Tanahashi gets ‘President Ace’ merchandise.
After it was decided that Takami Ohbari would be stepping down from his role as President of New Japan Pro-Wrestling, eight-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi was appointed as President and Representative Director of the company.
Tanahashi has since addressed his new role and will do so again at Wrestle Kingdom 18, where he will also be challenging Zack Sabre Jr. for the NJPW World Television Championship. Tanahashi plans to continue being an active wrestler on the roster.
New Japan pushed out new merchandise for Tanahashi. There are ‘President Ace’ shirts available to purchase. At the age of 47, Tanahashi has been part of New Japan for 24 years.
In addition to Tanahashi versus Sabre Jr., here’s the updated lineup for Wrestle Kingdom on January 4th:
- IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: SANADA (c) vs. Tetsuya Naito
- Bryan Danielson vs. Kazuchika Okada
- IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships: BULLET CLUB War Dogs (Clark Connors & Drilla Moloney) (c) vs. Catch 2/2 (Francesco Akira & TJP)
- IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: Hiromu Takahashi (c) vs. El Desperado
- IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship: Will Ospreay vs. Jon Moxley vs. David Finlay (w/ Gedo)
- NEVER Openweight Championship: Shingo Takagi (c) vs. Tama Tonga
- IWGP & NJPW STRONG Openweight Tag Team Championships: Bishamon (Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI) (c) vs. Hikuleo & El Phantasmo (c)
- NJPW World Television Championship: Zack Sabre Jr. (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
- Yota Tsuji vs. Yuya Uemura
- Shota Umino & Kaito Kiyomiya vs. EVIL & Ren Narita
- New Japan Ranbo: Participants TBA
