Hiroshi Tanahashi Says Ideal Scenario For Retirement Match At NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 2026 Is To Challenge For IWGP World Heavyweight Title & Lose

Tanahashi also joked about continuing to compete after Wrestle Kingdom.

The career of eight-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi is coming to an end at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 2026 on January 4th.

Tanahashi has been on his retirement road, and he spoke about that coming to a close while being interviewed by J: magazine!. The NJPW President said his ideal scenario for Wrestle Kingdom is to compete for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship and lose. Tanahashi joked that there’s a chance he might win, and if he does, he’ll have to continue wrestling.

“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).

(If I do win) 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.”

Elsewhere in the chat, Tanahashi was asked what he thinks life away from the ring will be like. He joked that after Wrestle Kingdom, a masked man named ‘The Ace’ could start appearing for New Japan.

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).”

In this same interview, Tanahashi revealed that NJPW initially told him he would have one year left as a wrestler after being appointed as NJPW President. Tanahashi requested to have two years to wrap up his career.

In addition to Tanahashi’s retirement bout, Olympic Gold medalist Aaron Wolf is going to be making his in-ring debut at Wrestle Kingdom.