AEW Unified Champion and pro wrestling veteran “The Rainmaker” Kazuchika Okada spoke with NJPW about several topics, including whether he sees his own retirement coming any time soon.
Okada said, “My retirement? I mean I’ve been around to be in NJPW and see people come and go, and then for me to leave as well, it says how much of a career I’ve had already. I don’t think I’m anywhere near retiring yet, but I am aware that day will come some time. Maybe I should ask Tanahashi to be my final opponent? Oh wait he’s finishing up. (laughs)”
On Hiroshi Tanahashi’s influence on his career being invaluable:
“Yes. If it wasn’t for that first Osaka match, or if it wasn’t Tanahashi in that match then the Rainmaker wouldn’t have become what the Rainmaker was. Everybody would always say those matches were great. I do think in the end if you talk about the Rainmaker without mentioning Tanahashi, there would be a big hole there. He’s essential to everything about what the Rainmaker has been.
On a moment he felt impressed by Tanahashi:
“Just his endurance, that never tired nature. You feel that in the ring and out of it, him doing so much without ever getting tired is what has gotten NJPW to where it is. And the fact that here he is wrestling me, and he’s the champion, or he was able to be such a great champion, even though I’m far better in the ring. I think that speaks to how great he is.”
On Tanahashi’s impending retirement:
“Hmm, I’m not really sure I have an answer to that. It doesn’t quite feel like he’s retiring. I think I won’t know for sure until the day itself. If I was in NJPW all this time, perhaps I might get a sense that retirement was looming, but I’ve been over in America; I never really gave it thought. I think it’ll be at the end of the year, when I’m finished with the AEW schedule, and next is the Tokyo Dome; that’s when I’ll be able to give it more thought. But everything about The Rainmaker started with Tanahashi, so it makes sense to end Tanahashi’s career… Talking about it that way sounds a little self-centered (laughs), but in the end, I feel this is a repayment in a way.”
On how he would approach Tanahashi’s retirement match:
“Yes, it’s a retirement match, but—and I don’t mean this in a weird way—in the end, it is a normal match. It’s the same as it would be a tag match on a local house show. Any match only exists in itself and never to be repeated, so I don’t think that retirement matches in themselves should be different in that sense. I’m just thinking, ‘How best can I really hit him where it hurts?’”
On the biggest difference between AEW and NJPW:
“AEW has catering (laughs). But with AEW every show is a TV show, so there’s a lot more staff around all the time, and there you’re constantly moving from town to town, so that’s a huge difference. In a lot of ways it’s a different thing. You’re really part of this traveling TV show there, it’s a different animal. But it’s a lot of fun.”
On Takeshita’s success In 2025:
“I think it’s great. I’m an AEW wrestler now. So I’m glad to see that he as an other AEW wrestler can come and show that AEW guys are able to perform at that level to win a G1 and win the IWGP. I’m grateful for that. You know, he likes to snip at me and we do butt heads. I understand how he feels, I understand that he would have me on his mind having won the G1 and the title. I think it would be weird if he didn’t. Maybe when we find out who’s in the main event in the Tokyo Dome, that will put a line in the sand of who’s the better man. To an extent I think that’s at stake here.”
