New Japan Pro Wednesday (2/20) Farewell, Iizuka

New Japan Pro Wednesday would like to thank Takashi Iizuka for his 32-years of service to wrestling fans around the world. Stay gold, bitey boy.

Takashi Iizuka Retirement Show

Takashi Iizuka will hang up his boots after Thursday’s show. The 52-year old wrestler ends his 32-year career with a match against  Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Kazuchika Okada & Toru Yano, all of whom Iizuka has tagged or been a stablemate with at some point. The show will air LIVE on NJPWWorld at 4:30am EST.

Takashi Iizuka Retirement Show, 4:30am EST

• Jushin Thunder Liger & Yuya Uemura vs. Bullet Club (Taiji Ishimori & Robbie Eagles)
• Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma, Toa Henare & Tiger Mask vs. Satoshi Kojima, Manabu Nakanishi, Ren Narita & Yota Tsuji
• Yuji Nagata & Shota Umino vs. CHAOS (YOSHI-HASHI & Tomohiro Ishii)
• Roppongi 3K (SHO & YOH) vs. Suzuki-gun (El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru)
• Hirooki Goto & Ryusuki Taguchi vs. Suzuki-gun (Zack Sabre Jr. & TAKA Michinoku)
• Hiroshi Tanahashi & Will Ospreay vs. Killer Elite Squad (Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr)
• Takashi Iizuka Retirement Match: Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Kazuchika Okada & Toru Yano vs. Suzuki-gun (Takashi Iizuka, Taichi & Minoru Suzuki)

Kazuchika Okada On Takashi Iizuka Retirement Match:
“I’m Going All Out”

Kazuchika Okada was recently interviewed by NJPW. During the interview The Rainmaker compared wrestling in Takashi Iizuka’s retirement match, with wrestling in Genichiro Tenryu, saying he’s going “all out” in the match with Iizuka, like he did against Tenryu.

There are many fans out there who want to be surprised in matches. I think they could also get that same sense of surprise by getting to know about the old Iizuka. By understanding the relationship between me, Tenzan, Yano and Iizuka you’ll be able to get a greater sense of enjoyment when watching this match. That being said, just like against Tenryu, I’m going all out.

The full interview is available HERE.