Current AEW International and NEVER Openweight Champion “The Alpha” Konosuke Takeshita revealed after Wrestle Dynasty that he is now affiliated with NJPW, along with AEW and DDT Pro Wrestling. NJPW owner Takaaki Kidani spoke with Tokyo Sports shortly following the show on a number of topics, including the length of Takeshita’s new contract with the company.
Kidani said, “I think it’s a one-year contract to start with, but there aren’t many matches in AEW. If he wants to be the main wrestler for New Japan, that could actually happen. I think it would be fine for him to go back and forth. There are quite a few wrestlers like that.”
On his hopes for Wrestle Kingdom 20:
“I’d like to have more than 40,000 people [the show] next year. I think that’s the bare minimum. I’d like to have a lot of other events besides Tanahashi (Hiroshi)’s retirement match. I’ll spend a year on that. In the sports world, basketball and volleyball are doing really well, aren’t they? I think pro wrestling is losing out to them. There are still many issues to be addressed, including the fact that we haven’t been able to attract customers from overseas, but I’m okay with this being a growing pain as we move to the next stage.”
On co-promoting Wrestle Dynasty with AEW:
“Maybe it would have been better to do it on January 4th, when they were separated. In terms of reflection, I think we weren’t able to get the feel of a joint event, nor of a rivalry, so it ended half-heartedly. That’s something I regret.”
