Road to Tanahashi’s retirement.
Come January 4th, 2026, Hiroshi Tanahashi will have his final match. He revealed his intention to wrap up his in-ring career after his 25th anniversary match at NJPW King of Pro-Wrestling.
There was a press conference held and Tanahashi fielded questions from the media about his future. The NJPW President confirmed that he’ll move into a full-time office role after his final match.
Other subjects touched on during the presser had to do with potential matches against wrestlers from other promotions. Tanahashi brought up that he’ll be having Konomama Ichikawa’s retirement match in December. Dragongate will host the bout.
The idea of facing Katsuyori Shibata and/or Shinsuke Nakamura again was mentioned. Tanahashi said there’s a lot of hurdles to overcome with those people. He reiterated that he wants to become IWGP World Heavyweight Champion.
EVIL interrupted Tanahashi’s press conference. Both of them directly mentioned Wrestle Kingdom 19 in 2025 being the destination for their singles match.
