NJPW Battle in the Valley live results, open thread: Mercedes Moné vs. KAIRI

New Japan Pro-Wrestling will close out a great day of wrestling on Feb. 18 with one of the biggest shows they’ve ever put on in the United States, featuring the most important women’s match in the company’s brief history of featuring women’s wrestling.

Mercedes Moné (fka WWE’s Sasha Banks) vs. KAIRI for the IWGP Women’s championship is one of five title bouts on tonight’s Battle in the Valley show from San Jose, California. Co-headlining is World Heavyweight champion Kazuchika Okada defending against his old rival Hiroshi Tanahashi. The line-up also includes a Loser Leaves NJPW between Switchblade Jay White and AEW’s Eddie Kingston, and much, much more.

Battle in the Valley will stream on FITE for $19.99. The main show starts at 10pm ET, with a free-to-watch Kickoff show starting 40 minutes earlier. You can watch that here.

Follow along here for updates, and have fun chatting in the open thread.

RESULTS

• Alex Coughlin def. J. R. Kratos via pinfall after a German Suplex (pre-show)

• David Finlay def. Bobby Fish via pinfall after Trash Panda (pre-show)

• The show is currently delayed as the technical issues experienced during the pre-show have continued onto the PPV... it’s back at approximately 10:45. Well, video is anyway...

• KUSHIDA, Volador Jr., Kevin Knight & The DKC def. Máscara Dorada, Josh Alexander, Adrian Quest & Rocky Romero. Knight pinned DKC after a DDT while KUSHIDA had Alexander in a Hoverboard Lock.

• Volador and Romero brawled on the floor afterwards, and Volador challenged Rocky to a hair match

• KENTA def. Fred Rosser via pinfall after Go To Sleep to become the NEW Strong Openweight champion. Rosser made KENTA tap while the referee was down after a bump, and Juice Robinson hit Rosser with a loaded punch to set-up the finish.

• The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin) def. West Coast Wrecking Crew (Jorel Nelson & Royce Issacs) via pinfall after the Dirt Bomb on Issacs, retaining the Strong Openweight Tag titles

• Eddie Kingston def. Jay White via pinfall following four spinning backfists and two Northern Lights Drivers. Per the stipulation, White can’t wrestle in NJPW again. More here.

• A bitter David Finlay took out White before he could cut a promo, and ranted about how it made him sick that Jay had New Japan in the palm of his hand and pissed it all away. Finlay is tired of being treated as an outsider everywhere he goes, and said if anyone is in a New Japan ring in any company, it better be with his permission.

• Tom Lawlor def. Homicide in a Filthy Rules Fight. Homicide passed out with his middle fingers in the air while in a rear naked choke that came after being hit in the head with a door and taking a diving headbutt off a ladder.

• Zack Sabre, Jr. def. Clark Connors via submission with an armbar to retain the NJPW Television championship. Connors got desperate as the match approached the TV title’s 15 minute time limit and ZSJ caught him while they traded holds.

• Kevin Knight met Sabre at the curtain looking for the next shot, but the champ brushed him off.

• Mercedes Moné def. KAIRI via pinfall after a Moné Maker to become the new IWGP Women’s champion. Much more here.

• Kazuchika Okada def. Hiroshi Tanahashi via pinfall following a Rainmaker to remain the IWGP World Heavyweight championship. These two are incapable of having a bad match with each other, and this one told a good story about the aging Golden Ace and how well he & Okada know one another. The champ cut off a High Fly Flow with a drop kick, and used an enziguri and Cobra Flowsion to set-up his finisher.

• Okada cut a promo in English to close the show. He and Tanahashi showed San Jose what New Japan Pro-Wrestling is all about, and now he wants to reform their dream tag team to go after the IWGP Tag titles. He’s saying goodbye when another champion’s music hits...

• New IWGP Women’s champ Mercedes Moné is here, and Okada can’t help but shake his hips (kind of) like the Legit C.E.O. does when she holds her belt in the air. Moné also thanks San Jose, then says she heard Okada talking about dream tag teams and wonders if they’re not destined to team-up in the future. The show closes with the two champs posing in the ring and on the stage before exiting.