2026 has started in an emotional way with the retirement of Hiroshi Tanahashi and what appears to also be the retirement of AJ Styles. In some ways AJ’s came out of the blue. He had announced that 2026 would be his last year in wrestling but putting his career on the line against the career killer Gunther was something we didn’t see coming in January. Hiroshi had a year long countdown to his final match in a sell out Tokyo Dome at Wrestle Kingdom. This match is the first of this month’s Positive Trio – three things we liked in wrestling in January 2026.

Hiroshi’s final match was the main event of Wrestle Kingdom 20 and an early match of the year contender. It was against one of his most heated rivals Kazuchika Okada. It was incredibly paced with lots of moments where you believed Hiroshi could win. After over thirty minutes of action, Okada was victorious and the celebration of Hiroshi could start.

The post match was emotional as some of Hiroshi’s greatest friends and rivals came to the ring. Keiji Mutoh, Tatsumi Fujinami, Will Ospreay, Kenny Omega, Kota Ibushi (who struggled to the ring after suffering a serious injury a couple of months ago), Katsuyori Shibata, BUSHI, Jay White and Tetsuya Naito all made appearances as Hiroshi said goodbye to the fans for the final time.

“I’m a true real man, feel it in my motion. Kit Wilson, the antidote in motion. Kit Wilson baby, no-one can top it. Feminine fire, yeah I’m the topic”.

It would have been an outside bet at the start of the year that Kit Wilson would be in the January Positive Trio but he really is the topic. Will Elton Prince recovering from a serious injury, Kit received a new Titantron and entrance theme as part of his ‘toxic masculinity’ persona.

He debuted this against a retuning Matt Cardona and the theme went viral. A couple of weeks after his loss to Cardona, Kit launched a vicious attack on him to set up what should be an entertaining feud.

The Royal Rumble event was enjoyable but hampered by the crowd, lighting and some production issues. The standout match and final entry on this month’s Trio was the women’s rumble.

There were lots of fun and interesting moment’s. Tension between tag teams as the first two entrants Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss had issues as did Asuka and Kairi Sane. We also saw a tag team reunited as the surprise entrant was Brie Bella who received a fantastic reaction to the Yes kicks and embraced her sister Nikki.

Kiana James put in a career performance in lasting over 27 minutes. Lash Legend lasted longer and eliminated five competitors including Flair and both of the Bella’s.

Chelsea Green had some of the most memorable moments in her eight minutes. Trying to recruit the members of Judgment Day and Rhea Ripley. Alba Fyre helping her out at ringside to prevent her feet touching the floor and the ultimate elimination by Rhea.

The match came down to a final four of Raquel Rodriguez, Liv Morgan, Tiffany Stratton and Sol Ruca, the latter of whom lasted over 50 minutes. Liv eliminated her stable mate Raquel which appears to be the start of tension between the two.

Sol went for a Sol Snatcher from the ring apron on Tiffany which seemed a strange choice of move as there was no way for Sol to land it without her own feet touching the floor. As it was, Tiffany pushed Sol mid motion. Sol landed on the floor whilst Tiffany remained on the ring apron. It wasn’t for long though as Liv hit the Oblivion to eliminate Tiffany and book her ticket to WrestleMania.