Konosuke Takeshita opens up about his decision to join AEW.
The Callis Family member has quickly become one of the fastest rising stars in the company, wowing audiences with his incredible in-ring skill since he joined in 2021. During an interview with DDT-Pro Takeshita revealed that he actually had a chance to join WWE, but ultimately trusted his gut.
As a champion, I had already gone one or two times around the world, so I felt that the only way to show what I could do was to cross the ocean. That is when I had to choose between WWE and AEW. At that time, there were not that many men in the main division of 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. If I had taken the plunge one year later, I probably would not have had the chance. It all comes down to timing, and the impetus for me to join AEW came at the end of 2021.
Takeshita later explains how his journey to AEW came to fruition, even referring to the opportunity as destiny.
When the [COVID-19] 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, I’ve had enough of it.’ 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 would not 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, which will be realized as a result,
Elsewhere in his interview, Takeshita expressed his interest in having a singles-matchup with Kota Ibushi. You can read about that here.