John Cena Pays Tribute To Recently Retired Wrestling Legend
Despite retiring from wrestling, John Cena continues to keep a tab on its happenings.
The 17-time WWE champion paid tribute to a Japanese star who recently retired after having competed professionally for 25 years.
On January 4, 2026, Hiroshi Tanahashi called time on his illustrious career after wrestling against Kazuchika Okada at Wrestle Kingdom 20.
Both wrestlers have a storied rivalry dating back to the early 2010s, when Okada challenged Tanahashi in New Japan Pro Wrestling. Okada later on surpassed Tanahashi to become the face of the Japanese promotion.
Overall, they fought in 18 singles matches, their latest one culminating at Wrestle Kingdom, where Okada defeated Tanahashi.
The bout went just over 33 minutes, where they got several near pinfalls on each other. Like his cocky character in AEW currently, Okada started brashly, but was forced to revert to his former best after facing resistance from the veteran superstar.
Okada won after hitting a “Rainmaker.” After the match, he bowed and thanked Tanahashi. Several wrestlers, like Will Ospreay, Jay White, Kota Ibushi, Tetsuya Naito, etc., made appearances during the event.
John Cena Honors Hiroshi Tanahashi
John Cena competed in his final wrestling match at WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event XLII, where he tapped out to Gunther.
While the match received severe backlash, Cena left the arena with a smile on his face. During an exclusive appearance on Cody Rhodes’ podcast, the 48-year-old explained why he smiled before submitting.
Taking to his Instagram account, John Cena uploaded a picture of Hiroshi Tanahashi without any caption, which is a common trend in most of his posts.
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Before retiring from NJPW, Tanahashi also got a retirement match in AEW.
At Forbidden Door in August 2025, he teamed up with Will Ospreay, Darby Allin, and the Golden Lovers (Kenny Omega & Kota Ibushi) to challenge the Death Riders (Jon Moxley & Claudio Castagnoli), Gabe Kidd, and The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson).
The match ended in a victory for Tanahashi and his team.