Buddy Matthews set for NJPW debut against Kazuchika Okada

Kazuchika Okada is set to face Buddy Matthews at NJPW Battle in the Valley in the US. Following his big win at NJPW's recent Power Struggle event, The Rainmaker called Matthews out for a match.

The former WWE Superstar will face Okada in what will be Matthews' debut match for New Japan Pro Wrestling. A few weeks ago, NJPW aired an incredible promo to hype up the debut of Buddy Matthews. Shortly afterward, the former WWE star himself took to Twitter to hint towards a match against Okada.

As things turned out, a match between the two was eventually confirmed, as Okada is set to make his way to the US for the first time in years:

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NJPW's Battle in the Valley will feature a handful of other matches including Buddy Matthews vs. Kazuchika Okada

In addition to Buddy Matthews vs. Kazuchika Okada, NJPW's Battle in the Valley will feature Jay White defending his NEVER Openweight Championship against Tomohiro Ishii. Will Ospreay will face Ren Narita in a singles match, as well.

IMPACT Wrestling Champion Moose will also be in action against Juice Robinson. The United Empire's Jeff Cobb and TJP will team up for a match against Karl Fredericks & Clark Connors.

Here's the full match card for NJPW Battle in the Valley:

NEVER Openweight Championship: Jay White (c) vs. Tomohiro Ishii
Kazuchika Okada vs. Buddy Matthews
Will Ospreay vs. Ren Narita
Juice Robinson vs. Moose
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

NJPW has already lined up quite the stacked card for Battle in the Valley. The show will air on NJPW World and will go head-to-head against AEW's Full Gear pay-per-view.

About the author

Soumik Datta is a professional wrestling journalist who has been following the business for more than a decade.

In 2017, Soumik joined the Sportskeeda Wrestling team and is best known for his work with the WWE team. He has previously contributed to the Sportskeeda AEW, MMA, and the football team where he specifically covered the Major League Soccer.

In 2024, Soumik crossed 50 million reads for Sportskeeda WWE. While working under Sportskeeda MMA, he interviewed prominent UFC fighters, including Justin Gaethje, Sean O'Malley, and Cory Sandhagen, among others. He is also being followed by John Cena on X (formerly Twitter).

Apart from his love for professional wrestling, Soumik also watches Football and has been a lifelong follower of Liverpool FC and Mohun Bagan. He has also been following the Indian Super League and remains the only content creator to have traveled across India to watch 7 ISL Matches in 7 Days, a video which currently sits at 26K views on his YouTube channel. His channel currently amasses over 120K views.

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Edited by Arjun Kumar

Buddy Matthews confirmed to make his NJPW debut in a huge match against former IWGP Heavyweight Champion

NJPW's Battle in the Valley will feature a handful of other matches including Buddy Matthews vs. Kazuchika Okada