Update on possible Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shinsuke Nakamura match at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom

Dave Meltzer believes Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shinsuke Nakamura is possible for Tanahashi’s retirement match at Wrestle Kingdom 20.

WWE presented back-to-back live events on Thursday and Friday in Tokyo, and Nakamura gave a subtle shoutout to Tanahashi, using his “Aishitemasu” catchphrase. Tanahashi responded to Nakamura on social media, writing (translated), “Hmm? I think I heard something…”

This led to some fans speculating that Nakamura could be announced as Tanahashi’s opponent for the January 4, 2026, show in the Tokyo Dome. Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez discussed the possibility of such a match taking place on last night’s edition of Wrestling Observer Radio.

Meltzer said on the show:

“Nakamura, on the first night in Tokyo, he was doing some Tanahashi mannerisms. So there’s been a lot, a lot of talk about Tanahashi and Nakamura at the Tokyo Dome show. I would just say it’s not a done deal right now.”

“Could it happen? I mean, Nakamura has in his contract he can do stuff in Japan, that was part of the deal that he signed. It’s a weird political thing, because obviously New Japan and AEW work very closely together, and Nakamura is a WWE guy.”

“My gut is that, and I could be dead wrong, even though WWE and AEW are feuding, and all the stuff WWE does to AEW constantly, I do think that Tony Khan – I don’t know, people are going like oh he’s going to get really mad and I don’t know – maybe he will but I don’t think so. I just think it’s Tanahashi’s retirement, and if Tanahashi wants to retire against Nakamura, and they can pull that off, I think it should be okay.“

If Nakamura vs. Tanahashi is announced for Wrestle Kingdom 20, it would take place on the 21st anniversary of their first singles match against one another. One year before the first Wrestle Kingdom event was held, Nakamura defeated Tanahashi in the Tokyo Dome on January 4, 2005, at NJPW Toukon Festival. They would go on to wrestle each other in another 16 singles matches throughout their careers, with Tanahashi having won their last bout in the finals of the G1 Climax in 2015.