Backstage News On Konosuke Takeshita’s Status With AEW And DDT
Konosuke Takeshita continues to impress during his latest North American excursion, which began in April, with his most recent eye-catching performance coming this past weekend in his quest to dethrone Claudio Castagnoli as Ring of Honor World Champion at AEW's Battle of the Belts III. It appears that fans this side of the Pacific Ocean will be seeing more of the Japanese star than they may have anticipated.
According to Dave Meltzer, speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Takeshita will be performing outside Asia for "a year or so." Meltzer also noted that Takeshita is living in the United States at present, but pointed out that, even if he does return to Japan in the future, it would effectively be a seamless process to bring him back over due to AEW's "good relationship" with DDT Pro-Wrestling. Meltzer admitted that he does not currently know Takeshita's deal with the Japanese promotion.
Meltzer went on to suggest that if Takeshita doesn't have a full-time deal somewhere, "WWE is looking for a big Japanese guy as we speak." Of course, WWE's new EVP of Talent Relations and head of creative is Paul "Triple H" Levesque, and knowing The Game's track record of signing some of the best in-ring talent on the planet — specifically during his tenure leading "NXT" between 2012 and 2021 — Takeshita may already be on his radar.
Takeshita made his pro wrestling debut in August 2012 for DDT. The 27-year-old has achieved numerous accolades in the promotion, notably becoming the Ironman Heavymetalweight Champion four times and the KO-D Openweight Champion five times. Takeshita was also crowned the winner of the King of DDT Tournament on two occasions and won the D'Oh Grand Prix twice, and he's had great tag team success in DDT, as well, winning the KO-D Six-Man Tag Team Championship five times and the KO-D Tag Team Championship on four occasions. The Tokyo Sports 2013 Rookie of the Year additionally went on to win the 2021 Ultimate Tag League with his tag team partner, Shunma Katsumata.