Will Ospreay and Kazuchika Okada gave a finale to be proud of with their showdown in New Japan Pro Wrestling.

Last weekend, New Japan Pro Wrestling held its Battle in the Valley event. The show was headlined by what is likely the final chapter of Okada and Ospreay’s storied rivalry. The pair’s feud has been the crown jewel of New Japan over the past few years. The match saw Okada get the win, bringing his record against Ospreay to 8-2.

Okada and Ospreay. Counter after Counter. THIS FREAKING SEQUENCE.pic.twitter.com/DLsOkfItpo

— Drainmaker 🌧️ 💵 (@DrainBamager) January 14, 2024

What’s Next?

Ospreay’s final match for New Japan will take place at the New Beginning in Osaka on Sunday, February 11. The match will see the United Empire face the Bullet Club War Dogs in New Japan’s first steel cage match since 2004. After this match, Ospreay will begin competing full-time for AEW.

Okada’s future is far less certain. His current deal with New Japan is set to expire by the end of this month. There has been renewed interest in Okada from WWE but it is unclear if an offer has been made at this time.

While WWE would love to sign Okada, his future may remain with New Japan. With Hiroshi Takahashi recently appointed as the promotion’s new President, there is a belief that Takahashi could resolve Okada’s strained relationship with management. Okada has also been promoted for New Japan events in February, suggesting that an agreement has already been reached.

NJPW Battle in the Valley 2024 Results

Here are the results for NJPW Battle in the Valley 2024: 

• Pre-Show: Matt Vandagriff defeated Goldy by pinfall (Strong Survivor Match

• Pre-Show: Stephanie Vaquer defeated Viva Van by pinfall

• Jacob Fatu, Fred Rosser, and Shota Umino defeated Team Filthy (Tom Lawlor, Jorel Nelson, and Royce Isaacs) by pinfall

• Máscara Dorada and Volador Jr. defeated Rocky Romero and Soberano Jr. by pinfall

• David Finlay defeated TJP by pinfall

• Guerrillas of Destiny (Hikuleo and El Phantasmo) (c) defeated Bullet Club War Dogs (Clark Connors and Alex Coughlin) by pinfall (NJPW Strong Openweight Tag Team Championships)

• Giulia (c) defeated Trish Adora by pinfall (NJPW Strong Women’s Championship)

• The Chosen Bros (Matt Riddle and Jeff Cobb) defeated TMDK (Zack Sabre Jr. and Bad Dude Tito) by pinfall

• Eddie Kingston (c) vs. Gabe Kidd ended in a double count out (American Triple Crown Championship)

• Jon Moxley defeated Shingo Takagi by pinfall (Steel Cage match)

• Kazuchika Okada defeated Will Ospreay by pinfall

Jack Perry has returned to wrestling, but not for AEW.

The former FTW Champion has been absent from wrestling since August last year with little to no update about his status with Tony Khan’s promotion.

He finally made his return to the wrestling scene tonight. In a surprising turn of events, Perry made an appearance during NJPW’s Battle In The Valley event.

The former champion attacked Shota Umino during the show. Interestingly, after taking out Umino, Jack Perry tore up an AEW contract and then put on an armband that read ‘scapegoat’

??Battle in the Valley??

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??????https://t.co/CeQLGjTmZ5#njbitv #NJPW pic.twitter.com/uz2S5JpHMK

— NJPW WORLD (@njpwworld) January 14, 2024

All this is in reference to his backstage confrontation with the former AEW Champion CM Punk at the All In event last year that led to Punk’s release from the company.

Perry who had been advised by Punk to not use real glass during an episode of Collision made a reference to it during his match with Hook at the Wembly show.

This led to Punk confronting the young star at gorilla after his bout. This confrontation turned into a physical brawl soon enough with Punk even exchanging words with Tony Khan himself.

The Straight Edge Star had subsequently been fired by the company due to his actions. Jack Perry on the other hand had been put on an indefinite suspension and had not been seen since the PPV before tonight’s NJPW show.

At New Japan’s “New Beginning” show last weekend in Osaka, Jay White was defeated by Hikuleo in a “Loser Leaves Japan” match. On February 18, White was scheduled to face Eddie Kingston.

A few days prior to “Battle in the Valley”, Kingston issued a challenge to his opponent: if Kingston won, White couldn’t compete in any NJPW ring. “The Switchblade” accepted this stipulation and added one of his own. If he defeated Kingston, Kingston could never compete in New Japan or against any New Japan talent again.

After a hard-hitting affair, Kingston hit White with a Northern Lights Driver and pinned him. “The Mad King” left the ring and motioned for his music to be cut (it wasn’t) and tried to get the fans to start a “Thank you Jay” chant. As he was about to address the crowd, White was laid out by David Finlay. Finlay said “Fuck your era!” and said he was coming for everything White had.

What’s Next for Jay White

White started in the NJPW dojo in 2015. After Gedo turned on Kazuchika Okda four years ago, they pushed White to the moon. He is a Grand Slam champion, holding the IWGP United States Championship, IWGP Intercontinental Championship, IWGP Heavyweight Championship, NEVER Openweight Championship, and the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. Of course, he also single-handedly sold out both Madison Square Garden and the United Center.

Where does a wrestler of this caliber go? WWE has interest in “The Last Rock and Roller”. While they are confident that they could land him, “that is hardly guaranteed at this point in time” according to Fightful.

• WWE Interested in AEW’s Kenny Omega

In an interview with Sports Illustrated, White stated “So much is possible. Impact, AEW, WWE—we’ll see.”

Should the leader of the Bullet Club head to AEW, he could continue his feud with Kingston. In IMPACT, he could reunite with Bullet Club brethren, Ace Austin and Chris Bey. KENTA is also in the IMPACT Zone from time to time.

