There is no such thing as rest for champions in New Japan.
El Phantasmo is coming off a championship high as he won the NJPW World TV Championship at Wrestle Kingdom 19. The 38-year-old beat Ren Narita, Ryohei Oiwa and Jeff Cobb to win the belt for the first time in his career.
El Phantasmo is coming off a health scare where the New Japan star was dealing with cancer in the last months of 2024. But he made his shocking return on December 22 and announced that his first match back would be at Wrestle Kingdom 19.
El Phantasmo's return and huge win feels like a Cinderella story, but he's now the champion, so his story doesn’t stop until he drops the NJPW World TV title. That could happen on January 11 as El Phantasmo’s first defense will be against Jeff Cobb, a former NJPW World TV Champion.
Cobb held the belt for a good majority of 2024, beating Zack Sabre Jr. at Wrestling Dontaku on May 5 and he successfully retained his title against Lance Archer, Tomohiro Ishii, and Yota Tsuji before dropping it to Ren Narita in a triple threat match at King of Pro-Wrestling.
It should be a fun match-up stylistically between the New Japan stars. That’s the fifth match confirmed for the upcoming Battle in the Valley show that also features Gabe Kidd defending his NJPW Strong Openweight Championship against New Japan legend Tomohiro Ishii.
Check out the updated line-up for the special Battle in the Valley event that's scheduled for January 11:
- NJPW Strong Openweight Championship: Gabe Kidd (c) vs. Tomohiro Ishii
- Sumie Sakai, EVIL, & SHO vs. Hiromu Takahashi, Mayu Iwatani, & Yuka Sakazaki
- NJPW Strong Openweight Tag Team Championships: West Coast Wrecking Crew (Jorel Nelson & Royce Isaacs) vs. Rocky Romero & YOH
- Zack Sabre Jr vs. Hechicero
- TMDK (Shane Haste & Bad Dude Tito) vs. Fred Rosser & Matt Vandagriff
- IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: El Desperado (c) vs. Taiji Ishimori
- NJPW World TV Championship: El Phantasmo (c) vs. Jeff Cobb
- Strong Survivor: Zane Jay vs. Viento