The Tiger Hattori Retirement Event began with Great Bash Heel (Togi Makabe/Tomoaki Honma) and Toa Henare defeating New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) Los Angeles (LA) Dojo Young Lion Gabriel Kidd along with the NJPW Noge Dojo Young Lion partners Yuya Uemura and Yota Tsuji.
The second match saw IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Roppongi 3K (Sho/Yoh) and RevPro Undisputed British Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay defeat Mega Coaches (Rocky Romero/Ryusuke Taguchi) and Tiger Mask. Roppongi 3K’s V2 defense of their current reign with the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship against the Mega Coaches, who attacked the champions after the match. CHAOS unit mate Will Ospreay broke up the fight between the two teams.
The third match saw FinJuice (Juice Robinson/David Finlay) and Yoshi-Hashi defeat the Los Ingobernables de Japon team of IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Takahashi, Evil, and Bushi.
The fourth match saw TenCozy (Satoshi Kojima/Hiroyoshi Tenzan), Yuji Nagata, and Manabu Nakanishi (who retires on February 22nd) defeat the Suzuki-Gun team of Minoru Suzuki, Taichi, El Desperado, and Yoshinobu Kanemaru.
The headline match was the penultimate match referred by Tiger Hattori in his long career. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kota Ibushi, Toru Yano, and Colt Cabana defeated the Bullet Club team of IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Guerrillas Of Destiny (Tama Tonga/Tanga Loa), Jay White, and Bad Luck Fale.
.@TigerHattoriNY 'KICK!!!'
EXCLUSIVELY LIVE on https://t.co/CcdQ1XrpWA#njpw #njpwworld #ThankYouTiger #タイガー服部引退 pic.twitter.com/FbxdLIwgUR— NJPW WORLD (@njpwworld) February 19, 2020
The marquee and final refereed match of Hattori’s career saw LIJ members IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental ‘Double Champion’ Tetsuya Naito, NEVER Openweight Champion Shingo Takagi, and Sanada defeat the CHAOS team of Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii, and Hirooki Goto.
After the match, NJPW held a ceremony to commemorate Hattori’s referring career. NJPW President Harold Meij, NJPW Chairman Naoki Sugabayashi, Hiroshi Hase, The Great Kabuki, Keiji Mutoh, Riki Choshu, CHAOS, and Hontai unit members came to the ring to celebrate with Hattori, who played a large role in the international expansion of NJPW.
According to NJPW English commentary, Hattori will remain an office member but will spend a lot more time at home. While some fans and reports suggest NJPW doesn’t know what they were doing in regards to expanding into the US, despite using a similar strategy to how they gained a foothold in the United Kingdom — Tiger Hattori is quite familiar with the wrestling landscape in the United States, playing a crucial role in recruiting foreign talent to the Japan-based promotion.
