KONOSUKE TAKESHITA

He made his professional debut as an active high school student in August 2012 at the Nippon Budokan. Following graduation, he entered Nippon Sports Science University (NSSU), successfully balancing his studies with wrestling before graduating in March 2018. The topic of his graduation thesis was the German Suplex. He set the all-time record for the most successful defenses of the KO-D Openweight Championship with 11, a historic reign that lasted until his defeat by Shigehiro Irie in April 2018. In April 2021, he began competing for the U.S.-based AEW, and on November 20, 2022, he officially signed a dual contract with both DDT and AEW. Since then, he has achieved spectacular success on the global stage, securing monumental singles victories over top stars like Kenny Omega and Chris Jericho. In August 2024, he made his debut in New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s (NJPW) prestigious G1 CLIMAX 34, and later captured his first AEW title, the AEW International Championship, in October. On January 4, 2025, at NJPW's Tokyo Dome event, he captured the NEVER Openweight Championship for the first time, where it was officially announced that he had become a trailblazing triple-contract wrestler concurrently signed to DDT, AEW, and NJPW. His historic momentum peaked in August 2025 when he won his first G1 CLIMAX 35 tournament, which he parlayed into defeating Zack Sabre Jr. at NJPW's Ryogoku Kokugikan event in October to capture the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship for the first time.