{"id":141389,"date":"2025-09-05T13:55:44","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T17:55:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=141389"},"modified":"2025-09-05T13:58:00","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T17:58:00","slug":"hiroshi-tanahashi-set-to-wrestle-yuji-nagata-one-final-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2025\/09\/05\/hiroshi-tanahashi-set-to-wrestle-yuji-nagata-one-final-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Hiroshi Tanahashi Set to Wrestle Yuji Nagata One Final Time"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NJPW\u2019s Ace and President Hiroshi Tanahashi will face one of Japan\u2019s best pro-wrestlers ever, Yuji Nagata, for the last time. The match is set for September 7, at Nagata\u2019s homecoming show called Blue Justice XVI at Togane City in Chiba.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The ending of Tanahashi\u2019s in-ring career is getting closer, and since Wrestle Kingdom 19 last January, he has set out on a mission to wrestle as many members of the NJPW roster as he can in singles matches. His next one will be one of the biggest during this retirement run, as it will close the chapter on one of his greatest rivalries.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Their match this weekend will be their 18th singles match against each other, with The Ace having the edge over Blue Justice, winning 10 of their previous 17 encounters. Their last singles match happened eight years ago in the G1 Climax, which also happens to be Nagata\u2019s final time participating in the tournament.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here\u2019s a short look back at some of their previous matches before their last dance on Sunday:<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>First Contact: January 24, 2002<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Their first singles match happened on the first day of NJPW\u2019s Extreme 2 Days at Korakuen Hall in 2002. Then, 25-year-old Tanahashi is going into his third year as a pro-wrestler, facing his mentor Nagata. The veteran Nagata got the upper hand in nine minutes, marking the start of what would be their rich history.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/dTDttr7Cyfg?si=bA-JxB_-QhuqEQ6b\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Four months after this bout, Nagata won the IWGP Heavyweight title for the first time in his career.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Tanahashi\u2019s First Victory: April 19, 2005<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After losing their next two singles bouts in 2003 and 2004, Tanahashi finally got a win over his mentor in the inaugural New Japan Cup in 2005. Unfortunately, it came via disqualification, when an enraged Nagata would not let go of a cross armbreaker he applied during the match.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When the referee pulled him off to break the hold, Nagata kicked him and threw him out of the ring, resulting in the decision. The loss also eliminated him from the tournament in just the first round.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This match happened during the time when Nagata was experiencing a drought, even as one of NJPW\u2019s top guys. He had previously lost the IWGP Heavyweight title two years prior, and has not gotten it back since then.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Nagata\u2019s 2nd Reign As IWGP Heavyweight Champ: April 13, 2007<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Five years after his first reign, Nagata became IWGP Heavyweight champion again in 2007 at Tanahashi\u2019s expense. He ended Tanahashi\u2019s maiden run with the title in the main event of Circuit 2007 New Japan Brave, which would not go unanswered, as they faced each other two more times that year.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nagata earned the opportunity to challenge for the title after winning that year\u2019s New Japan Cup in March, becoming the first wrestler to win a New Japan Cup and a G1 Climax.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_141419\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-141419\" style=\"width: 1281px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a  href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/Category:Yuji_Nagata#\/media\/File:%E7%99%BD%E7%9B%AE.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-141419 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/09\/\u767d\u76ee.jpg\" alt=\"A photo of Yuji Nagata, who's set to face Hiroshi Tanahashi.\" width=\"1281\" height=\"966\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/09\/\u767d\u76ee.jpg 1281w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/09\/\u767d\u76ee-300x226.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/09\/\u767d\u76ee-1024x772.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2025\/09\/\u767d\u76ee-768x579.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1281px) 100vw, 1281px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-141419\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo Credit: WikiMedia Creative Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2><b>Tanahashi\u2019s First G1 Climax Triumph: August 12, 2007<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tanahashi\u2019s first of three G1 Climax wins came at Nagata\u2019s expense in the tournament\u2019s 17th edition in 2007. This was the first part of his revenge after Nagata ended his first title reign as IWGP Heavyweight champion. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nagata also eliminated him in the semifinals of the New Japan Cup a year before, making the G1 win even sweeter.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Hiroshi Tanahashi wins his first G1 Climax. (2007) \ud83c\udf1f <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/G1CLIMAX34?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#G1CLIMAX34<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/5yXVMLfZZG\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/5yXVMLfZZG<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Vintage Puroresu \u30d7\u30ed\u30ec\u30b9 (@vintagepuro) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/vintagepuro\/status\/1814274100811973049?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 19, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2><\/h2>\n<h2><\/h2>\n<h2><b>Tanahashi Becomes IWGP Heavyweight Champ for the 2nd Time: October 8, 2007<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tanahashi defeated Nagata in the main event of NJPW Explosion \u201807 to become the IWGP Heavyweight champion once again, completing his quest for vengeance after losing the title to him in April. This also marked Tanahashi\u2019s 2nd title reign, beating his mentor in a singles match for a second straight time in a year.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This was one of Tanahashi\u2019s most important wins, as it happened during the first years of his ascendancy as NJPW\u2019s top guy. This match would be their last one in a long while, as their next singles bout came in 2011.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These two crucial figures in NJPW\u2019s history battle one last time in a main event match this Sunday. The show will be streamed live on <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/watch.njpwworld.com\/live-event\/59923\/details?playlist_id=2335\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NJPW World<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> with English commentary at 4 p.m. JST\/3 a.m. ET, and you can find its full card <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.njpw1972.com\/tornament\/card\/580786\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">here<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>More From LWOS Pro Wrestling<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em><span class=\"s1\">Header photo \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/Category:Hiroshi_Tanahashi#\/media\/File:Hiroshi_Tanahashi.JPG\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">WikiMedia Creative Commons<\/a> \u2013 Stay tuned to the\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/\" target=\"_self\">Last Word on Pro Wrestling<\/a> for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. You can rewatch all NJPW events and plenty more tremendous wrestling content from New Japan Pro-Wrestling on <a href=\"http:\/\/njpwworld.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NJPWWorld.com<\/a>, The King of Sports Streaming.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NJPW\u2019s Ace and President Hiroshi Tanahashi will face one of Japan\u2019s best pro-wrestlers ever, Yuji Nagata, for the last time. The match is set for September 7, at Nagata\u2019s homecoming show called Blue Justice XVI at Togane City in Chiba. The ending of Tanahashi\u2019s in-ring career is getting closer, and since Wrestle Kingdom 19 last [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5576,"featured_media":141423,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13,12,14,2192],"tags":[9528,1029,1028],"class_list":["post-141389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","category-news","category-njpw","category-wrestling","tag-blue-justice-xvi","tag-hiroshi-tanahashi","tag-yuji-nagata"],"modified_by":"Michael Joseph Sugue, Manager","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5576"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141389"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141389\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":141424,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141389\/revisions\/141424"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}