Hiroshi Tanahashi on How He Felt Bad for Shinsuke Nakamura During His Rookie Year in NJPW

– NJPW recently spoke to wrestler Hiroshi Tanahashi for the latest Ace’s High interview, and Tanahashi discussed Shinsuke Nakamura’s rookie year and more. Below are some highlights.

Hiroshi Tanahashi on feeling bad for the rookie Shinsuke Nakamura who headlined an event in 2003: “Honestly, I felt bad for him. … Well, when you think about this business in particular, when a company decides to put absolutely all their muscle behind pushing a guy, it doesn’t get met with an overwhelmingly positive response, you know? … Right. Of course I felt a little disappointed in myself, too. I mean to be in that position, main event in the Budokan just a year in, that’s unheard of.”

On his standout memories from his second G1 Climax tour in 2003: “It’s got to be Sendai with Akiyama. The big deal that year was a top NOAH guy invading the G1, and it made these really hot crowds. After the match, Akiyama got on the mic and said he’d poach me for NOAH.”

On headlining the Tokyo Dome in October 2003 for an elimination tag match, and taking Shinsuke Nakamura’s place as a representative of the NJPW team against The True Inoki Army: “I remember. ‘The True Inoki Army’ of Bob Sapp, Nakamura, Minoru Suzuki, Kazuyuki Fujita and Yoshihiro Takayama. … Right, which tells you where me and Shinsuke were relative to one another at that point. I remember (former NJPW exectuvie) Uwai-san saying ‘I expect Tanahashi to hit the bulls-eye.'”