El Phantasmo will defend the NJPW World Television Championship at Battle in the Valley. NJPW announced on Monday that Phantasmo will defend the championship that he won at Wrestle Kingdom 19 against Jeff Cobb.
The announcement reads:
One of the high points of an emotional weekend in the Tokyo Dome came when El Phantasmo won the NJPW World TV Championship in a sensational four-way bout. Returning from a bout with cancer, ELP had not missed a step, but had missed Jeff Cobb on the way to victory. While it was a Thunder Kiss 86 on Ren Narita that sealed the deal in the Tokyo Dome, Cobb was well on the way to the win himself. Now, with no three- or four-way distractions, Cobb and Phantasmo will go head-to-head for the TV gold.
The first kickoff match of the night will see Zane Jay defend his STRONG Survivor spot for the first time against Viento. Jay’s firm fundamentals drilled in the NJPW Academy saw him to be the first to put away Matt Vandagriff in over a year to take the STRONG Survivor label at Strong Style Evolved. Now he faces the exciting luchador Viento in his return to NJPW for the first time since Fantasticamania USA. The STRONG will survive, but who will it be?
The updated card for the January 11th show is:
* NEVER Openweight Championship Match: Konosuke Takeshita vs. KUSHIDA
* STRONG Openweight Championship Match: Gabe Kidd vs Tomohiro Ishii
* STRONG Openweight Tag Team Championship Match: West Coast Wrecking Crew vs. Rocky Romero & YOH
* IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship Match: El Desperado vs. Taiji Ishimori
* NJPW World TV Championship Match: El Phantasmo vs. Jeff Cobb
* Strong Survivor Match: Zane Jay vs. Viento
* Zack Sabre Jr. vs Hechicero
* Hiromu Takahashi, Mayu Iwatani & Yuka Sakazaki vs. EVIL, SHO & Sumie Sakai
* Fred Rosser & Matt Vandagriff vs. Bad Dude Tito & Shane Haste
