Kazuchika Okada Defeats Hiroshi Tananashi in Tanahashi’s Retirement Match at Wrestle Kingdom 20, Jay White, Will Ospreay, Kota Ibushi, Tetsuya Naito, & More Appear During Tanahashi’s Retirement Ceremony

Indie / Misc
Jan 4, 2026

Sunday’s NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 20 event at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan featured Kazuchika Okada defeating Hiroshi Tanahashi in Tanahashi’s retirement match for his in-ring wrestling career.

Following the match, Okada grabbed the microphone and gave a quick speech thanking Tanahashi before leaving and letting Tanahashi have the ring for his final farewell.

A very emotional Tanahashi got up on his feet for his retirement ceremony and after being presented with flowers by some of New Japan’s sponsors, Jay White’s music played and he made his surprise return appearance. White came down to the ring and handed Tanahashi some flowers and bowed in respect to him. The two then hugged and posed for the cameras before leaving.

Others who made special appearances during Tanahashi’s retirement ceremony in order were Will Ospreay, Kenny Omega, Kota Ibushi, Katsuyori Shibata, Keiji Mutoh, Tatsumi Fujinami, BUSHI, and Tetsuya Naito.

Naito then gave a speech to Tanahashi and stated that even if he didn’t ever get to wrestle in a New Japan ring again, he would hope to meet Tanahashi again some day. Naito then offered a LIJ fist bump to Tanahashi, who did one in return.

After everyone left, Tanahashi gave a speech thanking everyone and performed one last set of air guitar solos for the crowd. Tanahashi then left the ring one last time and made his way up the ramp to the stage but instead of leaving, he got into a giant mobile platform and was wheeled around the arena to give his final waves and thanks to the crowd. After that was done, Tanahashi got onto the stage one last time and talked about his love of wrestling and gave his final farewell before leaving.

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