Takashi Iizuka’s retirement match has been set.
Iizuka will team with Suzuki-gun stablemates Minoru Suzuki and Taichi on 2/21 at Korakuen Hall. They will square off against the team of Kazuchika Okada, Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Toru Yano in the main event of the first New Japan Road card taking place this month.
This comes as a storyline has been building between Iizuka and former tag team partner Hiroyoshi Tenzan, who wanted to team up with him before he retires. It was in April 2008 that Iizuka turned on Tenzan, joining GBH and radically changing his look, adopting a madman persona.
Despite this, Tenzan still wants to mend fences with Iizuka before he retires. Iizuka has rebuffed Tenzan’s requests, opting to attack him instead. Even after Tenzan showed him a shirt from their tag team days that said “friends”, Iizuka jumped Tenzan and ripped the shirt, making it clear that he has no intentions of teaming with him.
Iizuka first entered NJPW in 1986, his first match against Akira Nogami. He’s remained in New Japan ever since, winning the tag team titles on three occasions.