00:00So the only question left is will there be a new TV champion here tonight?
00:06Yeah, a lot of newness in the world of pro wrestling.
00:09But
00:16from the conversation about what's new,
00:20we have to talk briefly about what's soon to change.
00:24What's going to be new?
00:26is the new japan pro wrestling in 2026 without the ace of the universe hiroshi tanahashi
00:32january 4th it will be announced it will be said and done hiroshi tanahashi calls it a career
00:38in professional wrestling today one that he has dedicated holy to njpw overall and tonight chris
00:46his final ever match in riyakoku kukugi khan
00:50it was one year ago that tanahashi said he'd be calling it a career in wrestle kingdom 20
00:58and now we have just 83 days left in the legendary career of roshi tanahashi
01:09two days ago you wrestle for the final time in an hour ring
01:14tonight the final time in inugoku sumo hall the number countless legendary legendary matches
01:23that tanahashi has had in this building
01:25one more for the tv title
01:29did this walk over iwgp championship matches g1 finals on and on and on a singles record for
01:42sanahashi 37 19 and 2 just in this building
01:46well it has been a year of ups and downs in 2025
02:15for the now two-time njpw world television champion el fantasma kicked off january 4th 2025
02:23for the tokyo dome this year a return from cancer
02:27and a victory of the njpw world television championship
02:32a reign with that title would end briefly in the hands of great okan before
02:37just rightly picking up that title once again from great okan a few weeks down the line but
02:43phantasmo is yet to find true consistency true grounding in new japan even if holding the
02:49world television title a couple of successful defenses by victory but also nearly just as
02:54many successful defenses by time limit draw phantasmo is forced to defeat the ace tonight
03:00in their first singles encounter not only here in rio goku but within a 15 minute time
03:05the next year the next year the head fangirls is the head fangirls
03:09the head fangirls is the head fangirls is the head fangirls is the head fangirls
03:13and tanahashi announced his retirement the first person to greet the ace when he came back through the curtain was that man
03:21well see tanahashi el phantasmo has so so much respect for as we all do
03:34i don't know if you saw the uh special video package that accompanied this matchup but tanahashi
03:39Tanahashi is saying, you know, I expect a lot out of El Phantasmo, but I want everybody to expect a lot out of me.
03:48Tanahashi is saying he might bust out some brand new high-flying moves just for this match.
03:56Let's not forget here, one fall 15-minute time limit, something that Tanahashi has worked with him before in his career as a former NJPW World Television Champion himself.
04:09We are talking about the former into the current, Tanahashi into Phantasmo, the bell sounds, and for the final time,
04:16Tanahashi, Tanahashi!
04:18We will chant the name of the ace in Ryugoku's Suho.
04:21Tanahashi, Tanahashi!
04:24A first-time-ever singles matchup, and I find that very interesting, Chris.
04:29Right off the gate, Tanahashi rejecting the handshake there from Phantasmo.
04:33Tanahashi has long been someone you never, occasionally you'll see him shake hands at the end of a matchup,
04:38never want to shake hands before it, you know what I mean?
04:40He always says, this is a time for combat, this is a fight that I want to win.
04:45Not big on handshakes.
04:49You know, we've spoken about before, final homecoming is going to be the next, you know,
04:55big major-scale event that we have right here on NJPW World, November 2nd over in Gifu.
05:00Tanahashi's last time ever performing in front of his home crowd, in front of his family.
05:05And he wants to do that as a champion, of course.
05:10No doubt about it.
05:12Everyone wants to be a champion, even if you're winding down your career.
05:16It doesn't mean that you take your foot off the gas pedal, Chris.
05:20In no way whatsoever has Tanahashi done that.
05:23In fact, he's hit down even harder.
05:24I mean, he's wrestled more matches this year than at any other point in his career outside of being a young lion.
05:33Wow.
05:3535 singles matches this year.
05:38Last time he wrestled as many as that, back in 2006, he wrestled 32.
05:43You know, I mean, the only one, I mean, it was a ridiculous record he had as a young lion back in the year.
05:482006, the six singles matches he wrestled over the course of that calendar year.
05:52But, you know, a very similar work rate being put up by Tanahashi in 2025.
05:56Yeah, well, if you're the ace of the universe, you only get to be that way by the reps, Chris.
06:01Tanahashi crossbody hits the classic tonight.
06:06Let's not forget, a former world television champion in his own right defeated the greatest world television champion to ever live,
06:12the current world heavyweight champion, Zack Sabre Jr., back at Wrestle Kingdom 18 in 2024.
