During a press conference on Monday morning, the four-time IWGP Champion announced that he would be retiring in a matter of months, with his final match taking place on August 15 during the G1 Climax semifinals at Sumo Hall.
Tenzan has only wrestled sporadically in recent years, mainly relegated to the opening match bout where he teams with his longtime tag team partner Satoshi Kojima or remaining Great Bash Heel stablemate Togi Makabe. He hasn’t wrestled since April of last year.
The career of Hiroyoshi Tenzan
Breaking into pro wrestling through their dojo in 1991, Tenzan enjoyed success in NJPW in the mid-1990s teaming with Masahiro Chono before becoming a founding member of nWo Japan in 1997. He would become a prolific IWGP Tag Team Champion, winning the titles 12 times with the likes of Masahiro Chono, Satoshi Kojima, and Osamu Nishimura.
In 2003, he won the IWGP Championship for the first time, defeating Yoshihiro Takayama. He became part of history when he lost the title to Kojima, who became the first person to ever hold the All Japan Triple Crown and IWGP titles simultaneously. Later in his career, he also held the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.
BREAKING
Hiroyoshi Tenzan announces retirement August 15 in Ryogoku
It was announced on Saturday that the longtime NJPW veteran would be off Sunday morning’s show due to a fever. Despite testing negative for both the flu and COVID, he will still sit out the go-home show for the upcoming Tokyo Dome events on January 4 and 5.
NJPW’s website wrote:
Hiroyoshi Tenzan, who was scheduled to compete on Sunday December 22’s Road to Tokyo Dome card, has presented with a fever. While he has tested negative for both influenza and COVID, he will miss action on the night out of an abundance of caution. We apologize to fans who were looking forward to seeing Tenzan wrestle, and appreciate your understanding.
Tenzan was originally set to team with longtime tag team partner Satoshi Kojima against Oleg Boltin and Toru Yano. Instead, Kojima will face Boltin in a singles match.
The former IWGP Heavyweight Champion has wrestled sparingly in 2024, almost exclusively in tag matches. His last bout took place during the New Japan Road tour in November when he, Ryusuke Taguchi, and Yuji Nagata lost to Hirooki Goto, YOH, and YOSHI-HASHI.
NJPW veteran Hiroyoshi Tenzan is on the shelf right now due to a knee injury.
It was announced today that, after suffering an injury to his right knee, the 53-year-old Tenzan will miss the remainder of NJPW’s Road to Destruction tour events. A timeline for when Tenzan will be back in action was not provided.
“Hiroyoshi Tenzan, who has been competing through the Road to Destruction tour, has sustained an injury to his right knee, and will be out of action for the remainder of the series’ live events. We apologize to fans who were looking forward to seeing Tenzan wrestle, and appreciate your understanding,” NJPW wrote.
“New Japan Pro-Wrestling joins fans in wishing Tenzan a speedy, full recovery.”
Tenzan was one of the entrants that took part in a Ranbo match at NJPW’s Road to Destruction show on September 14. The match was won by Shota Umino.
A decorated former IWGP Heavyweight Champion and Tag Team Champion, Tenzan now mostly competes in undercard tag matches at NJPW shows.
Kota Ibushi and Hiroyoshi Tenzan are both out of the upcoming Anniversary and New Japan Cup shows that are set to start this week.
NJPW announced tonight that it was decided that Ibushi would take more time to recover from his shoulder injury he suffered back at the G1 Climax 31 finals back in October. Tenzan is also out due to a knee injury suffered during the Golden Series tour.
“Kota Ibushi has been diligently preparing for a scheduled return on March 1 at the Nippon Budokan,” NJPW’s website wrote. “However, after careful consultation with trainers, medical staff and the NJPW medical committee, and based on the results of a final medical evaluation, the difficult decision has been made to delay Ibushi’s return, and remove him from Wednesday’s Anniversary card.”
