Tetsuya Naito Disappointed At Not Being Hiroshi Tanahashi’s Final Opponent

Former IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Tetsuya Naito is disappointed at not getting the chance to retire Hiroshi Tanahashi.

Tanahashi will wrestle his final match at Wrestle Kingdom 20 on January 4, 2026. He will face current AEW star and multi-time IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada.
In a recent interaction with Web Sportiva, Naito admitted that he always felt that it was his job to send Hiroshi Tanahashi into retirement, adding that he is extremely disappointed at not getting the opportunity to be the latter’s final opponent.

“I’ve always had that feeling. It was my job to end the era of Hiroshi Tanahashi, but in the end, I wasn’t the opponent in Tanahashi’s retirement match, so I’m very disappointed that I wasn’t able to make that happen,” he said.

Tetsuya Naito departed New Japan Pro-Wrestling this past summer after spending two decades with the company. He feels that leaving NJPW increased his chances of being Tanahashi’s final opponent, but that wasn’t to be.

“Yeah, even more so. In fact, leaving might have made it slightly more possible,” he added. [H/T: Fightful]

Tetsuya Naito and Hiroshi Tanahashi’s rivalry dominated the proceedings in NJPW during the 2010s. The two had several in-ring battles, the last of which took place at G1 Climax in August 2017.