New Japan Pro Wrestling’s ‘Ace’ has his eyes on one last IWGP Title challenge.
On January 4th, 2026, the career of the legendary Hiroshi Tanahashi will come to an end, with the eight-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion having announced 2025 as his final year as a pro-wrestler back in October of last year.
With his retirement road ongoing, Tanahashi recently sat down with J: magazine!, where he revealed that his ideal scenario for Wrestle Kingdom is challenging for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship, although he acknowledged that this poses the prospect of him capturing the title.
“I’ve been saying this since I was young: ‘I’ll retire when I give up on becoming the IWGP Champion.’ So, if I’m going to stick to my beliefs, the ideal scenario would be to lose in a title match and retire. But, of course, there’s a chance I might win (laughs). I’d have to say, I’m not retiring after all! (laughs). I think the crowd at Tokyo Dome would probably start chanting, give us our money back! … I want to retire while still looking up and holding onto the desire to be the best.”
-Hiroshi Tanahashi
The pathway for one final shot at the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship begins on July 19th, as Tanahashi enters his final G1 Climax, a tournament that he’s won on three occasions.
Elsewhere in the interview, Tanahashi was asked about what life may be like for him beyond the ring, to which he joked that perhaps he’ll reappear donning a new persona.
“I guess I’ll just go back to being a fan like I used to be, and maybe I’ll miss the ring… Who knows, maybe next year or something, a mysterious masked man named ‘The Ace’ will appear on the New Japan Pro Wrestling ring (laughs).”
-Hiroshi Tanahashi
Regardless of whether Tanahashi gets his ideal send-off at Wrestle Kingdom 20 or not, it’s undeniable that the NJPW President will retire as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time.
In addition to Hiroshi Tanahashi’s farewell, Olympic gold medalist and former judoka Aaron Wolf will make his NJPW debut, though his opponent has yet to be confirmed.
