is a Japanese professional wrestler. , he is signed to the American promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW). He has also been signed to Japanese promotions DDT Pro-Wrestling , and New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) .
Takeshita was named the Rookie of the Year by Tokyo Sports in 2013 and is a five-time KO-D Openweight Champion, having first won the title on his 21st birthday to become the youngest holder in its history. He went on to become a four-time KO-D Tag Team Champion, five-time KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Champion, four-time Ironman Heavymetalweight Champion, one-time winner of the Ultimate Tag League (2021), two-time winner of the King of DDT Tournament (2019 and 2021), and record-setting two-time winner of the D-Oh Grand Prix (2019 and 2021 II). He signed with AEW in 2022, winning the AEW International Championship twice. He is also a one-time NEVER Openweight Champion in NJPW and the 35th G1 Climax tournament winner, the latter of which led to him becoming a one-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion.
Early life Konosuke Takeshita was born in Osaka on May 29, 1995. He participated in track and field at school. His mother is Keiko Takeshita; she would go on to become DDT's Ironman Heavymetalweight Champion in 2022 at an event that celebrated Konosuke's 10th year anniversary as a pro wrestler.
Professional wrestling career DDT Pro-Wrestling (2012–present) Early years (2012–2017)
In 2011, Takeshita began training for a professional wrestling career with DDT Pro-Wrestling. He had been a wrestling fan since childhood and had attended a DDT show as a 12-year-old, where he was kissed by wrestler Danshoku Dino. On April 1, 2012, DDT announced that he would debut for the promotion on August 18 at Tokyo's Nippon Budokan. Prior to his debut match, he took part in exhibition matches. During one of these matches on August 4, he scored an upset win over Hiroshi Fukuda to claim the Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship. The title had a 24/7 rule where it could be won anytime and anywhere. As Takeshita was being congratulated by DDT general manager Amon Tsurumi for winning his first match before his official debut, Fukuda hit him with a low blow and pinned him to immediately regain the title.
On August 18, 2012, at Budokan Peter Pan, Takeshita was defeated by El Generico in his official debut match. On November 25, Takeshita pinned Poison Sawada Julie in his retirement match, a six-man tag team match. At the end of 2013, Tokyo Sports named Takeshita Japanese professional wrestling's Rookie of the Year, with him becoming the first wrestler still in high school to win the award. He also finished second in Wrestling Observer Newsletters award category for Rookie of the Year, losing to Yohei Komatsu by four votes (906–902).
On January 26, 2014, Takeshita received his first-ever shot at one of the King of DDT (KO-D) titles, when he and Tetsuya Endo challenged for the KO-D Tag Team Championship in a three-way match, which was won by the Golden☆Lovers (Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi) and also included Isami Kodaka and Yuko Miyamoto. On May 6, Takeshita came together with Antonio Honda to form the "Happy Motel" stable. In June, he signed with the Oscar Promotion talent agency. He and Honda were eventually joined by Tetsuya Endo, with whom they went on to win the KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Championship by defeating Shuten-dōji (Kudo, Masa Takanashi and Yukio Sakaguchi) on July 13. They lost the title back to Shuten-dōji seven days later.
On August 17, Takeshita took part in a high-profile interpromotional match, when he was defeated by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) representative Hiroshi Tanahashi at DDT's annual Ryōgoku Kokugikan event. On September 28, Takeshita and Endo defeated Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi to win the KO-D Tag Team Championship for the first time. Afterwards, Omega dubbed Takeshita the "Future of DDT". Takeshita and Endo went on to lose the title to Daisuke Sekimoto and Yuji Okabayashi on February 15, 2015. The following June, Takeshita made it to the finals of the 2015 King of DDT tournament, but was defeated there by Yukio Sakaguchi. On December 23, Takeshita and Endo defeated Shigehiro Irie and Yuji Okabayashi in the finals of a tournament to regain the vacant KO-D Tag Team Championship.
With Kudo sidelined with an injury and Kota Ibushi announcing his resignation from DDT, Takeshita was poised to take a larger role in the promotion. On January 3, 2016, he received his first shot at DDT's top title, the KO-D Openweight Championship, but was defeated by the defending champion, Isami Kodaka. On March 21, Takeshita and Endo lost the KO-D Tag Team Championship to Daisuke Sasaki and Shuji Ishikawa. On May 29, his 21st birthday at Audience 2016, Takeshita defeated Daisuke Sasaki to win the KO-D Openweight Championship for the first time. With the win, Takeshita became the youngest KO-D Openweight Champion in history, beating the previous record held by Nosawa Rongai by three years and six months. On June 15, Takeshita made his debut for All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), teaming with Tetsuya Endo in a tag team match, where they defeated Jun Akiyama and Yuma Aoyagi. On July 17, Takeshita successfully defended the KO-D Openweight Championship against his tag team partner Tetsuya Endo. After the match, Endo turned on Takeshita and joined Daisuke Sasaki's Damnation stable. After three successful title defenses, Takeshita lost the KO-D Openweight Championship to Shuji Ishikawa on August 28 at DDT's biggest event of the year, Ryōgoku Peter Pan. On December 4, Takeshita and Mike Bailey defeated Daisuke Sasaki and Tetsuya Endo to win the KO-D Tag Team Championship. They lost the title to Masakatsu Funaki and Yukio Sakaguchi in their second defense on January 9, 2017.
