Konosuke Takeshita talks his signing with AEW.
Takeshita is one of the top young talents in All Elite Wrestling, with his career beginning in DDT in 2011.
In an interview conducted with DDT Pro-Wrestling’s official website, Takeshita talked about how his signing with All Elite Wrestling came about after losing the KO-D championship in March of 2022.
“When I lost the KO-D belt to Tetsuya Endo at Ryogoku Kokugikan last March, I said, ‘This is the second chapter for Konosuke Takeshita…’ As a champion, I had already been around the world one or two times, so I felt that the only way to show what I could do was to cross the ocean.
“So the choice was WWE or AEW. At that time, there were not that many main male wrestlers in AEW, and moreover, there were no Japanese who wore the singles belt, except for women.
“I wanted to do something that no one else was doing. At that point, I wasn’t sure if AEW would become as huge as it is now, but it was still a choice I made. Then, over the next year or so, the number of wrestlers steadily increased, and I don’t think I would have had a chance if I had waited another year. It was all a matter of timing…
“When the Coronavirus pandemic made it impossible for Japanese professional wrestling to make its voice heard, I thought to myself, this is no good for me to be wrestling.“
“I’ve been doing it for 10 years, so I’ve had enough. I went to the U.S. because I wanted to give it one last try, and I think that may have been my destiny.“
“I wouldn’t be where I am today without AEW, which guided me, and DDT, which sent me here, so the best way for me to repay them would be to fight Chris Jericho.”
Konosuke Takeshita
Takeshita is currently a prominent member of the Don Callis family faction, joining up with Callis earlier this year at AEW Double Or Nothing.
He, along with the rest of the Don Callis family will face off with Kenny Omega, Kota Ibushi, Paul Wight and Chris Jericho on the November 15th edition of AEW Dynamite.
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