Fun fact about Taichi from today's event

Commentary talked about how Tanahashi chose Taichi to face Shun Skywalker today because he sees Taichi as a gatekeeper for New Japan, to test whether an outaider joining the promotion is good enough. This stems from Taichi's own journey of joining as a freelancer after leaving All Japan and rising up the ranks to become a star in his own right (something Taichi is very proud of).

To hammer this point, this bit of commentary came right after Taichi and Takeshita performed a tandem big boot to Narita, a direct reference to the same move Akira Taue and Jumbo Tsuruta used to do as a tag team in All Japan. The handshake between the two after the match seemingly solidifed Takeshita's acceptancr as a full New Japan Hontai member.