Hiroshi Tanahashi is a Japanese professional wrestler.
75 Facts About Hiroshi Tanahashi
2.
Hiroshi Tanahashi is signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling, where he is one-third of the current NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champions in his fourth reign.
3.
Hiroshi Tanahashi has won NJPW's premier tournament, the G1 Climax, on three occasions and won the New Japan Cup twice, in 2005 and 2008, and is recognised as the fourth wrestler to accomplish NJPW's Triple Crown and the second to accomplish its Grand Slam, making him one of the most decorated wrestlers in NJPW.
4.
When Hiroshi Tanahashi was inducted into the Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame in 2013, Dave Meltzer stated that "you could make a strong case for him as the best in-ring performer in the business today", adding that he was "the leading star in New Japan Pro-Wrestling's comeback from being in terrible shape a few years back to being the No 2 pro wrestling company in the world".
5.
Hiroshi Tanahashi studied law at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, where he began practising freestyle wrestling.
6.
Hiroshi Tanahashi enrolled in the NJPW dojo after graduating from Ritsumeikan University the following year.
7.
Hiroshi Tanahashi admired Tatsumi Fujinami, and considered using the ring name "Dragon Hiroshi" in honor of him.
8.
Alongside fellow rookies Katsuyori Shibata and Shinsuke Nakamura, Hiroshi Tanahashi became known as one of the "new Three Musketeers".
9.
Hiroshi Tanahashi became viewed as a big prospect and was given big wins over lucha libre legend Negro Casas in July 2000 and American Scott Hall in September 2001.
10.
Hiroshi Tanahashi's star continued to rise and in the 2002 G1 Climax Tanahashi pinned Kensuke Sasaki in under two minutes.
11.
Hara later confessed she tried to kill Hiroshi Tanahashi and planned to commit suicide afterwards.
12.
On February 16,2003, Hiroshi Tanahashi returned as a singles wrestler to a sold-out crowd in Tokyo in a match against Manabu Nakanishi.
13.
Hiroshi Tanahashi's career began to rapidly climb from this point.
14.
In 2005, Hiroshi Tanahashi made an appearance in the 15th Sasuke competition on July 20.
15.
Hiroshi Tanahashi would go on to defeat Masahiro Chono by Sling Blade in the first round of the New Japan Cup on April 16,2006, in Korakuen Hall and Hiroyoshi Tenzan by Dragon suplex hold in the second round on April 25 in Omuta Citizen Gymnasium before falling to Yuji Nagata's wrist-clutch Exploder in the semifinal on April 29 in the Tottori Industrial Gymnasium.
16.
When Lesnar failed to show up for the match, he was stripped of the title and Hiroshi Tanahashi was placed in a tournament for the vacant title.
17.
Hiroshi Tanahashi showed the title belt on his second appearance on Sasuke during the 17th competition, where he was again eliminated in the first round.
18.
Hiroshi Tanahashi managed to come back from this by winning the 2007 G1 Climax, where he defeated Nagata in the finals and successfully challenged his rival to a rematch on October 8,2007, where he pinned Nagata to regain the title.
19.
On January 4,2008, at New Japan's annual Tokyo Dome show titled Wrestle Kingdom II in Tokyo Dome, Hiroshi Tanahashi was defeated by Shinsuke Nakamura for the IWGP Heavyweight title in the night's main event.
20.
Hiroshi Tanahashi came in as a villain and was given the "Block from Hell" as he had to face nearly all of All Japan's top talent including Taiyo Kea, Satoshi Kojima, Toshiaki Kawada and his mentor Keiji Mutoh.
21.
Hiroshi Tanahashi went undefeated and advanced to the finals where he was finally subdued by Suwama.
22.
Just days later, Hiroshi Tanahashi was defeated by Manabu Nakanishi on May 6 at "Dissidence 2009".
23.
Hiroshi Tanahashi would vacate the IWGP Heavyweight title on August 17, due to an eye fracture injury he suffered in a match with Shinsuke Nakamura, in the semi-finals of the 2009 G1 Climax Tournament.
24.
