Hiroshi Tanahashi On Putting NJPW Before His Interests, Still Has IWGP Title Reign As a Goal

Hiroshi Tanahashi is still thinking about his in-ring career even as he takes on the role of NJPW President and Representative Director. As reported, Tanahashi has been appointed to head the company and during the press conference he addressed his in-ring future. Tanahashi is currently the co-holder of the NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Championship alongside Kazuchika Okada and Tomohiro Ishii.

NJPW has posted a transcript of Tanahashi’s comments on their website, and you can see a couple of highlights below:

On whether his new role will affect how he approaches his in-ring work: “I’m obviously thinking about the rest of my active career. Obviously as for everyone, within that the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship is a key goal. This is probably the only business where guys can freely beat up their boss, so that might make me an even bigger target, but I hope to make all the boys angry with how hard I’m fighting (laughs).”

On his reputation of putting the company before his own interests: “In my wrestling life, I’ve realised a few things, and one of them is when I get into the ring and put my energy into a match, I’m less invested in winning championships as I am in responding to the fan’s support, answering to their expectations and having them leave with a positive experience. What I want from wrestling is to give people power and strength, and I think I’ll carry that into my position as President, to give that power to the fans and our staff.”