White vs Kingston, Lawlor vs Homicide set for February 18

The San Jose Civic is getting an increasingly stacked card on February 18. Battle in the Valley all but sold out on the strength of KAIRI vs Mercedes Moné alone, while the IWGP World Heavyweight and STRONG Openweight Championships will also be defended on a title filled night. Recently added on the back of NJPW STRONG though, are a pair of non title, but sure to be hard fought, grudge bouts. 

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Eddie Kingston and Jay White will go one on one in San Jose. The Switchblade and the Mad King have been on a collision course ever since last October, when a scheduled bout during the Autumn Action series on NJPW STRONG was waved off as Kingston dealt with COVID. The Catalyst of Professional Wrestling dismissed the illness as a cover for cowardice, leading to a tag team bout in New York later in the autumn. As both men continued to needle one another, it finally looked like the two would go to blows one on one this past week on STRONG, but WHite would instead insist that the match happen on his terms at Battle in the Valley. 

With White facing Hikuleo in a Loser Leaves Japan match at new Beginning in Osaka just one week earlier, White could either be heading into this bout back on track in a championship hunt, or exiled from Japan and with a the house of cards that is the Switchblade Era in potential disarray. He can expect no mercy from Kingston either way in what should be a thriller on February 18.

Another showdown months in the making since Autumn Action in Las Vegas, Homicide will face Tom Lawlor in a ‘Filthy Rules Fight’. The bout, which will see the ropes taken down from the ring, and no disqualifications, has its roots when Lawlor attacked Homicide after a six man tag in Vegas; the very six man tag that was altered when Kingston was absent for his meeting with jay White in the first place. Lawlor would then face the Notorious 187 weeks later on STRONG, a match where Homicide was victorious. After the bout, the brawler wasn’t done as he sought to stab Lawlor with a fork, only to be saved by Danny Limelight. That started a war for Homicide against the members of Team Filthy. Lawlor now has had enough, and has promised to end things against his nemesis in this brutal battle.