However, in the finals Hiroshi Tanahashi was defeated by freelancer Satoshi Kojima.
25.
In October and November 2010, Hiroshi Tanahashi teamed with Tajiri in New Japan's 2010 G1 Tag League.
26.
At the event on January 4,2011, Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Kojima to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship for the fifth time.
27.
In May 2011, Hiroshi Tanahashi took part in the Invasion Tour 2011, New Japan's first ever tour of the United States, during which he successfully defended the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Charlie Haas on May 14 in New York City.
28.
On October 10 at Destruction '11, Hiroshi Tanahashi avenged his loss from the final day of the 2011 G1 Climax by defeating Tetsuya Naito to make his eighth successful IWGP Heavyweight Championship defense.
29.
However, after Hiroshi Tanahashi had accepted the challenge, he was attacked by Toru Yano, who proceeded to steal his championship belt.
30.
On January 4,2012, at Wrestle Kingdom VI in Tokyo Dome, Hiroshi Tanahashi broke the record by successfully defending the title against Minoru Suzuki.
31.
On September 23 at Destruction, Hiroshi Tanahashi successfully defended the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Pro Wrestling Noah's Naomichi Marufuji, avenging a loss suffered during the 2012 G1 Climax.
32.
Later in the month, Hiroshi Tanahashi took part in the 2012 World Tag League, teaming with Captain New Japan under the team name "Captain Ace".
33.
On January 4,2013, at Wrestle Kingdom 7 in Tokyo Dome, Hiroshi Tanahashi made his sixth successful defense of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against the previous year's G1 Climax winner, Kazuchika Okada.
34.
At the following pay-per-view, The New Beginning on February 10, Hiroshi Tanahashi made another successful title defense against Karl Anderson, avenging his loss from the 2012 G1 Climax.
35.
From August 1 to 11, Hiroshi Tanahashi took part in the 2013 G1 Climax, where he opened by losing three of his first four matches.
36.
However, Hiroshi Tanahashi bounced back to wrestle IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada to a time limit draw and winning his other four matches to win his block and advance to the finals of the tournament.
37.
Hiroshi Tanahashi then entered the IWGP Intercontinental Championship picture, after being nominated as the next challenger by champion Shinsuke Nakamura, setting up the first title match between the two longtime rivals in over two years.
38.
On January 4,2014, Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Nakamura in the main event of Wrestle Kingdom 8 in Tokyo Dome to win the IWGP Intercontinental Championship for the first time.
39.
On January 4,2015, at Wrestle Kingdom 9 in Tokyo Dome, Hiroshi Tanahashi made his first successful defense of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Kazuchika Okada.
40.
In March, Hiroshi Tanahashi was eliminated from the 2015 New Japan Cup by Toru Yano in less than three minutes, re-igniting the old feud between the two.
41.
From July 20 to August 14, Hiroshi Tanahashi took part in the round-robin stage of the 2015 G1 Climax.
42.
Hiroshi Tanahashi won his block with a record of seven wins and two losses, advancing to the finals.
43.
Hiroshi Tanahashi was handed a contract, which gave him the right to challenge for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at Wrestle Kingdom 10 in Tokyo Dome, that he would have to defend for the rest of the year.
44.
On January 4,2016, at Wrestle Kingdom 10 in Tokyo Dome, Hiroshi Tanahashi unsuccessfully challenged Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.
45.
Hiroshi Tanahashi was set to challenge Omega for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship in NJPW's first ladder match at Dominion 6.19 in Osaka-jo Hall, but was forced to pull out of the match due to a shoulder injury.
46.
From July 18 to August 12, Hiroshi Tanahashi took part in the 2016 G1 Climax, where he finished tied second in his block with a record of five wins, one draw and three losses.
47.
On January 4,2017, at Wrestle Kingdom 11, Hiroshi Tanahashi unsuccessfully challenged Tetsuya Naito for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship.
48.
Shortly afterwards, Hiroshi Tanahashi was sidelined with a ruptured biceps tendon.
49.
Hiroshi Tanahashi then entered the 2017 G1 Climax, where he finished with a record of six wins and three losses, failing to make it to the finals due to losing to Naito in their final round-robin match on August 11.
