Big Update On Hiroshi Tanahashi's NJPW Status

It's safe to say that a world without Hiroshi Tanahashi in NJPW would be weird, like CMLL without Negro Casas or "Mad Max: Fury Road" without Furiosa. Fortunately we don't have to live in a world that weird, because much like Leonardo DiCaprio in "The Wolf of Wall Street," Tanahashi is going nowhere. In the latest post on his blog, Tanahashi revealed he had journeyed to NJPW's offices to officially sign a contract extension with the promotion, including a picture of him holding up his newly inked deal. Tanahashi didn't disclose the terms of the extension, though one would expect it will keep the NPW icon with the promotion for quite some time.

The deal is fitting, given that NJPW has been Tanahashi's home promotion ever since the now 46-year-old debuted as a young lion in October 1999. Since then, Tanahashi has gone on to become one of the most decorated stars in NJPW, and really puroresu, history, winning the IWGP Heavyweight Championship eight times, the IWGP US and Intercontinental Championships three and two times respectively, and the G1 Climax three times. In addition to his NJPW accomplishments, Tanahashi has also wrestled for their partner promotions, such as CMLL, ROH, and most recently AEW.

Tanahashi will be back in action this weekend for the second night of Wrestle Kingdom 17 taking place out of Yokohama. Built around NJPW taking on stars from Pro Wrestling NOAH, Tanahashi will be in eight-man tag action, teaming with Toru Yano, Takashi Sugiura, and Satoshi Kojima to take on Naomichi Marufuji and Bullet Club members El Phantasmo, KENTA, and Gedo.