AEW Stars Set To Appear For Hiroshi Tanahashi's Retirement At NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 20

By Sam Palmer
Hiroshi Tanahashi Etsuo Hara/Getty Images

2025 might be nearing its end, but the beginning of 2026 will be a historic time for New Japan Pro Wrestling as company President Hiroshi Tanahashi will wrestle the final match of his career at Wrestle Kingdom 20 in the Tokyo Dome on January 4. He will be going one-on-one with arguably the biggest rival of his career, current AEW International Champion Kazuchika Okada, but "The Rainmaker" won't be the only AEW representation on hand for Tanahashi's swan song.

The company confirmed via its official website that both Kenny Omega and Will Ospreay will be in attendance for the match, and will be on hand to see Tanahashi retire in front of a record breaking crowd in the Japanese capital. Omega and Ospreay will be two of a whole host of special guests to wish Tanahashi a happy retirement at Wrestle Kingdom 20, but those other names have yet to be confirmed.

Both Omega and Ospreay have a lot of history with Tanahashi given their own respective stints in NJPW during the 2010s and early 2020s. "The Ace" was key to both men's transition from the junior heavyweight division into the heavyweight class, with Omega defeating Tanahashi at The New Beginning in Niigata event in 2016 to win the IWGP Intercontinental Championship, his first singles title as a heavyweight. Tanahashi would have to wait almost three years to get his win back over Omega, but he did it in the grandest possible fashion by defeating "The Best Bout Machine" in the main event of Wrestle Kingdom 13 in 2019 to become the new IWGP Heavyweight Champion.

For Ospreay, his transition to heavyweight came in the summer of 2019 when he competed in his first G1 Climax tournament, and while Ospreay never made it past the block stage, he defeat Tanahashi in his final block match at the iconic Nippon Budokan. Ospreay would defeat Tanahashi for a second time four years later in a tournament to determine the number one contender for the IWGP United States Championship, which Ospreay would win from Omega of all people at the 2023 Forbidden Door pay-per-view. All of this would come full circle at the 2025 Forbidden Door pay-per-view when Tanahashi, Omega, and Ospreay teamed up with Darby Allin and Kota Ibushi to defeat the Death Riders and Gabe Kidd in a Lights Out Steel Cage match, which also acted Tanahashi's final match in the United Kingdom and in AEW as well.

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