Speculation has grown that CM Punk’s wrestling future may be with New Japan Pro Wrestling after the former World Champion was spotted at Battle in the Valley this week.

Punk a two-time former AEW World Champion, has been suspended from the promotion since September’s All Out Pay-Per-View over his post-show comments and backstage fight.

CM Punk is now the only person suspended following All Out to remain suspended as his trainer Ace Steel was fired, and everyone else was brought back to TV.

Battle in the Valley

All attempts to get an answer about Punk’s future from Tony Khan have come up fruitless, with the AEW President refusing to provide an update.

On Twitter, a fan shared photos of Punk attending Battle in the Valley, which happened this week in San Jose, California.

No details are currently known as to whether Punk is interested in signing with New Japan Pro Wrestling, or merely attended the event as a fan.

Punk’s Future

We can’t say for sure where Punk will wrestle next (if he wrestles again at all,) but if an AEW return is in the cards, then he shouldn’t expect a warm welcome.

Multiple top stars have said they will refuse to work with Punk if he is brought back, believing his comments at All Out were entirely inappropriate.

Chris Jericho reportedly called Punk a “cancer” after the All Out backstage fight, and the inaugural AEW World Champion is said to be part of a group trying to block a return.

There are some in WWE who have made their views clear that a Punk return would only bring problems as seen with what happened last September.

Mercedes Mone’ may be mere weeks away from becoming the second-ever IWGP Women’s Champion now that her title match has been confirmed.

Mone’, who worked for years in WWE as Sasha Banks, made her New Japan Pro Wrestling debut at yesterday’s Wrestle Kingdom 17.

Banks attacked KAIRI, who had retained her title against Tam Nakano, and posed with the IWGP Women’s Title.

The Match

Banks made it clear in her attack that she wants to be the next IWGP Women’s Champion, and vowed to make KAIRI ‘bankrupt.’

On Twitter, the NJPW Global account confirmed that the two will face off the for the title, which will take place at NJPW Battle in the Valley on February 18.

The match will mark Mone’s first bout since a May 15, 2022 WWE Live event, where she and Naomi retained the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships against Shayna Baszler and Natalya.

In a video shared by NJPW Global, Mone’ encouraged fans to purchase the show on FITE.

History

This will be the first time that Mone’ and KAIRI have faced off for the IWGP Women’s Championship, but the two are far from strangers.

KAIRI’s final weeks in WWE on TV would see her face Mone’ multiple times as part of the feud between the Kabuki Warriors against Bayley & Sasha Banks.

Speaking on the post-Wrestle Kingdom press conference, Mone’ said that her history with the IWGP Women’s Champion played a part in her decision to target her first.

Chris Dickinson has given an update following an injury.

Dickinson was in action this past Saturday night (Nov. 13) at NJPW Battle In The Valley. He teamed with Brody King to take on Stray Dog Army. The match didn’t end as planned.

Dickinson landed wrong on a frog splash and needed medical attention right away. He was then stretchered out of the venue.

Chris Dickinson Out About 5-6 Months

Chris Dickinson issued a lengthy statement on his Twitter account. In the post, he revealed that he has dislocated his leg out the rear of his hip socket. He’ll be out around five to six months.

“So I’m going to give everyone an update on my situation. First off I want to apologize to the fans of NJPW and the company for not being able to compete at the Riverside event and future scheduled STRONG events today.

“That being said I dislocated my leg out of the rear of my hip socket and in the process experienced an acetabulum posterior wall fracture. I will say the process of dealing with the pain of this type of dislocation is unlike anything I have ever experienced in my lifetime.

“It’s a clean break of one piece about the size of your thumb that needs to be reattached otherwise the femur can easily slip out of place. Hip injuries are generally way worse and I’m in good hands with highly experienced trauma surgeons that deal with way more extensive injuries brought on by car accidents, motorcycle accidents, etc.

“I may be getting surgery today depending on a few other way worse automobile-related accidents that came in but absolutely tomorrow if not.

“My timeline I’ve been given for recovery is within the range of six months. My surgeon just said because of my background and athletic nature if I do everything right I can probably do it in five months. I give my word I will do my absolute best to return to the ring as fast as humanly possible.

“Thank you NJPW. I am blessed to have the best company behind me as well as the best brothers that stuck by my side all night on Saturday. I am alone here 3000 miles from home but to get have that in such a situation is the definition of respect and love.

“I love you guys so much.”

A GoFundMe has been set up to cover Dickinson’s medical expenses. As of this writing, $9,611 of the $20,000 goal has been met.

Buddy Matthews has quite the task going into his NJPW debut.

Matthews will be sharing the ring with Kazuchika Okada, who is widely considered to be one of the greatest wrestlers today. The match will be taking place at NJPW Battle In The Valley this Saturday (Nov. 13).

Buddy Matthews Wants Classic With Okada

During an interview with Forbes, Buddy Matthews said that he’s more than happy with being thrown to the wolves in his first NJPW match.

“I feel like I’m a better performer when there’s less buildup to it, less pressure and whatnot.

“I’m just going to go out there, do what I do best and tear it up. I don’t think there’s any bigger match that you could have in a debut in New Japan Pro Wrestling. I wanted to swim with the whales and they gave me the biggest whale they could find.”

Matthews competed as Buddy Murphy under the WWE banner. He was released from the company back in June.

Matthews has been praised for his in-ring style. Many fans clamored for him to sign with NJPW since he has the style to match. Those fans will get their wish for at least one night.

NJPW Battle In The Valley will feature a NEVER Openweight Title match between champion Jay White and Tomohiro Ishii. Plus, Impact Wrestling World Heavyweight Champion Moose will collide with Juice Robinson.

The self-proclaimed “real” IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay will also be in action. He’ll take on Ren Narita.