Hiroshi Tanahashi’s Ideal Retirement Match Would Be For IWGP World Heavyweight Title

When it’s time for him to hang up the boots, Hiroshi Tanahashi would like his final match to be for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. Tanahashi is set to retire at Wrestle Kingdom 20 in January, and he recently spoke with Tokyo Sports about how he would like to go out. You can see a couple of highlights below:

On his ideal retirement match: “So ideally, I would like my retirement match to be for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. If I challenge, and win, I’ll extend my active career and withdraw my retirement. If I lose, I’ll just retire. Then I’ll be satisfied. I can retire because I think I can’t reach it anymore.”

On Kazuchika Okada or Shinsuke Nakamura as possible opponents: “Personally, I would like to fight younger wrestlers, but if the fans want it. It may or may not happen, I don’t know. Personally, I would like to do it somewhere. First of all, I will fight with all my might for the remaining one year and two months, so please support me.”