As a result of both Ibushi and Tenzan being off of this year’s New Japan Cup tournament, they have forfeited their matches. Great-O-Khan, who was set to face Ibushi, will now advance to the second round, facing Taiji Ishimori on March 12. Tenzan was scheduled to face the winner of Taichi and Toru Yano, set to take place on March 9. Instead, the winner of Taichi vs. Yano will advance to the third round, next wrestling on March 15 in Aichi.
Ibushi and Tenzan were set to team in an eight man tag match on the Anniversary show card. They have been replaced by Yuto Nakashima and Kosei Fujita.
Hiroyoshi Tenzan is out for the remainder of NJPW’s Golden Series tour.
The company announced this morning that due to a “persistent right knee injury”, Tenzan would be out for the remainder of the tour, which is set to end on February 20. This is following his removal from the February 15 card, also due to knee issues.
Tenzan was scheduled to compete in multi-man tags for the remainder of his run on the tour except for January 20 in Hokkai Kita Yell, where he was set to face Great-O-Khan in a singles match. Instead, his usual tag team partner Satoshi Kojima will take his place.
The Golden Series tour, the first following Wrestle Kingdom 16, has been plagued by injuries and cancellations due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A number of stars had to be pulled from cards towards the end of January which eventually caused shows for the rest of that month to be canceled. In addition, Jeff Cobb was removed from the tour due to a left patellar tendon tear and a muscle strain in his left leg, and young lion Yuto Nakashima was pulled due to a blow to the back of the head.
Hiroyoshi Tenzan missed today’s NJPW New Year’s Golden Series event due to a knee injury.
NJPW announced prior to today’s show that Tenzan would miss the card due to pre-existing knee injury. He was scheduled to take part in an elimination match main event at Korakuen Hall, teaming with Toru Yano, Yuji Nagata, Ryusuke Taguchi, and Master Wato against the Suzuki-gun team of Minoru Suzuki, DOUKI, Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, and El Desperado. The match was made an eight-man elimination bout instead, with DOUKI not participating on the Suzuki-gun side.
Tenzan is currently still scheduled to take part in Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday NJPW events, including facing The Great-O-Khan in a singles match on Sunday on the tour’s final night. No announcement has been made to this point regarding his status for the remainder of the tour.
Tenzan is a former four-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion, and has also held the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team titles a total of 12 times.
NJPW has revealed the cards for their next two televised events.
NJPW will be back at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo for Kizuna Road shows on Thursday, July 1 and Friday, July 2. Both shows will begin at 5:30 a.m. Eastern time and will be available for free on New Japan World.
The July 2 show will be headlined by NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Champions Tomohiro Ishii, Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI defending their titles against Yuji Nagata, Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan. The match was set up by a challenge that was issued by Nagata after Ishii, Goto & YOSHI-HASHI retained their titles against EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi & Dick Togo at this Tuesday’s Kizuna Road show.
Ishii vs. Nagata, Goto vs. Kojima, and YOSHI-HASHI vs. Tenzan are set for the July 1 Kizuna Road show. Ishii vs. Nagata will be the main event.
During the angle where Nagata challenged Ishii, Goto & YOSHI-HASHI to the NEVER Six-Man title match, Ishii gave Nagata a forearm strike. Nagata responded by dropping Ishii with a forearm strike of his own.
Here are the full lineups for the July 1 and July 2 Kizuna Road shows:
Thursday, July 1 —
Tomohiro Ishii vs. Yuji Nagata
Hirooki Goto vs. Satoshi Kojima
YOSHi-HASHI vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan
Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & BUSHI vs. Zack Sabre Jr., Taichi & Minoru Suzuki
El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI vs. Taiji Ishimori, El Phantasmo & Jado
Friday, July 2 —
NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Champions Tomohiro Ishii, Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI defend against Yuji Nagata, Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan
Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & BUSHI vs. Zack Sabre Jr., Taichi & DOUKI
El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Minoru Suzuki vs. Taiji Ishimori, El Phantasmo & Jado
The New Japan Cup tournament continued today in Yamanashi.
Here are the results and a report on the Cup matches.
Yota Tsuji defeated Yuya Uemura (6:56)
Tsuji won by trapping Uemura’s legs and flipping over into a cradle for the pin.
