Hiroshi Tanahashi
When Tanahashi was inducted into the Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame in 2013, Dave Meltzer stated that "you could make a strong case for him as the best in-ring performer in the business today", adding that he was "the leading star in New Japan Pro-Wrestling's comeback from being in terrible shape a few years back to being the No.[1] This pairing was popular, but came to an end after a real life incident in November 2002 in which Tanahashi was stabbed in the back by Hitomi Hara, a TV Asahi news reporter.In August 2004 he made it to the finals of the G1 Climax and on January 4, 2005, he headlined the Toukon Festival: Wrestling World 2005 show in Tokyo Dome in a match, where he dropped the U-30 Openweight Championship to Shinsuke Nakamura.[1] He also defeated Tiger Mask on May 13 in the first ever main event of the new Wrestle Land brand (a promotional experiment by New Japan with "sports entertainment"), debuting a modified side buster finish.He came in as a villain and was given the "Block from Hell" as he had to face nearly all of All Japan's top talent including Taiyō Kea, Satoshi Kojima, Toshiaki Kawada and his mentor Keiji Muto.[18] Tanahashi would vacate the IWGP Heavyweight title on August 17, due to an eye fracture injury he suffered in a match with Shinsuke Nakamura, in the semi-finals of the 2009 G1 Climax Tournament.[27] After scoring back-to-back pinfall victories over top contender Hirooki Goto and Tetsuya Naito on December 11 and 12, Tanahashi was granted a shot at the IWGP Heavyweight Champion Satoshi Kojima at Wrestle Kingdom V in Tokyo Dome.[40] On October 10 at Destruction '11, Tanahashi avenged his loss from the final day of the 2011 G1 Climax by defeating Tetsuya Naito to make his eighth successful IWGP Heavyweight Championship defense.[44] On November 12 at Power Struggle, Tanahashi regained the IWGP Heavyweight Championship belt from Toru Yano by successfully defending the title against him, after which he was again challenged by Yuji Nagata.[48] On June 16 at Dominion 6.16, Tanahashi defeated Okada in a rematch to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship for the sixth time, tying Tatsumi Fujinami's record for most reigns with the title.[53] On September 23 at Destruction, Tanahashi successfully defended the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Pro Wrestling Noah's Naomichi Marufuji, avenging a loss suffered during the 2012 G1 Climax.[63] On January 4, 2013, at Wrestle Kingdom 7 in Tokyo Dome, Tanahashi made his sixth successful defense of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against the previous year's G1 Climax winner, Kazuchika Okada.[79] Tanahashi then entered the IWGP Intercontinental Championship picture, after being nominated as the next challenger by champion Shinsuke Nakamura, setting up the first title match between the two longtime rivals in over two years.[95][96] After defeating Katsuyori Shibata on September 21 at Destruction in Kobe, Tanahashi announced he was re-entering the IWGP Heavyweight Championship picture and looking to challenge the reigning champion, Bullet Club's A.J.!, Tanahashi, Manabu Nakanishi and Ryusuke Taguchi defeated Los Ingobernables de Japón (Bushi, Evil and Sanada) for the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship.[135] Tanahashi then successfully defended the Intercontinental Championship against Zack Sabre Jr. on September 16 at Destruction in Hiroshima and Kota Ibushi on November 5 at Power Struggle, avenging two losses he had suffered during the 2017 G1 Climax.[144] This earned him the right to challenge for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at Wrestle Kingdom 13 that he would have to defend for the remainder of the year and marked the tenth time he would main event the show.[149] At Dominion 6.9 on June 9, Tanahashi teamed with Juice Robinson and Ryusuke Taguchi to defeat the Bullet Club (Jay White, Chase Owens and Taiji Ishimori).On February 21, 2020, and on night three of New Japan Road, Tanahashi and Ibushi, dubbing themselves Golden☆Ace, defeated the Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa) to win the IWGP Tag Team Championship.