Balor hopes for one more match with Tanahashi before retirement

WWE star Finn Balor said he would like one more match with New Japan Pro-Wrestling veteran Hiroshi Tanahashi before the latter’s scheduled retirement at Wrestle Kingdom 20 on January 4, 2026, but acknowledged he does not expect to be chosen as the final opponent. Balor made the comments in an interview with Tokyo Sports this week while promoting WWE’s return to Japan for live events in October.

Balor, who rose to prominence in New Japan as Prince Devitt, recalled meeting Tanahashi early in his career and credited the NJPW locker room with helping him adapt to life and wrestling in Japan. “You’ve had an incredible career. Thank you for being so good to the foreign wrestlers in New Japan,” Balor said, naming former colleagues Takashi Iizuka, Jushin Thunder Liger and Yuji Nagata as especially welcoming. He described his first bus ride with New Japan as a nervous moment when he realized his favorite wrestler was now a coworker and added, “I want to fight him one more time before he retires,” though he conceded, “That would be great, but I’m not that lucky.”

Tanahashi, who will hang up his boots at the Tokyo Dome, has been serving as president of NJPW since December 2023 and is...