As we get ready to watch a packed house say goodbye to one legend this weekend, we’re hearing that a stadium-full of people will watch another’s farewell next month.
We’re still wrapping our heads around the cosmic coincidence of John Cena and Hiroshi Tanahashi hanging up their boots at roughly the same moment in time. But as we do that, it’s good to know that the Tokyo Dome will be packed to pay tribute Tanahashi, who spent a few years being referred to as “the Japanese John Cena” for the way New Japan Pro-Wrestling booked him, as he faces Kazuchika Okada in his final match at Wrestle Kingdom 20 on Jan. 4, 2026.
NJPW announced the sell-out yesterday (Dec. 11):
Like most venues, the Dome is configured differently for wrestling. It’s hard to say how many will be in the house for President Ace’s last match, but the sellout news comes after at least one seating expansion last month. Those tickets were released after NJPW announced that 31K+ tickets had been sold as of Nov. 4. Post Wrestling wrote at the time that Wrestle Kingdom 20 “could now be on pace to challenge NJPW’s modern paid attendance benchmark of 40,008 fans, set on the first night of Wrestle Kingdom 14 in January 2020.”
Here’s the current line-up for Wrestle Kingdom 2026:
AloJapan.com