06:17Yeah.
06:19Give me a good one.
06:20I think El Phantasmo wants the air guitar, Chris.
06:23Well, this has been something that's happened over the course of the road to King of Bro Wrestling.
06:29No!
06:30Tanah ain't gonna pass the torch just yet.
06:32Did you catch that?
06:33Chris, I caught it.
06:34I caught it.
06:35You're playing terribly.
06:36Let me mute that microphone.
06:37I'm gonna put it down.
06:41El Phantasmo now not gonna be the one to catch the air guitar.
06:44Will he catch a defense off the middle row?
06:46Oh, caught Phantasmo, did Tanah?
06:48Knew it was coming, cross, bam, moonsault into the victory.
06:53Two count only.
06:54And we are gonna keep our eye on this time limit.
07:02Oh, we might not need to keep an eye on that time limit.
07:06Very, very close eye on El Phantasmo right now.
07:09What sudden death, that super kick out of the corner.
07:12Tanah might feel it.
07:13Oh, caught sudden death.
07:15And it's a twist and shout from the ace.
07:20You know, you take a look at the record of those Phantasmo has wrestled for
07:23this World Television Championship over the course of 2025.
07:26A lot of those competitors, TJP, Master Watto, Taiji Ishimori,
07:30junior heavyweights in nature.
07:32Now he's having to fight.
07:33Well, a heavy hitter, one of the heaviest hitters that you've ever seen.
07:39And wow, as he cut off, yeah, definitely Phantasmo wanted to avoid that flipping
07:44sense on at all costs.
07:45Not a good record for ELP in this building, Walker.
07:48We're in three in title matches here.
07:51Defeats to Will Ospreay, Shingo Takagi, Great Okan for the TV title earlier on this year.
07:56Yeah, that was the first loss.
07:59I mean, Phantasmo had to suck a pacifier and call Shingo Takagi his daddy right here in
08:06Niohoku.
08:07There's a lot of complex around ELP in Niohoku Super Hall that he wants to dispel by beating
08:13the ace.
08:16Wow.
08:18Well, that's an old tune.
08:21The old headbanger.
08:22Yeah.
08:23Tanahashi said that he was going to expect the most out of El Phantasmo, Chris.
08:30Yeah, he didn't think he was gonna expect the worst out of El Phantasmo.
08:34LP, guns fire off.
08:37No, took too much time, crotched on the turnbuckle.
08:41Wow, hey, look at that, the core strength, the abs coming back for Tanahashi.
08:45Man, Tata's gonna try and take advantage of this situation.
08:49Let's not pretend that Tanahashi's no stranger to wearing the black hat, whatever it's called
08:58for.
08:59You referenced that matchup with Kenta, that hardcore matchup earlier on.
09:04We know Tata can go to that place on the outside.
09:06Wait a second, I don't like him going to this place on the outside.
09:13What the hell?
09:14We gotta set out the token of Tanahashi.
09:15No.
09:16Don't do this.
09:17Is El Phantasmo saving himself or saving Tanahashi there?
09:20Yeah, might be saving New Japan at this rate.
09:22Oh, my brother.
09:23Tanahashi now.
09:24Watch this.
09:25My brother in Inoki, what a flippin' sense on the apron.
09:30Like a style.
09:33Cannonball to the outside.
09:35And Hiroshi Tanahashi stands atop the pack.
09:40You know, there has to be a debilitating moment for you mentally, Chris, as a retiring athlete,
09:52to know that maybe you've held your final championship.
09:56You had your final taste of gold.
09:58Tanahashi's not willing to accept that he has yet in 2025.
10:05I think that is what makes the heart of a competitor beat is the chance to be the best,
10:11the chance to be a champion one more time.
10:13And Tazmo doesn't wanna lose his status of it.
10:16Whoa.
10:17Togbang Suicida through Tanahashi.
10:20No, no, wait a second.
10:27This is dangerous.
10:28This is something we saw very similar.
10:30Rhea Goku in April against Bredo God.
10:32Whoa.
10:33It went to the end of the matchup, Chris.
10:35No.
10:36Come on, man.
10:38No, no, no.
10:39Referee Kanto Sato's not gonna step between this right now, Chris.
10:44Well, I mean, Jado's trying to put a stop to it.
10:46No.
10:47Surely not that far, that distance.
10:50FANTASMO.
10:53No, it's had a sidestep.
10:55He ate it.
10:56El Fantasma just ate the ground.
10:59And that is a nasty, and I'm really starting to worry about that left knee.
