Various: Hiroshi Tanahashi on IWGP World Title Match Being Ideal Scenario for Retirement Match, Joe Hendry TNA Contract & TNA Plans for Hendry Update, Indies

Hiroshi Tanahashi Comments on Hoping for IWGP World Title Match for His Retirement Match

As noted before, Monday’s NJPW King of Pro Wrestling 2024 event in Tokyo, Japan featured Hiroshi Tanahashi officially announcing that he will be retiring from his wrestling career at NJPW’s Wrestle Kingdom 20 event in January 4, 2026.

Tokyo Sports held a recent interview with Tanahashi. One of the topics discussed included Tanahashi’s thoughts about his ideal scenario for his retirement match would be him challenging for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship for one last time.

“So ideally, I would like my retirement match to be for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. If I challenge, and win, I’ll extend my active career and withdraw my retirement. If I lose, I’ll just retire. Then I’ll be satisfied. I can retire because I think I can’t reach it anymore.”

Tanahashi also gave his thoughts about the idea of Kazuchika Okada or Shinsuke Nakamura being his potential retirement opponent.

“Personally, I would like to fight younger wrestlers, but if the fans want it. It may or may not happen, I don’t know. Personally, I would like to do it somewhere. First of all, I will fight with all my might for the remaining one year and two months, so please support me.”

English translation via Fightful.com

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Joe Hendry TNA Contract Status & TNA’s Current Plans for Hendry Update

As noted before, Joe Hendry’s contract with TNA Wrestling is currently believed to have a “substantial amount of time” remaining and it is nowhere near being expiring.

Hendry was recently involved an exchange with a fan on Twitter that quickly led to online rumors and speculation of Hendry’s contract was expiring in around four months and he would be showing up in WWE at next year’s Royal Rumble event. This fan stated “Kinda crazy how fast Joe Hendry fell off the radar” and Hendry responded back stating “Kinda crazy how poorly that tweet will age in about 4 months 👏 👏“

Fightful Select reported that their sources within TNA stated that Hendry’s contract with the company currently does not expire until at least late 2025.

In regards to TNA’s current plans for Hendry, it was reported that those spoken to stated that numerous people in TNA have pushed for Hendry to win the TNA World Championship at their Bound For Glory 2024 event later this month. Those spoken to reportedly also stated that TNA officials are believed to currently have plans for Hendry to be a focal point of their shows in 2025.

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Misc. Wrestling News & Notes

A new wrestling-based film based on the life and legacy of Mildred Burke titled Queen of the Ring will be having its premiere screening at the 2024 Buffalo International Film Festival event on October 15th in Buffalo, New York.

As noted before, AEW creative writer Jimmy Jacobs reportedly recently departed from the company. This past Saturday’s event for XICW Detroit in Detroit, Michigan featured Jacobs making a surprise appearance. During the XICW Midwest Championship match between MM3 and Adam Wick, Jacobs made his surprise appearance and ran out and attacked MM3 with a chair to help Wick win the title.

Josh Barnett recently announced that Dominic Garrini and Kevin Ku will be making an appearance for Game Changer Wrestling for their Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport XII event on November 24th in Jersey City, New Jersey.

Monday’s King of Pro Wrestling 2024 event for New Japan Pro Wrestling featured three new champions crowned. The first title to change hands was the Jet Setters (Kevin Night & KUSHIDA) defeating Bullet Club War Dogs (Drilla Moloney & Clark Connors) to become the new IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions. The second title to change hands was Ren Narita defeating Yota Tsuji and Jeff Cobb in a Three-way match to become the new NJPW World Television Champion. The third title to change hands was Zack Sabre Jr. defeating Tetsuya Naito to become the new IWGP World Heavyweight Champion.

Following his victory over Tetsuya Naito for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship at Monday’s NJPW King of Pro Wrestling 2024 event, Zack Sabre Jr. gave his thoughts in a backstage post-match press conference about his title victory. Sabre Jr. stated “Only took eight years. Almost eight years, but I mean split the digits. 20-year career, eight years in New Japan. Carry the one. I mean, put that in the calculator and we’ll figure that out after. The era has changed. There is a new era, and it definitely Zack Sabre Jr’s era. But TMDK are with me every step of the way. We’ve got a brand new New Japan, and it’s fucking orange. I mean, it’s cliche, but everything happens at the right moment. Naito is in the condition that he is in now because he has given every part of his body, soul, and mind to New Japan Pro-Wrestling, and I can only respect that. Winning the G1 was solely about winning by submission, to prove that myself of wrestling is the best style of wrestling. I sacrificed I guess some of my [methodology] to win with an impact move, but that is a sign of my respect to Naito because I could tell that Naito would refuse to give up. With my respect for Naito, I knew that the only way to beat him by submission was to break his arms or break his legs. I think Naito’s days at the top of New Japan are over, but Naito was champion for a reason. Naito is still incredibly strong, Naito is gonna have a very long and successful career, but now I’m at the top. So I chose to beat him with an impact move to save having to [nearly] kill him. Naito is a stubborn, stubborn bastard. I wanted Naito to be able to walk out with dignity today. So that is the end of my chapter for now with Naito. That’s 13 singles matches. I beat him in the G1, I beat him for the championship. As far as I’m concerned, my history and my story with Naito for now is over. He had lots of plans for the Tokyo Dome. He’ll be doing them without the championship, and that’s absolutely fine. The most important thing now is that Zack Sabre Jr. is the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

As noted before, WWE Hall of Famer Jerry “The King” Lawler suffered a stroke incident at his home in Fort Myers, Florida in February of 2023 and has been recovering at his home since then. In a recent interview with Sportskeeda’s WrestleBinge podcast, Lawler provided an update on his health status stating “Well, my health has been a big problem for me lately. I had a couple of strokes. That’s what cost me my deal with WWE, with my commentating because my voice, it’s not perfect, but it’s not good enough to do commentating. So I’m still with them on a [Legends Deal]. Still part of the family…the best part of that is I think four times, I get a nice, big check, and that’s good [laughs].” Lawler also gave his thoughts about if he misses working in commentary following his broadcast contract with WWE expiring at the beginning of this year. Lawler stated “No, not a bit. I just went out there and sat down and was myself, and it was just another chapter of my life. When I finished it, 10-15 minutes before it was over, I was thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, how much longer is this gonna last?’ As soon as it was over, I just got up and went about my business. Left the studio and went about being Jerry Lawler.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

The National Wrestling Alliance recently announced one new match for the card of their Samhain 2 event on October 26th in Tampa, Florida:

• NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship – EC3 vs. Thom Latimer (c)

Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling recently announced one new match for the card of their Forged In Excellence Night 2 event on October 20th at the St. Clair College in Windsor, Ontario, Canada:

• “Speedball” Mike Bailey vs. El Phantasmo