Is retirement truly the end of a story? After Wrestle Kingdom 20 in Tokyo Dome — Hiroshi Tanahashi’s retirement match (Ittenyon), Tanahashi’s path forward quietly challenges that assumption, revealing professional wrestling as a culture built not only on results, but on stories shaped by time and relationships.
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Retirement was not the end of the story.
In the world of professional wrestling, there are many occasions when the story seems to close the moment a person steps out of the ring.
Hiroshi Tanahashi, however, has said that he will continue training after his retirement. While this is not a promise of a return, it also reflects an attitude of not closing the story completely.
Just because he no longer stands in the ring does not mean that he has left wrestling. Rather, it seems as if he continues to face this world from a different standpoint.
What is retirement?
And where does the story end?
Hiroshi Tanahashi's current incarnation may provide one quiet answer to that question.
One Uncomfortable Feeling Left at the Retirement Match
Hiroshi Tanahashi's retirement match was deeply etched in the hearts of many fans. It was a night that marked a milestone in the time he had spent accumulating over the years.
In the ring, the story was indeed moving forward. Cheers, applause, and gratitude abounded.
Yet alongside the celebration, something lingered quietly in the background — a discomfort that was difficult to put into words. It wasn’t anger. It wasn’t disappointment. It was the sense that something meaningful had been left unresolved.
Why didn't Shinsuke Nakamura stand in that ring?
This question was not born out of a desire to blame anyone. It was a natural question that came to me because of my love for the culture of professional wrestling.
A retirement match is not just a farewell, but also a moment when the relationships and stories that have been built up over the years come to fruition as a single form.
Perhaps that is why many fans subconsciously envisioned Hiroshi Tanahashi and Shinsuke Nakamura standing side by side.
The emotions that remained from the fact that this did not happen were probably the reason why this night was more strongly etched in my memory.
What wrestling fans see is the story beyond the match
Wrestling fans are not only looking at the winners and losers or the exchanges of techniques. Rather, it is the time and relationships that lead up to these events that move them.
A history of wrestlers who have lived through the same era. The accumulation of choices that have clashed, supported each other, and crossed paths.
It is because of these things that each match has meaning.
The relationship between Hiroshi Tanahashi and Shinsuke Nakamura has also carried a story that cannot be told by mere opponents.
So fans saw the retirement game not as an outcome, but as the arrival of a story.
It is not selfishness to wish for something like this. It is proof that the culture of professional wrestling has always valued stories.
More than wins and losses, time and relationships strike the heart. That is the reason why wrestling has been loved for so long.
The Quiet Question Left by the Decision
The emotion that many fans felt on this night was not just disappointment. What was there was discomfort with one decision.
In the world of professional wrestling, not everything goes as it should. Fans understand that contracts, circumstances, and insurmountable barriers exist.
Nevertheless, the reason it remained stuck in my mind was clear.
What troubled many fans wasn’t simply the outcome, but the feeling that the decision had not fully engaged with the story wrestling had built over time.
Wrestling is not something that is established by an instantaneous buzz. It is only through relationships and emotions nurtured over a long period of time that a single choice has meaning.
That is why this decision left a strong impression on how the story was handled before rationality.
It was not anger, but a quiet question as to why we did not step in there.
What the Future We Didn’t Step Into Left Behind
The stories of professional wrestling are sometimes more powerful than we can imagine. They can linger in people's memories, be passed down through generations, and have an impact that transcends groups and borders.
Perhaps they feared its power.
A story that is too strong has the potential to become unmanageable. Emotions may move in unexpected directions, creating uncontrollable heat.
However, wrestling is a culture that has inherently lived with such heat.
While some things can be protected by making a series of safe choices, there are also things that can be lost at the same time.
What lingered most was not the absence of a single moment — but the future that could have unfolded, and was quietly set aside.
A future that could have been stepped into, but was not chosen.
That was perhaps the greatest emotion left in the evening.
The time that wrestling has inherited
Wrestling is not a sport that is remembered only for wins and losses. Rather, it is the relationships between people and the time that has been carried forward through generations that have been remembered.
Who have they fought with, who have they stood alongside, and what era have they lived through? The accumulation of these experiences is conveyed without words in the ring.
That is the uniqueness of the culture of wrestling.
That is why retirement games and milestone matches have been perceived not as mere breaks, but as a place to hand over the past time to the next story.
Not to end the past, but to connect what has been built up to the future. Wrestling has, time and again, played that role.
Perhaps the true nature of the sense of loss felt by many fans this time was that they could not see the moment of succession.
Untold Stories Are Part of Wrestling
A match that did not happen.
Gazes that did not cross.
A future that was not chosen.
They do not all disappear as if they never existed.
Wrestling is built upon stories — both the ones that happened, and the ones that never did. Some relationships gain their power precisely because they remained unresolved.
It is not unfulfillment, but the very richness of this culture.
This Ittenyon was not a night where everything was perfect either. However, it is true that because of its imperfections, some things remained strong in our hearts.
Wrestling has always walked with the reality that things are not as they seem. Nevertheless, the way wrestlers continue to stand in the ring has always struck a chord with people.
And Yet, Wrestling Goes On
Wrestling is not something that is completed in a single match. Even if a milestone is reached, the story itself does not end.
When someone steps out of the ring, someone who grew up watching his or her back will step into the ring again. In this way, time is quietly passed down from generation to generation.
This Ittenyon may not have been a night where all thoughts and feelings were exchanged, but it certainly left something behind that will lead to the next one.
If you look back on the history of professional wrestling, you will see that it has been made up of a series of what-ifs. The matches that did not come to pass, the futures that did not intersect, have all become the thickness of this culture.
That is why It is likely that it is part of wrestling that there are stories that were never told.
The Ring Is Still Ongoing
The story does not always go as planned. Nevertheless, as long as there are people who continue to stand in the ring, wrestling will continue to move forward.
In fact, Tanahashi has said he will continue training after retirement.
Some relationships may not have an answer now. However, there is no need to force it to be completed.
The future is not yet written. Therefore, there is room for imagination and time to believe and wait.
The discomfort I felt on this night, the sense of loss, were all born from my feelings for wrestling. And those feelings will find their meaning the next time something unfolds in the ring — just as wrestling has done so many times before.
Wrestling has shown us those stories many times.
Related Articles :
- The Unspoken Choice: Hiroshi Tanahashi’s Retirement Match and the Absence of Shinsuke Nakamura
- Why My Heart Stopped the First Night I Watched New Japan Pro-Wrestling — Why a Retirement I Thought I Understood Felt So Heavy
- 【Live Report】WRESTLE KINGDOM 20 at Tokyo Dome｜Witnessing Hiroshi Tanahashi’s Retirement
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