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WWE Star Says He Did Everything He Could To Be At Tanahashi's Retirement Match

The pair shared the ring many times over the years
Joe Baiamonte|
NJPW President Hiroshi Tanahashi retired at Wrestle Kingdom 20 in the Tokyo Dome following a legendary 26-year career.
NJPW President Hiroshi Tanahashi retired at Wrestle Kingdom 20 in the Tokyo Dome following a legendary 26-year career. | New Japan Pro-Wrestling

Shinsuke Nakamura may not have been able to attend New Japan Pro Wrestling's Wrestle Kingdom 20 event at the Tokyo Dome on January 4, but the former IWGP Heavyweight Champion has revealed he did everything he could to make the retirement match of the legendary Hiroshi Tanahashi.

Tanahashi, also the NJPW President, bowed out from his trailblazing 26-year career following a defeat to his similarly iconic rival, Kazuchika Okada, inside a sold-out Tokyo Dome over the weekend.

Hiroshi Tanahashi's greatest opponents pay tribute to him

Following another instant classic between the pair, Okada departed to leave the ring to Tanahashi. And while the likes of Katsuyori Shibata, Kota Ibushi, Kenny Omega, Jay White, Will Ospreay and fellow NJPW legends such as Keiji Muto and Tatsumi Fujinami joined The Ace in the ring to pay tribute, one of his fellow 'Three Musketeers' was absent.

Nakamura, who came up alongside Tanahashi and Shibata in the mid-00's as one-third of the aforementioned 'Musketeers', was unable to be a part of the show due to being under contract to WWE. With New Japan's working relationship with AEW, there was never an opportunity for the three-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion to appear on camera as part of the tributes to his close friend.

The former NXT Champion did take to social media during Tanahashi's main event with Okada, posting "I'm watching you" on his X account.

In an interview with Tokyo Sports, the King of Strong Style explained further that he wanted to be in attendance in Tokyo, but was unable to make it happen.

“I believe I did everything I could… but that it didn’t happen, well, maybe it was because I had other missions to fulfill. That’s the only way to see it. In its own way, it’s dramatic, I suppose.

“When Mr. Tanahashi’s retirement was decided, while exploring the possibility of facing him in his retirement match, despite our long-standing relationship, I felt a connection we hadn’t had before. I truly thank him from the bottom of my heart. I hope that going forward, as president, he will continue to energize not just New Japan Pro-Wrestling, but the entire Japanese pro-wrestling scene.” 
Shinsuke Nakamura [H/T Tokyo Sports]

Tanahashi's retirement match sells out the Tokyo Dome

Tanahashi's final bout was a huge enough draw that it brought a sell-out crowd of 46,913 fans to the Tokyo Dome for Wrestle Kingdom 20. In comparison, last year's January 4 show drew just over 24,000 fans, 2024's drew 27,400, and 2023's event drew 26,085.

In fact, the last time a single night of Wrestle Kingdom drew over 30,000 fans, let alone 40,000, was in 2020, shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic shut the world down for over a year. The draw that year was Jushin 'Thunder' Liger's retirement, which saw 40,008 fans pack out the Tokyo Dome on January 4, with a further 30,063 attending the second night on January 5.

You have to go back to 2018 for when New Japan hosted a Wrestle Kingdom without a major retirement that drew north of 40,000 fans. The 2018 edition of the show, when the promotion was white hot and pre-AEW's existence, saw Kenny Omega defeat Chris Jericho in a No Disqualification bout for the IWGP United States Championship, as well as Okada besting Tetsuya Naito in the main event to retain the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.

Tanahashi successfully defended the IWGP Intercontinental Championship against Jay White on the same show, while the likes of Will Ospreay, The Young Bucks, and current WWE Undisputed Champion Cody Rhodes all also starred on the show.

Following his in-ring retirement, Tanahashi will continue to serve as New Japan's President, a position he has held since December 2023.

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Joe Baiamonte
JOE BAIAMONTE

Joe Baiamonte is a contributing writer for The Takedown On SI, joining the team in April, 2025. Joe has been covering professional wrestling, sports and entertainment for over a decade, serving as editor at SPORTbible between 2014 and 2018 - where he helped the team to three consecutive Football Blogging Awards - and as head of sport at Unilad. Joe has written for numerous outlets in the United Kingdom and United States, including The Sportsman, Sporf, Pubity, GiveMeSport and The Sportster, interviewing the likes of Neymar, Harry Kane, Ruud Gullit, Triple H, Ric Flair, Cody Rhodes, Becky Lynch, Rey Mysterio, Aaron Boone, Alex Cora, Chris Sale and Chase Uttley. He has a BA (Hons) degree in Journalism and Broadcasting from the University of Salford and currently resides in Manchester, England, having been raised just down the road in Burnley. He briefly moved to Croatia with his family after the birth of his son, where he spent an entire summer writing on the beach and eating squid.

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