Tsuji takes on Yuji Nagata in a first round Cup match on Tuesday, March 9.
Great-O-Khan & Jeff Cobb defeated Satoshi Kojima & Tomoaki Honma (12:00)
Cobb pinned Honma after hitting a Tour of the Islands.
Cobb faces EVIL in a second round Cup match on Thursday, March 11. O-Khan faces Yano in a second round Cup match the same night.
Hiroshi Tanahashi, Juice Robinson, Toa Henare & Ryusuke Taguchi defeated EVIL, Jay White, KENTA & Dick Togo (w/Gedo) (13:11)
Tanahashi pinned Togo with a High Fly Flow.
Henare attacked White after the match. They will face off in a first round Cup match on Wednesday, March 10. Tanahashi will face the winner of that match on Monday, March 15.
EVIL faces Cobb in the second round on Thursday, March 11.
KENTA will take on Minoru Suzuki on Saturday, March 13.
Ishii and SANADA had a staredown on the apron after the match. They will face off in the main event of the Tuesday, March 9 show in a first round Cup match.
Shingo will face Goto in the second round on Saturday, March 13.
New Japan Cup first round match: Zack Sabre Jr. defeated Gabriel Kidd (17:21)
Sabre gave Kidd way more than any Young Lion ever gets in this one. I think I’ve seen at least one better match that these two have had, but this was still good.
This was a technical wrestling master class for the first five minutes. Kidd held his own with Sabre.
After the opening technical work, Kidd missed a dropkick. Sabre used a neck twist and then backed Kidd into the corner for some strikes. Kidd rolled outside to get some distance from Sabre.
Back in, another striking battle ensued. Kidd got the better of this one. Sabre hit a hard slap. Kidd tried to fire up, but Sabre knocked him down with another strike.
Sabre used an armbar with some small joint manipulation. Kidd forced a rope break. Sabre hit a big penalty kick for a near fall.
Kidd hit a dropkick for a near fall. Sabre tried to turn a suplex attempt into a guillotine. Kidd maintained his grip and connected with the suplex for a two count. Kidd then used a bridging German for another near fall. Kidd cradled Sabre for another two.
Sabre blocked a butterfly suplex and used a cobra twist. Kidd hit a hip toss out of the hold. On landing, Sabre grabbed a triangle choke and Kidd quickly tapped.
Sabre advances and will face the winner of Ospreay/Tenzan on Sunday, March 14.
New Japan Cup first round match: Will Ospreay defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan (w/Master Wato) (13:37)
This was probably as good of a singles match as Tenzan is capable of given the mileage on his body. Ospreay was going to have to be a bump machine for the match to work and he tried his best to be that.
They began brawling before the opening bell. Tenzan knocked Ospreay off the apron to the floor. Ospreay took two big bumps on the floor. As Tenzan tried to climb back inside, Ospreay hit a nasty neckbreaker in the ropes.
Ospreay took control of the match. Ospreay whipped Tenzan into the barricade. He hit a diving knee drop to Tenzan on the apron, bumping to the floor in the process. Ospreay hit a series of strikes in the corner. Ospreay hit another neckbreaker for a two count.
Ospreay used a chinlock and a kravate. Tenzan managed a wheel kick, then hit a series of Mongolian chops. So much for that stipulation a few weeks ago. He’s just back using them again. Tenzan hit a diving bulldog off the top for a two count. He followed with a brainbuster for another two.
After an exchange of strikes, Ospreay hit pip pip cheerio and a brainbuster for a two count. Tenzan no-sold two high kicks and hit a mountain bomb. Ospreay popped up and hit a Spanish Fly for a near fall. Tenzan knocked Ospreay out of the air on a springboard attack.
Tenzan hit a headbutt and a Mongolian chop. Tenzan used the Anaconda Vice, but Ospreay forced a rope break. Ospreay avoided a TTD and hit a side suplex. Ospreay hit a rolling elbow for a two count. Tenzan blocked a Storm Breaker attempt.
