Hiroshi Tanahashi was recently appointed as the President and Representative Director of New Japan Pro Wrestling.
Tanahashi is currently the co-holder of the NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Championship alongside Kazuchika Okada and Tomohiro Ishii.
In a recent interview with NJPW, Tanahashi addressed his in-ring future now that he will be carrying out executive duties.
You can check out some highlights from the interview below:
On whether his new role will affect how he approaches his in-ring work: “I’m obviously thinking about the rest of my active career. Obviously as for everyone, within that the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship is a key goal. This is probably the only business where guys can freely beat up their boss, so that might make me an even bigger target, but I hope to make all the boys angry with how hard I’m fighting (laughs).”
On his reputation of putting the company before his own interests: “In my wrestling life, I’ve realized a few things, and one of them is when I get into the ring and put my energy into a match, I’m less invested in winning championships as I am in responding to the fan’s support, answering to their expectations and having them leave with a positive experience. What I want from wrestling is to give people power and strength, and I think I’ll carry that into my position as President, to give that power to the fans and our staff.”
On when the decision was made to make him President: “This November I was invited to dinner with Mr. Kidani and he asked me about becoming President. I still haven’t won the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship, and there’s a lot to be dome in that respect too, but it’s a true Ace that can perform in both positions. So I accepted and now here we are.”
On his plans to continue wrestling and staying on the road: “Well, I plan on being on the road with NJPW, but when the company is in Tokyo then I plan on being in the office. I do want to be heading up promotion as much as I can be, but we also have a lot of wrestlers on the roster. In between tours, training and preparing for the next matches is very important, but promotion is also crucial, and I’d like our wrestlers to take up that workload, absolutely.”
On the roster’s reaction: “I told the wrestlers on December 22 at our last Korakuen Hall event. I think everyone was probably too stunned to speak, so maybe there’ll be more concrete opinions coming out. I will say the veteran wrestlers above me were very positive and offered encouragement.”
Tanahashi will challenge Zack Sabre Jr. for the NJPW Television Championship at Wrestle Kingdom 18 on January 4, 2024, at the Tokyo Dome.
