Hiroshi Tanahashi Says He Wants To Face CM Punk, Bryan Danielson, And Claudio Castagnoli

Hiroshi Tanahashi remains interested in facing CM Punk.

Tanahashi was part of the first AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door event. He was set to face AEW World Champion CM Punk at the show, but Punk went down with an injury. As a result, the NJPW star faced Jon Moxley for the Interim AEW World Championship instead. Ahead of AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2, Tanahashi challenged AEW World Champion MJF to face him at the show, but MJF turned him down.However, MJF agreed to the match on the June 21 episode of AEW Dynamite.

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Speaking with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated, Tanahashi shared his thoughts ahead of his match at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door.

“I feel very honored to challenge for the AEW title. Just imagining myself becoming the AEW world heavyweight champion is pretty exciting,” Tanahashi said through a translator.

If Tanahashi dethrones MJF at the pay-per-view, he has his sights set on his major matchups. Tanahashi specifically named Claudio Castagnoli, CM Punk, and Bryan Danielson as the opponents that he wants to face. He highlighted the fact that he was set to face Punk at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Foor 2022, but the bout was nixed about Punk went down with an injury.

“Castagnoli is a great wrestler. I know that he used to team with Shinsuke Nakamura, and that was an emotional link for me. I’d love to have a single match against him. I want to wrestle CM Punk since I couldn’t do it last year. I have wrestled Bryan Danielson once before when I was younger. But with him being one of the top wrestlers in the U.S. and the world right now, I’d love for us to go again,” Tanahashi said.

Tanahashi’s interest in facing Punk is not limited to singles matches. Alongside Tomohiro Ishii and Kazuchika Okada, Tanahashi holds the NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Championship. The trio retained the gold against Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, and Shota Umino at NJPW Dominion. Tanahashi noted that, if he had the chance, he would like to defend the gold against Punk and FTR.

“Why not? That definitely sounds good to me,” he said.

As for MJF, Tanahashi briefly stated, “I have no respect for him. But I will say that for someone so young, he’s got a lot of self-belief and conviction.”

Tanahashi previously stated that he aims to win the AEW World Championship and the G1 Climax Tournament. Check out his comments here.

CM Punk will be in action at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door, as he will face Satoshi Kojima. Tony Khan recently stated that he couldn’t comment on anyone who was rumored to face Punk. Click here to see what he had to say.

Check out the card for AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2023 here. Fightful will have coverage of the show as it airs.