NJPW News: Hiroshi Tanahashi injured, pulled from World Tag League

What’s the Story?

IWGP Intercontinental Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi has been removed from the upcoming World Tag League shows following an injury to his knee according to a press release from NJPW.

In Case You Didn’t Know

Tanahashi won his second IWGP Intercontinental Championship at Dominion 6.11 in Osaka-jo Hall by defeating long-time rival Tetsuya Naito.

Tanahashi has held the championship for 170 days and was expected to defend the title against Jay White at Wrestle Kingdom 12 on Jan 4, 2018, although, that match might be in doubt with news of this latest injury to The Once in a Century Talent.

The Heart of the Matter

Tanahashi was not a participant in the World Tag League because of his upcoming match with White announced for Wrestle Kingdom 12. However, The Once in a Century Talent was expected to participate in some multi-man tag team matches heading into the finals of the World Tag League.

The injury occurred in his right knee and the report from NJPW says that the extent of the injury is unknown, but will be revealed following Tanahashi’s medical assessment.

The press release didn’t say that he was expected to miss his title defence at Wrestle Kingdom, but should his knee require more than four weeks recovery, Tanahashi may be forced to vacate his IWGP Intercontinental Championship.

This would be a huge blow as the annual NJPW supershow in January is long considered to be the home of the former Ace of New Japan's. It will be interesting to see where things go from here.

What’s Next?

The match between Tanahashi and White was heavily pushed by AXS TV as one of the selling points for tuning in to the three-hour replay of Wrestle Kingdom 12 that airs two days later on Saturday, Jan 6.

However, the IWGP United States Championship match between Chris Jericho and Kenny Omega and the IWGP Heavyweight Championship match between Kazuchika Okada and Naito were the biggest matches advertised for the replay.

There’s no way of knowing whether AXS TV would change one of the matches to be aired on the three-hour special should changes to the card occur and in the meantime, there is nothing more to be done than to wait and see how this plays out.

Author’s Take

Hiroshi Tanahashi has wrestled through injuries before and hopefully, his knee issue isn't severe enough to warrant being pulled from Wrestle Kingdom.