AEW's Konosuke Takeshita Reaches Play-Off Round Of NJPW's G1 Climax

AEW star Konosuke Takeshita has been flying the company flag with pride over the past month, as he has been both AEW and DDT's representative in the G1 Climax tournament in NJPW. The annual round-robin tournament that has been won by the likes of Kenny Omega, Kazuchika Okada, and Shinsuke Nakamura over the years has been regarded as the toughest competition in all of wrestling, and Takeshita has more than held his own, as he has reached the next phase of the tournament.

Heading into day 16 of the tournament, Takeshita sat on 8 points in the competition's B block, where if results went his way earlier in the night, a win over Ren Narita (who sat on 10 points respectively) would guarantee him a spot in the play-off round of the tournament that takes place on August 15. After a hard-fought match, Takeshita defeated Narita and secured himself a spot in the play-off round, finishing second in his block thanks to his head-to-head record against Narita, Jeff Cobb, and Yota Tsuji, who all finished on 10 points, but suffered losses to Takeshita throughout the tournament.

The man Takeshita will meet in the G1 play-offs is the aforementioned Tsuji, who won his final match of the block against Cobb, taking him into third place thanks to his head-to-head record against the current NJPWWorld Television Champion. The winner of the play-off will advance to the semi-final round on August 17, where they will meet the winner of the B block, current IWGP Global Heavyweight Champion David Finlay. The winner of that will move on to the G1 Climax final on August 18, where they will meet either Great-O-Khan, Shingo Takagi, or Zack Sabre Jr., who are all looking to earn their spot in the finals on the other side of the play-off bracket.