11:07That is a left knee that plagues him throughout the Soul Series into Road to Destruction.
11:11It's why he wasn't on the last few series, Chris.
11:14You're right.
11:15You're right.
11:16And it might be Akina Sato trying to get Tanahashi in the ring.
11:19It might be exactly the same situation, Walker, where he lost that TV championship
11:23to Great Okan back in the spring.
11:25Yeah, lost it by Countout.
11:26One, two, three.
11:27This Countout might be the undoing of El Fantasma.
11:32That left knee heavily plaguing the champion, but still going to push forward back into this one.
11:39And Jado might be trying to talk some sense into the man here, but he's not gonna look for him.
11:44Oh, no.
11:45No, he might be forced to listen.
11:46His body is gonna speak for him.
11:48Just as he put weight to get up onto the apron and he gave weight.
11:5218.
11:53No, come on.
11:54You get it.
11:55Fantasma, the 19 count, and he's inside.
11:58We nearly call the new world television champion,
12:03but this is not a champion that is in a state to continue fighting.
12:07I know, but I mean the mind is always gonna overcome the body when it comes to El Fantasma.
12:13A man that beat the ass out of cancer in record time,
12:17so he can make it in time for the Tokyo Dome,
12:20is a man who is not gonna let a bum knee stop him from finishing this match with Tanahashi Walker.
12:26Come on.
12:28Yeah.
12:29No, no, that's debilitating.
12:31That's gonna make El Fantasma run.
12:34Well, that is exactly what Tanahashi will, would, should do.
12:40No, no, no.
12:41Basement dropkick spikes the head of El Fantasma.
12:47And now watch this.
12:49We're throwing it back, Chris.
12:53This is the stern, strict Tanahashi.
12:56And this might be a bit of the black hat, but the drive, the desire to be champion.
13:02And Texas Cloverleaf locked in, and we could see a new world television champion.
13:12All at the hands of it, Fantasma has beaten cancer.
13:15Fantasma has beaten the worst of the worst.
13:17But is he gonna be able to beat the ace of the universe here?
13:21No, to the bottom rope, Fantasma makes it.
13:24Saved by the skin of your teeth, but Chris, I mean, it's less about the skin of his teeth,
13:34more about the cartilage in his knee.
13:37Well, hasn't that been the story over the last decade for Hiroshi Tanahashi?
13:43Hiroshi Tanahashi knows it, sympathizes with it.
13:48Are you kidding?
13:49Imitation, the sincerest form.
13:52Yeah.
13:54CR2 could be inbound, but-
13:57Yeah, Tanah's not perfected that technique.
14:00No, watch the right, it's the left.
14:15Tanahashi now, Fantasma again, fading.
14:20And the longer this match goes, the more that it starts to favor the ace.
14:23And I don't think that's something we anticipated coming into tonight.
14:27We talked about the gas tank of both men, one is running out quicker than the other.
14:31There's a sling blade.
14:32Man, great misdirection there.
14:35Tori's gonna make him run, instead pulled him back in a sling blade.
14:39Tanahashi off the ropes.
14:43Fantasma.
14:45Wow, wow, wow, wow.
14:47Still with the wrist control, and it could be.
14:51You can't lift him up with that knee.
14:53No, no, not at all.
14:54Fantasma in a bad, bad way.
14:56Tanahashi might be in the worst one.
14:58Wow.
14:59Parading around the ace.
15:01Well, this is iron well on the part about Fantasma.
15:06But he couldn't get that UFO walker, and halfway turned into a modified sling blade for Tanner.
15:13Tanahashi off the ropes, the sling blade.
15:18And a cover here from the ace, only finds two.
15:28No!
15:32It is the dream of all pro wrestlers to call it a career, to call it an end as a champion.
15:38Tanahashi wants to be the king of television.
15:41Fantasma gonna change the narrative.
15:43Things have slowed down to a halt here.
15:53Fantasma barely any stability, and you don't think he's gonna try.
15:57You don't think he's gonna try and scale the ropes here, Chris.
15:59This isn't a smart idea.
16:00This is a terrifying situation.
16:03El Fantasma has walked many a tightrope in the past.
16:07So has Tanahashi.
16:08But they're right on top of it.
16:10Oh!
16:11Tanah hung on.
16:12In that landing, further jam on the left knee.
16:16Watch out, watch out.
16:17I think he knocked himself loopy as well.
16:19Struck his head.
16:21High, fly, attack.
16:23We got five minutes left, we don't need it.
16:26Tanah's gonna go up one more time.
