To AEW’s Kazuchika Okada him being Hiroshi Tanahashi’s final opponent ‘just makes sense’.
“It doesn’t quite feel like he’s retiring. I think I won’t know for sure until the day itself. If I was in NJPW all this time, perhaps I might get a sense that retirement was looming, but I’ve been over in America; I never really gave it thought. I think it’ll be at the end of the year, when I’m finished with the AEW schedule, and next is the Tokyo Dome, that’s when I’ll be able to give it more thought,” he told NJPW.
Okada will take on The Ace at Wrestle Kingdom in Tanahashi’s final match of his career. It seems fitting as their feud defined the new era of New Japan Pro-Wrestling.
“Everything about the Rainmaker started with Tanahashi, so it makes sense to end Tanahashi’s career.. Talking about it that way sounds a little self centered (laughs) but in the end, I feel this is a repayment in a way,” continued Okada.
Although it will be a monumental occasion for fans and Tanahashi, the NJPW President, it will be another day at work for Okada…or so he claims.
“Yes, it’s a retirement match, but, and I don’t mean this in a weird way, in the end it is a normal match. It’s the same as it would be a tag match on a local house show, any match only exists in itself and never to be repeated, so I don’t think that retirement matches in themselves should be different in that sense. I’m just thinking how best can I really hit him where it hurts,” he said.
Okada wasn’t surprised The Ace was hanging up his boot either.
“It makes sense his having a hard time moving (laughs) but seriously, when he became President, I thought because of that it wouldn’t be all that much longer. So I wasn’t all that surprised, as long as he could live up to that Ace status until it was all over,” he said.
Okada is thankful for all Tanahashi did for him over the years.
“Summing it up is hard. He’s a rival, a friend, a senior, all those. Is it a cop out to say the one word is “intangible?” He’s a rival in so many ways, but he was a senpai who looked after me, who had kind big brother vibes about him, but someone I’ve hated, someone who frustrated me with how good he was. There’s just so much you can’t contain it in a couple of words, you can’t put your finger on it in that sense,” he said.
Wrestle Kingdom will take place on January 4, 2026 at the Tokyo Dome, in Tokyo, Japan.
The card so far is:
- Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada – Tanahashi’s Retirement Match
- Evil (c) (with Dick Togo and Don Fale) vs. Aaron Wolf – NEVER Openweight Championship Match
- Saya Kamitani (Strong) vs. Syuri (IWGP) – Winner Takes All match for the IWGP Women’s Championship and Strong Women’s Championship
- Konosuke Takeshita (World) vs. Yota Tsuji (Global) – Winner Takes All match for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship and IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship
- El Desperado vs. Kosei Fujita vs. Taiji Ishimori vs. Sho – Four-way match to determine the #1 contender for IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship
- Toru Yano and Spiritech (Master Wato and Yoh) (c) vs. TBA – Six-man tag team Ranbo for the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship
- Kaisei Takechi vs. TBA
