Shinsuke Nakamura was reportedly interested in facing ‘The Ace’ at Wrestle Kingdom 20.
Since Hiroshi Tanahashi announced his career would come to an end at Wrestle Kingdom 20, speculation has run rampant on who his final opponent will be. Around three weeks ago, it emerged via Fightful Select that NJPW had discussed Shinsuke Nakamura possibly being the one to stand across the ring from ‘The Ace’ in his retirement match. However, as revealed on November 8, Tanahashi will face ‘The Rainmaker’ Kazuchika Okada on January 4 at the Tokyo Dome. Now, it seems as if Nakamura not getting the call wasn’t to do with a lack of interest on his part.
Discussing Tanahashi’s retirement on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer states Nakamura was interested in wrestling ‘The Ace’ at Wrestle Kingdom 20.
“Nakamura was interested in doing it. I don’t know what happened. There’s a lot of stories going around. The only thing I know is that he obviously was interested because he did that thing a couple of weeks (at WWE’s Tokyo live event). I remember asking about it at the time from WWE and they just said that there’s no deal. But he does have something in his contract that he can do stuff, but they still have to approve it.”
-Dave Meltzer
Okada and Tanahashi had an era-defining rivalry which catapulted ‘The Rainmaker’ to superstardom in the early 2010s, meaning many fans were incredibly happy to see the feud revisited in time for this coming January. After leaving New Japan in 2024, many were unsure if they’d ever see Okada make a return to the company, but the 39-year-old is certainly a fitting choice to bring the career of Hiroshi Tanahashi to a close. For now, whether Shinsuke Nakamura is able to make a return to Japan in future remains to be seen.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on Hiroshi Tanahashi’s retirement match as soon as we hear more.
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