January 4, 2026 marked the end to the career of one of the greatest Japanese professional wrestlers, Hiroshi Tanahashi. He debuted in October 1999 along with fellow young boys Katsuyori Shibata and Shinsuke Nakamura, dubbed the "New Three Musketeers" by the Japanese wrestling media. Named after the original Three Musketeers consisting of Keiji Muto, Masahiro Chono, and Shinya Hashimoto.
It's hard to believe Tanahashi was the first of the 3 the retire, Nakamura is in the WWE and Shibata, after a 4 year hiatus to recover from injury, is active in AEW. He has a fantastic career capturing numerous championships including becoming an 8 time IWGP Heavyweight Champion.
I was lucky enough to see Tanahashi wrestle live 3 time, ironically all in 2019. The first two times were during WrestleMania weekend in New York City. The first at the RevPro show pro held at the WrestleCon convention, before the show they did a meet and greet with several New Japan Pro Wrestlers, I met Tanahashi, Shibata, and Ishii. It was only $30 for a Combo and I got my card signed.
April 5, 2019
Revolution Pro Wrestling Hilton Grand Ballroom Manhattan, NY
British Tag Team Champions: Suzuki-Gun: Minoru Suzuki & British Heavyweight Champion:
Zack Sabre Jr. defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi & Will Ospreay when Sabre pinned Ospreay
Jay, Mikey, and I had front row for the show, and during Tanahashi's entrance he stopped right in front of us and we all played air guitar together, it was a bad ass moment. I have the video clip somewhere and when I find it I will upload it here.
April 6, 2019
New Japan Pro Wrestling / ROH Madison Square Garden Manhattan, NY
G1 Supercard
British Heavyweight Champion: Zack Sabre Jr with Taka Michinoku defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi by submission
The three of us attended the first non WWF/WWE promoted wrestling event at Madison Square Garden in 60 years. We had front row balcony and pictures did come out great. This is one of the most historic wrestling events I have ever been to.
NJPW: New Japan Pro Wrestling Memorial Auditorium Lowell, MA
Fighting Spirit Unleashed
IWGP Heavyweight Champion: Kazuchiki Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi, & Kota Ibushi defeated Los Ingobernables de Japon: Tetsuya Naito, Evil & Sanada when Tanahashi pinned Naito with cobra twist
Mikey, Jay, and I also attended this event together. This tour of shows was the first time that New Japan ran shows in the US that were not co-promoted with Ring of Honor. Okada was the IWGP Heavyweight champion, but it was Tanahashi who stayed in the ring after the main event to thank the audience and play his air guitar for us.
I feel very fortunate to have seen Tanahashi wrestle live these three times and to have had the opportunity to meet him in person. It's important to take advantage of the opportunities when you can.
Incidentally, his last match was on January 4th against Okada, checking cagematch they have faced each other 249 times in singles and tag team matches.
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Until next time!
