Following his match with Tama Tonga at NJPW’s Power Struggle event, Kazuchika Okada issued a challenge for ‘Battle in the Valley’ next weekend.
Okada was victorious over Tonga, his lone blemish throughout the G1 Climax, catching Tonga with a tombstone and Rainmaker after more than 25 minutes of action.
With the victory, Okada retains his title shot for Wrestle Kingdom and indicates a showdown with IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Shingo Takagi, who retained his championship against Zack Sabre Jr. in the main event on Saturday.
After the win against Tonga, Okada issued a challenge backstage to Buddy Matthews for next Saturday’s ‘Battle in the Valley’ event in San Jose, California.
From Okada:
Next, I’ll be heading to the USA for a little bit. I’ll be leaving the fans here for a little while. The plan is to fire up the ring in America, so next stop: San Jose. Hey Buddy Matthews! I’ll see you in San Jose- bring it on, bastard.
Matthews (the former Buddy Murphy) was one of many WWE cuts over the past year and will make his New Japan debut next Saturday at the San Jose Civic Center.
The match has yet to be officially announced by New Japan.
The San Jose card will air at 11 p.m. ET next Saturday on NJPW World and Fite TV with the following card:
*NEVER Openweight Championship: Jay White © vs. Tomohiro Ishii
*Will Ospreay vs. Ren Narita
*Moose vs. Juice Robinson
*Jeff Cobb & TJP vs. Karl Fredericks & Clark Connors
*Tom Lawlor, JR Kratos, Danny Limelight, Royce Isaacs & Jorel Nelson vs. Fred Rosser, David Finlay, Rocky Romero, Alex Coughlin & Alex Zayne
*Brody King & Chris Dickinson vs. BATEMAN & Misterioso
*Josh Alexander vs. Yuya Uemura
