Tony Khan Says Kazuchika Okada Being Hiroshi Tanahashi’s Final Opponent Was Always Talked About, Recounts Meeting With Tanahashi In May 2025

Tony Khan breaks down the reveal of Okada being Tanahashi’s final opponent.

For the last time, Kazuchika Okada and Hiroshi Tanahashi will go one-on-one. It’ll take place at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 20 at the Tokyo Dome and the bout will be Tanahashi’s final match.

The reveal of Okada being Tanahashi’s final opponent was delved into by AEW President Tony Khan on the AEW Full Gear media call. Khan said him and NJPW President Tanahashi had talked about the idea multiple times, dating as far back to Double or Nothing weekend in May 2025. Khan added that Okada felt it was a great idea as well.

“I think that the timing of the announcement was important because as I understand, Tanahashi was involved in some big matches up to that point with major stakes, and his spot might have — he may have been in different matches, including championship matches in New Japan Pro-Wrestling, based on how some of his other bouts went. This is always what we’d talked about. It made sense on the AEW calendar for a number of reasons. But also, it made sense on New Japan’s calendar as I understood for a number of reasons so, we were all very happy about the huge, huge buzz around the announcement and the great ticket sales for New Japan Pro-Wrestling with the announcement of Okada versus Tanahashi at the Tokyo Dome… For us, Okada was always the plan — that he would travel — and it’s an honor that AEW and Kazuchika Okada are in a position to work with New Japan Pro-Wrestling and Hiroshi Tanahashi to promote Tanahashi’s final match and for Okada versus Tanahashi to be that match, and that’s always what we’d talked about and I had met with President of New Japan Pro-Wrestling, Tanahashi, and he and I had talked and we were really excited about this, and he had come to a number of AEW events this past year, and we’d had some really nice discussions, and he was at Double or Nothing and we had dinner and this was what we talked about, and he was very excited about the possibility and when I spoke with Kazuchika Okada, he was very excited about the possibility and everybody thought that this was the biggest possible opportunity to make this not only an incredible business success but also, most of all, a well-deserved tribute to Hiroshi Tanahashi who is one of the legends of worldwide pro wrestling and in particular, for New Japan Pro-Wrestling.”

Okada departed New Japan Pro-Wrestling and went on to sign with AEW. He is the company’s current Unified Champion.

The last time Okada and Tanahashi went one-on-one was in February 2024 at NJPW The New Beginning in Osaka. Okada defeated Tanahashi in that match.

If the quote in this article is used, please credit Fightful with an H/T for the transcription.