5 stars who have remained loyal to a wrestling promotion

#4 Hiroshi Tanahashi ( New Japan Pro Wrestling)

Tanahashi as the Rev Pro British Heavyweight Champion

It wouldn't be an understatement to say that Japanese Proresu as we know it today wouldn't be where it is today without The Ace, Hiroshi Tanahashi. Much like Stone Cold Steve Austin, Tanahashi helped bring New Japan Pro Wrestling out from its dark phase and become one of the flagbearers of the promotions as it gained worldwide notoriety.

Tanahashi has been with the promotion for almost 20 years and even at 42 years of age, is showing no signs of slowing down. The one-half of the reigning IWGP Tag Team Champion was part of a group of rookies that arrived in the New Japan Pro Wrestling dojo in 1999 called 'The Three Musketeers'. The other two were Katsuyori Shibata and Shinsuke Nakamura.

The rise of MMA and Pride FC was a huge blow to Japanese pro wrestling. Many of the great Japanese Pro-wrestlers transitioned to MMA during the heyday of Pride FC with the most notable one being Kazushi Sakuraba. Tanahashi was with the company during this time and by the time Pride folded up in 2007, he had started to gained traction as one of the wrestling company's top stars.

Over the years, there have been numerous unconfirmed reports about WWE trying to unsuccessfully sign The Japanese Ace. The Man himself has spoken about how the Stanford-based wrestling promotion tried signing him in the mid-2000s. But, The Ace has remained loyal to New Japan and continues to be one of its top stars.