the GTS. The two will take part in a lights out match on Wednesday, with KENTA teaming with Kenny Omega to take on Moxley and Lance Archer.
The main event for this week’s episode of Strong will be a tag team match. Team Filthy, consisting of Chris Dickinson and Danny Limelight, will take on the team of TJP and Ren Narita. Clark Connors will take on ROH’s Bateman in the second match, while Jordan Clearwater will face JR Kratos in the opener.
Logan & Sterling Riegel defeated Jordan Clearwater and Kevin Knight
The newest LA Dojo recruit, Kevin Knight, started the match off with Logan Riegel. The two had a quick exchange on the mat before Knight tagged out to the Karl Anderson-trained Clearwater. The twins started double-teaming the much taller Clearwater in their corner for a bit with some innovative double-team offense. Clearwater eventually escaped to the red corner to tag out to Knight, who came in and cleaned house, taking both Riegels out with big shoulder blocks. Knight got serious air on his leapfrogs. Keep an eye out on this guy this year, for sure.
Clearwater looked good on offense towards the end. Knight and Sterling tagged in, lots of fast action among all four as the five minute call sounded. Sterling hit a slingblade onto Clearwater, dropping him onto the ring apron, right before Logan dove onto everyone with a tope suicida. We saw the finish a minute later when the Riegels used their finisher on Knight, an assisted swinging DDT type of deal, for the win. Short, fast action from all four here. Nice opener.
Brody King told Kevin Kelly in an interview before the match that he wasn’t going to let Kratos make a name for himself on King’s back.
Brody King defeated JR Kratos
These two got down to business just as the bell sounded. Huge elbows, chops, stomps, slaps. Both shouted really loud. If these two had a crowd, it’d have amplified this match’s intensity. There was something very explosive about this match, and it added to the two’s chemistry with one another..
Kevin Kelly made a good point on commentary during this, querying why no one within the industry had picked up on Kratos before now.
These two went more or less full blast in the first five minutes. Kratos has unbelievable charisma, or at least showed it in this match. On commentary, they sold it like King had never been in this much trouble before Kratos tonight. King took Kratos’ offense for a good portion of the match, right up until he was able to get Kratos in the bottom corner where he launched himself at Kratos with a cannonball. Kratos answered later with a big deadlift bodyslam. King came back with a release German suplex and followed it up with a big running lariat for a two count.
As the ten-minute call sounded, King ended one last exchange between the two after decking Kratos with one last lariat for the three count and the win in 10:06.
I loved everything about this match. If you have ten minutes over the weekend and a subscription to NJPW World, do it.
Ren Narita defeated Bateman
Bateman from ROH made his debut on NJPW Strong tonight. He came out to doomy violin music and sported a curly moustache. We haven’t seen Ren Narita in a while, though he’s officially listed as representing the LA Dojo, meaning this is the first part of his US excursion.
These two started off trading traditional holds both standing and on the mat. Nothing flashy from either, just expert fundamentals. Narita took hold of Bateman for a short while with a headscissors, though Bateman broke his flow when he landed a neckbreaker into his knee, then connected with a rough forearm smash for a count of two.
Because Bateman wrestled as such a traditional-style heel, it really allowed Narita’s fire to show through, it felt all that much easier to get behind Narita. It was clear cut who was who, even though both are technically “debuting” tonight. Narita started firing wild forearms at Bateman, almost out of desperation, and knocked Bateman out of the ring. Narita tried going on the assault over and over but Bateman would constantly shut him down. This lasted until late in the match until Narita caught Bateman with a front suplex off the ropes for a close nearfall. A few minutes later, Bateman cracked Narita with a short-arm lariat for a close call of his own.
Bateman followed up with a northern lights bomb for another two count. Narita wouldn’t quit and eventually locked on a modified cobra twist onto Bateman. Narita transitioned from that to a release German suplex for two, then finished Bateman off using a modified Texas Cloverhold, forcing the ROH regular to tap out. The English announcers sold this like crazy, and it did fit the moment because the last few minutes of this were rather intense. Kudos to both men here, who put on an excellent main event.
Narita spoke briefly afterwards, confirming he had won but also mentioning that he still wasn’t satisfied.
Final thoughts:
Fantastic episode of NJPW Strong tonight, with both King vs. Kratos and Narita vs. Bateman in their debut being the must-see highlights. The opener wasn’t far behind, either, and probably could have been on the level as the former two matches, but the match only lasted around six minutes.
In short, this is the episode to watch if you’ve been sleeping on the show so far. This was an excellent hour of violence.
Two of NJPW’s young lions are off to start on their learning excursions.
The company announced this morning that Shota Umino and Ren Narita would begin their excursions following the events of the Young Lion Cup, where both finished tied for second place with ten points each. Umino is setting off to the UK while Narita will train under Katsuyori Shibata at the LA Dojo.
This news comes following backstage comments from both that took place following their matches at Destruction in Kobe. Umino said this was the first time he hated losing to someone and eventually asked to go on an excursion.
Narita meanwhile interrupted Shibata during a promo where Shibata was talking about the LA Dojo and Karl Fredericks, who won the Young Lion Cup. Narita begged Shibata to let him train under his guidance. Shibata ended up accepting.
Shota Umino made his wrestling debut on April 13, 2017, losing to Taka Michinoku at Lion’s Gate Project 4. Narita made his debut a few months later on July 4th, wrestling Umino to a time limit draw at Lion’s Gate Project 7.
NJPW has announced two changes to this year’s Best of the Super Juniors field.
El Desperado is out of the tournament due to injury, while Flip Gordon won’t be able to take part in it due to visa issues. It was noted that Desperado suffered a broken jaw during a match against Jun Kasai at TakaTaichi Mania 2.
NJPW’s Ren Narita and Japanese luchadore DOUKI are replacing Gordon and Desperado in the tournament. NJPW posted an in-character statement from Taichi, with Taichi claiming that he chose DOUKI as Desperado’s replacement and that he met DOUKI 10 years ago and taught him everything he knows. DOUKI was called a hired gun for Suzuki-gun.
Both Desperado and Gordon were set to be in the B Block of the Best of the Super Juniors. Narita, DOUKI, Ryusuke Taguchi, Will Ospreay, Rocky Romero, YOH, Bandido, El Phantasmo, Robbie Eagles, and BUSHI are now the B Block participants.
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Dragon Lee, Tiger Mask IV, SHO, Titan, Marty Scurll, Jonathan Gresham, Taiji Ishimori, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, TAKA Michinoku, and Shingo Takagi are in the A Block.
This year’s Best of the Super Juniors will begin on Monday (May 13) and conclude on June 5. If Dragon Lee doesn’t win the tournament, the winner will likely challenge for his title at Dominion on June 9.
Narita will face DOUKI in a tournament match on Tuesday (May 14), which is the first night of B Block action.
