There are big rumors within the Japanese circles that Shinsuke Nakamura might have a legit shot of becoming Hiroshi Tanahashi’s final opponent come Wrestle Kingdom next year.

Nakamura did pay homage to Tanahashi during the non-televised live events in Tokyo last week, with Tanahashi even responding on X, writing, “Huh? I thought I heard something…”

The NJPW President is having his retirement match on January 4 at Wrestle Kingdom 20 and it’s a highly coveted spot to be standing across from the Japanese legend on this show.

NJPW enjoys a fantastic working relationship with AEW and having a WWE star being Tanahashi’s final opponent would of course not look great for AEW considering they’ve been working together since 2019. But Wrestle Kingdom is purely an NJPW production and no one is going to tell Tanahashi who he should have his final match with.

If selected, it’s highly likely that he would be granted permission by WWE to do the match as it would be a huge honor for Nakamura, and to a certain extent, even WWE.