Hiroshi Tanahashi wants to face some of AEW’s top stars.
At AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door, Tanahashi will challenge MJF for the AEW World Championship. The show will mark the second time Tanahashi has challenged for a world title in AEW; he faced Jon Moxley in a match for the Interim AEW World Championship at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2022.
In an interview with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated, Tanahashi looked forward to the title match and made it clear that he feels honored to have this opportunity.
“I feel very honored to challenge for the AEW title,” Tanahashi said through a translator. “Just imagining myself becoming the AEW world heavyweight champion is pretty exciting.”
The NJPW star also named Claudio Castagnoli, CM Punk, and Bryan Danielson as his dream opponents if he wins the gold.
“Castagnoli is a great wrestler,” said Tanahashi. “I know that he used to team with Shinsuke Nakamura, and that was an emotional link for me. I’d love to have a singles match against him.
“I want to wrestle CM Punk since I couldn’t do it last year. I have wrestled Bryan Danielson once before when I was younger. But with him being one of the top wrestlers in the U.S. and the world right now, I’d love for us to go again.”
Tanahashi also made it clear that he doesn’t respect MJF, as he said, “I have no respect for him. But I will say that for someone so young, he’s got a lot of self-belief and conviction.”
In another interview, Tanahashi described his goal to win the world title and headline AEW All In. More information is available here.
WrestleZone will have coverage of AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door as it airs on Sunday.
