Tag: hiroshi tanahshi

Shinsuke Nakamura gives shoutout to Hiroshi Tanahashi at WWE house show

Posted on by Joseph Currier

At a WWE house show in Japan, Shinsuke Nakamura gave a subtle shoutout to a former NJPW rival who will be retiring soon.

Nakamura returned to his home country on Friday for the first of two WWE live events at Sumo Hall in Tokyo. The show featured a tag team bout where Nakamura & Jey Uso were victorious over Bron Breakker & Bronson Reed. Following the match, Nakamura briefly spoke to the crowd and used Hiroshi Tanahashi’s catchphrase “Aishitemasu” — which means “I love you” in Japanese.

“Tokyo! WWE is back at [Sumo Hall] again this year. Are you having fun? Let’s have more fun than any other city in the world,” he said. “Japan, I love you!”

Tanahashi took note of the reference by tweeting the following: “Huh? I thought I heard something…”

Coming up together at the same time, Tanahashi and Nakamura were both partners and rivals during their NJPW careers, helping lead the company to its modern era success. Nakamura departed NJPW for WWE in 2016.

Tanahashi — who is now the president of NJPW — is finishing up his in-ring career with his retirement match set to take place at the Tokyo Dome on January 4, 2026. An opponent for the match has not been announced yet. Nakamura being an option would appear to be unlikely given that NJPW is close partners with AEW & CMLL and is not aligned with WWE. Pro Wrestling NOAH and Marigold are promotions that WWE works with in Japan.

ROH confirms TV title match for next PPV, Tanahashi set for tapings

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Ring of Honor has confirmed the Television title match for next month’s Death Before Dishonor pay-per-view and announced one of NJPW’s top stars for the post-PPV tapings.

Punishment Martinez will be defending his TV title against Chris Sabin at Death Before Dishonor. Sabin defeated Silas Young in a number one contender’s match in June to get the title shot.

The Bullet Club (Cody Rhodes, The Young Bucks, Marty Scurll & Hangman Page) vs. Chaos (Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii, Rocky Romero, Beretta & Chuckie T) in a 10-man tag match, Jay Lethal vs. Will Ospreay for the ROH World Championship, The Briscoes vs. Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian for the ROH Tag Team titles, and Sumie Sakai vs. Tenille Dashwood for the Women of Honor Championship are the other matches that have been made official for Death Before Dishonor.

Jushin Thunder Liger will also be wrestling at the PPV.

Death Before Dishonor is taking place at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on September 28. The venue will host a set of ROH TV tapings the next night, and ROH revealed today that Hiroshi Tanahashi will be wrestling on the tapings. Like KUSHIDA, SANADA, EVIL, and Chase Owens, Tanahashi is only advertised for the tapings.

Suzuki vs. Goto hair match set up, Tanahashi returns ahead of WK 12

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

The expected hair vs. hair match between Minoru Suzuki and Hirooki Goto for the NEVER Openweight Championship is now just about official for the January 4th Wrestle Kingdom show at the Tokyo Dome.

It is expected that the entire card will be announced within the next 48 hours since New Japan’s final show of the year on Monday at Korakuen Hall just ended.

After Goto & YOSHI-HASHI beat Suzuki & Takashi Iizuka via DQ due to outside interference on today’s show, Suzuki and Goto did post-match mic work. Suzuki accepted the challenge and said that he would finish Goto, not just humiliate him by taking his hair. He also indicated his own hair would be on the line as he said it was all or nothing, the winner gets the clippers (to cut their opponent’s hair off) as well as the NEVER title belt. 

Also at today’s show, Hiroshi Tanahashi appeared and assured everyone that his knee is improving and he would be defending his IWGP Intercontinental title against Jay White at the Dome. White, who was not advertised for the show and didn’t wrestle, then attacked Tanahashi and worked over his bad knee.

There was also an end-of-the-show brawl with Tetsuya Naito and Kazuchika Okada in their final confrontation before the Tokyo Dome. This time Naito was able to escape Okada’s new Cobra Clutch and finish him with the Destino, to show that even with Okada’s new counter developed, he’s studied and can still win the title.