Yuji Nagata & Hiroshi Tanahashi Set For Their 18th and Final Match At Blue Justice XVI On Sept. 7th

By: Lewis Carlan

Yuji Nagata and Hiroshi Tanahashi will be facing off against each other for the eighteenth and final time at the upcoming Nagata produced Blue Justice XVI event. The two have had quite a storied rivalry and they will have one final match as Tanahashi is on his Final Road tour and is set to retire at Wrestle Kingdom 20 on Jan. 4th 2026. Their last match is set to take place at the Togane Arena in Chiba.

Nagata and Tanahashi first faced off back on Jan. 24th 2002 at NJPW Extreme 2 Days. Nagata, who was Tanahashi’s mentor, was victorious in their first ever meeting.

The two superstars faced each other 16 more times following that initial encounter in 2002. Tanahashi’s first victory over Nagata, which was via DQ, came in April 2005 at the New Japan Cup.

In April 2007, Nagata ended Tanahashi’s first reign as the IWGP Heavyweight Champion which began Nagata’s second and final reign as titleholder. Tanahashi regained the championship from Nagata in Oct. 2007 in a spectacular match.

Photo Credit: NJPW

The last time these two legends met was at the 2017 G1 Climax tournament in a block match that was won by Tanahashi.

Overall, Tanahashi holds a 10-7 win/loss record against his rival Nagata.

At Blue Justice XVI, it will be a very emotional moment as it marks the end of a great rivalry as Tanahashi gets one step closer to his final career bout at Wrestle Kingdom 20.

Here is the full line up of matches for Blue Justice XVI on Sept. 7th:

• Main Event: Hiroshi Tanahashi Final Road Kinship: Yuji Nagata vs Hiroshi Tanahashi
• TMDK (Zack Sabre Jr., Ryohei Oiwa, Robbie Eagles, Kosei Fujita & Hartley Jackson) vs HOUSE OF TORTURE (Ren Narita, SANADA, Yujiro Takahashi, SHO & DOUKI)
• El Desperado, Ryusuke Taguchi, Shota Umino & Yuya Uemura vs YOH, Toru Yano, Master Wato & Togi Makabe
• Shingo Takagi, Yota Tsuji, Hiromu Takahashi & Daiki Nagai vs War Dogs (Gabe Kidd, David Finlay, Taiji Ishimori & Gedo)
• Taichi, Tomoaki Honma & TAKA Michinoku vs War Dogs (Yuto-Ice, OSKAR & Clark Connors)
• Boltin Oleg, Shoma Kato & Katsuya Murashima vs HOUSE OF TORTURE (Don Fale, EVIL & Dick Togo)
• Tiger Mask & Tatsuya Matsumoto vs Masatora Yasuda & Zane Jay