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NJPW Battle In The Valley 2023 Results

By John Canton • Published 19th February 2023
njpw okada tanahashi battle in the valley

The results are in for NJPW Battle In The Valley with one familiar face capturing gold while it was headlined by Okada and Tanahashi.

New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) presented a pay-per-view called Battle in the Valley on Saturday, February 18th at the San Jose Civic Arena in San Jose, California. It aired on FITE TV and the replay is available now.

It was yet another NJPW show headlined by Japanese wrestling legends Kazuchika Okada defending the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship against Hiroshi Tanahashi.

There was some other big news on the show with Jay White losing a Loser Leaves NJPW Match against AEW’s Eddie Kingston. White was expected to lose since he is a wrestling free agent that is likely headed to another big wrestling promotion. Whether that’s WWE or AEW is unknown right now, but we should find out soon.

Mercedes Moné (formerly Sasha Banks) made her NJPW in-ring debut by challenging the IWGP Women’s Champion KAIRI, who was known as Kairi Sane in WWE. Moné won the match by hitting the Moné Maker to become the IWGP Women’s Champion

Here are the full results of the show.

* Alex Coughlin defeated J. R. Kratos by pinfall. (Pre-Show Match)

* David Finlay defeated Bobby Fish by pinfall. (Pre-Show Match)

* Kushida, Volador Jr., Kevin Knight and The DKC defeated Máscara Dorada, Josh Alexander, Adrian Quest and Rocky Romero by pinfall.

* KENTA defeated Fred Rosser (c) by pinfall to win the Strong Openweight Championship.

* The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin) (c) defeated West Coast Wrecking Crew (Jorel Nelson and Royce Issacs) by pinfall to retain the Strong Openweight Tag Team Championships.

* Eddie Kingston defeated Jay White by pinfall in a Loser Leaves NJPW Match.

David Finlay attacked Jay White after the match with a message that included Finlay saying “f**k your era.”

* Tom Lawlor defeated Homicide by submission in a Filthy Rules Fight.

* Zack Sabre Jr. (c) defeated Clark Connors by submission to retain the NJPW World Television Championship.

* Mercedes Moné defeated Kairi (c) by pinfall to become the IWGP Women’s Champion.

The two women shook hands and hugged as a sign of respect after the match.

* Kazuchika Okada (c) defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi by pinfall to retain the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship.

Post match, Okada offered to reform his dream tag team with Tanahashi to chase the IWGP Tag Team Championships but was interrupted by Mercedes Moné. The new IWGP Women’s Champion said that the best dream team would be the Rainmaker and the CEO, which opens up some possibilities for the future.