Ospreay hit a hook kick. Tenzan hit a lariat and a TTD for a two count. Tenzan went back to the Anaconda Vice. He then hit an Anaconda Buster for a near fall.
Tenzan went to the second rope, teasing a moonsault. Ospreay hit a cheeky nando’s kick, then a powerbomb out of the corner for a two count. Ospreay hit an Oscutter, but Tenzan kicked out and fired up.
Ospreay went for a Storm Breaker. Tenzan blocked with a headbutt and Mongolian chops. Ospreay hoisted Tenzan up for a gutbuster for a two count.
Ospreay hit a Hidden Blade, then finally hit Storm Breaker for the pin.
Ospreay advances and will face Sabre on Sunday, March 14.
Stipulations have been added to two TenCozy vs. United Empire singles matches for NJPW’s The New Beginning in Nagoya.
Satoshi Kojima vs. Will Ospreay at The New Beginning in Nagoya this Saturday will now be a no disqualification match. Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. The Great O-Khan now has a stipulation where the loser will no longer be able to use the Mongolian chop.
Kojima & Tenzan have faced Ospreay & The Great O-Khan at NJPW’s last three Road to The New Beginning shows, with the matches ending in two no contests and a disqualification.
After controversial collisions between TenCozy and the UNITED EMPIRE side of Will Ospreay and Great-O-Khan this week, stipulations have been added that will change the shape of New Beginning in Nagoya on January 30.
First, Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Great-O-Khan will meet in the third match of the night. Tenzan has been incensed at Great-O-Khan’s use of his Mongolian Chops since O-Khan returned from excursion, and the Dominator O-Khan has no respect for the Third Generation legend. Both parties have now agreed that the loser of this match must retire the Mongolian Chop for good. Who will have to stop the chop in Nagoya?
Then, as Kojima and Ospreay have escalated in violence over the last few nights, Korakuen Hall Monday saw tables added to the mix, as each looked to put the other through the wood. After an intense exchange on the microphone, this is now officially a No Disqualification match. With nothing to hold either man back, what carnage will unfold in Aichi?
The New Beginning in Nagoya will start at 3:30 a.m. Eastern time on Saturday. Here’s the full card for the show:
NEVER Openweight Champion Shingo Takagi defends against Hiroshi Tanahashi
Satoshi Kojima vs. Will Ospreay in a no DQ match
Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs, The Great O-Khan (loser must stop using the Mongolian chop)
Kota Ibushi, Tomoaki Honma, SHO & Master Wato vs. SANADA, Tetsuya Naito, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI
Kazuchika Okada & Toru Yano vs. EVIL & Yujiro Takahashi
Iizuka will team with Suzuki-gun stablemates Minoru Suzuki and Taichi on 2/21 at Korakuen Hall. They will square off against the team of Kazuchika Okada, Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Toru Yano in the main event of the first New Japan Road card taking place this month.
This comes as a storyline has been building between Iizuka and former tag team partner Hiroyoshi Tenzan, who wanted to team up with him before he retires. It was in April 2008 that Iizuka turned on Tenzan, joining GBH and radically changing his look, adopting a madman persona.
Despite this, Tenzan still wants to mend fences with Iizuka before he retires. Iizuka has rebuffed Tenzan’s requests, opting to attack him instead. Even after Tenzan showed him a shirt from their tag team days that said “friends”, Iizuka jumped Tenzan and ripped the shirt, making it clear that he has no intentions of teaming with him.
Iizuka first entered NJPW in 1986, his first match against Akira Nogami. He’s remained in New Japan ever since, winning the tag team titles on three occasions.
Tenzan welcomed us to the show this week. I don’t think he’s been interviewed once since these shows started airing on AXS.
This is from August 14, 2015 in Sumo Hall.
Doc Gallows vs. Katsuyori Shibata
Gallows chokeslammed Shibata on the apron early, which is a big time owwie. I mean apron spots are cool, but New Japan has some of the nastiest ones I’ve seen. This wasn’t one of them, but they remind me of the ones Will Ospreay and Ricochet took during the Best of the Super Juniors. This was fine, but nothing memorable. Gallows got the surprising win with the Gallows Poll.
