In this interview Konosuke Takeshita talks about his decision to move to the U.S. and join AEW: “At the time, we were in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. And although the number of spectators was slowly returning, there was still no cheering, only applause. It was a time when my way of thinking about pro wrestling was really refined and polished. I wanted to get the crowd excited. But more than that, I felt that we had to show what we wanted to create in the ring. America was the first place entertainment returned. When I saw the excitement, I thought to myself, ‘I don’t know how many years I’ll be doing pro wrestling, but if I’m going to go, now might be the time.’ From then on, I started thinking about how I could go. So I contacted Kenny Omega, who is in a sense my professional wrestling mentor, for the first time in years and asked if I could wrestle in AEW, even if it was just a dark match. Kenny said, ‘I’ll give it a go,’ and encouraged me, saying, ‘I can’t do a TV match right away, but if it’s okay to wrestle in a dark match, why not give it a go?’ So I decided to go to America.”
The four most recent WWE NIL recruits are Meghan Walker (track and field athlete from the University of Nebraska), TJ Bullard (son of Titus O’Neil and college FB player for UCF), Jessica Bogdanov (Russian pole dancer and rhythmic gymnast), and Cyrus Habibi-Likio from Boise State. (PWI)
JDC (known in another lifetime as Fandango) will appear for Outlaw Wrestling in Brooklyn today, one of his final indie dates before he retires at TNA Genesis 2026.
MLW are moving their headquarters to Charleston, SC.
Last week’s Collision did 219,000 viewers and a 0.03 18-49 demo. (Wrestlenomics)
Last week’s SmackDown did 1.158 million viewers and a 0.27 18-49. (PI)
WWE is launching a new YouTube channel for Undertaker that will host Six Feet Under.
The Continental Classic tournament returns on Dynamite next week. The AEW Unified Champion at this time is Kazuchika Okada, who holds the combined Continental and International Titles, which he obtained sole ownership of by beating Kenny Omega at All In: Texas. If he doesn’t lose before the Classic ends he’ll face the winner of the tournament. (AEW)
Mercedes Mone beat Red Velvet on Dynamite to unify the interim and regular ROH TV Titles. (AEW)
