As noted before, NJPW talent Hiroyoshi Tenzan will be retiring from his in-ring wrestling career at NJPW’s G1 Climax 2026 event on August 15 at the Ryogoku Sumo Hall in Tokyo, Japan.
Prior to the start of Saturday’s NJPW G1 Climax 2026 event in Hokkaido, Japan, Tenzan came out and announced that his longtime tag team partner Satoshi Kojima will be the opponent for his retirement match.
Hiroyoshi Tenzan announces retirement match August 15! 【G136】
Friends and rivals to go at it one last time in Ryogoku
Ahead of action in Sapporo on July 18, Hiroyoshi Tenzan greeted the crowd on night two of G1 Climax 36 with an announcement about his impending retirement at the G1 Climax semifinals August 15 in Ryogoku.
‘I wanted one more singles match with a tag partner, sometimes opponent and close friend,’ Tenzan explained as he announced that his final bout will be against Satoshi Kojima.
Dojo contemporaries, Tenzan and Kojima trained with one another in the Noge Dojo, and while Tenzan would get to debut six months ahead of Kojima, the two would wrestle in Kojima’s debut match on July 16, 1991. Both would win the Young Lion Cup and go on excursions as a result, with Kojima facing Tenzan on his 1996 return from excursion in the Tokyo Dome.
Between nWo Japan, Team 2000 and then on separate rosters in New and All Japan, TenCozy became best friends and better enemies. The two have held the IWGP Tag Team Championships six times, and battled fiercely with famous matches happening in Ryogoku in 2005, where Kojima beat Tenzan to lift both the AJPW Triple Crown and the IWGP heavyweight Championships, and in the 2006 G1 Climax final, when a terrifying Original TTD saw Tenzan to his third trophy.
The only duo to ever main event in the Tokyo Dome both as singles opponents, at Nexess VI in 2005, and as a tag team at Wrestle Kingdom 1 in 2007, these two legends will do battle for five more minutes August 15!
Current card for August 15th NJPW G1 Climax 2026 event:
- Hiroyoshi Tenzan Retirement Five-Mine Time Limit match – Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Satoshi Kojima
- G1 Climax 2026 Semifinal Round match – A Block winner vs. B Block runner-up
- G1 Climax 2026 Semifinal Round match – B Block winner vs. A Block runner-up
Motor City Machine Guns React to WWE Release & Tease Next Destination for Their Wrestling Careers
WWE: CM Punk on “Watching Peers Retire From WWE Keeps Me Motivated”, Backstage Update on WWE’s Current Plans for Maxxine Dupri in The Vision, Sami Zayn Launches New Sami For Syria Charity Fundraiser Campaign
El Hijo del Vikingo Knee Injury Update – Vikingo Reportedly Suffered Torn ACL Injury
