Where will Zack Sabre Jr. be once his Wrestle Kingdom and Wrestle Dynasty is over?
The IWGP World Heavyweight Champion has a lot on his plate in the next two weeks. That’s because Wrestle Kingdom 19 is scheduled on January 4th and Zack Sabre Jr. will defend his belt against Shota Umino. But if Zack beats the G1 Climax Winner, then he’ll have to deal with Ricochet at Wrestle Dynasty the next night.
There’s no telling if Zack will escape the weekend as the IWGP Heavyweight Champion, but one thing is always guaranteed - Zack Sabre Jr. always delivers when he’s asked to perform. That should be the case on January 11th where the 37-year-old will take on Hechicero at NJPW’s Battle in the Valley.
The Mexico native made his name known in CMLL. Hechicero made his wrestling debut in 2001 and took the Mexican culture by storm thanks to his captivating highflying style that has gotten him the CMLL World Heavyweight Championship, NWA World Historic Light Heavyweight Championship, and CMLL World Trios Championship.
But that isn’t the only match that’s been confirmed for Battle in the Valley.
West Coast Wrecking Crew (Jorel Nelson & Royce Isaacs) vs. Rocky Romero & YOH for the NJPW Strong Openweight Tag Team titles is also advertised for the special event. The WCWC is fresh off their title win against the Grizzled Young Veterans at Strong Style Evolved. Rocky Romero & YOH are no strangers to holding tag team gold as the duo has won the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team titles eleven times.
That won’t be the only tag team match on the card.
Fred Rosser (former WWE Tag Team Champion Darren Young) and Matt Vandagriff will fight TMDK (Shane Haste & Bad Dude Tito).
Last but not least, Sumie Sakai is hanging up the boots for good after being in the business since 1997. Sakai has won multiple world titles such as the DDT Iron Man Heavy Metal Championship, ROH Women of Honor World Championship, and PWU Unified Women’s Championship.
The 53-year-old’s final match will be a six-person tag team match with former IWGP Heavyweight Champion EVIL & SHO against Hiromu Takahashi, Yuka Sakazaki & Mayu Iwatani.