Hiroshi Tanahashi (棚橋弘至, Tanahashi Hiroshi; born November 13, 1976) is a Japanese sports executive, podcaster and retired professional wrestler. He is signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he serves as the president and representative director, whilst also wrestling for them from 1999 until 2026. Hiroshi Tanahashi has held 26 championships in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), including a record eight reigns as IWGP Heavyweight Champion and three as IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion. His other titles include two IWGP Intercontinental Championships, one NJPW World Television Championship, three IWGP Tag Team Championships, one NEVER Openweight Championship, six NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championships, and two IWGP U-30 Openweight Championships. Tanahashi won the G1 Climax tournament three times, in 2007, 2015, and 2018, and the New Japan Cup twice, in 2005 and 2008. He was also the fourth wrestler to complete NJPW's Triple Crown and the second to achieve its Grand Slam. Through NJPW's working agreements with Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), Pro Wrestling NOAH, Ring of Honor (ROH), All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and Revolution Pro Wrestling, Tanahashi has also held the CMLL World Tag Team Championship, the CMLL World Trios Championship, the CMLL Universal Championship, GHC Tag Team Championship, and the RevPro British Heavyweight Championship. Between NJPW, CMLL, Noah, ROH and RevPro, he has 27 championship reigns. When Tanahashi was inducted into the Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame in 2013, Dave Meltzer stated that "you could make a strong case for him as the best in-ring performer in the business today", adding that he was "the leading star in New Japan Pro-Wrestling's comeback from being in terrible shape a few years back to being the No. 2 pro wrestling company in the world". Readers of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter named Tanahashi as the best wrestler of the 2010s in March 2020.
Source: “Hiroshi Tanahashi”, English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), excerpt