Pro Wrestling NOAH Star Shuhei Taniguchi Announces His Retirement After 20 Years of In-Ring Competiton

By: Lewis Carlan

The 20 year career of perennial Pro Wrestling NOAH star Shuhei Taniguchi is coming to an end.

Tanaguchi, 49, appeared at the Pro Wrestling NOAH’s N-1 VICTORY 2026 Finals which took place on Oct. 4th inside Yoyogi National Gymnasium 2nd Gymnasium. He stepped into the ring to address the over 2,000 fans in attendance and announced he will be retiring from pro-wrestling. Taniguchi confirmed that there will be a retirement match which will be discussed in detail during a press conference set for Oct. 5th.

From Shuhei Taniguchi:

“Thank you very much for coming in such large numbers today. I am truly sorry for being absent for a long time since May and for not showing myself before you all. On a personal note, I, Shuhei Taniguchi, have decided to retire. During these roughly 21 years that I have walked as a professional wrestler in this NOAH ring, there were many joyful times, frustrating times, and painful times, but looking back now, I think every single moment was irreplaceable. And the reason I was able to continue professional wrestling up to this point is thanks to the support of all the fans who cheered for me. Thank you so much for everything up until now. There will also be a retirement match, so I will talk about the details in tomorrow’s press conference. Thank you very much!” (H/T goes to meraWRESTLING for the English transaltion)

Taniguchi made his pro-wrestling debut for Pro Wrestling NOAH back on Dec. 24th 2005 at NOAHFUL GIFT IN DIFFER 2005. He teamed with Takeshi Morishima, Yoshinari Ogawa, KENTA as they defeated Takuma Sano, Hasumakoto (SUWA), Kentaro Shiga & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi. He has competed for NOAH ever since his debut and has held the GHC Tag Team Championship on six different occaisions.