Shinsuke Nakamura Interested in Hiroshi Tanahashi's Final NJPW Match

• Hiroshi Tanahashi's final match at Wrestle Kingdom 20 will be against Kazuchika Okada.
• Nakamura was willing, but WWE didn't approve him as Tanahashi's final opponent.
• Nakamura beat Tanahashi twice at Wrestle Kingdom and faced Okada 100+ times, never at WK.

Over the weekend, it was revealed that New Japan Pro Wrestling legend and president of the company, Hiroshi Tanahashi, was going to face former NJPW and current AEW star Kazuchika Okada at Wrestle Kingdom 20. The match will mark Tanahashi’s final one. Though it appears there was some interest from another former NJPW star to face The Ace at Wrestle Kingdom.

Shinsuke Nakamura Reportedly Was Interested In Being The Final Opponent

There was some talk that WWE Superstar and former NJPW star Shinsuke Nakamura was going to be his opponent before the announcement, and now Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer shared an update. Nakamura was interested in doing, but WWE said there was no deal when Meltzer asked the company. Meltzer said during the Wrestling Observer Radio:

“Nakamura was interested in doing it. I don't know what happened. There’s a lot of stories going around. The only thing I know is that he obviously was interested because he did that thing a couple of weeks (at WWE’s Tokyo live event). I remember asking about it at the time from WWE and they just said that there's no deal. But he does have something in his contract that he can do stuff, but they still have to approve it. So I don't know where that stood or how it fell apart.” (h/t: WrestlePurists)

Nakamura, in the past, worked with other companies. During Great Muta’s retirement tour, he faced him at Pro Wrestling NOAH The New Year 2023, and two years later, he would return to the event and face Pro Wrestling NOAH star Ulka Sasaki. So if he was interested in doing it, WWE might not have wanted him to.

Shinsuke Nakamura And Hiroshi Tanahashi’s Wrestle Kingdom History