Hiroshi Tanahashi was recently appointed as the new President of New Japan Pro Wrestling, but the 47-year-old star is also “Tana two-belts,” as he is a double champion.
Tanahashi currently holds the NJPW World TV Championship and is one-third of the NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Champions with Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii.
In a recent interview with Tokyo Sports, newly crowned IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Tetsuya Naito suggested that Tanahashi should retire to focus on his new executive role. He said,
“I think it would be better to concentrate on one or the other. As a wrestler, I’m in a difficult situation right now. I don’t know if I became president because I gave that up, but I don’t know if I can do the job with such a light heart. If you want to make a comeback in the ring, you don’t have to be the president. If you want to be president as hard as you can, why don’t you give up the ring? I started watching wrestling because I admired Keiji Muto, and I became a New Japan Pro-Wrestling wrestler because I admired Hiroshi Tanahashi. If I were to be the opponent for the retirement match of two wrestlers I admired, I think it would be a great destino.”