[160] On July 25, it was announced that Tanahashi would face Shingo Takagi at Wrestle Grand Slam in Tokyo Dome for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship after Kota Ibushi was unable to compete.Shortly after, Tanahashi was confronted by Chase Owens, which turned out to be a distraction for the returning Juice Robinson, who had joined Bullet Club, to attack him and stake his claim for the championship.On the June 1 episode of Dynamite, Tanahashi made a surprise appearance to reveal himself as the opponent of AEW World Champion CM Punk, where the match was scheduled for Forbidden Door.The match, which also involved The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin), was won by Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis).[177] At the Dominion 6.4 in Osaka-jo Hall event on June 4, Okada, Ishii and Tanahashi successfully defended the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship against Blackpool Combat Club (BCC) (Jon Moxley and Claudio Castagnoli) and Shota Umino.[181] Tanahashi, Okada and Ishii continued defending their Never Openweight 6-man tag-team Championships, defeating Impact Wrestling's, Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin) and Josh Alexander, at Destruction in Ryōgoku in October.[183] On January 24, after successfully defending the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship against TMDK (Kosei Fujita, Mikey Nicholls, Shane Haste), Okada decided to vacate the titles, due to him leaving NJPW, ending their reign at 266 days.[188] On April 14 at Wrestling World, Tanahashi, Toru Yano and Oleg Boltin defeated House of Torture (Evil, Sho and Yoshinobu Kanemaru) in a tournament final to win the vacant NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship.[202] Tanahashi finished his CMLL tour on September 7, when he teamed with Namajague, Okumura and Taichi in a Japan vs. Mexico torneo cibernetico, where they faced Black Warrior, La Máscara, Negro Casas and Valiente.[224] Guests on the podcast have included fellow wrestlers Keiji Muto, Tatsumi Fujinami, Ryusuke Taguchi and Naomichi Marufuji, as well as Weekly Pro-Wrestling editor-in-chief Naoya Yuzawa and then-President of NJPW, Takumi Ohbari.[226] Tanahashi, along with fellow NJPW wrestlers Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Kazuchika Okada, Satoshi Kojima, Tetsuya Naito and Toru Yano, appears as a member of the gang Justis in the 2016 video game Yakuza 6: The Song of Life.
ŌgakiRitsumeikan UniversityProfessional wrestling careerRing name(s)Super Strong MachineKeiji MutoKensuke SasakiNJPW DojoTatsumi FujinamiHiraganaKatakanaRomanizationprofessional wrestlerpodcasterNew Japan Pro-WrestlingIWGP Heavyweight ChampionIWGP United States Heavyweight ChampionIWGP Intercontinental ChampionNJPW World Television ChampionIWGP Tag Team ChampionNEVER Openweight ChampionNEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team ChampionG1 ClimaxNew Japan CupTriple CrownGrand SlamConsejo Mundial de Lucha LibrePro Wrestling NOAHRing of HonorAll Elite WrestlingRevolution Pro WrestlingCMLL World Tag Team ChampionshipCMLL World Trios ChampionshipCMLL Universal ChampionshipGHC Tag Team ChampionshipRevPro British Heavyweight ChampionshipWrestling Observer Hall of FameDave MeltzerProfessional wrestlingHistory of professional wrestlingEarly wrestling championshipsGold Dust Trio1980s boomBlack Saturday1994 NWA World Title TournamentMonday Night WarsAttitude Era2000 All Japan Pro Wrestling mass exodusThe InvasionWednesday Night WarsAll Japan Pro WrestlingAll Japan Women's Pro-WrestlingAll Star WrestlingAmerican Wrestling AssociationExtreme Championship WrestlingDDT Pro-WrestlingFrontier Martial-Arts WrestlingGorgeous Ladies of WrestlingJim Crockett PromotionsJoint PromotionsLucha Libre AAA WorldwideMajor League WrestlingMaple Leaf WrestlingNational Wrestling AllianceSoft Ground WrestlingStampede WrestlingTokyo Joshi Pro-WrestlingTotal Nonstop Action WrestlingUWF InternationalWomen of WrestlingWorld Championship WrestlingWorld Wonder Ring StardomSmackDownOthersBert AssiratiBilly RileyBilly SandowEd LewisFrank GotchGeorge HackenschmidtThe Great GamaJack PfeferJoe StecherJim LondosLou TheszSalvador LutterothToots MondtBlue DemonBruno SammartinoEl SantoThe Fabulous MoolahGorgeous GeorgeKarl GotchMildred BurkeRikidōzanSam MuchnickStu HartVerne GagneAkira MaedaAndré the GiantAntonio InokiBig DaddyBilly RobinsonBobby HeenanCarlos ColónDusty RhodesDynamite KidGenichiro TenryuGiant BabaGordon SolieHarley RaceHulk HoganJim Crockett Jr.Mil MáscarasNegro NavarroRandy SavageRic FlairSatoru "Tiger Mask" SayamaStan HansenTerry FunkVince McMahonAkira TaueAntonio PeñaAtsushi OnitaBret HartEric Bischoff