Hiroshi Tanahashi’s life story can now be told in this series of autobiographical interviews, available for the first time in English!

<–Ace’s HIGH #24: Playing with others

Ace’s HIGH #26: Swing Lows Sweet Ace Coming October 21! ->

(Editor’s note: In November 2002, Hiroshi Tanahashi was victim of a stabbing incident that took him out of action at the end of the year, the particulars of which will not be covered here).

–So you were put out of commission in November 2002, and targeted a return for January 4 2003 in the Tokyo Dome.

Tanahashi: Right. Looking back, it was a bit selfish of me, to want to be back for the Tokyo Dome. In the end, I couldn’t get back in time, and I ended up being in Manabu Nakanishi and Masahiro Chono’s corner. 

–You had a test sparring session with Chono in the Noge Dojo just before the Dome event, and it was decided you couldn’t make it. You said of seconding Chono and Nakanishi that walking out in the Dome felt like you were walking onto the gallows.

Tanahashi: Yeah, I’d never been so scared of walking out in front of people.

–And how did the fans actually react in practice?

Tanahashi: I think it wasn’t so much a negative reaction as apathy that was problematic to me. The thing is even if I were put into a match I was in no state to have a good one. You have to remember I was coming back from a collapsed lung; when I sparred with Chono I was absolutely blown up inside of a couple of minutes.

–It was that bad? 

Tanahashi: I was putting myself out there, ‘put me in, coach’ kind of thing, but I was in nowhere near the shape I needed to be in.

 –You actually came back for the opening match of the Ryogoku card on February 6 against Manabu Nakanishi.

Tanahashi: I remember. It was a really unique reaction, an emotional moment. 

–Something unprecedented for you and them.

Tanahashi: Right… I mean it isn’t like this kind of situation had happened before…(laughs)

–Were you nervous?

Tanahashi: Absolutely. But it taught me a valuable lesson about how to deal with my emotions and focus at the task at hand. It’s something that’s helped me keep going to where I am now, I think. Whatever the situation I can put myself out there in front of people.

–There was almost a kind of ritual purification to it, a reset for you with Manabu Nakanishi in the opposite role. 

Tanahashi: Oh yeah. And even now, I’m really grateful for him being in that position of having to face me that night.

–Were you able to move how you wanted at that point?

Tanahashi: No, not at all. It was probably the worst I’ve felt in my career. I couldn’t dropkick high enough, I was completely gassed…

–In your post match comments you said you didn’t feel happy at all, but that you were sent back to square one.

Tanahashi: Right. Of course I had wanted to be back but I hadn’t earned the right to act all giddy.

–It wasn’t long after this that you put forward the idea of the U-30 Openweight Championship. What was the idea behind that?

Tanahashi: Well, at the time U-20 or U-17 tournaments in soccer and other sports were gaining traction. So I liked the idea of an ‘under X’ concept. And I’d hear voices that Inoki’s golden age for his matches was before he formed NJPW when he was in his 20s himself. I thought it would be good to focus on the 20 somethings in NJPW.

–And it was a chance for you to move up in the process?

Tanahashi: Right, of course, it was a chance from the company to pick myself up after what had happened and gave me somethign to focus on.

–You were part of the league to determine an inaugural champion, and won the title by beating Shinya (now Togi) Makabe with a Dragon Suplex on April 23 in Sendai.

Tanahashi: That match meant a lot to me. Now my musculature has helped a lot but back when I was younger, my left shoulder had a habit of getting easily dislocated. It popped out the day before the final match as well, but I was just so driven to put all I had into that match.

–Another thing about that tournament was that there wasn’t a belt waiting for you at the end, it didn’t get finished in time!

Tanahashi: Weird, right? That was kind of how the company was at the time. The left hand wasn’t talking to the right, it was all kinds of messed up.

–You had won that title but you still weren’t full of confidence. Even after getting that result, you still said that you expected Makabe and (Yutaka) Yoshie to gain attention as under 30s in NJPW.

Tanahashi: Well, this was my first singles title, and I really didn’t know how to express my self as a champion. Now I know how to elevate myself as well as the championship and the match to come, but back then there was nobody to teach me how. I didn’t have the tools I needed.