Tony Khan Responds To Rumors That He Blocked Shinsuke Nakamura From Facing Hiroshi Tanahashi In His Last Match
Tony Khan comments on the rumors surrounding Hiroshi Tanahashi’s final match.
In January, Hiroshi Tanahashi will compete in the final match of his career at Wrestle Kingdom 20, facing Kazuchika Okada in a highly anticipated singles contest. Earlier this year there was some chatter regarding Shinsuke Nakamura possibly facing Tanahashi in his final match, with one report stating that Tony Khan blocked the match from happening due to Nakamura’s current tenure with WWE.
Fightful Select debunked those rumors in mid-November, saying that nobody in WWE had ever talked about the possibility of that match. Speaking with Case Lowe of Q101 for a new interview, Khan responded to the rumors himself.
“That is actually something I read about and I was surprised to read that. I’m not sure where that all came from, I don’t really understand some of that story. It was a very detailed story with a lot of, if I may, it seemed like they thought they could read minds when they wrote that story. Not only did they say this happened and this happened, but he felt his way about it and he felt this way about it and then he was thinking. It’s like, well, are you telepathic? A lot of that never happened and a lot of it was like, how would you know what that guy was thinking or that guy? I thought that was an interesting story, I’ll put it that way. I’ve talked to him extensively about his retirement, worked with him and the idea of having Kazuchika Okada as his final opponent, it’s such an iconic thing. Their rivalry is so important to New Japan Pro Wrestling and to both men’s careers an to what has gone on to be a very successful promotion with AEW. I think it’s perfect and I’m very happy involved for Okada to be involved at Wrestle Kingdom as the final opponent of Tanahashi for his retirement match.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Tony Khan responded to Cody Rhodes and his previous comments about feeling disrespected in AEW. Check out his full comments by clicking here.
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