AEW's Konosuke Takeshita Announces NJPW Deal After Retaining Titles At Wrestle Dynasty

Konosuke Takeshita beat Tomohiro Ishii to retain his AEW International and NEVER Openweight Championships at Wrestle Dynasty. Takeshita was returning to action in the Tokyo Dome just a day after he defeated Shingo Takagi to win the Openweight title, making his Wrestle Dynasty bout with Ishii a double-title match. Speaking after the match to Japanese media, Takeshita confirmed he had signed a deal with NJPW in addition to his current commitments with AEW and DDT Pro Wrestling, having wrestled for all three promotions in the past few days alone.

Ishii was the sixth challenger to Takeshita's International Championship in his 85-day reign and looked to be a stiff contest for "The Alpha," with much of the early goings focused on back-and-forth striking exchanges and power maneuvers. However, the younger champion pressed his advantage on the veteran, sponging everything from headbutts to lariats as he made use of multiple suplexes, his signature jumping knee and a poisonrana heading into the closing stretch. Ishii tried to fight back with a enzuigiri, but it did little to change the complexion of things and he was soon dropped with a Falcon Arrow for the pinfall.