16:28Here we go, here we go.
16:29Tanahashi from the heavens for the final time in Ryo Goku.
16:34No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
16:38But four more, more damage to the left knee, the VLP.
16:42This is the worst stroke of luck the world television champion could have asked for.
16:49Not only a potential injury in a TV title defense against a man he's always worshipped,
16:56but a re-aggravation of such as well.
16:59Phantasmal.
17:04Deeper and deeper in the grave as time rolls on.
17:08And even still, that's time that you have to capitalize on, Chris.
17:12The minutes are counting down.
17:14Two minutes left.
17:15Two minutes left while they're calling out.
17:19A long, long wait for our Phantasmal from Surrey and British Columbia 20 years ago
17:24to Ryo Goku in Tokyo tonight.
17:27You got two minutes to hang on to that title.
17:30Tana, Tana, sudden death, sudden death.
17:33And it might be sudden death here.
17:35Cover for Phantasmal, no.
17:39This World Television Championship is everything to Phantasmal as much as
17:48Tanahashi has been to New Japan.
17:50Wait, wait, wait, wait.
17:52Got it.
17:53Got it over.
17:54Whoa, I can't believe it.
17:57Escape from LP.
17:59Can he escape here?
18:00Tana knows.
18:01He knows.
18:02Two.
18:03Time is dwindling.
18:04There's not enough sand in the hourglass.
18:06Tana's gotta go here.
18:07The urgency, the urgency wants the backslide.
18:10Phantasmal has it here.
18:12CR, CR, Canadian Revolution.
18:16One minute, one minute to go.
18:18Canadian Revolution, number two.
18:21He can't cover.
18:22No, no, no, Phantasmal has to.
18:24He's gonna do it right here.
18:26The cover, the cover.
18:27In the barest of shoulders up.
18:30It's last inch effort.
18:33It's do or die.
18:34It's now or never.
18:36Thunder Kiss 86.
18:41Scramble, scramble, it's your time.
18:48Live to the moment.
18:49And Tasma for the win.
18:51One, two, three, four.
18:56He's gonna do it.
18:57With the Texas Globally.
19:00Ten seconds left, Tanahashi has to hold on.
19:06He can't get the hold on properly, Walker.
19:09Ten seconds left.
19:12Ten seconds left.
19:13It's over.
19:14It's over.
19:20TBA選手権試合15分一本勝負は15分時間切れ.
19:2615分時間切れ引き分けとなります.
19:28It will be a technical defense for El Phantasmal here tonight.
19:42The third within this reign as world television champion.
19:47But it goes beyond talking about the world TV title gold here, Chris.
19:52The respect, the love, the admiration, the reason.
19:56The El Phantasmal took the time back in Vancouver to train to become a professional wrestler.
20:01To reach the high stage of New Japan Pro Wrestling.
20:04It wasn't just the hold gold.
20:06It was to wrestle legends like the 8th of the universe.
20:11Well, El Phantasmal all the way back in those days in British Columbia.
20:17We used to wrestle guys like Kyler Riley, Davey Richards,
20:21Yomindo would have their own connections with Tanahashi.
20:23I mean, Tanahashi has touched so many careers, so many lives.
20:27And for them to have this moment together,
20:30I think means the world to El Phantasmal as a wrestler, as a fan, as a human being.
20:36It was one year ago where Hiroshi Tanahashi reminded El Phantasmal what the light of professional wrestling is to behold.
20:59And it's something he's reminded us for the past 20 years of a career.
21:04It is the final time for the ace in Ryokoku Sumoho.
21:08You know, for as much as our divisive society often tends to fall on the sides of hatred, of anger.
21:31What's this about?
21:34The love of El Phantasmal and Hiroshi Tanahashi.
21:37And he wants to make sure Tanahashi has the spotlight.
21:53The final time.
22:01The memories that we have made with Tanahashi in this building.
22:05The classics.
22:06Kazuchika Okada, AJ Styles, Minoru Suzuki, Kurt Angle, on and on and on.
22:12The men Tanahashi has wrestled right here in Yogoku Sumoho.
22:16And the last time with El Phantasmal.
22:23Wrestling fans, dry your tears and wipe your eyes.
22:27We have Never Open Weight title action coming up right now.
22:30And Ryokoku Sumoho.
22:32Evil, I might start crying again.
22:34No, no.
22:35Colton Oleg depends the Never Open Weight Championship against Evil.
22:39It's coming up here right now at King of Pro Wrestling.
22:42We thank you so much for watching live on NJPW World.
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