Hiroshi Tanahashi is excited to be teaming with Keiji Muto (Great Muta) at WrestleKingdom 17, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t still focused on once again holding world heavyweight title gold.
The Ace spoke with Sports Illustrated to hype up NJPW’s biggest show of the year, as well as discuss the goals he has in place for 2024. Check out what Tanahashi had to say on both subjects in the highlights below.
On getting to team with Keiji Muto at WrestleKingdom 17:
I am so happy to team with Muto before his retirement. I have always learned a lot from Muto, and I think there will be a lot I can learn from this experience teaming with him as opposed to opposite him. I think it’s a great learning opportunity for Umino as well. Umino has really worked on developing that body. He has a great natural look as well, so all he needs to do is reps at this point, and he definitely has the fighting spirit.
Says he aims to once again be world champion in NJPW by 2024:
By 2024, the whole world will be all the way back from the struggles we went through during the pandemic. By then, I’d love to be champion and promote professional wrestling.