All Out (2017–2021) On January 29, Takeshita defeated Kudo in the finals of a tournament to become the number one contender to the KO-D Openweight Championship. At Judgement, Takeshita defeated Harashima to win the KO-D Openweight Championship for the second time. The following month, Takeshita and Akito formed a new unit named "All Out". On August 20 at the 2017 Ryōgoku Peter Pan show, Takeshita made his seventh successful defense of the KO-D Openweight Championship against 2017 King of DDT winner Tetsuya Endo. On October 22, Takeshita set a new record for most successful defenses of the KO-D Openweight Championship by making his ninth defense against Danshoku Dino. On November 2, Takeshita became a double champion, when he and his All Out stablemates Akito and Diego defeated Damnation (Daisuke Sasaki, Mad Paulie and Shuji Ishikawa) to win the vacant KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Championship. On November 28, Takeshita and Yuki Ueno won the cross-promotional 2017 Differ Cup by defeating the Pro Wrestling Noah team of Hitoshi Kumano and Katsuhiko Nakajima in the finals. This marked the first Differ Cup held in 10 years. On December 10, All Out lost the KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Championship to Shuten-dōji.
In January 2018, Takeshita competed in the first edition of the D-Oh Grand Prix, competing in the A Block. Takeshita finished with 7 points, failing to advance to the finals. On March 25 at Judgement, Takeshita achieved his 11th successful defense of the KO-D Openweight Championship against Shuji Ishikawa. He finally lost the title to Shigehiro Irie the following month at Max Bump, on April 29. On June 26, Takeshita, Akito and Shunma Katsumata defeated Koju Takeda, Kota Umeda and Yuki Ueno to win the KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Championship. On December 30, Takeshita won the D-Oh Grand Prix 2019 by defeating Go Shiozaki in the finals.
On February 17, 2019, at Judgement, Takeshita defeated Daisuke Sasaki to win his third KO-D Openweight Championship. On April 4 at DDT Is Coming to America, Takeshita lost the title to Daisuke Sasaki. Later on, Tetsuya Endo cashed in his "Right To Challenge Anytime, Anywhere" contract to win the title. On May 19, Takeshita defeated Soma Takao in the finals of the 2019 King of DDT tournament and thus became the number one contender to the KO-D Openweight Championship then held by Endo. On June 24, along with his All Out stablemates Shunma Katsumata and Yuki Iino, he won the KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Championship by defeating Chihiro Hashimoto, Dash Chisako and Meiko Satomura. On July 15, at Wrestle Peter Pan, he won the KO-D Openweight Championship by defeating Tetsuya Endo.
On February 23, 2020, at Into The Fight, Takeshita was defeated by Chris Brookes in a match to crown the inaugural DDT Universal Champion. On March 22, he lost the 6-man title to the team of Tetsuya Endo, T-Hawk and El Lindaman at Judgement. On the first night of Wrestle Peter Pan, on June 6, Takeshita defeated Yoshihiko in a pre-taped cinematic Last Man Standing match parodying the "Boneyard match" between AJ Styles and The Undertaker at WrestleMania 36. In August, Takeshita entered the King of DDT Tournament, defeating Naomi Yoshimura and El Lindaman to advance to the quarter-finals, where he was eliminated by Kazusada Higuchi. Between November and December, Takeshita took part in the D-Oh Grand Prix 2021, where he won his block with a record of four wins and two losses, advancing to the finals. On December 27, Takeshita was defeated in the finals by Jun Akiyama.
In early 2021, Takeshita announced that All Out would disband with their last match taking place on March 12 in a special All Out-produced event. Their farewell match was a tag team match that Takeshita and Akito won against Katsumata and Iino.
The37Kamiina and sporadic appearances (2021–present)
On March 28, in the pre-show of Judgement, Takeshita and Katsumata were announced as entrants in the Ultimate Tag League 2021 where they would represent their new stable The37Kamiina. They won the league by defeating Daisuke Sasaki and Yuji Hino in a tie-breaker match on May 27. On June 26, on the Summer Vacation Tour in Osaka, Takeshita and Katsumata defeated Smile Pissari (Harashima and Yuji Okabayashi) to win the KO-D Tag Team Championship. Takeshita then took part in the 2021 King of DDT Tournament in which he defeated Akito, Mao and Daisuke Sasaki to reach the finals. In the finals on July 4, Takeshita defeated Yuji Hino, thus becoming the fourth two-time winner of the tournament. At Wrestle Peter Pan on August 21, Takeshita defeated Jun Akiyama to capture the KO-D Openweight Championship for the fifth time of his career. Takeshita later departed The37Kamiina after turning heel in AEW in 2023.
On July 27, 2023 at Wrestle Peter Pan, Takeshita defeated former The37Kamiina stablemate Yuki Ueno. On November 12 at Ultimate Party, Takeshita was defeated by Chris Jericho, who Takeshita was feuding with in AEW.
All Elite Wrestling (2021–present)
Early appearances (2021–2023) During All Elite Wrestling's first-ever non-televised event called "The House Always Wins", Takeshita made his debut for the company in a 10-man tag team match. He teamed alongside members of The Elite, including AEW World Champion Kenny Omega, the former AEW World Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks, along with Michael Nakazawa. They lost the match against a team that consisted out of Death Triangle (Pac, Penta El Zero Miedo and Rey Fenix) and the brothers Mike and Matt Sydal. Takeshita then made his YouTube debut for AEW on Dark: Elevation the following Monday competing against Danny Limelight. He won this match with a pinfall after using his finishing move.