Kota Ibushi vs. Togi Makabe
Ibushi is so great at adapting to styles. He’s not only a terrific aerial wrestler but a great striker as well, and this that made this match memorable. Facially Ibushi is awesome at everything he does. A really fun, stiff match. Makabe is great in this role, but Ibushi shone in being able to hang with him. He got the win with the Phoenix splash.
Tenzan mentioned that 2015 was his 20th anniversary in the ring, so this year’s G1 was tough for him. He was outraged when someone wrote he wasn’t capable of being in the G1, and thus got him enraged and motivated. Regarding Naito, he says he really wanted to tear him apart and it was in his mind the whole time. He’s wasted his chances by acting out, doesn’t seem committed. He wonders if there is any motivation. He’s not a type of guy he enjoys wrestling against.
Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Tetsuya Naito
First off, I hope Tenzan didn’t read what I said prior to the G1 because…well, Tenzan has on and off days. Sometimes he’s super awesome, other times it’s kind of sad that he’s still wrestling. Time’s never kind to pro wrestlers, Tenzan being a good example of this in recent years. But despite all that, he did some great work in this match, and with the announcing of JR and Barnett, they turned this into a really good match.
Announcing was great here, getting over that Naito was being disrespectful to his former mentor. In terms of work, nothing blow away awesome, and some of it wasn’t pretty but as a whole the match was pretty good. Tenzan gets the submission win with the anaconda vise.
Tenzan ran down Naito after a match, saying it would take a million years before he could beat him. Naito said good job, was he able to regain his honor in the end? Nice work, he’s heading home now.
Tenzan mentioned that it was a really long G1 – he was determined, however, not to lose. It wasn’t a refreshing victory, and physically it was tough. At times, his body didn’t move like it wanted to. It is NJPW’s most prestigious series right now, though, and he wanted to fight until the end.
Tanahashi welcomes us to the 200th episode of World Pro Wrestling Returns! This also took place on August 14.
Toru Yano vs. Bad Luck Fale
This really wasn’t much. Jim Ross called it a “bowling shoe ugly” match and I wouldn’t disagree. They always tease the count out spot in New Japan, and here they finally did it as Fale didn’t make it to 20 and got counted out.
Already time for Tanahashi to talk. He mentioned his match against Kota Ibushi where he was lawn darted into the turnbuckle (and in hindsight, what a dangerous spot), and was still banged up from that spot.. AJ’s match was one of concern. He definitely didn’t want to lose against him. The winner of the match was going to the finals. He considered AJ one of the best wrestlers in the world – why wouldn’t he want to beat Styles and reclaim that title?
AJ Styles vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
They, of course, pulled out all the stops here and was a great match that you totally need to see if you haven’t yet. I really liked the leg work from Styles on Tanahashi early in the bout, only for Tanahashi to return it a while later. Another factor that you have to remember is that even before Styles came to New Japan, Tanahashi used the Styles Clash, so that was also a big part of the match, with Styles escaping before eventually landing one.
Styles even hit a high fly flow but Tanahashi kicked out. Finally Tanahashi hit a big high fly flow to a standing Styles then finished him off with another one. This was so fantastic, a great story told by both men. One of the best matches of 2015, easily, and stands out even more today thanks to the English commentary.
Tanahashi announced he was in the finals match to big applause. ‘
In his reflective interview, he mentions how it took eight years for his favorite match (vs. Goto) to be replaced by this one. He mentioned that how of the four wh made it to the semifinals, only two would be continuing to 2016 in New Japan, which shows how great 2015 was.
On Styles leaving, he would like to thank him as a member of New Japan Pro Wrestling. In his first match against him back in 2007, he was booed. But after, he said he wanted to face him again. “Let’s do this again, genius” is the exact quote. When AJ left for WWE, he told him the same thing.
First hour had some pretty good action. The second one is great and highly recommended, as it was fantastic.
