WWE Superstar Shinsuke Nakamura had the wrestling world talking following the recent WWE tour of Japan that saw Nakamura make various references to the President of Recent Japan Pro Wrestling, his long-time friend Hiroshi Tanahashi. Nakamura even shouted Tanahashi out in a post-match promo, leading many to wonder if it’s possible that Nakamura shall be Tanahashi’s final opponent when “The Ace” retires from wrestling at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 20 on January 4. Various things would must fall into place to ensure that it to occur, but Dave Meltzer stated on “Wrestling Observer Radio” that it is not out of the realm of possibility.
“I might just say, it is not a done deal without delay. Could it occur? I mean Nakamura has in his contract he can do stuff in Japan, that was a part of the deal he signed. So it is a weird political thing, because obviously Recent Japan and AEW work very closely together.” Meltzer noted that a WWE Superstar has appeared on a Recent Japan show for the reason that company established a partnership with AEW, that being Karl Anderson at Wrestle Kingdom 17, who was under contract with WWE when he dropped the NEVER Openweight Championship to Tama Tonga. Nevertheless, Meltzer claimed that was a really difficult match to drag off because of the negotiations backstage.
With that said, Meltzer believes that every one of the talk of AEW President Tony Khan being offended with Recent Japan potentially bringing Nakamura in likely won’t occur because, at the top of the day, it’s Tanahashi’s decision. “My gut is that, and I might be dead improper, but though WWE and AEW are feuding and all of the stuff WWE does to AEW always. I do think that Tony Khan, I do not know. Individuals are going ‘oh he will get really mad’ I do not know. Possibly he’ll but I do not think so. I just think it’s Tanahashi’s retirement and if Tanahashi desires to retire against Nakamura they usually can pull that off, I feel it ought to be okay.”
Please credit “Wrestling Observer Radio” when using quotes from this text, and provides a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.