50.
On January 4,2018, Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated White to retain his title.
51.
On January 27,2018, at The New Beginning in Sapporo, Hiroshi Tanahashi dropped the title to Suzuki, ending his reign at 230 days.
52.
At Sakura Genesis 2018, Hiroshi Tanahashi teamed with fellow Taguchi Japan members Juice Robinson and David Finlay to defeat Chaos members Hirooki Goto, Jay White and Yoshi-Hashi.
53.
Later in the night, Hiroshi Tanahashi would confront IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada after Okada defeated Sabre to tie Hiroshi Tanahashi's record for most successful title defenses with eleven, indicating a potential title match in the near future.
54.
Hiroshi Tanahashi then took part in the 2018 G1 Climax, where he finished with a record of seven wins, one draw, and one loss, thus setting a new record for the most points in the current 20-man G1 format with 15 and advancing to the finals, where he defeated Kota Ibushi to win his third G1 Climax tournament.
55.
On January 4,2019, at Wrestle Kingdom 13, Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Kenny Omega to become IWGP Heavyweight Champion for the eighth time, breaking his own record for most reigns in the process, and becoming the first Tokyo Dome IWGP Heavyweight Championship challenge rights certificate holder to successfully become champion at Wrestle Kingdom.
56.
At The New Beginning in Nagoya, Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Shingo Takagi to win the NEVER Openweight Championship for the first time, becoming NJPW's fourth Triple Crown champion in the process.
57.
At Castle Attack, Hiroshi Tanahashi retained the title in a rematch with Khan, which was his only successful title defense.
58.
At Sakura Genesis, Hiroshi Tanahashi teamed up with Satoshi Kojima to defeat White and Bad Luck Fale in a tag team match.
59.
On Night 1 of the event, Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Ibushi to retain the title.
60.
At the event, Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Ishii to win the title for a record-setting third time.
61.
Shortly after, Hiroshi Tanahashi was confronted by Chase Owens, which turned out to be a distraction for the returning Juice Robinson, who had joined Bullet Club, to attack him and stake his claim for the championship.
62.
At Capital Collision, Hiroshi Tanahashi lost the title to Robinson in a Four-way match involving Ospreay and Jon Moxley, and ended his third reign at 13 days.
63.
Therefore, at Dominion, Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Hirooki Goto to earn a match against Jon Moxley for the interim championship at the event.
64.
Hiroshi Tanahashi finished with 6 points, failing to advance to the semi-finals.
65.
Hiroshi Tanahashi made his North American debut in September 2005 when he and Nakamura went to Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre in Mexico.
66.
Hiroshi Tanahashi returned to Mexico and CMLL in May 2010 to join La Ola Amarilla with fellow Japanese wrestlers Okumura, and Taichi.
67.
Hiroshi Tanahashi returned to CMLL on August 24,2012, again taking part in the Universal Championship tournament, winning his block to advance to the finals.
68.
Hiroshi Tanahashi returned to CMLL a year later on August 23,2013, when he teamed with Namajague and Puma in a six-man tag team match, where they were defeated by Marco Corleone, Maximo and Shocker.
69.
On September 6, Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Rush to win the tournament and become the 2013 Universal Champion.
70.
Hiroshi Tanahashi was featured in a match against Roderick Strong that was taped for Xplosion a few days later.
71.
At Turning Point, Hiroshi Tanahashi participated in a 10-man X Division seeding match where he came fourth.
72.
At Multiverse United, Hiroshi Tanahashi returned to Impact where he defeated Mike Bailey.
73.
Hiroshi Tanahashi married his wife in 2003 and has two children, a son named Shiryu and a daughter named Koharu.
74.
Hiroshi Tanahashi appears as a character in the anime series Tiger Mask W, voiced by Kenichi Suzumura, along with other NJPW wrestlers and plays a prominent role in the story as well as an occasional opponent for Tiger Mask.
75.
Hiroshi Tanahashi made his acting debut in the film My Dad Is a Heel Wrestler, which was released in September 2018.